Eustachius Federl

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Eustachius Federl , also "Föderl" ; Order name Franciscus Salesius a Matre Dolorosa OCD (born September 13, 1732 in Munich , † July 26, 1787 in Haifa , Israel , Mount Karmel ) was a Catholic titular bishop and apostolic vicar of Verapoly in Kerala , India.

origin

Eustachius Federl or Föderl was born as the son of the Munich innkeeper and hunter of the same name and his wife Catharina born. Eisgrueber born. The father had been running the popular “Stachusgarten” tavern on Karlsplatz in Munich since 1755 , which was named after its owner. In memory of this restaurant, the well-known Münchner Platz has since borne the popular name "Stachus".

Live and act

In 1750 he graduated from the Munich Jesuit high school (today Wilhelmsgymnasium Munich ) and in 1753 entered the Bavarian province of the Discalced Carmelites . He received the religious name "Franciscus Salesius a Matre Dolorosa". After completing his theological studies in Munich, he was sent to the mission seminar of his order in Rome and appointed on August 24, 1762 for the Malabar mission. Since 1700, the order was responsible for the entire south-west of India, the Vicariate Apostolic Verapoly. Federl first arrived there on October 19, 1765.

Extremely linguistically gifted - he spoke seven European languages ​​- the priest acquired such a good knowledge of the national language Malayalam that he was entrusted with the difficult task of permanent visitor in the Vicariate of Verapoly . After the apostolic vicar (bishop) he held the second most important office of the local mission. One of his main tasks was to visit the parishes and to settle tensions between the congregations of the Catholic Thomas Christians and the Latins. A contemporary account described him as "the only good missionary among those currently in Malabar".

On April 29, 1772 Eustachius Federl left India and returned to Europe because the hard missionary work had made him sick, as the Vicar Apostolic of Verapoly, Nicolaus Szostak ( Florentius of Jesus of Nazareth ) announced to Rome in the same year. In November 1773 in Rome he gave a detailed report to the Propaganda Congregation on the status of the Malabar mission.

In the meantime, Bishop Nicolaus Szostak, a Lithuanian, died in India on July 26, 1773, and Eustachius Federl, who was currently in Europe , was appointed as his successor by Pope Clement XIV on July 27, 1774. The Carmelite then traveled from Augsburg to Paris on September 14, 1774, where he arrived on October 27. There the apostolic nuncio and later cardinal , Archbishop Giuseppe Doria Pamphili , consecrated him on November 20 in the chapel of the Paris Mission as titular bishop of Germanicia . A week later, Federl set out for India, where he arrived in his diocese on October 13, 1775.

Federl received a very reserved reception from his fellow brothers in the Verapoly Vicariate. He was not popular with them in the past and now they really conspired against him. Some wrote to Rome that they did not want him as Vicar Apostolic because he was unworthy. In confirmation, they accused him of various things; u. a. A situation was brought up from the time of his first stay (i.e. before 1772) when he personally arrested a priest of the Thomas Christians who had become addicted to alcohol and had stolen a monstrance with the holy of holies from a church and let him starve to death in prison . The Congregation for Propaganda had already been informed of this incident and had expressed great displeasure in a resolution of July 22, 1774.

Regardless of this, Eustachius Federl had the strongest support from the Thomas Christians of his vicariate. After his confreres had expelled him from the official seat of Verapoly Monastery, he resided with them in Alengad. The local Thomas Christians were very fond of him and gave him lasting support. The surviving palm leaf minutes of a meeting of the deputies of the Thomas Christians of the Vicariate Verapoly, in the Marienkirche Alengad, from February 15, 1776, declares solidarity with Eustachius Federl and fully defends him. There it says u. a .:

“In the year of the Lord, 1776, on February 15, the parishes of Malabar met in St. Mary's Church in Alengad, before the venerable Bishop of Germanicia (i.e. before Eustachius Federl), made the following decisions, they held on an ola (i.e. Palm leaf manuscript ) and signed them by hand. ... As things were developing, the new Bishop Franciscus Salesius (Federl) came to Verapoly. Contrary to the old customs, they (the Carmelites) did him and us a lot of injustice, which is why we solemnly escorted the bishop to Alengad so that he can live here. We, the deputies of the Malabar Christians, have decided that because of the injustices against the bishop and against us we will not admit any of the fathers into our churches, nor will we obey them until the Pope has been informed and he informs us of his decision.

The exact reasons for the quarrels between Eustachius Federl and his confreres can no longer be clearly understood today. Josef Glazik describes the events in the New German Biography as follows: “There were also national rivalries among the Carmelites themselves; they led to a split among them that spread to the Christian communities and forced Rome to revoke the appointment. ”Federl's character seems rough and at times quick-tempered, but he apparently got along quite well with the simple, native Christians and came better off with them than with his mostly Italian confratres.

Rome finally decided the case and recalled Eustachius Federl after almost two years as Vicar Apostolic of Verapoly. The bishop obeyed; he resigned on March 9, 1777 and retired first to Bombay , then to Baghdad and finally to the mother monastery on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land, where he died in 1787. It was not until 1784 that the Italian Carmelite Aloysius Mary of Jesus OCD (1743–1802) succeeded Federl as Vicar Apostolic of Verapoly; in the meantime the office remained orphaned.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the naming of the "Stachus" after Eustachius Federl
  2. ↑ Max Leitschuh: The matriculations of the upper classes of the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich , 4 volumes. Munich 1970–1976, Vol. 3, p. 38
  3. ^ Josef Glazik:  Franciscus Salesius a Matre Dolorosa. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 315 ( digitized version ).
  4. ↑ Varghese Puthussery: Reunion Efforts of St. Thomas Christians of India . 2008, ISBN 81-87906-05-7 , pp. 158, 187
  5. ↑ To Bishop Nicolaus Szostak
  6. ^ Giuseppe Doria Pamphili in the English language Wikipedia
  7. ↑ To the Carmelite Monastery of Verapoly, the residence of the Vicar Apostolic at the time ( Memento of October 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Alengad in the English language Wikipedia
  9. ↑ Varghese Puthussery: Reunion Efforts of St. Thomas Christians of India . 2008, ISBN 81-87906-05-7 , pp. 190-195
  10. ↑ Varghese Puthussery: Reunion Efforts of St. Thomas Christians of India . 2008, ISBN 81-87906-05-7 , pp. 193-194
  11. ↑ To Bishop Aloysius Mary of Jesus OCD, the successor of Federl
personal data
SURNAME Federl, Eustachius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Föderl Eustachius, Father Franciscus Salesius a Matre Dolorosa OCD
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop and Vicar Apostolic in India
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1732
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1787
Place of death Mount Carmel Israel