Friedrich Stracke

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Friedrich Stracke MAFR (* 24. February 1889 in Würdinghausen in Westphalia ; † 12. November 1967 in Burundi ) was a Roman Catholic priest and Africa - missionary .

Life

Family / school time

Stracke came from a poor tailor's family, was, according to his own account, a "shepherd boy" and lost her mother Regina Stracke, nee Neuhaus or, at the age of thirteen, his father Caspar Stracke. He began his school career in the mission house of the White Fathers in Haigerloch , where he entered the newly founded Progymnasium with the first students on November 1, 1903 . It is listed as No. 10 in the student register. In 1906 he switched to the secondary school of the White Fathers in Rietberg .

His older sister Maria Elisabeth Stracke founded the congregation of the Bene Terezya Sisters in Burundi in 1933 as Sister Regina .

Studies in theology / Algeria

He completed his novitiate in the Maison Carrée in Algiers , where the First World War caught up with him in 1914 . As a German, he was immediately interned by the French with the other German novices and scholastics : first in the fortress L'Empereur and then in the fortress Berrouaghia in Algeria . In 1916 he was transferred to the Garaison prison in the Pyrenees , where he remained until the end of the war. During the hard years of imprisonment, he had continued to study theology privately. After his release in 1919, he went to Haigerloch again, this time as a probationary year to determine whether he still wanted to become a white father. On September 5, 1920 he was ordained a priest in Rottenburg am Neckar .

Teaching

He then worked in the mission school in Haigerloch as a teacher of Latin and French . In 1923 he was transferred to the mission school in Rietberg and soon took over the management of the house as superior (director). Occasionally he went - as he himself wrote - "also as an itinerant preacher with a dozen Wumba negroes (...) through the German districts", where he collected for the missions and looked after the next generation of missionaries before he went to "the land of giants and dwarfs "(p. 172).

Missionary in Burundi

In 1936 he was allowed to travel to Burundi for the mission. During the Second World War he was interned again. He was under house arrest in the rectory in the capital of Burundi and had to report to the Belgian colonial authorities again and again. Nevertheless, he was allowed to do pastoral work in the city , but could not travel freely around the country.

The source of the Nile, Kasumo: When he was released after the war, he followed the instructions of the Africa researcher Burkhart Waldeckers , whom he met in Burundi in 1937, and visited the source of the Nile in January 1948 on "a safari to Mount Kikizi" . The "old but happy Burundi missionary" published his book "Capita Nili" ("The Nile Sources") in 1952 about this trip, the interviews with locals about Burkhart Waldecker and the entire research on the Nile sources. Stracke presents his 6-person caravan for the expedition to the source of the Nile: "Three porters move ahead, one with the kitchen and supplies, one with the altar box and one with my other belongings. The boy with a lantern and umbrella follows. Then he comes Faithful, four-legged missionary assistant Bwana Koko (a donkey, note) and behind that the donkey boy with his bicycle. " (P. 185)

At the source of the Nile he drinks from the rivulet of the Kasumo and the “daring thought” occurs to him whether the Egyptians could not clog or divert the Nile, “then they would remain nice and well-behaved and it would be over with the armor holy war! ”The (last Nile) source of the Kasumo causes him to think about the last source of life according to Catholic teaching, about“ Christ's teaching and grace ”.

Home leave and death

In 1952 Friedrich Stracke came to Germany sick on home leave ; in the same year his book "Capita Nili" was published. This book also included several articles that he had previously published in " Afrikaboten ", the magazine of the White Fathers. Again he traveled through Germany, gave lectures and told the audience about "the mission paradise" Burundi and the sources of the Nile. “My judgment was formed, the land of the moon mountains, the land of the Nile springs, is the promised land of the missionaries! Our predecessors did a solid job there! There is hope for the future there! I want to spend the rest of my days there for God's kingdom and glory. Let a grave be dug for me there, there at the source of the Nile. " He returned to Burundi and died in the Kayanza rectory on November 12, 1967.

proof

  1. ↑ Krause, Jochen (1989). People of home. Vol. III. Article: Maria and Friedrich Stracke. Kirchhundem 1989. (p. 538ff)
  2. ↑ Personal information from Father Franz Pfaff, Superior Missionshaus Haigerloch, November 25, 2014
  3. ^ Stracke, Friedrich (1952). Capita Nili. Novel of an ancient question. Balve: Brothers Zimmermann.
  4. ^ Stracke, Friedrich (1952). Capita Nili. Novel of an ancient question. Balve: Brothers Zimmermann. (P. 244)
  5. ^ Stracke, Friedrich (1952). Capita Nili. Novel of an ancient question. Balve: Brothers Zimmermann. (P. 178)
  6. ↑ Correct date and place of death according to "Petit Echo" and "Nekrolog" (internal journal or memorial book of the White Fathers)
personal data
SURNAME Stracke, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman Catholic priest and Africa missionary
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Würdinghausen , Westphalia
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1967
Place of death Burundi