Franz Hubert Maria Schweitzer

Franz Hubert Maria Schweitzer (born September 9, 1865 in Düsseldorf , † September 27, 1924 in Cologne ) was a Catholic clergyman and, as the longstanding General President of the Catholic Journeyman's Association and later International Kolping Society, the second successor of Blessed Adolph Kolping .

Life

Franz Hubert Schweitzer was born in Düsseldorf as the only son of a well-off family. After graduating from high school in his hometown, he studied Catholic theology at the University of Bonn . During his studies he became a member of the KDStV Novesia Bonn in the CV in 1888 . On August 15, 1892 Schweitzer received along with 29 other deacons in the cathedral by Bishop Anthony Fischer , the ordination . First he was employed as a chaplain in Mönchengladbach for five years , before he was rector of the new St. Albertus Church there from 1897. On October 6, 1899, he was called to Cologne to assist General President Sebastian Georg Schäffer as Vice-President and Local President of the Catholic Journeyman's Association . After his death on November 16, 1901, the board of directors of the journeyman's hospital in Cologne elected Schweitzer on December 4, 1901 as his successor. Two days later, the Archbishop of Cologne, Hubertus Simar , as protector of the Kolping Society, confirmed this choice. After a stroke , Schweitzer died on the evening of September 27, 1924. The pontifical request for his funeral was celebrated by the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Karl Joseph Schulte .

Act

In accordance with the enormous international growth of the Catholic Journeyman's Association, the Cologne association headquarters developed into a general secretariat during Schweitzer's tenure. He appointed Theodor Hürth as Vice President and Karl Katzer as the first association secretary; Economic security of the association as well as training and further education of the skilled craftsmen up to the master craftsman's certificate were initially the focus of his content-related work. Together with journeymen from many European countries and even from the USA, Schweitzer witnessed the inauguration of the Kolping memorial in front of the Minorite Church in Cologne by Archbishop Antonius Fischer on July 12, 1903 . One of the milestones in Schweitzer's tenure was the final recognition of the general association by both the church and the state, which made it possible to transform the head of the association into a legal entity. As a result, a death benefit fund was set up in 1904 and a health benefit fund in 1909 for the members. In 1914 almost 300 journeyman's houses were available to members of the professional wandering, which Schweitzer particularly encouraged.

During Schweitzer's tenure, however, the enormous burden on the Catholic Journeyman's Association also fell through the First World War , in which around 60,000 of the more than 86,000 members were drafted into the front line. Around 17,000 of these all young men, and thus around 20 percent of all members, died in the war. But as early as Pentecost 1922, Schweitzer was able to welcome more than 20,000 journeymen to Cologne at the First International Journeyman's Day, thereby demonstrating that his efforts to rebuild the association under the auspices of a democratic social order were crowned with success.

Awards

For his services Franz Hubert Mary Schweitzer of was Pope Pius X to the Papal Secret Chamberlain appointed.

Streets in Düsseldorf- Vennhausen , Menden (Sauerland) and St. Martin on the Weinstrasse as well as houses in Düsseldorf and Meschede were named after him.

Fonts

• Adolf Kolping and his life's work. St. Josef Association Book Printing Company, Klagenfurt 1913.
• General Praeses Seb. Georg Schäffer. General Secretariat of the cath. Journeyman's Association, Cologne 1925.

literature

• Bernhard Ridder: Men of the Kolping Society . Kolping-Verlag, Cologne 1955, pp. 83-93.
• Robert Steimel: Cologne heads. Cologne 1958, Col. 382f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Complete directory of the CV The honorary members, old men and students of the Cartell Association (CV) of the cath. German student associations. 1912, Strasbourg i. Els. 1912, p. 64.