Fidelis from Sigmaringen
Saint Fidelis von Sigmaringen (born October 1, 1578 in Sigmaringen , † April 24, 1622 in Seewis in Graubünden ) was a doctor of philosopher and lawyer , Catholic priest and martyr .
origin
Fidelis (real name: Markus Rey or Roy, the oldest documents are called "Rey", the newer ones speak of "Roy") was the son of the innkeeper and later Sigmaringen mayor Johannes Rey. His father Mathäus had come to Sigmaringen from Antwerp in 1529 and had acquired property and reputation when Count Charles I took over his government, who in turn also came from the Netherlands.
Marcus Rey was born in 1578. His mother was Genoveva Rosenberger and came from Tübingen. The family was at home in the "Adler" and lived in every respect in an orderly manner.
Training and work as a lawyer
Marcus Rey attended elementary school at home and studied philosophy and law in Freiburg im Breisgau from 1598 . In 1603 he received his doctorate in philosophy. From 1604 to 1610 he accompanied the Freiherr Wilhelm von Stotzingen on trips through all of France , Welschland ( Northern Italy ) and several "Spanish provinces" (ie the Spanish Netherlands ). As he himself wrote, he undertook these journeys "to gain more experience, to capture the world race, to learn foreign languages and customs, and to successfully complete all studies". After the end of his travels, he stayed for two years with the Freiherrn von Stotzingen, with whom he remained loyally connected, and at the same time continued his studies in law. On May 7, 1611 he received his doctorate as "Doctor of both rights". After receiving his doctorate, through the mediation of his sovereign, Landvogt Count Karl II. Von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Ensisheim , the seat of administration over the Habsburg foreland in Alsace , in Breisgau , in Aargau and on Lake Constance , he was given the lucrative position of lawyer and assessor at highest court. He made a name for himself as an “advocate for the poor”.
Working in the Capuchin Order
Discouraged by mismanagement and corruption, he entered the Capuchin Order in 1612 , to which his brother Georg already belonged as Father Apollinaris, and where he was given the religious name Fidelis (of loyalty). The order attracted him through his engagement in the Catholic renewal movement after the Council of Trent . He was ordained a priest in 1612 in the episcopal chapel of the Minster in Constance . How serious he meant it in his personal life of faith is proven by his exercise book “Exercitia Seraphicae Devotionis”. The novitiate year he put under Father Mathias von Reichenau from. Father Baptista of Poland was his teacher. Father Fidelis was employed in various places in pastoral care and in the monastery management: 1616 for the foundation of the monastery in Biberach , 1617 as a preacher in Altdorf , Bludenz and Kientzheim , 1618 as a guardian in Rheinfelden , 1619 as a preacher in Feldkirch , 1620 as a superior in Friborg . In 1621 he became guardian of the Capuchin monastery in Feldkirch . He traveled as a missionary on behalf of the Pontifical Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith , the areas of Switzerland . In this changing and extensive activity, his rich intellectual talents and abilities as well as his extensive scientific knowledge benefited him. But also his character traits and his own virtues - severity and hardship on the one hand, love, kindness and justice on the other - had a lasting effect.
Missionary work in Graubünden
From Feldkirch, Fidelis came into contact with what was going on in the Grisons region. There, the denominational disputes were palpable and intensified by political tensions. Fidelis tried to win back those who had converted through sermons and talks about their faith, to strengthen the believers and to refute the Reformation preachers. When Austrian troops conquered parts of the Free State of the Three Leagues during the Thirty Years' War in the Prättigau War , Fidelis followed them and looked after the soldiers . By Pope Paul V , the Capuchins were with the formal order of the new papal Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith to the mission in Prattigau been entrusted, he, supported by other Kapuzinermissonaren, tireless and executed under constant threat to life and limb.
Fidelis began his mission in January 1622 by explaining his plan to the Bishop of Chur , Johann Flugi , and having the necessary powers given to him. The bishop re-published the already existing sovereign ordinances, which essentially said that all evangelical preachers should leave the country and the practice of the Zwinglian and Calvinist beliefs should be stopped, but no one should be forced to accept the Catholic religion. The proclamation of these measures and the military support - not coming from Fidelis - for their implementation were, however, partly responsible for the riots that broke out.
In the Prättigau, despite the wintertime, Fidelis went to one town after the other and preached in the churches. He tried to lead people to Catholic doctrine through argument and with the help of Holy Scripture. He urged adherents of the Protestant teachings to present their arguments to him in order to deal with them without wanting to force anyone. This opened the hearts of many people to him; he was also respected by his opponents. How successful he was, he wrote on April 6, 1622 to the Abbot of Mehrerau :
"On Passion Sunday (during fasting) in Zizers I brought two landamans, the governor, the country woman with his wife and the sacristan, so that in the face of everyone present in the church, they renounced error and the solemn confession of our Roman- Catholic apostolic faith ... "
Martyrdom at Seewis
In response to an insidious invitation (intended to lure him into an ambush), Father Fidelis arrived in Seewis on April 24, 1622, after he had read mass in Grüsch . While he was preaching in the church there, peasants carrying hidden weapons entered the church and provoked a commotion. In the scuffle, the Austrian soldiers who had followed the Capuchin against his will to the church under Captain Jakob Kolonna Freiherr von Fels, in order to protect him from attacks, perished. Without being able to finish his sermon, Fidelis left the church alone against the advice of the Reformed sacristan. On the way back to Grüsch he was insulted by a group of rebellious farmers under Johann and Anton Davatsch, Christian Jegga, Petrus Riederer, Christian Saxer, Gebhard von Davos, Rudolf Hildebrand von Sgiers and Ulrich Perth and asked to renounce his belief. According to one of the farmers, his answer is said to have been:
“I am the one who has fought your errors with all my might; I am the one who announced to you the Catholic faith, to which I myself am fully convinced, I have come to you to exterminate your sad heresies, but not to accept them; see to it that you do not regret this act. "
As a result, he died from numerous blows and stabs all over his body between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. In a similar way, Anton von Gugelberg, Count von Malang, was killed at Grüsch when he had professed his Catholic faith.
His body was temporarily buried next to the church wall. A miraculous flower is said to have grown out of his grave. Half a year later the body was transferred and buried in Chur .
Canonization and devotion
On October 5, 1729 viewed as a first-martyr of the Capuchin Order Fidelis was in Immenstadt beatified by Pope on 29 June 1746 , Benedict XIV. , Together with Camillus de Lellis canonized . Today his head is kept as a relic in the Capuchin monastery in Feldkirch . In 1730, a Fidelis chapel was added to the Capuchin Church of St. Joseph in Immenstadt.
Remembrance day
- Catholic: April 24th ( Non-mandatory day of remembrance in the general Roman calendar )
Worship in Sigmaringen
Fidelis is the patron saint of Feldkirch and Sigmaringen, patron saint of Hohenzollern and Vorarlberg , lawyers, in court matters and for the spread of faith. In the Hanfertal district of Sigmaringen, a church is dedicated to him, the Fideliskirche . He is also the family patron of the Barons von Stotzingen.
The Archbishop's Study Home St. Fidelis was housed in his birthplace in Sigmaringen ( Fidelishaus ) from 1856 after it had been bought by Pastor Thomas Geiselhart . Today the district cantorate and Caritas are housed here.
From the middle of the 19th century, large processions were held through the city on Fidelistag in Sigmaringen , in which the local priests, the Franciscans of Gorheim , the pupils of the Fideliskonvikt and many other believers took part. Relics of the saint were brought along, including the cradle of the town patron, which is now kept in the Fidelis altar of the town parish church of St. Johann .
Fidelistag was an official holiday until 1937. After that, until 1944, on Fidelist Day, services with processions were held in the immediate vicinity of the parish church. In the post-war period, the fidelity processions were initially resumed, and the fidelity day, no longer protected as a religious holiday from 1954, lost its importance. From 1968 the feast of the saint was celebrated on the first Sunday after April 24th.
A few years later, however, the Fidelistag saw a revival. From 1979 onwards, smaller processions were held and, since 1992, large light processions on April 24th after a service in the parish church. In the recent past, high religious dignitaries such as Robert Zollitsch , Jean-Claude Périsset and Karl Lehmann have also taken part.
The importance of Saint Fidelis for Sigmaringen can also be seen in the fact that long-established families still boast that they were related to him. Seasoned men still profess their pride in having carried the Fidelis cradle during the great procession as children or adolescents.
During the Second World War, the Sigmaringers believed they were under special protection from their patron saint. It is popularly said that only the work of Saint Fidelis saved the city from planned destruction by a bombing raid in April 1945. The pastor at the time, Norbert Beuter, is said to have said on Fidelistag 1945 in the church: “Saint Fidelis saved his hometown from severe suffering. Thank him! "
iconography
Fidelis is portrayed with a spiked club (Prättigau stick ) and sword .
Pawn rule
A peasant or weather rule corresponding to the Catholic name day on April 24th reads "If it freezes on Sankt Fidel, it will stay cold and light for 15 days"
literature
- Christian Schweizer: Fidelis von Sigmaringen. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Manoel de Azevedo: Acta canonizationis sanctorum Fidelis a Sigmaringa, Camilli de Lillis, Petri Regalati, Josephi a Leonissa, et Catharinae de Ricciis: una cum apostolicis literis sanctissimi domini nostri Benedicti XIV et Vaticanae Basilicae ornatus descriptione . Palearini, Rome 1749 ( digitized version )
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Fidelis, counter-reformer, saint. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 30-31.
- Markus Hofer : Fidelis von Sigmaringen. Man of God, zealot, martyr. Tyrolia, Innsbruck 2007, ISBN 978-3-7867-8628-3 .
- Matthias Ilg: The cult of the Capuchin martyr Fidelis von Sigmaringen as an expression of Catholic war experiences in the Thirty Years' War. In: Matthias Asche (Hrsg.): The judgment of God: War experiences and religion in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the age of the Thirty Years War. Contributions from the Tübingen Collaborative Research Center “War Experiences - War and Society in Modern Times”. Aschendorff, Münster 2001. ISBN 3-402-05910-X , pp. 291-439.
- Matthias Ilg: Constantia et fortitudo. The cult of the Capuchin martyr Fidelis von Sigmaringen between “Pietas Austriaca” and “Ecclesia Triumphans”. The history of veneration of the protomartyr of the Counter Reformation, the Capuchin order and the “Congregatio de propaganda fide” (1622–1729) , 2 volumes. Aschendorff, Münster 2016, ISBN 978-3-402-13164-0 .
- Lucianus Montifontanus : Kurtzer excerpt of the life, change, torture, and death, as well as miracles of the blessed P. Fidelis Capucini of Sigmaringen, born in Swabia, of the Seraphic and Holy Father Francisci Order, First Blood Witness to Jesus Christ. From the time of salvation. Assembly of extension of the catholic faith which by your Päbstl. Holiness Benedicto the XIII. In the Lateran Church in Rome, March 24th, 1729. Seelig was pronounced highly fiery. Collected by a deß Capuciner order of the Böheim Provincial Priests and Preachers , first edition printed in Konstanz , also published in Breßlau : Druckerei Karl Friedrich Hilsen 1729, online edition .
- Heinrich Kellner: Fidelis of Sigmaringen . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 4 f.
- Bonaventure from Mehr: Fidelis von Sigmaringen. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 137 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Richard Schell: Fidelis von Sigmaringen - the saint in the depictions of art from four centuries , Thorbecke, Sigmaringen, 1977, ISBN 3-7995-4013-X , 259 pp.
- JA Zimmermann: Fidelis von Sigmaringen - his life, his glorious torture, his miracles and beatification and canonization . Wagner, Innsbruck 1863
- New Year's Eve from Milan: Vita beati Fidelis a Sigmaringa Suevi Ord. Min. Divi Francisci Capuccinorum missionum apostolicarum Rhaetiae praefecti congregationis de propaganda fide protomartyris . Malatesta, Milan 1730
- Albert Werfer: Life of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen . Hurter, Schaffhausen 1860. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
- Ferdinand della Scala: St. Fidelis von Sigmaringen, first matyr of the Capuchin Order and the Congregatio de propaganda fide , Mainz 1896. (Archived with Mag. Edilbert Geiger: Father Stanislaus Saurbeck (1595–1647), a Capuchin from Wutöschingen, Capuchin monastery Gauenstein 140 , Schrunz / Vorarlberg, around 1980) .
Web links
- Literature by and about Fidelis von Sigmaringen in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ erzbistum-freiburg.de: Thomas Geiselhart , accessed on December 23, 2011
- ↑ Otto H. Becker: The Fidelis worship in Sigmaringen has an eventful history in: Schwäbische Zeitung , Sigmaringen edition, April 22, 2010
- ↑ Otto H. Becker: Observations on Fidelis Adoration in the Post-War Period . In: Hohenzollerische Heimat - magazine of the Hohenzollerisches Geschichtsverein , 57th year, June 2007.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fidelis from Sigmaringen |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Catholic religious priest and martyr |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 1, 1578 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sigmaringen |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 24, 1622 |
| Place of death | Seewis , Graubünden |