Firminus Wickenhäuser

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Firminus Wickenhäuser OFM (born January 19, 1876 in Massenbachhausen as Josef Wickenhäuser ; † September 30, 1939 in Düsseldorf ) was a Franciscan and sculptor .

Live and act

Grave slab in the Church of the Conception of Mary

Josef Wickenhäuser was born in the former synagogue of Massenbachhausen in 1876 as the tenth child of the shepherd Johann Adam Wickenhäuser. Six of the siblings had died at a young age before Josef was born, three half-sisters from the father's first marriage had already emigrated to the USA , so that Josef was the only child remaining with the parents. Shortly after his birth, the family moved from the former synagogue to a building on Rosenbergstrasse. The father died in 1891, so that from then on the 15-year-old Josef had to take care of the mother. He worked as a stone knocker when building the road from Massenbachhausen to Gemmingen and did an apprenticeship as a stonemason at Pisot in Kirchardt . He then worked in a tombstone workshop in Stuttgart , where he passed the journeyman's examination in 1899. After military service, years of wandering from 1903 and his mother's death in 1905, he entered the Franciscan order as a lay brother in the Harreveld monastery in 1906 . In 1908 he came to the Düsseldorf monastery for the first time, and from 1911 he lived in the Dorsten monastery . He took part in the First World War as a medic. He also worked as a sculptor during this time. After the war he returned to Düsseldorf, where he made perpetual vows .

As a sculptor, he was responsible for various restorations in religious churches. Among other things, he worked in the religious churches on the Apollinarisberg in Remagen and on the Kreuzberg in Bonn . In addition, he created numerous busts of notables and renovated many small monuments .

He died on September 30, 1939 and was buried in the Stoffeler cemetery in Düsseldorf. His body was later reburied in the crypt of the Franciscan Church of St. Antonius in Düsseldorf. Today it rests in the Church of the Conception of Mary , as the old monastery has been abandoned.

Afterlife and Beatification Process

Soon after his death there was great admiration for Firminus Wickenhäuser. He was already well known and respected during his lifetime. He had been given the nickname the Herrgottsbrüderle of Düsseldorf . Every year at the end of September a Brother-Firminus Week is celebrated in his memory .

In 1951 a process of beatification was initiated. In 1998 he was awarded the title of Venerable Servant of God .

literature

  • Wilhelm Hünermann : Das Herrgottsbrüderle - A life picture of the Franciscan brother Firminus Wickenhäuser . Paderborn 1940.
  • Angelinus Kleinsimlinghaus: Das Herrgottsbrüderle - A picture of the life of the Franciscan brother Firminus Wickenhäuser . Wuppertal-Elberfeld 1949.
  • Salesius Maria Saier: Brother Firminus, the Lord Brothers . Stuttgart-Degerloch 1961.
  • Rolf Muth: Firminus - From Sculptor to Herrgottsbrüderle . In: Massenbachhausen. Home register of the community of Massenbachhausen. Massenbachhausen community, Massenbachhausen 1999.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Reiner Burger : Düsseldorf. Capital without saints. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , September 11, 2012.

Web links

  • Biography on the website of the community of Massenbachhausen
personal data
SURNAME Wickenhauser, Firminus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wickenhauser, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Franciscan and sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH January 19, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Massenbachhausen
DATE OF DEATH September 30, 1939
Place of death Dusseldorf