Betkaspar

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kaspar Black
Kaspar Schwarze, photo before 1911
Transferred to a grave of honor in the Werler park cemetery
The honor grave of Betkaspar, state August 2015

Kaspar ("Betkaspar") black (born June 13, 1830 in Soest ; † May 13, 1911 in Werl ) was a German tramp and original . He became known for regularly attending the form of eternal adoration in the churches around him. His beatification process failed because of the circumstances in the times of National Socialism.

Life

Kaspar Schwarze was the son of married couples of different denominations. He became a tailor and later a groom and casual laborer. He was not married and kept a room in his parents' house. During military drafts in 1851 and 1853, he was released from military service because he was too small. After leaving home, he moved to Holtum , where he stayed with the tertiary Katharina Rieke, who he called her Annkatrin. There he lived withdrawn and avoided contact with the population. The people gave him the nickname Biämännken (Betmännchen). After the introduction of Perpetual Adoration in the Archdiocese of Paderborn by Bishop Konrad Martin around 1870, Kaspar Schwarze began to wander from church to church and to take part in Perpetual Adoration. For almost 40 years he visited around 150 churches a year and was therefore constantly on the move all year round. He was fed by hospitable people and by the pastor or his sexton. He was known throughout the Archdiocese of Paderborn. In 1911 he died in the Mariannenhospital in Werl and was buried in the park cemetery there.

Naming

  • “He received the name Betkaspar from believing fellow men, because Kaspar Black was in a prayer wherever and at any time that he considered appropriate. So he just knelt down, no matter where he was and sank into a revered self-oblivion. His incomparable humility began in 1857 after the introduction of the form of worship of eternal adoration in the Paderborn diocese by Confessing Bishop Konrad Martin. Bishop Martin published an order that carried the spiritual impulse of worship in the diocese from day to day, from deanery to deanery and from church to church. "
  • “Biärremänneken is all dao” - this is how the children shouted more than 100 years ago on almost every day of worship in the former deaneries of Soest, Werl and Hamm as well as far into the Archdiocese of Paderborn when Kaspar Schwarze came from Soest, who later lived in Holtum . During his almost daily visits to the days of worship in the various parishes, he was present to honor the congregations with his long prayer times and to be fed afterwards. "

Aftermath

Around 1920 the worship of the "Betkaspars" began - this name was given to it by the believers of the diocese. On May 5, 1933, the coffin with his body, which was originally buried in the old part of the Werler cemetery, was exhumed and reburied in an "honorary grave". Group pilgrimages were organized and several hundred grave visitors were counted on All Saints' Day . The attempt to initiate a beatification process, however, failed. Since then, the worship has gradually waned.

Today the Betkaspar is almost forgotten, but his grave is still tended by the city of Werl and there are always candles on the grave, although he had no relatives here.

literature

  • Athanasius Bierbaum: Betkaspar. Franziskus-Druckerei, Werl 1927.
  • Athanasius Bierbaum: Betkaspar ("the eternal worshiper"). 2nd Edition. Franziskus-Druckerei, Werl 1933.
  • Gerhard Best : New cults of saints in Westphalia. Coppenrath, Münster 1983, ISBN 3-88547-190-6 ( Contributions to folk culture in Northwest Germany. Issue 35).
  • HJ Berges Werl At that time in my time . Westfälischer Heimatverlag.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Parish archives St. Patroclus Soest, baptismal register 1830, no.50
  2. ↑ Visit to Eternal Adoration
  3. ↑ HJ Berges: Werl Seinerzeit in my time . Westfälischer Heimatverlag
  4. ↑ Annkatrin
  5. ↑ Evaluation of the diocese
  6. ↑ Biärmänneken ( Memento of the original dated February 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pv-welver-scheidingen.de
personal data
SURNAME Betkaspar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Blacks, Kaspar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German tailor, casual worker and traveling preacher in the Sauerland
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH Soest
DATE OF DEATH May 13, 1911
Place of death Werl