Franz Wilhelm Cramer

Franz Wilhelm Cramer

Franz Wilhelm Cramer (born March 3, 1815 in Oelde , † March 15, 1903 in Münster ) was a German Roman Catholic theologian, writer and from 1884 until his death auxiliary bishop in the diocese of Münster .

Life

Cramer first attended the Progymnasium in Warendorf , then later the Paulinum Grammar School in Münster. There he graduated from high school in 1834. He completed his studies in Catholic theology at the Academic College of the Diocese of Münster . He was ordained a priest here on August 10, 1838.

From 1839 he worked as a chaplain in Neuenkirchen near Rheine . Appointed parish dean in Dülmen in 1850 and rector of Dülmen House , he founded and edited the Dülmen Catholic Mission Gazette from 1852 at the latest.

1864 he was appointed canon in Munster and in the follow Gustav van der Meulen, the rain of the Episcopal Seminary Collegium Borromaeum Münster , which he directed until 1880th In 1866 he was at the same time prosynodal examinator (director) of the World Priests Congregation of Kevelaer , the later Canisian community .

During this time Cramer developed a lively activity as a folk writer. His works on popular piety and devotion, including prayer books, exhortation and edification pamphlets, achieved large editions and were translated into various languages. During the closing of the seminary at the time of the Kulturkampf , which was ordered in 1876, he held popular missions.

In April 1884 Cramer was awarded an honorary Catholic theological doctorate from the Royal Academy, successor to the Academic Teaching Institute and predecessor of what is now the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster , in the same year he was both cathedral dean and (until his resignation in 1897) official bishop in Münster.

Cramer was also the papal house prelate and papal assistant to the throne .

Pope Leo XIII. appointed Cramer on November 13, 1884 auxiliary bishop in Münster and titular bishop of Lycopolis . The then bishop of Münster Johannes Bernhard Brinkmann donated him the episcopal ordination on December 21, 1884.

For many years Cramer was the confessor of the Sisters of Divine Providence in Munster.

He died on March 15, 1903 in Münster and is buried in the central cemetery there.

Works

Independent publications (selection)

• Way of the Cross devotion for the preservation and refreshment of the mission fruits, for public and private use , Laumann, Dülmen 1869, 32 p .; several ed.
• The big day has come! Or: holy exercises for the last eight days before the first holy communion, as well as for communion day, also prayers and litany for the time of communion lessons [...] Laumann, Dülmen 1866; 23rd ed.
• Crusade and Armament, or: The General Council, a matter for all Catholic Christians, together with a collection of prayers for the same purpose. Laumann, Dülmen 1868. 110 p. (EDDB Cologne)
• The Christian mother in her education and in her prayers. Laumann, Dülmen 1872. 208 p .; 37th ed.
• Fire and sword or the holy places and hours. Reflections on the suffering of our Lord [...]. Laumann, Dülmen 1870. 144 p .; exp. New edition
• On to Salem's heights. Or the holy places and hours of our Lord's suffering and forty meditations for each day of Lent [...]. Laumann, Dülmen 1873, 207 pp. (EDDB Cologne); 4th edition, ibid. 1886; 6th edition, ibid. 1898
• Truth and fairy tales. Or the religious decision of July 18th. A word of instruction and correction. Laumann, Dülmen 1870, 104 pp. (Bonn UB, Cologne EDDB)
• Israel's refuge or refuge in the sacred heart of Jesus. Prayers [...]. Laumann, Dülmen 1872, 32 p. (EDDB Cologne)
• The Christian father as he should be and what he should do, with an appendix of prayers for him. Laumann, Dülmen 1873, 208 pages; 10th edition (2nd edition as digitized version and full text in the German text archive )
• The Indescribable, or: The Railway Missionaries. Laumann, Dülmen 1873; 4th ed. 1886
• Johann Bernhard, Bishop of Munster. His biography. Woerl, Würzburg 1875, 58 p. (= Germany's episcopate in life pictures 18) (ULB Münster, StLB Dortmund, EDDB Cologne)
• On the railroad. 2nd edition, Laumann, Dülmen 1891
• Manhu. What's this? or: The meaning of Holy Communion for the Christian life [...] . 2nd edition, Laumann, Dülmen 1891, VII, 75 pp.
• Our nobility or the filiation of God. Laumann, Dülmen 1892, XII, 358 pp.

Editions

• Catholic mission sheet. Laumann, Dülmen 1850ff.

literature

• Franz Hülskamp / Rump, vol. 41, 1903, p. 570f. [Bibliogr.] - F. Flaskamp: The two Wilhelm Cramer. In: Heimatbl. der Glocke 1958, No. 75, p. 298f.
• Alois Schröer (ed.): The diocese of Münster. Vol. 1: The bishops of Münster. Biograms of the auxiliary bishops and vicars general. Münster 1993, p. 362.
• Raßmann, NF 1881 - WH Klenz: The German bishops of the present. Münster 1895, pp. 45-50 - Biogr. Jb. And Dt. Nekrolog 8, 1903 [list of the dead]; 8, 1905 - LThK, 2nd ed., Vol. 3, 1931 - Kosch, Vol. 1, 1933 - Dt. biogr. Archive, Fiche 205, Sp. 103f .; NF, Fiche 240, col. 304-307.

Web links

• Entry on Franz Wilhelm Cramer on catholic-hierarchy.org
• Franz Wilhelm Cramer in the Lexicon of Westphalian Authors