Christoph Bernhard Graf von Galen (Papal secret chamberlain)

Christoph Bernhard Graf von Galen (born January 11, 1907 in Bonn ; † September 1, 2002 in Haus Assen in Lippetal ) was head of the Westphalian noble family Galen , politician ( CDU ) and papal secret chamberlain . In 1949 he donated one of the two family residences, the moated castle of Dinklage Castle in the Oldenburger Münsterland, to the order of the Benedictines as the Dinklage Castle Monastery . In 1997, he donated his long-term residence, the moated castle Haus Assen in Lippetal-Lippborg (Soest district), to the Catholic-traditionalist order of the Ministers of Jesus and Mary . She runs a novitiate there .

Christoph Bernhard Graf von Galen is related to the Munster Bishop Christoph Bernhard von Galen (1606–1678); he is the nephew of Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen (1878–1946).

Life

Christoph Bernhard Graf von Galen was the son of the royal Prussian district administrator August (inus) Graf von Galen (* 1866; † November 20, 1912 in Bonn) and his wife Levina, née Countess von Korff called Schmising (1867–1941). He attended the Catholic Cathedral School in Münster and Jesuit colleges in Sittard (Netherlands) and Feldkirch (Austria). In 1925 he graduated from high school Marianum in Warburg.

The fifth of six children became head of the Galen family and heir to the family property in 1918 after his uncle Friedrich Mathias (1865–1918), his father's older brother, died in November 1918. Christoph Bernhard's older brother Ferdinand-Josef, who would have succeeded according to the house laws, had already died on July 21, 1918 in France during the First World War . Christoph Bernhard's mother, widowed since 1912, moved in 1919 with the children from Münster, where they had lived since 1913, to Haus Assen. Franz Graf von Galen (born December 11, 1879 in Dinklage, † October 9, 1961 in Darfeld) took over the management of the inheritance for his nephew. When he came of age at the age of 21, the management of the family estates in Lippetal, Dinklage and Münster passed to Christoph Bernhard Graf von Galen. On July 28, 1931, he married in Adlerkosteletz Marie-Sophie Countess Kinsky von Wchinitz and Tettau (born February 24, 1909 in Adlerkosteletz; † October 26, 1992).

At the beginning of the Second World War , von Galen, who had been trained in the artillery after the introduction of general conscription, had the rank of sergeant. He was called up in November 1939. He took part in the French campaign, but was released home in late July 1940 as the father of six children. In 1943 he was drafted again, promoted to lieutenant and worked on the staff of an artillery regiment in Hamm. As US troops approached, officers issued one another with discharge papers. The US Army captured him at Haus Assen, where he had returned on foot. From April 1, 1945 to September 1945 he was a US prisoner of war at Soissons in France.

In 1946 von Galen joined the CDU. From 1945 to 1969 he was a member of Lippborg City Council. From 1945 to 1959 he was a member of the Beckum district council . He represented the interests of the nobility as a knight of the Order of Malta and in the ladies' club , a nobility association founded in Münster in 1800. He received the post of papal secret chamberlain at the request of his uncle, Clemens August Graf von Galen, when he was given the post of Pope Pius XII in 1946 . was appointed cardinal. Connected to the office of secret chamberlain were protocol tasks of laypeople in the Vatican, for example in beatifications and canonizations. In 1948 Christoph Bernhard Graf von Galen had to lead a papal legate at the 700th anniversary celebration of Cologne Cathedral. In 1962 he took part in the opening of the Second Vatican Council in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome as the papal secret chamberlain . The outward sign of his dignity was a "highly decorative Spanish-style uniform, " as von Galen described it. Pope Paul VI abolished the office that Galen's father August and grandfather Ferdinand had already held.

After the death of his wife Marie-Sophie in 1992, von Galen lived alone in Haus Assen. His daughter Johanna Countess von Westphalen (1936-2016), who was known as the chairwoman of the Christian Democrats for life , suggested that the order of the Servants of Jesus and Mary , who had been expelled from the diocese of Augsburg, be temporarily housed in the moated castle . The acquaintance with the order's founder, Andreas Hönisch , gave von Galen the idea of ​​making Haus Assen permanently available to the community.

Dinklage Castle, which initially stood empty after the Second World War and was then inhabited by refugees before the Benedictine nuns moved in, was originally only intended to be leased. Christoph Bernhard Graf von Galen: “At first I had thought of a lease for thirty or ninety-nine years, but then decided on a donation with the reservation that the castle would revert to my heirs if the Benedictine nuns should give up the monastery in Dinklage. (...) According to their rule, the Benedictines do not build and pray for time, but for eternity. Then I had to and wanted to judge myself. "

family

Christoph Bernhard Graf von Galen died in 2002 and was buried at the side of his wife in the monastery church of Burg Dinklage. The couple had six children - five daughters and one son.

• Pauline Countess von Galen (* 1932), married to Friedrich Graf von und zu Trautmannsdorff-Weinsberg (* 1926)
• Hedwig Countess von Galen (* 1934), married to Rudolf von Longueval Graf de Bouqouy (* 1927)
• Ferdinand-Joseph Graf von Galen (* 1935), married to Anita Hengst (* 1936)
• Johanna Countess von Galen (1936–2016), married to Clemens Graf von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg (1927–2014)
• Ludmila Countess von Galen (* 1937), married to Heinrich Maria Archduke of Austria (1925–2014)
• Maria Theresia Countess von Galen (* 1938), married (1) to Marc-Antoine d'Oultremont, Comte d'Oultremont (1927-2005), (2) Godehard Maximilian Clemens Albertus Antonius Joseph Maria Graf von und zu Hoensbroech (* 1936 )

literature

• Günter Beaugrand: A life in the XX. Century. Meetings and conversations with Christoph Bernhard Graf von Galen at Haus Assen, Lippetal. Börde-Verlag, Werl 1999, ISBN 3-9806221-5-0

Web links

• The von Galen family on the Assen website

Footnotes

1. ↑ Burg Dinklage Monastery: Dinklage Castle - History
2. ^ College of Cardinal von Galen: Four postulants and one novice. When God knocks: Religious offspring on House Assen ( Memento from August 31, 2018 in the Internet Archive )