Bernhard Zimmermann (prelate)

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Bernhard Zimmermann (born December 23, 1880 in Bad Driburg , † April 4, 1969 in Bad Driburg) was a German Roman Catholic priest , founder of an aid organization and a seminar for later professions .

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Life

Bernhard Zimmermann attended elementary school in Driburg from Easter 1886 to Easter 1894 , completed an apprenticeship as a painter and completed additional training as a church painter. In 1905 he decided to catch up with the Abitur in order to then study theology and become a priest. Destitute and with unspeakable difficulties, he had to fight for a higher education. His path to high school was like an odyssey:

In 1905/1906 he visited the German Don Bosco Institute St. Bonifacius in Penango / Piedmont, but returned from there because the quality of the teaching did not satisfy him. In 1907 he attended a private school in Cologne (where, however, the majority of high school students taught in an apartment, no specialist teachers), and from Easter 1908 to summer 1910 a private school in Lage (Lippe) and Bad Meinberg . There he was encouraged to register for the matriculation examination as a so-called external examinee without, however, having prepared him for the exact examination requirements. The final exam as an external student (at the grammar school in Gelsenkirchen-Schalke ) failed in autumn 1910 and took away his trust in private schools. From then on he tried private tuition and was enrolled at the University of Münster in the philosophical and natural science faculties at the same time in the academic year 1910/1911 . Another unsuccessful high school diploma as an external student at the Schillergymnasium Münster at Easter 1911 made him realize that he could only get specific preparation for the high school diploma in the high school. He applied to 16 grammar schools in the Rhineland and Westphalia, received 15 rejections and only one acceptance from the Bottrop grammar school. At the age of 31 (!) He attended the top prima and passed the humanistic Abitur at the Dionysianum high school in Rheine as an external candidate at Easter 1916 . Zimmermann's way to the Abitur documents a piece of German school history at the beginning of the 20th century.

After studying theology in Paderborn and Munich , he was ordained a priest in Paderborn in 1916 and sent to Allagen as vicar . After six years in pastoral care, Zimmermann founded the St. Klemens study home, which remained his life's work until his death. He died almost blind on April 4, 1969 in Bad Driburg and was buried in the small house cemetery of the Clementinum.

plant

In 1920 Zimmermann first founded the Clemens-Hofbauer-Hilfswerk and, with its support, opened a school on May 3, 1922 in a former inn in Warstein- Belecke , which was supposed to lead young men with vocational training to the Abitur, the St. Klemens student home . It is the first late career seminar and the first school of the second educational path in the entire German-speaking area. As a teacher, he was initially helped by local clergy and retired teachers. The facility was so popular that Zimmermann was released from parish pastoral care at the end of 1922 so that as rector he could devote himself entirely to his study home. In 1926 the first students from St. Klemens passed the Abitur examination. Because of its success - in the middle of the inflationary period - the institution soon gained a great reputation and in 1932 it was subordinated to the provincial school council in Münster . The teaching staff was systematically expanded to include qualified teaching staff.

In 1927/1928 Bernhard Zimmermann had a large new school and boarding school built by the architect Josef Ferber in his hometown Bad Driburg, where a plot of land had been made available to him cheaply . In addition, he received neither government funding nor diocesan funding. He expanded his work solely through his personal commitment. To raise funds for the Clemens-Hofbauer-Hilfswerk , he published a magazine and tirelessly traveled all over Germany every Sunday, preaching and collecting. From 1922 until the National Socialists' ban on collecting in 1940, he visited a good two hundred parishes and sometimes preached in up to five church services on a Sunday. The Belecker facility was operated as a juvenate for the first years until it was closed at the end of July 1934 under pressure from the National Socialists. On April 1, 1941, the Driburg facility was also closed by the National Socialists and converted into a teacher training institute.

Reopened in 1946 as the Clementinum Gymnasium with full state recognition and with a high school diploma , the school was so popular that a large extension with a school, boarding school and church building (1957) was inevitable. In 1959, at the age of 78, Bernhard Zimmermann resigned from the post of rector and handed over his founding to the dioceses of Münster and Paderborn, which have since been in charge of the aid organization and the school.

honors and awards

Fonts

  • Klemens Hofbauer Aid Organization. In: Josef Höfer, Karl Rahner (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church. Volume 6. Freiburg 2nd edition 1961, Col. 333.

literature

  • Spiritual advisor Bernhard Zimmermann. In: Bernhard Kraft: History of the parish Allagen. Ein Heimatbuch (1930) , 2nd edition. Arnsberg 1967, pp. 90-92.
  • Peter Möhring: Prelate Bernhard Zimmermann (1880–1969). Personality and work. In: Yearbook District Höxter 2000. Höxter 1999, pp. 93-104.
  • Rainer Hohmann, Ulrich Schulz (ed.): The St. Klemens student home for later priestly professions Bad Driburg, Belecke, Aschaffenburg and Paderborn (1922-2010). On the history of the first school of the second educational path to the Abitur in the German-speaking area. Paderborn: Bonifatius-Verlag 2012.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zimmermann, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic priest and school principal
DATE OF BIRTH December 23, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Driburg
DATE OF DEATH 4th April 1969
Place of death Bad Driburg