Ferdinand von Geramb
Ferdinand von Geramb ; Order name Maria Joseph von Geramb OCR (born April 17, 1772 in Lyon , France, † March 15, 1848 in Rome ) was Austrian chamberlain in Vienna , commander of a free corps against Napoleon I , colonel of the Imperial and Royal Army, prisoner of state in France, and finally a Trappist monk , General Procurator of the Trappist Order and religious writer.
Family and origin
Ferdinand von Gerambs's parents lived in Schemnitz, Slovakia, now Banská Štiavnica , which at that time belonged to the Hungarian part of the Habsburg monarchy. The father Franz Xaver von Geramb was raised to the hereditary imperial knighthood in 1770; When Ferdinand was born, the couple were in Lyon, France, where their relatives were engaged in the silk industry. The boy grew up in Vienna and was promoted to chamberlain to the emperor. In order to accept the hereditary Austrian imperial dignity by Franz II , Geramb wrote the historical-allegorical poem "Habsburg", which he personally presented to the monarch on December 8, 1804 as a splendid print with 21 illustrations by the artist Johann Veit Friedrich Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1764–1841) and that was widely used. In 1805 Geramb, together with the well-known humanist Count Friedrich von Berchtold , collected 65,000 guilders in donations for the residents of the Giant Mountains threatened by famine.
military
In the same year Ferdinand von Geramb set up a volunteer corps against Emperor Napoleon I in Vienna and published a sharp proclamation against him with the title: "The enemy of Europe has flooded Germany with his armies and is threatening our fatherland's borders" . In it he writes u. a .:
“ Everyone is ready to help and forget about themselves for the sake of it all. Inspired by this spirit, I hereby invite you to support me in an undertaking to contribute to the defense of the precious fatherland, which I am determined to do. The sovereign court commissioner has given me permission to set up a free corps and lead it against the enemy, and Se. Your Majesty had the highest grace not only to confirm it, but also to grant it the honorary title: Freycorps of the Austrian Kaiserinn. To face the danger, I tear myself away from the arms of a beloved wife and six minor children. I urge my noble fellow citizens to give money to promote this company. "
There is a commemorative cross of the Freikorps von Geramb, known at Austerlitz as Freikorps Empress Maria Teresa. A photo of the flag is in the picture archive, Vienna.
In 1809 Geramb commanded an Austrian regiment as a colonel, which he also led in the battle of Wagram . In 1810 he embarked for Cádiz to voluntarily fight the French in Spain. He commanded a guerrilla force here. In order to again set up an anti-French free corps for King Ferdinand VII , Geramb went to England to his friend Lord Francis Rawdon-Hastings , who was very dear to him. Here, too, he issued appeals against Napoleon. However, the recruitment of volunteers failed, the Austrian fell into debt and left Great Britain.
Landing from there by ship in Husum , Denmark at that time , Geramb was captured by the French in 1812 and imprisoned as a political prisoner of state in Vincennes Castle . Here and in the Paris prison "La Force" a friendship developed with his fellow prisoner Étienne Antoine Boulogne, the bishop of Troyes .
Trappist monk
Under the influence of Bishop Boulogne, Ferdinand von Geramb broke his previous life, gave up being a soldier and in 1815, after his liberation by the Allies, entered the strict order of penance of the Trappists . The officer had married his relative Theresia von Adda in 1796, had been a widower since 1808 and had 5 living children. When he entered the monastery, he entrusted this to his brother, General Leopold von Geramb, and asked the Tsar of Russia and the Emperor of Austria, both of whom he knew personally, for their special care.
Initially, the monk lived in the Port-du-Salut convent near Entrammes, where he took his vows on April 13, 1817 and assumed the religious name of Frater Maria Joseph, from 1827 in Oelenberg in Alsace. Although only a brother and not a priest, Geramb was well known for his military background, and he was often used on special community missions. In 1823 he wandered through France to collect donations for the order, from 1830 he stayed for a long time with his confreres in the monastery of St. Urban in Switzerland because of the political situation , where he became friends with Abbot Friedrich Pfluger (1772-1848) . In 1831 Frater Geramb went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, about which he published a travelogue. In 1837 he traveled to Rome and was elected titular abbot or general procurator of the Trappists, in which position he stayed from now on mainly in the capital of Catholicism. Pope Gregory XVI became aware of him and drew him into his closer environment. In the book “Journey from La Trappe to Rome” the monk described his Roman times and paints a vivid picture of the Pope from his own perspective. He also wrote numerous spiritual works.
In his Roman memoirs in 1858 , Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman describes Ferdinand von Geramb as "a man of considerable size, clad in the white robe of the Cistercians " and continues:
“ If the reader takes a closer look at this monk, despite his serious expression, he will notice noble features and, in the simplicity of his clothes, a graceful demeanor which betrays the finely educated nobleman, yes, he will still show traces of the humorous, good-natured and chivalrous courtier discover him. In his eye you can still see a glimmer of the former sparkling joke, which he has now suppressed or moderated to a harmless joke. When I visited him once in his monastery, he showed me a letter from the imperial hand which he had just received and in which he was told about the bravery and wounding of his son who fought against the Circassians ; as well as several other royal letters written in the tone as one friend writes to another. But he is through and through a monk of the strictest order known to the Church; he lives in a very simple cell, sleeps on a straw mattress, writes, studies and contemplates, is devout in prayer and edifying in conversation. "
Shortly before his death, Baron von Geramb collected large sums for the Catholics who were in need after the Swiss Sonderbund War of 1847. He died in Rome in 1848 and "retained a peculiar freshness and romantic chivalry until his old age" , as his obituary in the "New Nekrolog für Deutschland" , 1849, Volume 1, records. There it is also said that Geramb's many religious writings are characterized by “intimacy, fervor of feeling, knowledge of the human heart and wonderful language” .
In 1909 in Vienna - Donaustadt (22nd district) Gerambgasse was named after Ferdinand von Geramb.
Portraits
- Portrait as Freikorpsführer (scroll down to the next page)
- Portrait as a Trappist monk (scroll down to the next page)
relative
Ferdinand von Geramb's brother Leopold von Geramb (1775–1845) was an Austrian cavalry general and knight of the Military Maria Theresa Order .
The Styrian folklorist Viktor von Geramb (1884-1958) was also a member of the family and never failed to visit Ferdinand von Geramb's grave when he was in Rome.
literature
- Constant von Wurzbach: "Biographical Lexicon of the Austrian Empire" , Volume 5, Vienna 1859 (scan of the multi-page lexicon entry)
- Pierer's Universal Lexicon : Complete encyclopedia entry
- Wetzers and Weltes Kirchenlexikon , Volume 12, Herder-Verlag, Freiburg, 1856 scan of the multi-page lexicon entry
- "Morning paper for educated readers" , July 1837, review of Geramb's works (scan of the article)
- G. Lenotre: "Romances of the French Revolution" , 2008 (English); Scan of the chapter on Ferdinand Geramb
- Nicholas Wiseman : “Memories of the last four popes and of Rome in their time” , chapter on Pope Gregory XVI., Scan of the text on Ferdinand von Geramb
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Franz Schnorr von Carolsfeld: Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Veit . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 32, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1891, pp. 191-193.
- ^ "Habsburg" poem by Ferdinand Geramb, 1804
- ^ History of the City of Vienna, Freikorps von Geramb
- ^ Document on the memorial cross of the Freikorps Geramb
- ^ To Bishop Etienne-Antoine Boulogne
- ^ Encyclopedia entry Geramb in the "Catholic Enzyclopedia" from 1913 ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Port-du-Salut Abbey
- ↑ Waltraud Hörsch: Friedrich Pfluger. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . February 2, 2010 , accessed July 7, 2019 .
- ^ Obituary in the Neue Nekrolog für Deutschland, 1849
- ^ Encyclopedia entry about General Leopold von Geramb
- ↑ On the relationship between Ferdinand and Viktor von Geramb
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Geramb, Ferdinand von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Geramb, Maria Joseph; Geramb Joseph Maria |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian nobleman and military man, free corps leader, monk, Trappist abbot |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 17, 1772 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lyon , France |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 15, 1848 |
| Place of death | Rome |