François Libermann

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François Libermann.

François Libermann (born April 12, 1802 in Saverne , † February 2, 1852 in Paris ) was a French Roman Catholic clergyman and founder of the order . In Sébikotane in Senegal, the Grand séminaire François Libermann , which has existed since 1911, is named after him.

life and work

Turning away from the Jewish faith

Jacob Libermann grew up as the fifth child of the Rabbi von Zabern in Alsace and was urged to strictly observe the Torah . In 1822 his father sent him to the higher Talmud school in Metz . Under the weight of the contempt and hostility that met him there (partly because he wanted to improve his French), he cast off the Jewish faith and began to read the Scriptures critically: God's choice of one people at the expense of the others seemed unfair to him. The Greek philosophers seemed to him more worthy of God's attention. The biblical miracles struck him as absurd.

Turning to Catholicism

By reading the creed of the Savoy chaplain from Rousseau's Emile or through the upbringing and example of his eldest brother, who converted in 1825, he inwardly approached the Catholic faith, but initially remained skeptical. In October 1826 he went to Paris for clarification. There he met compatriot and former rabbi David-Paul Drach (1791–1865), who converted in 1823 and who ensured his admission to the Catholic seminary at the Stanislas grammar school . At Christmas 1826 he was baptized in the name François (Marie Paul) . In October 1827 he was admitted to the Saint-Sulpice seminary , but an epileptic attack prevented him from entering the priesthood. He was allowed to stay in the seminary and earned a reputation as a soul guide. In the task assigned to him in 1838 as spiritual director of the Eudist novices in Rennes , he was only moderately successful because of the high demands placed on the young people.

Foundation and leadership of a missionary order

On October 28, 1839, the feast of the apostles Simon and Jude Thaddäus , he felt an inner call to mission to the Gentiles and to found an order intended for it. He left for Rome in January 1840 and spent a year there pending approval from the Vatican. In 1841 his health improved and he was ordained a priest on September 18, 1841 in Amiens . On September 25, he founded the Société du Saint-Cœur de Marie (Society of the Sacred Heart of Mary) in Paris in the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires for the conversion of blacks and immediately opened a novitiate in La Neuville (Amiens). From there he sent ten missionaries to Guinea in September 1843 , seven of whom died within a year. They have been replaced by numerous new entrants.

Merging with the Spiritans and death

In 1848, through the merger with the Seminary of the Holy Spirit, founded by Claude Poullart des Places in 1703, it became the missionary society of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary under Libermann as the first common religious order. The Spiritans contributed significantly to the boom in the overseas mission. Libermann, who directed the mission from France, fell ill in November 1851 and died in February 1852 in the scent of holiness. In 1910 Pius X declared him worthy of admiration. His remains have been resting in the Spiritan mother house at 30 Rue Lhomond in Paris since 1967. His hometown Saverne has erected a monument to him.

Works (selection)

  • You laid your hand on me ... Franz Libermann's appeal to our time . German Province of the Mission Society of the Holy Spirit, Cologne 1985.
  • Become a priest & act as a priest. Thoughts of the venerable Father Franz Maria Libermann . Sarto Verlagsbuchhandlung GmbH, Bobingen 2017 (first in 1946 and T. Sancti erunt Deo suo!).
  • (Lambert Vogel, ed.) Lettres du vénérable père Libermann . Desclée de Brouwer 1965.

literature

  • Michael Böhles: defeat as victory. Charisma and mission of the Jew and Christian Jakob Franz-Maria-Paul Libermann . Books on demand, Norderstedt 2014.
  • Paule Brasseur: Libermann 1802-1852. Une pensée et une mystique missionnaires , ed. by Paul Coulon. Cerf, Paris 1988.
  • Christy Burk: No longer slaves. The mission of Francis Libermann (1802-1852) . Columba, Dublin 2010.
  • Gérald Connerotte: Douceur et docilité au souffle de Dieu. Spiritualité de François Libermann (1802-1852) . Parvis, Hauteville 2009.
  • Lambert Dohmen: The Venerable P. Libermann. An apostle of the negroes in the 19th century . Jaeger, Speyer 1947.
  • Heinrich Döring: From Jew to Order Founder. Revered Father Libermann and the foundation of the African mission in the 19th century . Knechtsteden 1930.
  • Jean Gay (1901–1977): Libermann . Desclée de Brouwer, Paris 1950.
  • Jean Gay: François Libermann. The chemins de la paix . Congrégation du Saint-Esprit, Paris 1974, 3rd edition 1995.
  • Jean Gay: Libermann. Juif selon l'Évangile, 1802-1852 . Beauchesne, Paris 1977.
  • Joseph Heilgers: The foundation of the African mission by the venerable Fr Libermann, the founder of the Congregation of St. Spirit and from St. Heart of mary. Instructions and teachings for his missionaries . Schöningh, Paderborn 1896.
  • André Németh (1891–1953): La vie du vénérable père François Libermann . L'Harmattan, Paris 2008.
  • Josef Theodor Rath: Father Libermann CSSp. A Life for Africa 1802–1852 . Missionsverlag, Knechtsteden 1980.
  • Adrian L. VanKaam: A light to the Gentiles. The life story of the venerable Francis Libermann . University Press of America, Lanham, Md., 1985.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Libermann, François
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Libermann, Franz Maria Paul; Libermann, Jacob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Roman Catholic priest, spiritan, founder and superior of the order
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1802
PLACE OF BIRTH Saverne
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1852
Place of death Paris