Cathedral preacher

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Cathedral preacher Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg on the pulpit of the Strasbourg cathedral around 1500; Preaching pressure

The office of Dompredigers (Concionator Ecclesiae cathedralis) , where applicable, of Munster preacher , was built in the late Middle Ages to the cathedral churches and other large city churches. In Protestantism it is a title for pastor at such churches, in the Roman Catholic Church it was an office at episcopal churches independent of that of cathedral priest until the 20th century.

history

In early Christianity , the community leader and the bishop usually preached, but they could also commission presbyters or even lay people to do so. In the 3rd century the bishop had the proper power to preach. With the spread of Christianity, the bishops delegated this to the celebrating priest in rural and metropolitan parishes, since the leadership of the word and meal service in Holy Mass was seen as a unit. The preaching office at the episcopal church was reserved for the bishop.

In the Middle Ages the bishop only preached on the highest feasts himself; on the other Sundays and feast days, the canons (auxiliary bishops, members of the cathedral chapters) and members of the new mendicant orders took turns . The regular sermon had its place less in the cathedral than in the parish and religious churches. The Fourth Lateran Council affirmed the bishop's obligation to preach in 1215, but allowed the delegation to suitable men (viri idonei) as coadjutors and cooperators of the bishop in the preaching office and in confession at the cathedral churches. As a result, such cathedral preachers were increasingly appointed. The Council of Basel renewed this provision in 1438 in order to improve the quality of preaching and demanded that a graduate theologian must be employed at every episcopal church who “had to perform a demanding instruction of the faithful”.

The preaching industry then experienced an upswing in the 15th century. Funds for city or cathedral preachers were donated by priests and citizens in numerous cities , or benefices were rededicated to provide sufficient endowments for a cathedral preacher position, for example in Speyer in 1410, in Würzburg in 1419, before 1465 in Mainz and in 1479 in Regensburg, in Trier but not until 1545 in the course of the Counter Reformation and in Münster in 1567. Similarly, foundations for court preachers, university preachers, field and brotherhood preachers were created. In Würzburg the cathedral preacher earned 100 guilders from 1420 , and in Bamberg a benefice was available for him. The preachers should be able to concentrate on their task without financial worries, and the dioceses tried to woo highly qualified candidates away with appropriate funding, as in the case of Geiler von Kaysersberg , who preached in Würzburg and Augsburg, but ultimately remained in Strasbourg as minster preacher .

The background was a strengthening bourgeois urban culture; the sermons of the mendicants failed to meet the needs of the city population. In Mainz (1465) and Speyer (1523) monks were expressly no longer wanted on the cathedral pulpit, but the preacher had a sacerdos secularis to be a secular priest . This development can mainly be observed in Upper Germany , less so in the North and East German dioceses; the pulpit of Cologne Cathedral was reserved for the mendicant orders.

The service regulations of the cathedral preacher ("Thumbprediger") of Regensburg in 1481 stipulated a sermon on every Sunday afternoon in the Dompfarrkirche St. Ulrich , on individual working days before the first Holy Mass, during Advent and Lent and during the " Cross Week " daily. Sermons at casuals or pilgrimages were also due. The cathedral preacher had to take an oath of office (“Instrumentum praedicatoris”) when he took office and to take part in the choir prayer of the cathedral chapter in the cathedral. His superiors were the provost , the dean and the cathedral chapter. Academic erudition (at least a bachelor's degree , better licentiate , master's degree or doctorate ), piety and moral purity were required as a qualification, as well as eloquence, a strong physical constitution as well as a cultivated Latin and German expressiveness, which was checked by trial sermons and probationary periods. In the absence of suitable applicants, a cathedral pulpit was also left vacant for a long period of time, and there were also impeachments, which were expressly provided for in some foundation deeds if someone did not meet expectations. At times, a high fluctuation can be observed in the cathedral pulpits.

In 1917, the ordinariate in Regensburg expected "the ability to attract educated circles for whom the cathedral pulpit is primarily intended, [...] an imposing, pure metal voice and a spirited, cozy presentation". The sermons were kept by heart, as the lighting was usually insufficient for reading. In order to increase the status of the sermon, the audience of the cathedral preacher was granted a special indulgence in some dioceses . At the time of the sermon service, any noise in the area around the cathedral was forbidden; In 1556 the authorities in Speyer therefore took action against dog barking. In some places that was the job of the dog whip .

The cathedral preacher was considered a role model for the clergy of the diocese. Occasionally, in addition to his preaching work, he had to give scientific lectures or, as a member of the cathedral chapter, to make visitations or take part in synods . However, the office of cathedral preacher was often only a gateway to ecclesiastical or secular leadership positions. Anton Schmid points out that the office of cathedral preacher gave qualified academics of bourgeois or peasant origin access to the immediate environment of a bishop for the first time: “It was the highest position that a non-aristocrat could achieve in this environment, which was otherwise always aristocratic. With him, the criterion of professional performance came into play for the first time in the still class-oriented society of the bishop's court. "

The cathedral preacher in the Catholic Church

Occasionally the position of cathedral preacher was connected with that of cathedral priest in personal union. Overall, however, the establishment of the orator or concionator in the Catholic area should be seen as a counterpart to pastoral care and church administration, as a "self-confident expression of a public law need in the context of humanism and renaissance " (Werner Schrüfer). The contemporary, often elaborate rhetorical form of the sermon was occasionally in the foreground over the content. With the advent of printing , cathedral preachers began to use the new medium to spread their sermons. The language of the sermon in front of the clergy or in the publications was Latin, in everyday life the preaching was also in German. Spiritual humanists such as Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg in Strasbourg and Jacob Wimpfeling in Speyer preached at various episcopal churches . In Basel, the cathedral preacher's office building also contained an official library.

In the 16th century, given the Reformation , cathedral predicatures were donated out of concern about the progress of the Lutheran movement, for example in Trier in 1545. Committed representatives of the Roman Church were active in the various cathedral pulpits, but there were also Lutheran sympathizers. In some places the cathedral preachers contributed to the polarization and consolidation of denominational positions. The newly formed Jesuit order took over some cathedral predicatures because it specifically used the sermon as a means of the Counter Reformation. Also Capuchins , Franciscans and Dominicans had from the mid-16th century increasingly held back Domprädikaturen, especially after the abolition of the Jesuit order 1,773th

In the 19th century, preacher positions at cathedrals and parish churches were financed by the state as part of state benefits in several German states ; a cathedral predicature was endowed as an "independent pulpit of the first order". In the 19th century, a cathedral preacher in Regensburg had an income of 700 guilders (compared to a pastor who was entitled to 800 to 1,600 guilders). In 1916 it was 1260 Reichsmarks plus an increase of 1060 Reichsmarks. Locally, the positions could also be divided between morning and afternoon preachers, Sunday and feast day preachers.

For a long time the sermon was of little importance in Holy Mass . It did not necessarily belong to the prescribed procedure, the Ordo missae , but had a special status. Missing the sermon on Sunday was considered a venial sin . It took place in the cathedrals before the Sunday and feast day high mass and was not held by the celebrant of the mass, but by the cathedral preacher, who wore a gown , choir shirt and stole . Occasionally, special preachers were invited. The sermon began at 8 a.m. and lasted up to an hour, followed by Asperges at 9 a.m. as the beginning of the high mass. At the beginning of the 20th century, for example, in Regensburg, consideration was given to shortening the sermon to 45 or 30 minutes, since at the beginning the church was regularly almost empty and the visitors to the high mass only gradually came in during the sermon.

In the 19th century there was a tendency towards a stronger biblical orientation of the sermons, which was further promoted by the liturgical movement in the 20th century. The liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council finally gave the sermon its place again as an integral element of the Holy Mass. The previous fair was the prayer service upgraded, the sermon has since no longer an 'ingredient', but as a homily , as an interpretation of the performed pericopes from the Bible , part of the liturgy, which is obligatory on Sundays and holidays. It is now usually no longer given as a pulpit speech , but from the ambo , by the celebrating priest or bishop or by the deacon .

This means that the time for specially ordered and endowed predicatures is over. The office of cathedral preacher as an "honorary office" only lasted very rarely, for example in Augsburg, Cologne and Regensburg, where it expired in 2003; there was the last cathedral preacher, Werner Schrüfer, who was also a lecturer in homiletics at the seminary . In Cologne, the cathedral chapter continues to appoint the cathedral preacher in accordance with the statutes.

Regensburg's cathedral preacher Johann Maier was born on April 24, 1945 due to military morale executed in Regensburg after being at a demonstration for a bloodless surrender of the city to the approach of the previous day US - armored units had spoken.

Cathedral preacher in Protestantism

"The predicatures established in the late Middle Ages quickly turned out to be bases of the Reformation movement, as centers of the spread of the new doctrine, and the predicants themselves as their pioneers." In the early Reformation period, numerous later reformers worked as cathedral preachers, for example Johannes Oekolampad 1518– 1520 and Urbanus Rhegius 1520–1521 in Augsburg, Balthasar Hubmaier 1516–1521 in Regensburg, Wolfgang Capito 1520–1523 in Mainz, Paul Speratus 1520 and Johann Gramann 1522–1525 in Würzburg. In some places cathedral preachers contributed to the Reformation being implemented in their cities. B. Andreas Wilms 1524–1529 in Lübeck or Johannes Wanner in Constance.

Since the preaching of the gospel was seen as a basic function of the church office during the Reformation, the term “preacher” was often used as an equivalent to the term “pastor”. So when “cathedral preachers” were appointed to cathedrals that had become Protestant, they were usually simply those who had to carry out the pastoral duties at this cathedral. At the Bremen and Magdeburg Cathedral , which in contrast to the city remained Catholic for a long time, the appointment of the Protestant cathedral preacher Albert Hardenberg in 1547 and Siegfried Saccus in 1567 marked the final implementation of the Reformation. In some cases all clergymen working at a cathedral were named cathedral preachers, in some cases only the highest ones; the others were then called "cathedral deacon" or something similar. Alternatively, the first pastor at a cathedral could also use the title of "upper cathedral preacher". If the cathedral was in a royal seat, the office of cathedral preacher was often combined with that of court preacher . Two cathedral preachers, who were also court preachers, officiated at the Berlin Cathedral , which has been Protestant since 1539 . In 1640 the offices were temporarily separated, but in fact reunited in the 18th century. After 1918 the court and cathedral preacher Bruno Doehring continued to serve as cathedral preacher (later chief cathedral preacher). Today, in addition to three pastors with the title of “cathedral preacher”, two honorary dome preachers work at the Berlin Cathedral.

See also

literature

  • Anton Schmid: The beginnings of cathedral predicatures in the German-speaking dioceses. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history 89 (1994), issue 1–2, pp. 78–110.
  • Werner Schrüfer: A pulpit of the first order. Life and work of the Regensburg cathedral preachers from 1773 to 1962. A contribution to the history of Catholic preaching in modern Bavaria. Publishing house of the Association for Regensburg Diocese History, Regensburg 2004 (376 pages)
  • Rudolf von Thadden : The Brandenburg-Prussian court preachers in the 17th and 18th centuries. A contribution to the history of the absolutist state society in Brandenburg-Prussia (= contributions to church history , Volume 32). de Gruyter, Berlin 1959 (239 pages)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Merkt: Sermon. III. Old church . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 8 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1999, Sp. 527 .
  2. ^ Anton Schmid: The beginnings of the cathedral predicatures in the German-speaking dioceses. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history 89 (1994), issue 1–2, pp. 78–110, here p. 81.
  3. ↑ Werner Schrüfer: A pulpit of the first order. Regensburg 2004, pp. 1f .; Anton Schmid: The beginnings of cathedral predicatures in the German-speaking dioceses. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history 89 (1994), issue 1–2, pp. 78–110, here pp. 81–85.88.107.
  4. ^ Anton Schmid: The beginnings of the cathedral predicatures in the German-speaking dioceses. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history 89 (1994), issue 1–2, pp. 78–110, here p. 92, note 86.
  5. ^ Anton Schmid: The beginnings of the cathedral predicatures in the German-speaking dioceses. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history 89 (1994), issue 1–2, p. 78–110, here p. 82.85f.89.
  6. ^ Anton Schmid: The beginnings of the cathedral predicatures in the German-speaking dioceses. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history 89 (1994), issue 1–2, pp. 78–110, here p. 91.
  7. ^ Anton Schmid: The beginnings of the cathedral predicatures in the German-speaking dioceses. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history 89 (1994), Heft 1–2, pp. 78–110, here p. 92.
  8. ^ Anton Schmid: The beginnings of the cathedral predicatures in the German-speaking dioceses. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history 89 (1994), issue 1–2, pp. 78–110, here p. 107; see. P. 90.105; Werner Schrüfer: A pulpit of the first order. Regensburg 2004, p. 3f., P. 41, note 176, p. 54.
  9. ↑ Werner Schrüfer: A pulpit of the first order. Regensburg 2004, pp. 7.20f; Anton Schmid: The beginnings of cathedral predicatures in the German-speaking dioceses. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history 89 (1994), issue 1–2, p. 78–110, here p. 100.102f.
  10. ^ Anton Schmid: The beginnings of the cathedral predicatures in the German-speaking dioceses. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history 89 (1994), issue 1–2, pp. 78–110, here pp. 88.104ff .; Werner Schrüfer: A pulpit of the first order. Regensburg 2004, p. 7.
  11. ↑ Werner Schrüfer: A pulpit of the first order. Regensburg 2004, pp. 44-47.
  12. ↑ Werner Schrüfer: A pulpit of the first order. Regensburg 2004, p. VII.51f.
  13. ^ Ralf Georg Bogner: Sermon. V. Catholic Church since the Reformation . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 8 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1999, Sp. 530 f .
  14. ↑ Liturgy Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium No. 52: “The homily, in which in the course of the liturgical year the secrets of the faith and the guidelines for the Christian life are set forth from the sacred text, is highly recommended as part of the liturgy itself. Especially in the masses, which are celebrated with the people on Sundays and public holidays, they must not be canceled unless there is a serious reason. "
  15. ↑ Werner Schrüfer: A pulpit of the first order. Regensburg 2004, p. 343.362.
  16. ^ Statutes of the Cologne Metropolitan Chapter of January 1st, 2010 , § 18.
  17. ^ Alfred Niebergall: Art. Sermon. I. History of the Sermon. In: RGG , 3rd edition, V. Vol. Sp. 521.
  18. ^ Rudolf von Thadden: The Brandenburg-Prussian court preachers in the 17th and 18th centuries. A contribution to the history of the absolutist state society in Brandenburg-Prussia (= contributions to church history , Volume 32). de Gruyter, Berlin 1959, p. 11f.
  19. ↑ Website of the Berlin Cathedral ( Memento of the original from January 27, 2016 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. , accessed January 27, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.berlinerdom.de