Erich Stephany

Erich Stephany (born July 5, 1910 in Aachen ; † January 30, 1990 ibid) was a German Catholic prelate and cathedral chapter as well as art historian in Aachen.

Live and act

After completing school in Aachen, Stephany studied philosophy, Catholic theology and art history at the University of Bonn from 1929 . Here it was above all the fundamental theologian Arnold Rademacher (1873-1939), the church historian Wilhelm Neuss and the art historian Paul Clemen , whose teachings had a significant and lasting influence on him. On March 16, 1935, Stephany was ordained a priest and then appointed chaplain to the churches of St. Franziskus in Rheydt and from 1939 to St. Foillan and from 1942 to St. Paul - both in Aachen. Finally, just one year later, he was appointed cathedral vicar , and from then on the Aachen cathedral , its sanctuaries and above all the cathedral treasury became the central focus of his activities until the end of his life .

Thanks to his profound knowledge of art history, Stephany had already gained an important reputation in the professional world with lectures and publications on Aachen's art treasures, but also on church art in general, from 1946 onwards. This resulted, among other things, to that of the RWTH Aachen pronounced at the request of the Faculty of Civil Engineering appointed Dr. Ing. On June 6, 1965. In the meantime, Stephany has also been appointed professor. One of the highlights of his work was certainly the opening of the public cathedral treasury on the occasion of the Aachen Shrine Tour in 1979. Furthermore, from 1983 to 1988 he was fully responsible for the contemporary safeguarding and conservation of the Karlsschreins and the Marienschreins under art historical aspects.

Erich Stephany has been a member of the KDSt.V. since his student days. Franconia Aachen . In addition, Erich Stephany, together with Prelate Joseph Hoster , was one of the founding members of the Working Group on Church Museums and Treasuries in 1958, which today has more than 90 institutions, mainly from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He was also chairman of the Association for Christian Art in the Archdiocese of Cologne for several years . However, Erich Stephany felt most deeply connected to the Aachen History Association , of which he became a member at an early stage and was elected chairman several times from 1972 to 1984. As such, he introduced the regular lectures of the historical memorial hour in the coronation hall of the Aachen town hall .

Publications (selection)

• New glass painting in Germany , Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1963
• The Karlsschrein , Verlag Kühlen, Mönchengladbach 1965
• with Hugo Borger and Wilhelm Janssen : The Church of St. Vitus in Oedt , Verlag Kühlen, Mönchengladbach 1970
• Aachen ( Deutsche Lande - Deutsche Kunst ), with photos by Michael Jeiter, Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich, Berlin 1974
• Aachen Cathedral , Verlag Kühlen, Mönchengladbach 1975

literature

• Ekkart Sauser:  Stephany, Erich. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 10, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-062-X , Sp. 1417-1419.
• H. Lepper: Erich Stephany, 1910–1990. In: Journal of the Aachen History Association. 97: 407-412 (1991).
• Clemens Bayer (Hrsg.): Celica Iherusalem - Festschrift for Erich Stephany. Publication of the Association for Christian Art in the Archdiocese of Cologne and Diocese of Aachen, Cologne - Siegburg 1986 (with bibliography).
• Bert Kasties, Manfred Sicking: Aacheners make history. Vol. 2: Fourteen portraits of historical personalities. Shaker, Aachen 1999, ISBN 978-3-8265-6462-8 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Erich Stephany in the catalog of the German National Library