Francis Wolf

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bishop Franziskus Wolf SVD

Franziskus Wolf SVD , also Franz Wolf (born February 2, 1876 in Essen-Borbeck , † February 23, 1944 in Hollandia , Indonesia) was a Steyler missionary , Roman Catholic bishop and Apostolic Vicar of East New Guinea .

Life

Origin and early work

Franziskus Wolf was born as the son of the miner Heinrich Wolf and his wife Johanna geb. Klumberg born. He grew up in his hometown Essen-Borbeck, where he also attended elementary school for seven years.

On April 12, 1890, Franz Wolf was accepted into the internal grammar school by Arnold Janssen in the Steyler mother house in St. Michael in Steyl (Netherlands). He did his novitiate and his philosophical and theological studies from 1895 to 1899 in the Missionshaus St. Gabriel in Mödling near Vienna. On February 5, 1899 he was ordained a priest . On March 16, 1899, Wolf received from Arnold Janssen the mission statement for the Steyler Mission in Togo. On May 2, 1899, Father Franz Wolf SVD arrived in the German colony of Togo , where he worked as a missionary priest. In 1911 he became the local regional superior of his congregation there.

Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Togo

In 1914, the mission area was elevated to the status of an Apostolic Vicariate - that is, a diocese on probation - with its seat in Lomé . Father Franziskus Wolf, who had rendered great services to the mission, was appointed first Vicar Apostolic and Titular Bishop of Byblus on March 16, 1914 . Therefore, the designated Chief Shepherd returned to Europe, where he held on 28 June 1914 Steyl the episcopal ordination received. As principal consecrator acted Felix Cardinal von Hartmann , the archbishop of Cologne; Co-consecrators were the bishops Laurentius Schrijnen from Roermond and Theodor Kappenberg from Münster. Because of the outbreak of World War I and the hostile occupation of Togo, Bishop Wolf was unable to return to Africa. He tried to lead his vicariate from Europe and mainly used his deputy there, Provikar Anton Witte SVD, who, however, was not ordained a bishop. The German colony was divided between England and France in 1916, and all German clergy were declared prisoners of war and expelled. Provikar Witte and a confrere left the country on January 10, 1918 as the last German missionaries. Since the Holy See recognized after the end of the war that the colonies would not revert to Germany in the foreseeable future, Pope Benedict XV transferred. the German Togo mission in 1921 to the Lyon missionaries . Bishop Wolf resigned at the beginning of January 1921 and on January 11, 1921, the Holy See appointed the French Fr Jean-Marie Cesson SMA as Apostolic Administrator of Togo. Only on March 20, 1923 was Cesson appointed Vicar Apostolic of Togo, an office he held until his death on March 3, 1945.

Vicar Apostolic in New Guinea

Bishop Franziskus Wolf SVD, Vicar Apostolic of East New Guinea
Alexishafen, St. Michael's Cathedral, at the time of Bishop Wolf.
Alexishafen, residence of Bishop Wolf.

In 1922, the territory of the Steyler Missionaries in the former German Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land , which was under Australian military administration from 1914 to 1921 and had been a trust territory entrusted to Australia since 1921, was converted to the Apostolic Vicariate in East New Guinea. Francis Wolf again became the first Vicar Apostolic; on November 24, 1922 he received his appointment and went to the New Guinea Mission, in which he arrived on August 15, 1923, accompanied by the Apostolic Delegate in Australia, Archbishop Bartolomeo Cattaneo (1866-1933). As a German he was only allowed to enter the country with a special permit from the Australian occupation authorities, which was granted. Bishop Wolf resided in Alexishafen ., A little north of Madang , the central station of the Holy Spirit Mission of the Steyler Missionaries, which had been founded in 1905 by his predecessor Fr. Eberhard Limbrock and since 1909 served as the seat of the ecclesiastical pastor of the mission. The complex was completely destroyed by an air raid on September 1, 1943; of the cathedral, which was only built in wood in 1939 by the Steyler missionaries and consecrated to St. Michael the Archangel, only the remains of the foundation and the outside staircase remained.

Franziskus Wolf led the vicariate successfully and with great commitment until the island was occupied by the Japanese in World War II . Then the Christians were forbidden from any missionary activity, the foreign missionaries were declared prisoners of war and interned in assembly camps under inhumane conditions. Bishop Wolf was also suspected of being an enemy spy. Numerous clergy were murdered, including a. also the German neighbor bishop Josef Lörks .

Internment and the tragedy on the Yorishime Maru

The Japanese moved Bishop Wolf and many confreres and religious sisters to a collection camp on the volcanic island of Manam , where they vegetated under the most primitive circumstances and were supposed to resettle again on January 26, 1944 due to the war situation. Franz Wolf protested unsuccessfully because three quarters of the missionaries suffered from severe malaria and were all malnourished. The ship transport was attacked by the American air force at night. Of the Christians lying on the open deck of the Japanese transport boat Yorishime Maru, 27 sisters, 12 brothers and 7 fathers died in a few seconds, most of the others were injured. Bishop Wolf died of serious wounds on February 23, 1944 in the Japanese internment camp at Hollandia .

The missionaries who were killed immediately were buried in a hurry near the beach, Bishop Wolf and others who later died in the Hollandia camp were buried in the bush area there. Shortly after the end of the war, American troops exhumed the bodies and transferred them to Finschhafen in metal coffins . Finally, in 1947, the dead were reburied and buried in the old mission cemetery in Alexishafen, where a memorial with a crucifixion group was also built. Bishop Wolf, whose remains have been unequivocally identified, found his final resting place in the crypt of the newly built Holy Spirit Cathedral in Madang.

Further development

The Apostolic Vicariate of East New Guinea was elevated to the Archdiocese of Madang in Papua New Guinea in 1966 .

Honors

The Catholic Church accepted Bishop Franziskus Wolf as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century .

In Essen , Bischof-Franz-Wolf-Strasse is named after the prelate.

literature

(in order of appearance)

  • Johannes Thauren SVD: The Missions in New Guinea (Apostolic Vicariate East New Guinea and Apostolic Prefecture Central New Guinea) . Publishing house of the Apostolic See, Steyl 1931.
  • Anton Freitag SVD: The Steyler Mission in New Guinea, its catastrophe one of the greatest mission tragedies in mission history . In: Ders .: Seed of faith in blood and tears. The missions of the Society of the Divine Word in Asia, Africa, Oceania and America on the eve of the Second World War. Their sufferings and fates during and after the war . Steyler Verlagsbuchhandlung, Kaldenkirchen 1948. pp. 271–309.
  • Sixta Kasbauer: Those who come from great tribulation. From the war years of the Steyler New Guinea Mission . Mission printing, Steyl 1951.
    • Sixta Kasbauer: Tormenta sobre la mies. Misioneras Siervas del Espíritu Santo, víctimas de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en la Misión de Nueva Guinea . Misioneras Siervas del Espíritu Santo, Ed. Guadalupe, Buenos Aires 1987.
  • Karl Müller SVD: History of the Catholic Church in Togo . Steyler publishing house, Kaldenkirchen 1958.
    • Karl Müller: Histoire de l'Église catholique au Togo . Saint Maurice, Valais / Éditions libraire Bon Pasteur, Lomé 1968. Traduit de l'allemand et adapté par Georges Athanasiadès.
  • Fritz Bornemann (ed.): History of our society (= Analecta SVD 54-2). Rome 1981. Therein pp. 382-397: Papua New Guinea .
  • Theo Aerts (ed.): The martyrs of Papua New Guinea: 333 missionary lives lost during World War II . University of Papua New Guinea Press, Port Moresby 1994. ISBN 9980-84-053-6 .
  • Paul Steffen : Mission Beginning in New Guinea. The beginnings of the Rhenish, Neuendettelsauer and Steyler missionary work in New Guinea (= Studia Instituti Missiologici, vol. 61). Steyler Verlag, Nettetal 1995. ISBN 3-8050-0351-X .
  • John Garrett: Where nets were cast. Christianity in Oceania since World War II . University of the South Pacific, Suva 1997. ISBN 982-02-0121-7 . In it p. 12–15: Catholic Divine Word Mission (SVD) , with detailed information on the deaths of the German bishops Wolf and Lörks (in English).
  • Frank Mihalik: Readings in PNG Mission History. A chronicle of SVD and SSpS mission involvement on mainland New Guinea between 1946 and 1996 . Divine Word University Press, Madang 1999. ISBN 0-86935-063-3 . Therein pp. 40, 42, 168, 201, 213, 215, 258.
  • Paul Steffen: The Catholic Missions in German New Guinea . In: Hermann Joseph Hiery (ed.): The German South Sea, 1884–1914. A manual . Schöningh, Paderborn, 2nd, revised and improved edition. 2002. ISBN 3-506-73912-3 . Pp. 343-383.
  • Paul Steffen: Wolf, Franz SVD (1876–1944). Steyler Togo and New Guinea missionary and missionary bishop . In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL), Vol. 34 (2013). ISBN 978-3-88309-766-4 . Sp. 1549-1557.
  • Paul Steffen: Steyler missionaries and missionaries (Society of the Divine Word / Servants of the Holy Spirit) in Papua New Guinea (1941–1945) . In: Helmut Moll (ed.): Witnesses for Christ. The German martyrology of the 20th century . Schöningh, Paderborn, 6th expanded and restructured edition 2015. ISBN 978-3-506-78080-5 . Vol. 2, pp. 1518-1519.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information on the bishop's parents
  2. ^ Paul Steffen: Beginning of the mission in New Guinea . Steyler Verlag, Nettetal 1995, pp. 288f.
  3. ^ Karl Müller: History of the Catholic Church in Togo . Kaldenkirchen 1958.
  4. ^ Paul Steffen: Beginning of the mission in New Guinea . Steyler Verlag, Nettetal 1995, p. 288.
  5. ↑ To Alexishafen
  6. ^ Paul Steffen: Beginning of the mission in New Guinea . Steyler Verlag, Nettetal 1995, pp. 192-193, 208.
  7. ^ Pacific Wrecks - Alexishafen Catholic Mission
  8. ^ Ralph Wiltgen: Apostle death in New Guinea. The death of Bishop Lörks and his companions . Steyler Verlag, St. Augustin 1966.
  9. ^ Paul Steffen: Steyler Missionaries and Missionary Sisters (Society of the Divine Word / Servants of the Holy Spirit) in Papua New Guinea (1941–1945) . In: Helmut Moll (ed.): Witnesses for Christ. The German martyrology of the 20th century . Schöningh, Paderborn, 6th expanded and restructured edition 2015. Vol. 2, pp. 1518–1519.
  10. ↑ a b c Georg Höltker: Where in New Guinea was the body of Bishop Wolf? In: Neue Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, vol. 25 (1969), p. 189.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wolf, Francis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wolf, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German clergyman, Roman Catholic bishop, Apostolic Vicar
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Essen-Borbeck
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1944
Place of death Hollandia , Indonesia