Ernst Franz August Munzenberger

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Pastor Munzenberger on an altarpiece by Heinrich Nüttgens , Kaiserdom St. Bartholomäus , Frankfurt

Ernst Franz August Münzenberger , (born June 1, 1833 in Düsseldorf ; † December 22, 1890 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a Catholic priest. From 1870 to 1890 he was parish priest of Frankfurt am Main.

Life

Munzenberger studied theology in Münster , Tübingen and Bonn . In 1855 he entered the seminary in Cologne and was ordained a priest in 1856. As a chaplain in Kettwig , he settled the Dernbach sisters there. Together with their superior Wittayer, he set up his own provincial administration in Düsseldorf-Bilk and then received a pastor's post in Düsseldorf. The aim was to train sisters for teaching professions in order to strengthen the Catholic school system. With this, the church reacted to the simultaneous school desired by the Duke of Nassau and the attempts to deny the sisters the teacher examination in the Duchy of Nassau. As a qualified worker, however, they were able to take on teaching duties in the duchy.

He left his Düsseldorf position and settled in Dernbach with the permission of the Cologne Cardinal Archbishop Johannes von Geissel and the Limburg Bishop Peter Joseph Blum . This was only planned as a leave of absence and was justified by him. However, it turned out to be a transfer to the service of the Limburg diocese . In Dernbach he built his first church in the Diocese of Limburg, the monastery church of the sisters. He assisted the superior and acted as chaplain in the mother house of the Congregation for Poor Maidservants of Jesus Christ .

As a result he became head of the seminary in Limburg and in 1870 city pastor in Frankfurt am Main. This also included membership in the Limburg Cathedral Chapter . The reconstruction of the cathedral , which burned down in 1867, fell during his term of office in Frankfurt . Munzenberger, whose father was a drawing teacher and art dealer, campaigned for the greatest possible restoration of the medieval cathedral. As a result, he got into a conflict with the cathedral master builder Franz Josef Denzinger , who led the reconstruction and was a resolute representative of neo-Gothic . This was particularly evident in the redesign of the cloister and the nave . Some sources state that as the owner of the Munzenberger cathedral, the city even banned entry to the construction site.

Munzenberger then concentrated on the interior of the cathedral. There, on the inside of the right wing of the Anne Altar, is his portrait. It appears in the form of a medieval donor, painted by the Nazarene artist Heinrich Nüttgens , who came from the Düsseldorf Academy .

Since his ordination he had already used his contacts to purchase historical altars and other religious works of art, to restore them and to put them back into liturgical service. This also resulted in compilations or extensions of original works of art. For this activity, among other things, the art style of the Nazarenes was used as the Christian art style that unites the epochs. This in turn promoted the spread of this style. He purchased six Gothic altars for the cathedral . Works of art from his collection can still be found in numerous churches today. An example of this is the high altar in the St. Josefs Church in Frankfurt - Bornheim and various altars in the parish church of St. Bartholomäus in Mörlenbach in the southern Odenwald.

In addition, Munzenberger was particularly active in the rural diaspora regions of the diocese. There, in his function as President of the Bonifatiuswerk in the diocese (from 1869), he created numerous mission stations , which often made pastoral and social care of Catholics possible in the first place.

Munzenberger wrote numerous theological and art-historical writings, including a standard work on art history from 1885: On the knowledge and appreciation of Germany's medieval altars. A contribution to patriotic art, Vol. I, 1885; Vol. II (continued by Stefan Beissel SJ) 1905 , mostly cited as Münzenberger-Beissel .

He died on December 22, 1890 in Frankfurt am Main and was buried in the main cemetery. A street in the north end of Frankfurt and the Pfarrer-Münzenberger-Haus nursing home in Eschersheim are named after Munzenberger.

Works

  • The church legislation of the French Revolution of 1790 . Woerl, Würzburg 1877. (= Catholic Studies 3.2)
  • The Frankfurter and Magdeburg confessional books and the book "Vom dying Menschen". A contribution to the knowledge of religious medieval folk literature . Franz Kirchheim, Mainz 1880.
  • The development of the Frankfurt school system in the last decade. Fösser, Frankfurt a. M. 1880.
  • To the knowledge and appreciation of the medieval altars in Germany. Beginnings and development of the gothic winged altar initially in northern Germany . 2 volumes. Fösser, Frankfurt a. M. 1885-1890. Digitized Volume 2 Edition 1905
  • Africa and Mohammedanism . Fösser, Frankfurt a. M. 1889.
  • Abyssinia and its importance for our time . From the estate of EFA Münzenberger. Edited by Joseph Spillmann SJ Herder, Freiburg i. Br. 1892. Digital -Archive.org

literature

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Munzenberger, Ernst Franz August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic priest, art collector and parish priest of Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF BIRTH June 1, 1833
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH December 22, 1890
Place of death Frankfurt am Main