Franciscans in Germany

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750 years of Franciscans in Berlin (1237–1987)

Since 1221 continuously exist monasteries of the Franciscan Order in Germany . The order spread from the south to the Baltic Sea in the 13th century. As a result of the Reformation , numerous monasteries were closed; the secularization at the beginning of the 19th century meant another turning point, which was followed by a phase of upswing from the middle of the century. Today the German province of Germania der Franziskaner has over 30 branches, in addition there are several convents of Polish, Croatian and Brazilian religious provinces as well as the monasteries of the Minorites and Capuchins .

history

13th to 15th centuries

Foundation phase

The Franciscan order ( ordo fratrum minorum , order of the Friars Minor, also Minorites) was founded by Francis of Assisi in Italy in 1209 and in 1210 by Pope Innocent III. approved. The first members came across the Alps as early as 1217, but were rejected because they had been taken for heretics ( Cathars ). Further reasons for the failure are to be seen in their lack of language skills and their refusal to defend themselves against attacks or to seek protection. A second attempt from 1221 was more successful because it was better prepared. The leader of the expedition, which consisted of 12 clergy and 15 lay people, was Caesarius von Speyer , a close companion of Francis who was familiar with the German language and mentality. The brothers were sent to the great Matten Chapter on Pentecost 1221 at the Portiuncula Chapel in Assisi and arrived in Augsburg on October 16, 1221.

The Minorite Church in Cologne, which was built between 1245 and 1260

The Franciscans preferred episcopal cities and subordinated themselves to the local clergy as well as to the secular authorities, while maintaining their independence. The expanding cities at the time were open to the immigration of poor but able-bodied people; Monetary and market economy as well as civil strivings for autonomy led to social tensions. In this situation the way of life of the new, papally recognized itinerant preachers without a “claustrum”, that is, without a firmly delimited monastery district, apparently offered convincing social and religious solutions. The refusal of the Franciscans to seek possessions, power over others and social advancement are reasons for their widespread use and popularity, as well as their devotion to the poor and marginalized; In Speyer, according to the chronicler Jordan von Giano , they lived “outside the walls with the lepers”. The Friars Minor represented an “alternative to the prevailing economy and society, indeed to the then prevailing mentality, culture and religiosity, based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ” and were therefore successful. An advantage for their expansion up to the first half of the 14th century was that the Franciscans were promoted in many places by the princes and city leaders and encouraged to found monasteries. In Bavaria the Franciscans were favored by the noble Wittelsbach family .

After Trient, Bozen and Brixen, Augsburg, Würzburg, Regensburg, Salzburg, Mainz, Worms, Speyer and Strasbourg they came to Cologne as early as 1222, which then became the center of what was originally the only German province of Teutonia . The first provincial chapter of the province was in Worms in the spring of 1222. Hildesheim, Braunschweig , Halberstadt , Goslar and Magdeburg were reached in 1223, Erfurt, Bremen and Lübeck in 1224 and Hamburg in 1230. Within a decade the religious were present in the most important regions of the empire as far as the Baltic Sea. Shortly after 1230 a branch was established in Riga . East of the Elbe , the founding of monasteries was a factor in the German settlement in the east and the consolidation of Christianity or even Christianization .

When the Friars Minor arrived in Germany, the way of life in houses was already common, but it differed from traditional monastic monastery buildings and remained the property of the previous owners. They were mobile bases for the sermon rather than fixed monasteries in the classic way. The brothers slowly moved northward in small groups from the Alpine region. In numerous medieval cities they were initially given temporary and primitive accommodation, in hospices, leprosories , in abandoned monasteries of other orders or in poor premises that did not belong to them. Often they were given a church. From there they began their apostolic work. Then they were given building sites, often on the edge of the old town in close proximity to the city wall and a city gate, and they began to establish a permanent establishment with a convent building ; usually their own church was built, often in the mendicant style .

Consolidation

The Franciscan Movement also developed in Germany with astonishing rapidity - if not without isolated local failures. Around 200 convents in German-speaking countries are attested to at the end of the 13th century . In 1223 the province of Teutonia was divided into four custodies : Franconia, Alsace, Rhine and Saxony. The design of these subdivisions was not based on church provinces and diocese borders. As early as 1230, Teutonia was divided into a Rhenish ( Provincia Rheni ) and a Saxon province ( Provincia Saxonia ). The Weser was considered a mutual border . Another rewrite of the German provinces after 1239 resulted in the division of the Rhenish into the Upper German Provincia Argentina (Strasbourg) and the Low German Provincia Colonia ; the provinces of Dacia (Denmark) and Bohemia (Bohemia) were separated from the Saxon province . As early as the 13th century, conflicts arose over the provincial membership of the convents in the border area between Silesia, Poland ( Piasts ) and Bohemia ( Přemyslids ), which mainly affected the custodians Goldberg, Breslau and partly also Prussia of Saxonia and which were not really resolved during the entire Middle Ages could become.

Up until the beginning of the 15th century there were three major religious provinces in Germany:

  • the Argentina , Strasbourg or Upper German Province with the custodians of Bavaria, Basel, Alsace, Lake Constance, Rhine and Swabia; the province extended in the north to the Palatinate, to Frankfurt am Main and Würzburg, the custody of Lake Constance included the convents in German-speaking Switzerland, while those in southern and western Switzerland belonged to the Italian province of Milan and the French province of Burgundy;
  • the Colonia , Cologne or Low German Province with the custodians of Cologne, Trier, Hesse, Westphalia, Holland, Deventer and Brabant;
  • the Saxonia , Saxon province east of the Weser to Riga in the northeast and Eger in the southeast with the custodians of Brandenburg, Bremen, Breslau, Goldberg in Lower Silesia, Halberstadt, Leipzig, Lübeck, Magdeburg, Meissen, Prussia, Stettin and Thuringia; Schleswig and Holstein belonged to the Provincia Dacia .

Together with the provinces of Northern Europe, they formed the order "German-Belgian nation" under the direction of a Commissioner General, which also included the Scottish, Danish ( Dacia ), English, Irish, Dutch and Belgian provinces as well as two Flemish provinces.

The provincials of the German provinces were only exceptionally Germans in the beginning; The general ministers and later the general chapter appointed particularly capable brothers as heads of the provinces, regardless of their national origin. The Italian Albert von Pisa was provincial of Teutonia from 1223 to 1227 , later also Provincial a. a. in Hungary, Bologna and England and from 1239 Minister General of the Order; his successor was Johannes de Plano Carpini . In contrast to the traditional monastic orders, the Franciscans were not subject to the stabilitas loci , so that the brothers could be transferred from convent to convent by the superiors, even across provincial borders.

Franciscan clothing “should be cheap and simple. It consisted of a loosely falling, coarse brown woolen robe with a hood, a second, hoodless robe as well as trousers and belt cord ”. They earned their livelihood by practicing a skilled trade in exchange for accommodation and food; If that was not enough, the brothers should beg, which was not criminalized at the time, but was a common way of earning a living. The cohesion of the members of the order was ensured by the structure of obedience to the superiors of the order as well as by regular meetings of all in the so-called "chapters" . As with other mendicant orders , a convent included one or more appointments in the vicinity of the monastery, bases for the collection of alms and pastoral care. As a result, the Franciscans were able to achieve a certain broad impact of their activities and anchoring them among the rural population.

Already at an early stage, based on the model of the Dominican Order, the establishment of a separate study system for well-founded training and further education for the clergy brothers began. At the request of the Popes, the study houses were also opened to secular priests and improved their level of education. In 1228 a course of study was established in Magdeburg, which became the center of a hierarchically ordered educational system in Saxony and was important for the order as well as for knowledge and education of the late Middle Ages. From 1395 onwards the religious studies in Erfurt , which were incorporated into the University of Erfurt that year , were the “studium generale” of the Saxon province. The Provincial Study House in Cologne was important for Colonia , and that in Strasbourg for Argentina . In addition to the theological studies, the preparatory studies of the Artes Liberales took place in several convents in each province ; these Artes schools were also popular with the secular clergy. In the 15th century, the leading positions in the province and convent were occupied by academically educated Franciscans who had experience both as lecturers and as religious superior. In addition to the superiors of the individual monasteries, the lecturers also took part in the chapters of the order . According to Dieter Berg, the popes “carried out an“ extensive clericalization of the Franciscan community ” through the increasing transfer of preaching and pastoral duties to the order .

It cannot be overlooked that the “critical alternative” of the beginning of the Friars Minor in Germany changed through bourgeoisisation, the intellectualization and clericalization desired by Rome. It was mainly not members of the lower class who entered the order, but the sons of well-to-do citizens. This resulted in the support that the Franciscans enjoyed from bishops, nobles and the bourgeoisie. "Temporary settlements [became] permanent Franciscan monasteries designed for inner-city pastoral care and church services, based on monastic abbeys and canons ." For successful preaching and pastoral work, large churches were needed, which were also built in many places, supported by the patrons of the Order. The type of mendicant order church developed , which, according to the statutes of the order, did not have to be structurally complex - with a small roof turret instead of a tower-reinforced westwork , with an open hall instead of hierarchically structured naves - but was nevertheless expensive in some places. Nobles and citizens chose the monastery churches as burial places , guilds donated altars and anniversaries , from which the monasteries grew regular income. As early as 1231 in Eisenach, Landgrave Elisabeth of Thuringia, who was very close to the Franciscans, criticized this development. However, the papacy increasingly supported the alleviation of the practice of poverty through privileges and dispositions. Pope Innocent IV (1247) and then Pope Nicholas III. (Bulle Exiit qui seminat , 1279) made it possible to appoint procurators for the monasteries, who acted as owners of the foundations made to the Franciscans as well as donations of money and real estate, while the usufruct of these goods benefited the brothers. This led, on the one hand, to the close proximity of the Franciscans to the bourgeois ruling class of the cities, from which the procurators mostly came, and, on the other hand, to the conflict with the diocesan clergy , who saw their economic livelihood and pastoral success endangered by the mendicant orders, especially the Franciscans and the Dominicans enjoyed papal privileges such as the right to sermon, confession and burial rights in their monastery churches. Eventually, an alienation developed within the Order between the larger group of brothers who made use of these reliefs from the practice of poverty and the brothers and convents of the "strict observance" who insisted on the radical observance of the vow of poverty . This gave rise to the poverty struggle , which ultimately led to the division of the order into observants and conventuals in 1517.

Around the middle of the 14th century, the province of Saxonia, like its neighboring provinces of Colonia and Argentina , suffered severely from the outbreak of the plague . According to estimates, two thirds of the brothers could have fallen victim to the disease, in some convents (Magdeburg, Braunschweig) only a few remained alive. Barely 400 of the 1200 brothers survived in the Strasbourg province. The Franciscans looked after the sick in this emergency at risk of their own lives and stood by the dying.

Observance movement and division of the order

Starting in Italy, an observant reform movement developed in the order from the 14th century , which pursued a strict interpretation of the rules of the order , especially the vow of poverty. The movement came to Germany via France. In its 1414 Constitution Supplicationibus, the Council of Constance allowed the Brothers of Strict Observance ( stricta observantia regularis ) to settle in all of the order's provinces; they were to be given two convents in each province, and they were given the right to elect their own general and provincial vicars or a visitor regiminis with the rank of custos , creating a second, independent administrative level in the provinces. Opposite them were the majority of the brothers and convents who took papal dispensations from the vows of poverty, through which convents and even individual brothers were allowed to own property and fixed income through foundations. The conflicts between the groups did not always go smoothly. In 1430 Pope Martin V tried to open a middle way through the Martinian Constitutions , which the “Martinian” convents could adopt as a way of life, but this did not stop the separation of the order. Many convents refused to observe strict observance, so that this could mainly spread through the establishment of new monasteries.

The convent in Heidelberg, which belonged to the Strasbourg province, was the first monastery in Germany to open to reform in 1426. The Observants came from the French province of Turonia ( Tours ) after Mechthild of Savoy campaigned for her husband, Count Palatine Ludwig , to reform the convent and complained that the Franciscans were holding war games such as throwing stones and jumping rope. In the Saxon province the monastery in Brandenburg in 1428 was the first monastery to take over the observance, in the Cologne province the newly founded monastery in Gouda in 1439. In Munich, Duke Albrecht IV the Wise made it possible in 1480 that all brothers in the Antoniuskloster the monastery had to leave because they refused to accept the reform; in their place observant brothers from other convents came to Munich. This was the usual procedure everywhere: the individual brothers could decide for or against the reform, and the losing group had to evacuate the convention. In 1461 only seven of the 80 or so convents in Saxonia had passed to strict observance, most of them were Martinian. The observant brothers therefore also founded new branches, for example in Hamm in 1455 and in Bielefeld at the beginning of the 16th century . By 1517, 25 new observant monasteries had been built in Saxonia , often expressly sponsored by cities and princes.

Pope Leo X. in his Bull Ite et vos on May 29, 1517 , decreed the division of the order into conventuals (now called Minorites ) and Observants, who were given the right to use the name “Friars Minor”. From the large Strasbourg province a conventual province with 41 monasteries emerged - the Provincia Argentina Conventualium - and an observant province with 28 monasteries - the Provincia Argentina de Observantia - which met in Munich in 1517 for the first provincial chapter and formed three custodies: a Rhenish and a Swabian and a Bavarian one. The Saxon Province of the Observants was divided in 1518 by the General Chapter in Lyon into the Saxon Province of St. Cross (Saxonia Sanctae Crucis) and the Saxon Province of St. John the Baptist (Saxonia Sancti Johannis Baptistae) , not according to geographical aspects, but again according to a more or less strict observation of the rule of the order; in the Saxonia Sancti Johannis Baptistae the Franciscans who lived according to the Martinian statutes were brought together, in the Saxonia Sanctae Crucis the Observants. The two provinces partially overlapped spatially. The Thuringian Franciscan Province ( Thuringia , also Upper Saxon Province) with the custodians of Leipzig, Meissen, Thuringia, Breslau, Goldberg and Prussia was separated from the Province of St. John the Baptist in 1521 , with the Province of St. John the Baptist (Lower Saxony province) remained the custodians of Brandenburg, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Lübeck, Stettin and Bremen. Both provinces of St. John went under as a result of the monastery closings during the Reformation and the Peasant Wars by the middle of the 16th century, and it can no longer be clarified to what extent the division of these provinces had actually already been implemented.

The observants then endeavored to renew their spiritual life. They promoted a good academic education; Brothers were regularly sent to study at the Franciscan General Study Houses in Paris, Bologna and Rome. In the construction and furnishing of the monasteries and churches, attention was paid to simplicity, the gathering of alms was moderate, money was not accepted, and worthy brothers in the provinces were considered when selecting superiors.

The Observants from the Reformation to Secularization

Effects of the Reformation

The development of the convents at the time of the Reformation and the circumstances of their dissolution, almost without exception in some regions, were inconsistent and mostly dependent on whether the sovereigns became Protestant . Numerous Franciscans turned against the introduction of the Reformation with sermons, writings and petitions, the leadership of the order called for a fight against the new teaching. The Minister General Franziskus Lichetti had Martin Luther's writings burned on a visitation trip in the Cologne province in 1520 . In 1521 the General Chapter called for intense prayer and in 1523 appointed two inquisitors for the German provinces who were supposed to punish brothers who had converted to the Reformation and strengthen those who doubted their faith. There were also disputations with reformers, for example in Celle in 1524 and in Homberg (Efze) in 1526 .

Other Franciscans, however, acted as preachers with Lutheran views and promoted the Reformation. In many places the brothers had to leave their monasteries and were even expelled if they did not hand them over voluntarily. Those who wanted to remain in their faith and in the order sought admission to a still existing convent. Some of the buildings continued to be used by the cities, often as schools. Evangelical preaching was now taking place in a number of churches, in some places by the Franciscans who had converted to Protestantism. Conventuals were more willing to accept Lutheran doctrine than Observants and Martinians. There are no precise figures on the proportion of brothers who converted. Elsewhere, the Franciscan monasteries were places of resistance against the new doctrine.

The Saxonia and Thuringia province newly founded just been hit by devastating the Reformation. The last two convents of the Province of St. John the Baptist joined the Saxonia of St. Cross to: 1541 Halberstadt and 1550 Greifswald . From the Saxonia S. Crucis in 1564 only the branches in Halberstadt and Eger existed.

In the Colonia , the consequences of the Reformation were less serious. Since the 1560s there has been a stabilization and restoration of the Catholic as well as a return to the foundations of Franciscan spirituality. From the 17th century, this even led to the establishment of several new convents.

Rewriting of the provinces

Of the three custodians of the observant province of Strasbourg, the Rhenish and Swabian custodians almost completely disappeared as a result of the Reformation, the Bavarian custody continued to exist with nine monasteries and, after some difficulties with the observant mother province, was elevated to the status of the independent Bavarian Franciscan province of St. Antonius (Bavaria) in 1625 ; she joined the newly formed reform movement of the Reformates and was the first ever Reformate province in the order. Starting with the convents in Munich, Freising, Ingolstadt, Kelheim, Landshut, Tölz and Hedingen , the province grew until the 1660s with Amberg and Pfreimd, Weilheim and Dingolfing, Schrobenhausen, Stadtamhof, Eggenfelden and Altötting, Reutberg, Neuburg (Danube) , Kemnath, Neukirchen in the Bavarian Forest and Dietfurt to 20 branches. The northern German provinces of the "German-Belgian nation", however, accepted the statutes of the recollects .

When the order's leadership assigned the monastery in Eger to the Strasbourg province in 1603 , the three brothers remaining in Halberstadt, the last convent of Saxonia , turned to the monastery of Colonia in Bielefeld and asked for support; seven Franciscans therefore moved from Bielefeld to Halberstadt in 1616, so that the tradition of the old Saxonia was not interrupted, although in 1626 the last member of the province died. The General Chapter of the Order in Toledo had merged the Saxon Province of the Holy Cross with the Strasbourg Observant Province in 1606, but on May 17, 1625, Saxonia was revived by the General Chapter in Rome. In 1627 the Cologne province ceded its eastern part to Saxonia. An agreement was reached on the Main as the southern border of the Saxonia , in the west the Rhine; the Saxonia should keep a distance of three leagues from the convents of the Colonia in Uerdingen, Düsseldorf, Zons and Cologne. On July 23, 1628, the first provincial chapter of the renewed Saxonia appointed superior ones for the monasteries in Bielefeld, Dorsten, Fulda, Gelnhausen, Göttingen, Halberstadt, Hamm, Limburg, Minden, Münster (Westphalia), Osnabrück, Rietberg, Warendorf and Wetzlar. The focus of Saxonia shifted significantly to the west, and especially in Westphalia , where several new monasteries were founded in the 17th century, the province developed particularly in the following period.

On May 14, 1633, the Thuringian Province was restituted by the General Chapter in Toledo after Emperor Ferdinand II had requested the return of the church property claimed by the Protestants in 1629. Pope Urban VIII assigned the province of Thuringia, Hesse and to the west the areas up to the Rhine including Siegen and Attendorn. The southern border was formed by the Main, for which the Saxonia had to cede some territories to the new province, including the monasteries in Wetzlar and Gelnhausen. No border was defined to the east to enable a re-Catholicization of Protestant areas, as Saxonia tried to do . From the middle of the 17th century, the province expanded into the southwest, for example to Tauberbischofsheim and Mosbach in Baden , aided by the Counter Reformation and the regaining of Catholic territories .

However, in the 18th century, due to disputes, the province was divided into a Thuringia superior ( Provincia Thuringiae superioris S. Elisabeth ) and a Thuringia inferior ( Provincia Thuringiae inferioris S. Elisabeth ). There were conflicts between brothers who felt they were at a disadvantage in assigning offices to the position of provincial minister. The General Chapter confirmed the separation in 1762, and on August 13, 1764, the provinces signed a treaty on the partition. The Thuringia inferior had 153 brothers, the Thuringia superior 416 brothers.

Development up to secularization

In the areas that had become Protestant, the Franciscans developed a system of outposts called " mission stations ", similar to the Jesuits . No convents were founded, but two or three priests settled in different places and began to give pastoral care to the few Catholics who remained in the diaspora or to the Catholic soldiers of a garrison , initially in secret in some places. The Saxonia went there as scheduled before and took over, starting from the convents in Paderborn and Halberstadt, such pastoral care items, which were among themselves only a day trip, was possible among themselves and with the province of contact so that. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Saxonia looked after about 50 such mission stations in Saxony, Anhalt and also in Braunschweig, in East Friesland and the Emsland, but never in this number at the same time.

In the course of the Counter Reformation , the Franciscans intensified their involvement in the school system and opened or took over grammar schools in order to strengthen the Catholic faith; some of them were preceded by an elementary school. Some of them were Jesuit grammar schools which the Franciscans took over after Pope Clement XIV repealed the Jesuit order in 1773. In addition to the training of their own offspring, the schools were open to the education of citizens; some of the city councils demanded this, or at least expressly welcomed it. Saxonia alone opened twelve high schools in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Franciscans founded parishes - which also developed locally from mission stations - or took over the pastoral office in existing parishes, and they devoted themselves to caring for the poor. In their efforts as part of the Counter-Reformation, the Franciscans were in competition with the Brothers of the Minorites - and the Capuchin Order , which was established in 1528 , which was not always free of tension locally. The bishops of Paderborn, Osnabrück and Münster were closer to the Franciscans than to the other branches of the order.

The 18th century can be seen as a heyday for the Franciscans in Germany. Colonia alone had around a thousand brothers in 38 monasteries at the end of the century.

secularization

The abolition of monasteries, like the secularization of the spiritual territories, can be viewed as a result of the Enlightenment that is hostile to the Church . The French occupation government abolished the Colonia monasteries on the left bank of the Rhine in 1802 . In the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in Regensburg in 1803, the German imperial cities and sovereigns were authorized to secularize and confiscate monasteries and monasteries as compensation for territorial losses caused by the eastward shift of the French border . The Colonia monasteries on the right bank of the Rhine fell victim to a decree of the Bavarian-Palatinate-Berg government in 1804 . In Prussia , the monasteries were not abolished, but were no longer allowed to accept novices , and the brothers were restricted in their mobility; During the time of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia , most of the monasteries were dissolved there in 1811. In the areas that fell to Prussia in the Congress of Vienna in 1815 , the remaining monasteries were initially doomed to extinction, until the restrictions gradually eased in the 1820s.

By 1824, most of the convents in the two Thuringian provinces had been dissolved, after restrictions had already been imposed in the previous decades - for example in terms of scheduling, contact between the monasteries or the admission of novices. Since the Thuringia touched several domains, the abolition of the monastery was not uniform and extended over a period of about 20 years.

In some places the Franciscan monasteries escaped immediate dissolution because of their poverty. The monastery buildings and the inventory were often sent to state or municipal recycling. The brothers received a state pension; some remained active as secular priests , others went to central or extinct monasteries or returned to their families.

19./20. century

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Establishment of the German Franciscan Province in 2010

On July 1, 2010, after several years of preparation, the four German provinces merged

The reason for the merger was the desire to create structures in all four provinces in view of the reduced number of members in order to “bundle the dwindling forces”, to learn from one another and to gain scope for action, in order to “continue to be appropriate to the social conditions of the 21st . Century and to be able to preach the message of Jesus Christ in a timely manner in words and deeds ”. The unification came from the voluntary decision of the German provinces. It was "the first voluntary merger of autonomous provinces in the history of the world order", since earlier unions always took place on the orders of the order's leadership in Rome.

In the second half of the 20th century, the provinces in the German-speaking area founded the "Germanic Provincial Conference", which discussed common questions and agreed on joint ventures without affecting the independence of the individual provinces; it also served to promote contacts with the other branches of the Franciscan family. Since 1971, a joint study had existed for the Order offspring, the philosophical-theological university of the Franciscan and Capuchin Münster in co-sponsorship of the four Franciscan provinces together with the Rheinisch-Westphalian Capuchin Province, from the 1997 Theological Philosophy University Münster sole sponsorship of the Capuchins had emerged . In 1997 the four Franciscan provinces established a joint interprovincial novitiate in St. Ludwig in Nuremberg.

The four provinces had different legal statuses. The Bavaria was a public corporation (Alliance), the other three had as a legal entity a registered association (eV) or a limited liability company (GmbH). It was decided to transfer Bavaria's more favorable legal status to the province to be founded.

On July 1, 2010, a ceremony was held in Munich for the foundation of the “German Franciscan Province of St. Elisabeth GdöR ”took place, in which the previous provincial leadership was released and the new provincial leadership was installed by decree of the General Minister. A little later the first provincial chapter of the new province took place in Ohrbeck under the chairmanship of the general delegate.

Tasks and involvement in the overall order

Fundamental to Franciscan spirituality is a fraternal life in an evangelical way of life with an apostolic accent turned towards the poor. The tasks that the brothers take on grow from this way of life and must be compatible with it. Therefore, according to the will of Francis, positions of power should remain excluded.

In Central Europe, the Franciscans have mainly taken on the following tasks:

Towards the end of the 20th century, Franciscans looked after around 100 parishes in Germany, and some monastery churches became parish churches at the same time. On the one hand, this means a source of income for the province and relief of the shortage of priests in the dioceses. On the other hand, the brothers make sure that this fraternity ministry is carried out in the Franciscan spirit and that it remains compatible with the specific requirements of the communal life of a Franciscan.

European Franciscans are missionaries mainly in South America and Africa. Until the Second World War, China was also a focus for the engagement of several German religious provinces. In the meantime, indigenous, independent Franciscan provinces have sprung up everywhere, in which indigenous and European brothers work together in "fraternal assistance". The work is supported by the Franciscan Mission Center in Bonn-Bad Godesberg.

The German Order Province works at the level of the Central European Franciscan Conference COTAF ( Conference of Trans Alpine Franciscans ) with the Franciscan provinces in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria, South Tyrol, Switzerland, Hungary and Romania.

perspective

Of the 350 members of the German province, around 200 were over 70 years old in 2015, 50 of them in need of serious care. In 2013 the provincial chapter decided to give up six houses over the next three years. The goal of the process of concentration is not only to “survive”, but to enable the remaining monastic communities to live Franciscan spirituality and mission in public. This also creates new impulses. In 2010, a new convent was opened in Essen with four brothers, which in the socially deprived south-east quarter offers pastoral care as well as social work and help for the homeless and migrants.

From June 12 to 14, 2017, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the division of the order and the commemoration of the Reformation, a joint mat chapter took place in Hofheim am Taunus with 70 brothers of the three Franciscan men's orders in Germany, at which the provincials of the German Franciscan Province, the German Capuchin Province and the German Minorite Province participated. A future reunification of the branches of the Friars Minor was considered possible and concrete steps were agreed for further rapprochement.

From August 14, 2017, the German Franciscan Province will take part in an international novitiate , which was founded by the provinces of Ireland, England, Holland, Germany and Lithuania in Killarney , Ireland and in which the novices are trained together.

The "Franziskus-Stiftung", founded in 1985 by the Cologne Franciscan Province, exists to promote and maintain Franciscan educational and cultural institutions. Youth Work of the Franciscans ”. It is based in Hürtgenwald -Vossenack.

In 2019, of almost 260 brothers in Germany, only 16 were under 50 years old, two thirds were 70 years old and older. At the provincial chapter from March 18 to 21, 2019 in Vierzehnheiligen, twelve locations were named that should be preserved because they should form the focus of future work of the province in the long term. In order to concentrate forces, it is planned to close down seven houses in the near future, and a decision on the continuation of further monasteries will be made depending on the situation.

Other Franciscan provinces in Germany

In Germany, several branches consist of other religious provinces of the Franciscans, namely the Polish ( monastery Marienweiher , Monastery Gößweinstein , Bensheim , Amberg ), Croatian and Brazilian ( monastery Mörmter , Kloster Bardel ) provinces.

Other orders of the Franciscan religious family in Germany

literature

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 19.
  2. ↑ Johannes Schlageter : The beginnings of the Franciscans in Thuringia. In: Thomas T. Müller, Bernd Schmies, Christian Loefke (Eds.): For God and the World. Franciscans in Thuringia. Paderborn u. a. 2008, pp. 32–37, here pp. 33f.36.
  3. ↑ Raynald Wagner: On the history of the Bavarian Franciscan Province from 1625 to 1802. In: Bayerische Franziskanerprovinz (Hrsg.): 1625 - 2010. The Bavarian Franciscan Province. From its beginnings until today. Furth 2010, pp. 6–29, here p. 7f.
  4. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 19.
    Bernd Schmies: Structure and organization of the Saxon Franciscan Province and its Custody of Thuringia from the beginning to the Reformation. In: Thomas T. Müller, Bernd Schmies, Christian Loefke (Eds.): For God and the World. Franciscans in Thuringia. Paderborn u. a. 2008, pp. 38–49, here p. 39ff.
  5. ↑ Bernd Schmies and Volker Honemann : The Franciscan Province of Saxonia from its beginnings to 1517: basic features and lines of development. In: Volker Honemann (Ed.): From the beginnings to the Reformation. Paderborn 2015, pp. 21–44, here pp. 32–37.
  6. ↑ Raynald Wagner: On the history of the Bavarian Franciscan Province from 1625 to 1802. In: Bayerische Franziskanerprovinz (Hrsg.): 1625 - 2010. The Bavarian Franciscan Province. From its beginnings until today. Furth 2010, pp. 6–29, here p. 7.
  7. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307–334, here p. 313.
  8. ^ Lothar Hardick OFM: The development of the Order of Friars Minor north of the Alps. (Testament of St. Francis, no.7). In: Geistliches Vermächtnis IV. Study Day of the Franciscan Working Group 1977. Werl 1977 (Wandlung in Treue Vol. 20), pp. 18–29, now also in: Dieter Berg (Ed.): Spiritualität und Geschichte. Ceremony for Lothar Hardick OFM on his 80th birthday. , Werl 1993, ISBN 3-87163-195-7 , pp. 137-146, here pp. 138f.
  9. ↑ franziskaner.net: Franziskaner in Germany , accessed on November 22, 2017.
  10. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 29.
  11. ↑ Willibald Kullmann: The Saxon Franciscan Province, a tabular guide to its history. Düsseldorf 1927, 9.14-20.
  12. ↑ Bernd Schmies and Volker Honemann: The Franciscan Province of Saxonia from its beginnings to 1517: basic features and lines of development. In: Volker Honemann (Ed.): From the beginnings to the Reformation. Paderborn 2015, pp. 21–44, here pp. 32–37.
  13. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here p. 326.
  14. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here pp. 314f.
  15. ^ Gudrun Gleba: Monasteries and orders in the Middle Ages. WBG, 4th edition, Darmstadt 2011, p. 107.
  16. ^ Dieter Berg: Begging orders and education in the communal area. A Paradigm of Educational Transfer in the 13th Century. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 115-123, here pp. 121ff.
  17. ↑ Bernd Schmies: Structure and organization of the Saxon Franciscan Province and its Custody of Thuringia from the beginnings to the Reformation. In: Thomas T. Müller, Bernd Schmies, Christian Loefke (Eds.): For God and the World. Franciscans in Thuringia. Paderborn u. a. 2008, pp. 38–49, here p. 40.44
  18. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307–334, here p. 315.
  19. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here pp. 315f.
  20. ↑ Johannes Schlageter: The beginnings of the Franciscans in Thuringia. In: Thomas T. Müller, Bernd Schmies, Christian Loefke (Eds.): For God and the World. Franciscans in Thuringia. Paderborn u. a. 2008, pp. 32–37, here p. 36f.
    Gudrun Gleba: Monasteries and orders in the Middle Ages. WBG, 4th edition, Darmstadt 2011, p. 108.
  21. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here pp. 316ff.
  22. ^ Sigfrid Grän: Frankfurt am Main. Franciscan Conventuals. In: Alemania Franciscana Antiqua. Volume VI, Ulm 1960, pp. 120-179, here p. 127.
  23. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here p. 320.
  24. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here p. 321.
  25. ↑ Volker Honemann : The reform movements of the 15th and early 16th centuries in Saxonia. In: Volker Honemann (Ed.): From the beginnings to the Reformation. (= History of the Saxon Franciscan Province from its foundation to the beginning of the 21st century , vol. 1) Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2015, ISBN 978-3-506-76989-3 , pp. 45−163, here p. 67. ( Chronica fratris Nicolai Glassberger, edited by Patres Collegiae S. Bonaventurae, Quaracchi 1887, p. 282f .;)
  26. ↑ Raynald Wagner: On the history of the Bavarian Franciscan Province from 1625 to 1802. In: Bayerische Franziskanerprovinz (Hrsg.): 1625 - 2010. The Bavarian Franciscan Province. From its beginnings until today. Furth 2010, pp. 6–29, here p. 8.
  27. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here p. 321.
  28. ↑ Wolfgang Huschner , Heiko Schäfer: Wismar: Holy Cross Monastery (Ordo Fratrum Minorum / Franziskaner). In: Wolfgang Huschner , Ernst Münch , Cornelia Neustadt, Wolfgang Eric Wagner: Mecklenburg monastery book. Handbook of the monasteries, monasteries, coming and priories (10th / 11th - 16th centuries). Volume II., Rostock 2016, ISBN 978-3-356-01514-0 , pp. 1203-1228, here p. 1214.
  29. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307–334, here pp. 319–322.
  30. ^ Herbert Schneider: The Franciscans in the German-speaking area. Life and goals. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl 1988, p. 18.
  31. ^ Karl Suso Frank : Franciscans. IV. Story . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 4 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1995, Sp. 33 .
  32. ↑ Raynald Wagner: On the history of the Bavarian Franciscan Province from 1625 to 1802. In: Bayerische Franziskanerprovinz (Hrsg.): 1625 - 2010. The Bavarian Franciscan Province. From its beginnings until today. Furth 2010, pp. 6–29, here p. 9.
  33. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 255, 257.
  34. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here p. 326.
  35. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here p. 326ff.
  36. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 253, 255, 259.
  37. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here p. 327.
  38. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here p. 328.
  39. ↑ Raynald Wagner: On the history of the Bavarian Franciscan Province from 1625 to 1802. In: Bayerische Franziskanerprovinz (Hrsg.): 1625 - 2010. The Bavarian Franciscan Province. From its beginnings until today. Furth 2010, pp. 6–29, here pp. 11–19.
  40. ^ Herbert Schneider: The Franciscans in the German-speaking area. Life and goals. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl 1988, p. 19.
  41. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 329.335.343.
  42. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 331, 343, 345, 347, 348, 355.
  43. ^ Christian Plath: Structure and development of the Thuringian Franciscan Province (Thuringia). In: Thomas T. Müller among others: For God and the world. Paderborn et al. 2008, pp. 50-66, here pp. 42.50f.
    Christian Plath: Between Counter Reformation and Baroque piety. Mainz 2010, pp. 37-40.55.88.90.
  44. ↑ Christian Plath: Between Counter Reformation and Baroque piety. Mainz 2010, pp. 142-150.
  45. ^ Lothar Hardick: East Westphalia in the plan structure of the Saxon Franciscan Province. In: Westfälische Zeitschrift 110 (1960), pp. 305–328.
    Lothar Hardick: Spatial planning of Saxonia before secularization. In: Vita Seraphica 40/41 (1959/60), pp. 85-92.
  46. ↑ Jürgen Werinhard Einhorn OFM: Education and training, science, school and pastoral care from the Kulturkampf to the present. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn et al. 2010, pp. 633–786, here p. 726. Eugen Schatten: The Franziskanergymnasien in the area of ​​the Saxon order province until their abolition in the 19th century. In: Franziskanische Studien 13 (1926), pp. 366–384, here p. 379.
  47. ^ Herbert Schneider: The Franciscans in the German-speaking area. Life and goals. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl 1988, p. 79.86.
  48. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here pp. 331f.
  49. ^ Willibald Kullmann: Anton Joseph Binterims parish bankruptcy. A contribution to the history of the study system of the Cologne Franciscan Province in the Enlightenment period. In: Franziskanische Studien 27 (1940), pp. 1–21, here p. 3 note 6;
    oN (Willibald Kullmann): Our dead, Part I. Düsseldorf 1941 (Book of the Dead of the Cologne Franciscan Province), pp. XVII-XX.
  50. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here p. 333.
  51. ↑ Christian Plath: Between Counter Reformation and Baroque piety. Mainz 2010, pp. 153ff.162f.183ff.
  52. ↑ Christian Plath: Between Counter Reformation and Baroque piety. Mainz 2010, pp. 153ff.162f.183ff.
  53. ↑ franziskaner.de
  54. ^ Heribert Schneider: The Franciscans in the German-speaking area. Life and goals. Heinrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl 1985, p. 14.
  55. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 637.
  56. ↑ Maximilian Wagner: The unification process of the four German (4D) Franciscan provinces. In: Bayerische Franziskanerprovinz (Hrsg.): 1625-2010. The Bavarian Franciscan Province. From its beginnings until today. Furth 2010, pp. 72–81, here pp. 76-80.
  57. ^ Herbert Schneider: The Franciscans in the German-speaking area. Life and goals. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl 1988, p. 61.
  58. ^ Herbert Schneider: The Franciscans in the German-speaking area. Life and goals. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl 1988, pp. 61-87.
  59. ^ Herbert Schneider: The Franciscans in the German-speaking area. Life and goals. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl 1988, p. 86f.
  60. ^ Herbert Schneider: The Franciscans in the German-speaking area. Life and goals. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl 1988, pp. 88-93.
  61. ↑ domradio.de, Franziskaner are repositioning themselves in North Rhine-Westphalia, April 30, 2015 , accessed on April 30, 2015.
  62. ^ Provincialate of the German Franciscans (ed.): Franziskaner. Magazine for Franciscan Culture and Way of Life. Summer 2017, p. 29.
    franziskaner.net: Franciscans on the way to becoming a religious organization? The three branches of the First Order of St. Francis are openly considering a merger (06/19/2017) ; franziskaner.net: Report from the Mats Chapter of the Friars Minor (19.06.2017)
  63. ↑ P. Claus Scheifele: International Novitiate opened in Ireland , franziskaner.net, August 15, 2017.
  64. ↑ franziskus-stiftung.de ( Memento of the original from April 1, 2016 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.franziskus-stiftung.de
  65. ↑ franziskaner.net: Provincial Chapter 2019, March 22, 2019.
  66. ↑ franziskaner.net: Farewell of the Franciscans of Neviges , April 7, 2019.