Bonifaz Wimmer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archabbot Bonifaz Wimmer, contemporary steel engraving

Bonifaz Wimmer OSB (born January 14, 1809 in Thalmassing as Sebastian Wimmer ; † December 8, 1887 in Latrobe , Pennsylvania , USA ) was a Bavarian Benedictine and founder of Benedictine monasticism in the USA. There he was founder and first abbot of the Abbey of St. Vincent in Latrobe as well as President of the American-Cassinese Benedictine Congregation and finally Archabbot .

Life

School time and studies

Sebastian Wimmer was born in Thalmassing near Regensburg as the son of the innkeeper Peter Wimmer and his wife Elizabeth Lang. After completing high school in Regensburg, he studied Catholic theology first in Regensburg (1826), then in Munich (1827-1830) . For a while he toyed with the idea of ​​switching to law, but then remained true to his wish to become a priest, especially since, contrary to expectations, he received a scholarship at the ducal Georgianum . During his studies, Wimmer tried twice as a volunteer soldier in the Greek War of Liberation . But because the acceptance point was already closed, nothing came of it and so he finally let it stay. After a year-long seminar in Regensburg, Wimmer was ordained a priest there on August 1, 1831 . Since the diocese had a surplus of priests at that time, the Regensburg Bishop Sailer sent him to Altötting in the Diocese of Passau as a pilgrimage pastor .

Entry into the order

When Bishop Sailer campaigned among his diocesan priests for candidates for the Benedictine monastery of St. Michael in Metten , which King Ludwig I re-established as an independent priory in 1830 , Wimmer, who had already been enthusiastic about the Benedictine order during his student days, was one of the first to respond . He entered Metten in 1832, received the religious name Boniface and made his solemn profession on December 29, 1833 . Of his four priestly co- novices , all of them later also became cloister rulers and one, Gregor Scherr , archbishop of Munich and Freising in 1856 .

Father Bonifaz was initially employed in pastoral care. From 1833 to 1835 and again in 1836/37 he was chaplain in Edenstetten , until he took over the parish in Stephansposching for one year in 1837 , which the Benedictines had looked after since 1615.

The start-up in America

Finally, in 1846, Wimmer received permission to set up a Benedictine office in the United States with four postulants and 14 lay brothers . Wimmer and his companions arrived in New York on September 16, 1846 and made their way to Carroltown in the Diocese of Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, where Lemke made a piece of land available to them. Since this was not suitable for founding a monastery, the group moved shortly thereafter to Latrobe , Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania , about 60 kilometers southeast of Pittsburgh, and founded the Archabbey of St. Vincent there .

Abbot Boniface took part in Vatican I as head of the new Benedictine Congregation in 1869/70 . When he died in 1887, his foundation had grown to include four abbeys, two priories, and 152 parishes and settlements. The members of the congregation included two bishops, four abbots, two priors , 220 religious priests and as many lay people again. He also promoted the creation of the Benedictine Confederation .

literature

Monographs

  • Willibald Mathäser (ed.): Bonifaz Wimmer OSB and King Ludwig I of Bavaria (= yearbook series 1937 of the Priest Missions Association in Bavaria). Munich 1937.
  • Jerome Oetgen: An American Abbot: Boniface Wimmer, OSB, 1809–1887. The Archabbey Press, Latrobe, PA 1976; Revised new edition, Catholic University of America Press, Washington DC 1997, ISBN 0-8132-0893-9 .
  • Jerome Oetgen: Mission to America. A History of Saint Vincent Archabbey, The First Benedictine Monastery in the United States. Washington DC 2000.

items

Web links

Commons : Bonifaz Wimmer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Wimmer, Boniface
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wimmer, Sebastian (baptismal name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German monk and founder of a monastery
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH Thalmassing
DATE OF DEATH December 8, 1887
Place of death Latrobe, Pennsylvania