Cassian Spiss

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Franz Anton Spiss

Cassian Spiß OSB (born June 12, 1866 in St. Jakob am Arlberg (Tyrol) as Franz Anton Spiß ; † August 14, 1905 in Mikukuyumbu near Liwale in what is now Tanzania ) was a Missionary Benedictine and Roman Catholic bishop .

From 1877 to 1885 he attended the Prince Bishop's Vinzentinum boys' seminary in Brixen , then studied theology in the local seminary and in 1889 became a priest in this diocese, which at that time also included his home in North Tyrol. First Spiss worked as a chaplain in Sellrain , then in Umhausen and finally in Längenfeld . Then he entered the Upper Bavarian mission monastery Sankt Ottilien , where he made his monastic profession on August 15, 1892. On July 30, 1893, he was sent out as a missionary to what was then German East Africa (now Tanzania). Together with his brother Laurentius Brenner, he founded the Peramiho mission station in the remote south-west of the country, which would later develop into an important mission center (arrival there on July 30, 1898). In 1902 he became the first Vicar Apostolic of South Zanzibar (the southern part of the Tanzanian mainland that bore the name because the coast of this area had been under the rule of the Sultan of Zanzibar for a long time; in 1906 the name was changed to “Dar es- Salaam ”.) And Titular Bishop of Ostracine . He was the first Bishop of the Missionary Benedictines and was ordained bishop on November 16, 1902 in his native Sankt Ottilien. Bishop Maximilian von Lingg from Augsburg acted as consecrator , with the assistance of Bishops Anton von Henle and Sigismund von Ow as co- consecrators .

Father Cassian gave the first grammars of Kihehe (the language of Tosamaganga / Iringa, where he worked until 1898), Old Kingoni (the language of the Wangoni rulers who immigrated from South Africa in Peramiho) and New Kingoni (the vernacular of Peramiho ) out. While walking to Peramiho, he got caught up in the chaos of the Maji Maji War and was killed together with his companions (including two German Missionary Benedictines ) on August 14, 1905 in Mikukuyumbu near Liwale.

Appreciation

Cassian Spiß (3rd from left) on the day of his episcopal ordination, with the consecrators.

literature

  • Lambert Dörr , OSB (Ed.): Peramiho 1898-1998. In the Service of the Missionary Church. 3 volumes (Ndanda-Peramiho 1998)
  • Helmut Moll , (Ed. On behalf of the German Bishops' Conference), Witnesses for Christ. Das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhundert , Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th updated and revised edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume II, pp. 1403-1406.
  • "City of God": "The Victims of the Kilwa Bloodbath", Steyler Missionaries , "City of God", year 1906, pages 83–86 and 128–130 (with rich image material)
  • Clemens Gütl:  SPISS, Franz Anton [Father Cassian]. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 27, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-393-2 , Sp. 1366-1369.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Hubert Gundolf: Maji-Maji - blood for Africa. In the footsteps of the mission bishop Cassian Spiss OSB who was murdered in East Africa in 1905 (St. Ottilien 1984).

Web links

Construction of the first church of the later Peramiho Abbey


personal data
SURNAME Spit, Cassian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Father Cassian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Benedictine monk and Catholic bishop
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Anton am Arlberg (Tyrol)
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 1905
Place of death Mikukuyumbu near Liwale