Gabriel Hagspiel

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Gravestone of Pastor Gabriel Hagspiel, Peterspark, Grünstadt , created by Bernhard Würschmitt
Inscription on the tombstone

Gabriel Hagspiel (born September 10, 1765 in Mannheim , † October 4, 1815 in Grünstadt ) was an important Catholic priest from the diocese of Worms , later active in the large diocese of Mainz , pastor of Herrnsheim and Grünstadt, friend and confidante of the prince-educator in the Bavarian royal house Joseph Anton Sambuga .

Life

Gabriel Hagspiel was born in Mannheim, Electoral Palatinate , Diocese of Worms. He began his theological studies in Heidelberg in the winter semester of 1782 and was ordained priest in Worms on September 20, 1788. Until November 1, 1793, he was chaplain in Herrnsheim, then until April 1, 1798 as city chaplain in Heidelberg. During this time he also taught pastoral theology at the Heidelberg Konvikt and held the office of prefect of studies. He then took up his post as administrator, from 1801 as pastor of Herrnsheim (1803-04 also administrator of Neuhausen ). Due to the dissolution of the diocese of Worms, the parts on the left bank of the Rhine fell to the newly established large diocese of Mainz in 1801. Hagspiel also joined the Mainz diocesan clergy. On March 14, 1810, the priest was transferred by Bishop Joseph Ludwig Colmar to the parish of Grünstadt, which he held until his death on October 4, 1815. When Bishop Colmar Hagspiel was obviously in high esteem because he invited the Grünstadter priest in a letter dated 26 November 1810 specifically one, on the third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete), afternoon 14.00, in the High Mainz Cathedral "a pious exhortation" to because he has " longed " to hear him preach.

Pastor Hagspiel is described by contemporaries as a pious, educated and dutiful pastor and seems to have been a well-known preacher. As already mentioned, his bishop specifically invited him to this because he wanted to hear him once, and Gabriel Hagspiel also contracted his terminal illness, pneumonia, during a guest sermon. Franz Stapf (1766-1820), professor of moral theology and dogmatics in Bamberg , published two collections of letters from Joseph Anton Sambuga. His friend and confidante Gabriel Hagspiel also appears in it more often. Stapf writes about him: "On October 1st in Mannheim, in the Capuchin Church , he still gave a guest sermon on the solemnity of St. Francis of Assisi , whose genuine veneration he praised as a means of glorifying Jesus and on the fourth he was a corpse." The priest was buried in the old cemetery in Grünstadt, today's Peterspark, the tomb is still there.

In the Sambuga collection of letters, Professor Stapf also brings the priest's beautiful obituary, taken from the supplement to the 24th piece in the Wormser Zeitung, dated October 17, 1815:

“On October 4th, at half past seven in the evening, the well-drilled and venerable Mr. Gabriel Hagspiel fell asleep from pneumonia and breast infection, after a barely 24 hours sick bed, in the 50th year of his useful life and in the 27th year of his priesthood, Catholic parish priest of Grünstadt, born in Mannheim, September 10, 1765, ordained a priest in September 1788, from then until November 1, 1793 chaplain in Herrnsheim, from then until April 1, 1798 town chaplain in Heidelberg, from then on Pastor to Herrnsheim until March 14, 1810 and finally from March 14, 1810 to October 4, 1815, city pastor of Grünstadt. His passing was gentle, nobly pious, good, and instructive, just as it was his active, philanthropic life. Anyone who knew the good, dear man knows what spiritual man and pious priest the altar of God, what all-embracing philanthropist the world and what warm friend his friends lost in him and can only measure the deep, lasting pain that his friends, his Parish of Grünstadt, regardless of the confessions, feel at his loss. "

- Obituary from the Wormser Zeitung of October 24, 1815

That these characterizations were not just empty words in praise of someone who had just died is proven by the fact that an elaborate grave monument was erected there for the priest, who only worked in Grünstadt for 5 years, which, according to the inscription, received his “friends and patrons out of respect and Love ” . The gravestone was created by the then well-known sculptor priest Bernhard Würschmitt .

Friendship with Sambuga

Pastor Hagspiel's friendship with Joseph Anton Sambuga, the famous prince educator at the Bavarian royal court, gave his life a special stamp. Both existence were strangely intertwined; they met again and again and also died in quick succession, in the same year.

In Mannheim

In Johann Michael Sailer's Sambuga biography , Gabriel Hagspiel states that he got to know Sambuga when he was in Mannheim as city chaplain and court preacher between 1778 and 1785: “I got to know Sambuga when he was chaplain in Mannheim. His heavenly and pure mind, his impeccable way of life, his gentle, convincing, God-permeated lecture in his sermons won all hearts for him. ” Sambuga certainly had a decisive influence on the young Gabriel Hagspiel, so that the desire for the priesthood matured in him too.

In the seminary

From 1783 Sambuga taught temporarily as Regens in Heidelberg, in the so-called "Small Seminar" or Konvikt. Here he met again Hagspiel, who had been studying there since 1782, and who reported on it as follows: “As a logician, I was under his supervision. With what gentleness and what love he presided over us young people, everyone who lived with me under him knows. "

In Herrnsheim

Wolfgang Heribert von Dalberg , court official and minister in Mannheim, as well as founder of the Mannheim National Theater and its longtime honorary director, was able to win Sambuga as pastor of his hometown Herrnsheim. Here he worked between 1784 and 1797, completely renewing the community religiously. There, too, he met Gabriel Hagspiel again, who reported: “In 1784 Sambuga was appointed pastor of Herrnsheim near Worms by Heribert Freiherrn von Dalberg. In 1788 I was employed by him as a chaplain. It was my first job. How happy I praised myself and how happy I was praised that it was granted me to be with this man! I lived with him under one roof for five years, at his table, as an assistant in his office, five years that I will never forget! ” Sambuga himself tells us in a diary fragment about the upbringing of his 8-year-old nephew Anton from this time with Gabriel Hagspiel Zoppi of Walldorf , which he had taken with him in Herrnsheimer rectory in 1790: "in Christ month of this year, the day before Christmas, he put in my former chaplain Gabriel Hagspiel from Mannheim, who loved him tenderly, his first confession from." at Elsewhere it is said that the boy imitated the popular Hagspiel as a joke: “So he expressed the voice, tone and accent, mines and gestures of the chaplain in the preaching, so that one did not Boys, but thought he heard the chaplain. "

In Heidelberg

Gabriel Hagspiel continues in his report: “In 1793 I left Sambuga, being appointed chaplain to Heidelberg. It was difficult for me to say goodbye. I could hardly leave the man who had become my teacher, friend, everything to me. 'It is the course of providence,' he told me, 'and we would like to submit to it. Keep on serving humanity by living only for God. ' During my time in Heidelberg I was in constant contact with the dear man. In everything I turned to Sambuga. "

From far

In 1797, the Palatinate-Bavarian pretender Palatine Max Joseph , residing in Mannheim, asked that Sambuga take over the religious education of his eldest son, Crown Prince Ludwig - later King Ludwig I of Bavaria . Since it was difficult for him to part with his beloved parish in Herrnsheim, the priest hesitated for a long time to accept the call to be a prince educator. He finally agreed on the condition that his former “loyal clerk” and “trusted friend” Gabriel Hagspiel should represent him as parish vicar in the community. So it happened. Sambuga went as an educator to the Palatine court, which was now in Rohrbach near Heidelberg. Pastor Hagspiel writes about this time: “In 1797 I came into closer contact with the spirit man again. In that year he was appointed tutor of the then ducal, now royal children; and I his parish administrator. I experienced and enjoyed the same love from him as in the beginning. All of his letters that I have from him and that I read often are evidence of it. "

When Sambuga moved to Munich with the princely family in 1799 , he gave up his nominal pastoral position in Herrnsheim in 1801 - because of the long distance - and ensured that it was legally transferred to the previous administrator, Gabriel Hagspiel. Another proof of how much Sambuga valued the later pastor in Grünstadt, about whom he wrote himself that he was leaving his Herrnsheim congregation to someone “more worthy” than himself. When he took over the parish, he sent him a letter with recommendations on how he should organize his office.

The second part of Sambuga's collection of letters contains a letter from him to Pastor Hagspiel, on the occasion of his takeover of the Grünstadt parish in 1810. The prince educator writes from Munich: “That you now own the Grünstadt parish is your most valuable letter to me first message. Have the firm belief that God has called you to this position which you are now taking. Since you have beautiful scientific facilities, I ask you not to fail to strive forwards in all relevant knowledge. You know the need of time. It has to be spoken aloud if the seducers are not to outvote us. Since so many speak for unspirituality, there must be others who seek to save honor. Just be attentive to what is happening and you will soon find where to work. Have courage, if time does not support us, God will help us ... ”.

In Sailer's Sambuga biography, Gabriel Hagspiel closes his story with notes from Grünstadt, which he recorded only a few weeks before his own death:

“In 1810 I came out of close contact with Sambuga by being sent to Grünstadt as pastor, but I always kept in correspondence with him. His last letter was on March 20th of this year. I have it in mind every day. It contains the final outpourings of the heart for me. He is now with him in a better life, of which he was so full on earth, with God. The many good things he donated here have given him rich, everlasting reward. Never, never will I forget him. His picture is drawn alive in me - he was one of my greatest benefactors. Grünstadt, September 14, 1815, G. Hagspiel, Pastor. "

- Sailer, Sambuga biography 1816; Pastor Hagspiel's closing remarks about his friend.

Contact to Johann Michael Sailer

During his time in Grünstadt, Gabriel Hagspiel was clearly in contact with the important theologian and later Bishop of Regensburg , Johann Michael Sailer . He corresponded with him about the production of the Sambuga biography, sent him his own report, which forms a separate book chapter under the title “Pastor Hagspiel on Sambuga” and is one of those four employees or “guardian spirits” who “made up the prince educator knew ” and sent Sailer “ descriptions of his life ” , as it says in the preface. Johann Michael Sailer writes about them in the prologue that when the work was written, “their hearts were as one with mine” .

Others

The Grünstadt writer Christian Heinrich Gilardone (1798–1874), nephew of the famous painter Müller , remembers his pastor and educator Gabriel Hagspiel with gratitude in the foreword to his first work “Poetic Attempts” (Volume 1, 1829). In the 2nd volume of the "Poetic Experiments" Gilardone wrote an ode to his hometown Grünstadt in 1830, which also includes Pastor Hagspiel. The verse refers to him there:

"... tears of longing I've often cried for you,
often cherished quiet mourning deep in the chest,
worthy priest of the Lord who will give me the duties of the Christian
imprinted in the soul with a living word ... "

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georg May: The right to worship in the Diocese of Mainz at the time of Bishop Joseph Ludwig Colmar , Mainz 1987, page 540
  2. ^ Johann Friedrich von Schulte:  Stapf, Franz . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, p. 449.
personal data
SURNAME Hagspiel, Gabriel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic priest, pastor of Grünstadt
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1765
PLACE OF BIRTH Mannheim
DATE OF DEATH October 4, 1815
Place of death Grünstadt