Franz Christoph Günther

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Domkapitelsfriedhof Speyer, grave stele for the earliest canons of the new diocese, including Franz Christoph Günther
Cross of the Speyer Cathedral Capitulars, 1822, as also worn by Franz Christoph Günther as a sign of his canon dignity.

Franz Christoph Günther (born March 13, 1770 in Bruchsal ; † November 9, 1848 in Speyer ) was a Catholic priest , cathedral pastor and cathedral capitular in Speyer, briefly apostolic vicar of the re-established diocese of Speyer in 1821 .

Live and act

Franz Christoph Günther was born as the son of Joachim Günther and his wife Anna Maria. Müller, born in Bruchsal. The father was the court sculptor of the Speyer bishop and Prince-Bishop Cardinal Franz Christoph von Hutten zum Stolzenberg also acted as the boy's godfather.

Franz Christoph attended the grammar school in his hometown, then for two years the prince-bishop's seminary there. Finally he moved from 1791 to 1793 to the seminary in Heidelberg, which was led by Lazarists .

On February 28, 1795 Franz Christoph Günther was ordained a priest by the Auxiliary Bishop Philipp Anton Schmidt (1734–1805) of Speyer . Due to the turmoil of the war and times, he was initially without a permanent position. From the beginning of 1798 until his expulsion on August 20th of that year, he was responsible for the orphaned parish of Schleithal in what is now Alsace . Then Franz Christoph Günther stayed with his widowed mother in Bruchsal until he came to Walzbachtal-Jöhlingen as a chaplain in the Easter period of 1799 , where the church had been furnished with altars by his father.

In mid-January 1801 the young priest went to Harthausen near Speyer as a parish administrator . As a result of the French occupation of the German territories on the left of the Rhine, dioceses that were congruent in area were established in accordance with the Concordat of 1801 between Pope Pius VII and Napoleon , in each of the departmental seats. The old dioceses - including Speyer - were declared dissolved (with regard to their left-bank, now French areas). The former Speyerische Harthausen now belonged to the French Département du Mont-Tonnerre with the capital Mainz . The parts of the old prince-bishops of Mainz , Worms and Speyer on the left bank of the Rhine were combined to form this large diocese . The new Bishop of Mainz was Joseph Colmar , an outstanding man who completely reformed the Church in this area. He appointed Franz Christoph Günther pastor of Harthausen. There, according to the parish memorial book, the priest had his brothers Tobias and Johann Adam, who were active as artists, make new altars for the parish church. Of these "Günther altars" from the old church, which was demolished in 1871, only one crucifixion group in the field chapel on Hanhofer Strasse has survived.

In November 1809 Günther received the parish of Ottersheim near Landau and in 1814, after the death of the Speyer canton pastor Christoph Mähler (1736–1814), his successor as city pastor and episcopal provicer for the former Speyer diocese of the diocese of Mainz. In this capacity, on June 19, 1815, he led Archduke Johann of Austria (1782–1859) through the ruinous Speyer Cathedral and showed him the grave of his ancestor Rudolf von Habsburg (1218–1291); on June 27, 1815 he led Emperor Franz II (1768-1835), Tsar Alexander of Russia (1777-1825) and King Friedrich Wilhelm III. of Prussia (1770–1840) through the cathedral.

During the re-establishment of the new, now exclusively left-bank of the Rhine diocese of Speyer, Cathedral Pastor Günther received his appointment as Apostolic Vicar on September 17, 1821, along with the relevant Papal Bulls , and directed the new district until the arrival of the first Bishop, Matthew von Chandelle , in January 1822. Franz Christoph Günther had already become a member of the newly established cathedral chapter on November 7, 1821 . After a falling out with the Bishop of Chandelle, on the 1st Sunday of Advent 1822, canon Günther resigned from his office as Speyer cathedral priest, Anton Forch was his successor. The next bishop, Johann Martin Manl , appointed Günther director of the Episcopal Chancellery in 1827, in which office he remained until his death.

Since the re-establishment of the Diocese of Speyer in 1821, Franz Christoph Günther kept a handwritten diocese chronicle, which later came to his former Speyer chaplain and long-time friend Johannes Cronauer (1793–1870). It served the historian Franz Xaver Remling as a valuable source when writing his "Modern History of the Bishops of Speyer" published in 1867 . For the Speyer Schematism of 1826 Günther wrote a "Brief Review of the Bishops of Speyer in their order, from the creation of the diocese to its extinction in 1802" . For the first time, the life of the last eight Speyer prince-bishops was briefly examined.

At an advanced age, Franz Christoph Günther suffered from gout and could hardly leave his apartment. On May 5, 1848, he was awarded the Bavarian Order of Ludwig . After a month's sick leave, the prelate died on Thursday, November 9th, 1848, at 7.30 p.m. On Sunday, November 12th, he was buried in the new Speyer cemetery.

family

In addition to his father Joachim Günther (sculptor) , his brother Matthäus Günther (1705–1788) was a very famous baroque artist.

Joachim Günther, the older brother of cathedral capitular Franz Christoph Günther, died prematurely as cathedral vicar in Speyer. His brothers Tobias Günther (1755–1811) and Johann Adam Günther (1760-after 1832) followed in their father's artistic footsteps as sculptors, gilders and painters.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The altars of the father Joachim Günther in the Martinskirche Jöhlingen (illustrated) ( Memento of the original of August 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.st-martin-joehlingen.de
  2. ^ Fritz Klotz: "The former high altar of Harthausen", in "Pfälzer Heimat", born in 1963, pages 58–60
  3. ↑ Source on the visit of the monarchs in Speyer Cathedral, 1815
  4. ↑ To Tobias Günther ( Memento of the original dated November 6, 2014 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.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pfarrgemeinde-untergrombach.de
  5. ↑ To Johann Adam Günther
  6. ^ To Johann Adam Günther, with life data
personal data
SURNAME Günther, Franz Christoph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic priest, cathedral priest, cathedral capitular and apostolic vicar of Speyer
DATE OF BIRTH March 13, 1770
PLACE OF BIRTH Bruchsal
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1848
Place of death Speyer