Ernst von Gagern (clergyman)
Ernst von Gagern , also Johann Ernst von Gagern , (born January 6, 1807 in Monsheim ; † July 6, 1865 in Schifferstadt ) was a scion of the well-known German noble von Gagern family , a convert to the Roman Catholic Church and an important priest figure of the 19th century in the diocese of Speyer . He had connections to high-ranking politicians and high aristocratic circles, including the Bavarian royal family.
Life
origin
He came from the old Rügen noble family von Gagern , which his great-grandfather Claudius Mauritius von Gagern had transplanted to southern Germany. Ernst Freiherr von Gagern was born in his parents' castle in Monsheim near Worms . His father Karl Christoph Gottlieb von Gagern (* 1743 on Rügen , † 1825 in Gauersheim ) was the last court master in Palatinate-Zweibrücken . As a young officer in the French foreign regiment "Royal Deuxponts" , he lost a leg on July 8, 1760, in the battle near Korbach against the Prussians , and he was therefore taken over as a war disabled in the courtly service of his country. For his bravery near Korbach he had received the Knight's Cross of the Military Merit Order, the highest French honor for bravery. After the death of his first wife Esther von Laroche , he married the 32 years younger, middle-class Anna Margaretha Burger from Alzey , who was also called "the beautiful one from Alzey" because of her grace . With her he had 3 sons, of which the future priest Ernst von Gagern was the oldest.
Early life
Ernst von Gagern grew up at Gauersheim Castle near Kirchheimbolanden and converted to the Roman Catholic Church in 1824 at the age of 17. After all, he studied theology at the seminary in Mainz and still belonged to the so-called Mainz Circle , or was influenced by its deeply religious representatives. On August 12, 1831 received from Gagern in Munich the priesthood . Until 1839 he worked in parishes of the archdiocese, namely in Hohenkammer , Ebersberg , Mühldorf am Inn and in Rosenheim as a cooperator (chaplain). Then he moved to his home in the Palatinate.
Pastor of Ottersheim
On March 14, 1839, Bishop Johann Jakob von Geissel appointed him pastor of Ottersheim in the Donnersberg district . He was an eager, energetic pastor and had good personal contacts with the Bavarian royal family. That is why Bishop Nikolaus von Weis sent him on November 4, 1844 on a special mission to Munich. He was supposed to collect donations for the expansion of the Speyer clerical seminar in the higher and highest circles to which he had access. Ernst von Gagern raised the impressive sum of 5201 guilders and 31 kreuzers for this purpose within a short period of time, whereby he personally received 1000 guilders from King Ludwig I and later received an additional 3000 guilders. In 1844/45 the old parish church of St. Amandus in Ottersheim had to be demolished due to disrepair as a result of landslides. Under the decisive direction of Pastor von Gagern, a new Byzantine-style church was built on the same site, which was consecrated in 1845 by Bishop Nikolaus von Weis. Shortly afterwards, the priest left the parish where he had been blessing for 6 years. As a gift, he left a valuable monstrance with a splinter of Christ's cross, which is still used to give blessings in corridor processions.
Pastor of Schifferstadt
On October 17, 1845 Ernst von Gagern became pastor of Schifferstadt, where he also worked as a church builder, as he rebuilt or completely rebuilt the medieval parish church of St. James. His mother moved in with him there too. She died on March 30, 1859 in Schifferstadt and the priest had a touching tombstone erected for her with a mourning figure of Mary. In 1848, pastor von Gagern welcomed the freedoms that had been won for the church and society. He became one of the leading figures of the awakening political Catholicism and he was the first clergyman in the Diocese of Speyer to set up a " Pius Association " in his parish . This, after the then Pope Pius IX. named associations examined the newly granted rights, put them into practice for the benefit of the church and monitored their observance. In this context he is also one of the co-founders of the pilgrim , the Speyerer diocese newspaper and the oldest still existing Catholic newspaper. Just as resolutely as Ernst von Gagern welcomed the legitimate freedoms for church and society, he rejected the violent excesses of the revolution, which were increasingly directed against Catholicism. He also had a sincere affection for the royal house, which supported Catholicism in the Palatinate. The persecution of his person by revolutionary leaders in Schifferstadt must be seen against this background. The beer brewer Ignatz May staged z. For example, on May 20, 1849, there was a commotion during the service in St. Jakobus, Schifferstadt, because Pastor von Gagern had the royal hymn intoned at the end of the mass - as was usually the case during this time. May and his revolutionaries drove the organist off the organ and permanently disrupted the service. He also publicly threatened von Gagern on June 18, 1849 by saying that he would "shoot the bad priest to death in three days" when the French had arrived to support him. The fact that the clergyman could also mess with the royal authorities if necessary is shown by a case documented in the Speyer State Archives from 1855, when he rudely reprimanded the Schifferstadt police officer and wrote an armored letter to the responsible district office in Speyer , as the authorities opposed a long-standing, publicly known case of cohabitation , does not proceed with the necessary decisiveness. Pastor von Gagern had 3 popular missions held (1852, 1854 and 1858) and through his zeal he achieved a religious renewal in his community. The Schifferstadt parish was one of the largest and most labor-intensive in the diocese.
Ernst von Gagern only survived his mother by 6 years and died in Schifferstadt after a two-year illness on July 6, 1865; he was only 58 years old. He was buried right next to his mother and had an identically designed tombstone placed for him, but with a blessing statue of Christ. Both graves are still in the old cemetery in Schifferstadt and a street in the community has been named after the meritorious clergyman for about 30 years.
Jakob Reeb (1842–1917), who later became a priest and member of the Bavarian state parliament, was one of his pupils.
Family environment
Pastor of Gagern's (half) brother (from his father's first marriage) Hans Christoph Ernst von Gagern (1766-1852), was Prime Minister of the Prince of Nassau-Weilburg, 1815 Dutch envoy to the Congress of Vienna, 1816-1818 Luxembourg envoy at the German Bundestag and later a member of the Hessian state parliament.
For his son Heinrich von Gagern (1799-1880), Hessian state parliament member, 1848 Hessian Prime Minister, 1848/49 President of the Paulskirchenparlament and finally (1864-72) Hessian envoy in Vienna , the uncle, Pastor Ernst von Gagern, acted as best man on the occasion of the (Civil) marriage on July 18, 1839, in Freinsheim . He also converted to the Catholic Church in 1870.
literature
- Franz Xaver Remling : Nikolaus von Weis, Bishop of Speyer, in life and work. Volume I. Verlag Ferdinand Kleeberger, Speyer, 1871, page 284, footnote 329.
- Mathias Köller: 100 years of the Catholic parish church “St. Amandus “Ottersheim. Catholic rectory, Ottersheim 1993.
- Bernhard Kukatzki (Red.): Schifferstadt. History and stories. Stadt, Schifferstadt 1998, pp. 621–623 (and passim), ISBN 3-00-002473-5 .
- Joachim Specht: Ernst von Gagern - a baron as pastor of Schifferstadt. In: Heimatjahrbuch Landkreis Ludwigshafen / Rh. Volume 18 (2001), pp. 76-79, ISBN 3-931717-06-2 .
Web links
- Entry about Ernst von Gagern in the "Allgemeine Realencyclopädie" by Wilhelm Binder, Volume 11, 1849
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gagern, Ernst von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gagern, Johann Ernst von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Catholic priest, convert |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 6, 1807 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Monsheim |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 6, 1865 |
| Place of death | Schifferstadt |