Eduard Profittlich

Archbishop Eduard Profittlich SJ

Eduard Profittlich (born September 11, 1890 in Birresdorf , today in Grafschaft ; † February 22, 1942 in Kirow in City Prison No. 1) was a German Jesuit , witness, martyr , apostolic administrator for Estonia and titular archbishop .

Life

Childhood, studies and first years of priesthood

Eduard Profittlich was born as the eighth of ten children of the married couple Dorothea, née Seiwert (1850–1913), and Markus Profittlich (1846–1920) into an established farming family. After finishing elementary school in Leimersdorf , he was prepared from 1904 by the local pastor for the fourth year of the Progymnasium in Ahrweiler . From there he moved to the upper secondary school of the grammar school in Linz am Rhein at Easter 1909 , where he passed his matriculation examination in 1912. Just like his brother Peter (1878–1915), who died as a missionary in Brazil , he wanted to join the Society of Jesus with the desire to become a religious priest . In accordance with the wish of his parents, who believed they could be supported a little by him as a secular priest in financial difficulties, he entered the Trier seminary in order to secretly take the entrance exams for the Jesuit order from there. At the repeated insistence of their son, the parents finally agreed to his request, so that Eduard Profittlich finally entered the Jesuit novitiate in 's-Heerenberg on April 11, 1913 . Because he had already completed part of his theological studies and the religious superiors feared an “interruption of the ordinary order” due to the beginning of the First World War, he was sent to the Jesuit College in Valkenburg on September 20, 1914 . On January 4, 1916, he finally received the tonsure and ordination as a subdeacon from Bishop Hermann Döring SJ (1859–1951), Bishop of Poona , in the High Cathedral in Trier .

After basic military training and his military service as a nurse and operation assistant in the Verviers military hospital , Eduard Profittlich resumed his philosophical and theological studies in Valkenburg after the end of the war and was there on March 26, 1922 by the Archbishop of Cologne , Karl Joseph Cardinal Schulte (1871-1941) the deacon ordained. On 27 August 1922 he received by Bishop Lawrence Schrijnen (1862 to 1932), bishop of Roermond , the ordination . On August 30, 1922, he celebrated the first solemn mass sacrifice in his home parish church of St. Stephan in Leimersdorf .

After Pope Pius XI. (1857-1939) had entrusted the Pontifical Oriental Institute (Pontificio Istituto di Studi Orientali) to the Jesuit order in September 1922 , the new priest Eduard Profittlich volunteered for a mission in Russia and was therefore sent to Krakow for further preparatory studies , where he in June 1923, doctor of philosophy and in July 1924 a doctor of theology doctorate was. In the meantime, however, the need arose for the Holy See to take action against communism in the Soviet Union for "reasons of opportunity and partiality" , which made it impossible for Eduard Profittlich to work there, so that after his third degree in Czechowice-Dziedzice (September 1924 to June 1925) from August 1925 to March 1928 as a people's missionary, retreat master and preacher in Opole . There he finally found out on March 9, 1928 that he was called to Hamburg , where he became chaplain at St. Ansgar (Little Michel) with the special task of Polish pastoral care. He made his perpetual profession on February 2, 1930 in the Hamburg branch of the Society of Jesus . Not least because of his intensive work and his dedication to the people, which is why he was particularly valued in Hamburg and previously in Opole, but above all because of his experience in Polish pastoral care (almost all parishioners in Estonia were of Polish origin), Eduard Profittlich was called on December 4, 1930 by the then Apostolic Administrator for Estonia, Archbishop Antonino Zecchini SJ (1864-1935), as pastor to the parish of St. Peter and Paul in Tallinn (Reval) .

Pastor, Apostolic Administrator and Archbishop in Estonia

The Catholic Church of Estonia, which was almost completely liquidated as a result of the Reformation , had belonged to the Archdiocese of Minsk-Mahiljou since April 15, 1783 with its two small parishes in Tallinn and Tartu ( Dorpat ) , before moving into the newly founded diocese on September 22, 1918 Riga was incorporated. In 1921 Pope Benedict XV sent (1851-1922) with the later Archbishop Antonino Zecchini SJ an Apostolic Visitator for the parishes in Estonia, who was then on October 25, 1922 by Pope Pius XI. was appointed Apostolic Delegate for the three Baltic States and, with the establishment of the Apostolic Administration for Estonia in November 1924, was finally appointed the first Apostolic Administrator based in Riga.

Against the background of the increased efforts of the Holy See for Orthodoxy in the countries where the Catholic and Orthodox Church met spatially, Estonia was placed under canon law as a "special Apostolic Administration" of the Commissio Pro Russia and Eduard Profittlich as a appointed new Apostolic Administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis . Even if the pastoral care was extremely difficult due to the small number of Catholics, their multilingualism and their dispersion across the whole country, the new canonical status resulted in an eventful and fruitful development of the Catholic Church in Estonia. The general public quickly began to be interested in Eduard Profittlich's work, his sermons were also popular with people of different faiths, and the Catholic monthly newspaper Kiriku Elu (Eng. "Life of the Church"), which he published soon, was especially popular gladly read by the Estonian intelligentsia. More parishes in Narva , Pärnu , Rakvere , Petseri, Valga and Kiviõli sprang up quickly , with the number of Estonian Catholics growing. In 1934 there were already ten Catholic priests in Estonia , plus Polish and Czech nuns who looked after various kindergartens and the administration and later also the nunciature in Tallinn. Eduard Profittlich saw a special focus in the religious education of the young, whereby he ensured regular religious lessons, which he gave in five languages ​​in four different schools. He also made a first attempt at a children's home, in which four girls and six boys were raised at the expense of the parish under the direction of religious sisters. Later he completely restructured the children's home and opened a boys' convict for fifteen people, taking into account the necessity of developing a local clergy , whereby the management of the house was so widely recognized that even non-Catholic parents asked for their children to be brought up. Eduard Profittlich later spoke of this time as "the most difficult part in the Lord's vineyard ", although he also described his work as "more hopeful for Christ's kingdom than elsewhere ".

In addition to his extensive pastoral work, Eduard Profittlich also endeavored at this time in lengthy negotiations to secure the legal security of the Catholic communities, which led to the recognition of a diocesan association of Eestis on May 6, 1932. On September 28, 1933, Pope Pius XI honored. this varied commitment of Eduard Profittlich to the difficult structure of the Catholic Church in Estonia and appointed him during a private audience as Apostolic Protonotary . In addition to the steadily increasing interest of the Estonian population in the Catholic Church, diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Republic of Estonia also developed extremely positively in the following period due to several initiatives by Eduard Profittlich , with his efforts to conclude one in particular Concordates are to be emphasized. After the Holy See finally established an Apostolic Nunciature in Tallinn on July 12, 1935, “it was in keeping with the current situation to also appoint a bishop as the highest representative of the Catholic Church in Estonia. “On November 27, 1936, the status of the Apostolic Administration was confirmed and Eduard Profittlich was appointed Titular Archbishop of Hadrianopolis in Haemimonto . His episcopal ordination took place on December 27, 1936 in the parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Tallinn by Archbishop Antonino Arata (1883-1948), the apostolic nuncio in Estonia and Latvia , with the assistance of Bishop Jāzeps Rancāns (1886-1969), auxiliary bishop in Riga, and Bishop Gulielmus Cobben SCJ (1897–1985), Vicar Apostolic for Finland , as co- consecrators .

Persecution and condemnation

The forced incorporation of Estonia into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on June 17, 1940 also brought the Soviet religious laws into effect, which were enforced with administrative coercive measures. Profittlich wrote to Rome on October 25 and 31, 1940, describing the situation of his church after all Germans living in Estonia had to return to the territory of the "Greater German Reich", although he himself expected the government of the USSR would not allow more than three priests to serve in the future. At this time Profittlich, who had also had Estonian citizenship since April 20, 1935, was urged by the German embassy in Tallinn to decide to return to Germany. The main reason for this was that the Soviet central government would hardly tolerate the presence of a bishop of German descent in such a militarily important area and that deportation to the interior of the country or to Siberia was as good as certain. Eduard Profittlich, however, was not ready to bow to this pressure, instead he wrote: “ With a completely calm and ready heart inwardly, I would like to sacrifice myself for the kingdom of God here in this country and I am ready to do everything that changes among them Conditions work and suffer for the kingdom of God. "In doing so, he did not want to" act at his own discretion, but in obedience to the Holy Father, because then we could also be conscious of having the blessing of this obedience. “Thereupon Cardinal State Secretary Luigi Maglione (1877–1944) telegraphed from Rome,“ that the Holy Father Pius XII. (1876–1958) left the administrator in Estonia complete freedom of choice as to what he considered best "in the Lord". “This statement brought Eduard Profittlich clarity and security. On February 10, 1941, he wrote to Rome: “ Since I recognized the Holy Father's wish from the telegram that I should stay here, I have now finally decided not to return to Germany. I do this with great willingness, yes I can say with great joy. Even if I cannot predict in any way how my path in life will turn out, which victims are still waiting for me, I am walking this path with great trust in God, firmly convinced that if God will go with me, I will never be alone will. "

While the Pope sent a letter of encouragement to Eduard Profittlich on March 12, 1941, the persecution developed into a terror campaign in Estonia, as a result of which more than 60,000 people were arrested, deported, tortured and murdered. In view of the repression against the Catholic Church, Profittlich was forced to flee to the country, but the archbishop wanted to celebrate the patronage festival of his parish and episcopal church and only then get to safety. On June 27, 1941, around 2:00 a.m., eight NKVD officers searched the house for several hours , during which several personal items of the bishop, his general and official correspondence and the parish card file were confiscated. Finally, Profittlich was confronted with the charge of espionage for Germany and dealing with the German embassy at the time of the resettlement and asked to go along. Profittlich, who had long been prepared for this situation, accompanied the officials with the greatest peace of mind, but asked to be allowed to go to church again, where he first prostrated himself at the altar for prayer before turning to the nuns who accompanied him to bless them. Probably with a premonition of his future fate, he had said goodbye to his siblings and relatives in a poignant letter that arrived in Germany after many detours: “ I would have liked to tell everyone how good God is towards us when we give ourselves completely to him, how happy one can become when one is ready to give all freedom and life for Christ. I know God will be with me. And then everything will be fine. And my life, and if it is to be my death, will be a life and a death for Christ. And that's so very nice. "

Episcopus martyr

From the day of his arrest, there was almost fifty years of uncertainty about the fate of Eduard Profittlich. At first he was suspected to be in Ufa , later in Kazan , but never had a specific sign of life or more detailed information about his person received. Even the inquiries of his family members remained fruitless until the beginning of the 1990s. It was only in connection with the proclamation of Estonia's renewed independence on March 30, 1990 that the Estonian Supreme Court informed the Catholic parish in Tallinn on June 12, 1990 that it was sentenced to death on November 21, 1941 and was sentenced to death on February 22, 1942 Eduard Profittlich, who died after his captivity in Kirov, had been fully rehabilitated. In this context, permission was given to inspect the public part of the interrogation protocols, witness statements and court documents so that the last months of the Archbishop's life can be reconstructed.

After several hours of interrogation, mostly nocturnal, on August 2nd, 21st and 22nd as well as on September 29th and October 2nd, 1941, the indictment against Eduard Profittlich was drawn up in Kirov on October 14th, 1941, with which he was accused at his church services " Anti-Soviet agitation " carried out, thereby exploiting " the religious feelings of the masses " and cultivating " hatred of the Soviet power and the Communist Party ". He was also accused of “ spreading defeatism ”, “ wrongly reporting the quick victories of the Germans and slips of the USSR in the course of the Second World War ” and “ helping with the departure of Catholic church staff ”. Due to several visits by Eduard Profittlich on various occasions to the German legation, a key point of the indictment was based on the allegation of espionage. After further interrogations and the confrontation of a fellow prisoner who reported on alleged “anti-Soviet talks”, the examining magistrate responsible wanted to stop the criminal prosecution of Eduard Profittlich on October 17, 1941, “ because there was no guilt. “On October 25, 1941, the NKVD summarized all of the above-mentioned allegations and handed them over to the court in Kirov. In a further interrogation on November 21, 1941, Eduard Profittlich stated: “ When the Soviet power was introduced in Estonia, I did not behave in a friendly manner, because as a clergyman I knew that the Soviet power was against religion and that there was no talk - and freedom of religion gives [...]. During my sermons I called for people not to listen to those who deny God but to think of the Church and pray for those who are religiously persecuted. I don't think that's propaganda, that's the truth! “The court then took over all points of the indictment and sentenced Eduard Profittlich to death for“ forbidden assistance in the departure of Catholic church staff ”to five years of loss of freedom in a penal and labor camp of the NKVD and“ for counter-revolutionary activity and agitation in the church ” Shoot them without confiscating their property. Although the verdict was considered "final", an appeal "to the Supreme Court within 72 hours ", which Eduard Profittlich submitted on November 23, 1941, was admitted. In it he assured “with everything that is sacred to you and me” that “ subjectively and objectively everything I said was neither propaganda nor counter-revolutionary agitation and I never wanted to say or do anything that could harm the Soviet Union. "Because he did not see himself guilty, assessed the statement made against him by his fellow inmate as" very indistinct and uncertain " and " assessed the facts [officially] differently ", Eduard Profittlich finally asked for forgiveness and a" milder sentence "before he finally forgave his persecutors and tormentors.

With this appeal, written in Estonian, and the confirmation that Eduard Profittlich had received the verdict, the “public” part of the documents ended. For the first time on September 4, 1998, it was also possible to look into the previous “secret” appendix. It emerged that Eduard Profittlich's appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union on January 16, 1942. There were no other documents that could possibly prove the receipt of this decision by Eduard Profittlich himself or a further procedure in Kirow, but an unspecified, but “top secret” letter with which on April 24, 1942 the The Supreme Court decision was also upheld at the Soviet Confederation level. Eduard Profittlich was no longer alive at this point; Without further attempting to escape the suffering and pains of persecution, he died exhausted, but consciously and willingly, on February 22nd, 1942.

In a last letter Eduard Profittlich asked for the prayer of his congregation “ so that God does not deny me his grace in the future either, so that I remain faithful to my high, holy profession and my task and for Christ and his in all that may come Empower all of my life force and if it is his holy will, may also give my life. "And he added:" That would be the best way to end my life. “For Eduard Profittlich, this expressed a constant attitude that remained unbroken, especially in the critical moments of his life. So it became his special fate that for him, as the first bishop after the Reformation, still so much venerated in Estonia today, not only his impressive pastoral work with all hopes, attempts and successes stands for his sisters and brothers to convey the Catholic faith in their language and according to their own culture, but to have shared the painful journey of the Estonian people to their own sacrifice. For Eduard Profittlich, this suffering was not just a physical inability or a moral shock, but the development of the vocation to unity with Christ, to walk the Way of the Cross. In this sense he belongs to the ranks of martyrs, knowing that his death is not a death of defeat, but a death of true victory. This is one of the mysterious realities of Christianity that can be experienced here in a concrete human life. Pope John Paul II called him a “shining example” and “valuable legacy” on May 7, 2000 at the memorial service for the witnesses of faith in the 20th century , which “ may support us all as believers so that we can express our love for Christ equally courageously. "

The Catholic Church accepted Eduard Profittlich as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century .

beatification

The Conference of Bishops of the Russian Federation headed the on 30 January 2002 beatification one for Archbishop Edward Profittlich (and another 15 lay people, priests and bishops). After the Congregation for the Causes of Saints under the title “Causa Beatificationis seu Declarationis Martyrii Servorum Dei Eduardi Profittlich Archiepiscopi titularis Hadrianopolitani in Haemimonto Administratoris Apostolici Estoniensis, ex Societate Iesu et XV Sociorum” the “nihil obstat” was granted on 31. May 2003 the beatification process was solemnly opened in Saint Petersburg . For postulator is Monsignor Bronislaw Czaplicki ( Katowice / St. Petersburg) appointed to vice-postulator Lambert catch (casting).

literature

• Alena Kharko: Eduard Profittlich . In: Thomas Bremer , Burkhard Haneke (ed.): Witnesses for God: Faith in Communist Times , Vol. 1. Aschendorff Verlag, Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-402-13070-4 , pp. 47-64.
• Lambert Klinke: Art. Archbishop Eduard Profittlich . In: Helmut Moll (ed.): Witnesses for Christ. Das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhundert , Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , vol. 2, pp. 1096–1100.
• Lambert Klinke: Archbishop Eduard Profittlich and the Catholic Church in Estonia 1930–1942 . Hess, Bad Schussenried 2000, ISBN 3-87336-026-8 .
• Lambert Klinke:  Profitably, Eduard. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 19, Bautz, Nordhausen 2001, ISBN 3-88309-089-1 , Sp. 1104-1114.
• Lambert Klinke: Peapiiskop Eduard Profittlich: Elu ja saatus . In: Akadeemia. Eesti kirjanike liidu kuukiri Tartus , ISSN  0235-7771 , vol. 12 (2000), issue 2, 288-297 (Estonian).
• Lambert Klinke: Katoliku Kirik Eestis 1918-1998 . In: Akadeemia. Eesti kirjanike liidu kuukiri Tartus , ISSN  0235-7771 , vol. 12 (2000), issue 4, pp. 862-881 (Estonian).

Web links

• Literature by and about Eduard Profittlich in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry on Eduard Profittlich on catholic-hierarchy.org ; Retrieved July 26, 2016.
• Ottmar Prothmann: "Eduard Profittlich, a confessor from Birresdorf"
• The rock: “Archbishop Dr. Eduard Profittlich - a victim of communism ” (PDF; 482 kB), 34th year No. 7, July 2003
• Estonia: German martyr on the way to beatification

predecessor	Office	successor
Antonino Zecchini	Apostolic Administrator of Estonia 1931 - 1942	Justo Mullor García