Gerhard Matern

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Gerhard Matern (born June 7, 1913 in Lisettenhof , Warmia ; † October 1, 2011 in Fulda ) was a German Catholic clergyman, university teacher and non-fiction author .

Life

Gerhard Matern was born in 1913 on Gut Lisettenhof (today Gościechowo) in the Heilsberg district. He passed his Abitur in 1935 at the Humanist High School Hosianum in Braunsberg and began to study philosophy and theology at the State Academy in Braunsberg , where Johannes Vincke taught theology. He was drafted into the Wehrmacht and used in the German-Soviet War .

Matern was a soldier in the 5th Company of the 413rd Grenadier Regiment. In 1943, during fighting in Russia, he suffered a serious surprise, whereupon one leg was amputated . He was then promoted to first lieutenant on May 5, 1943 and was awarded the German Cross in Gold .

After convalescence, he traveled to Freiburg im Breisgau as a war invalid , where Johannes Vincke taught church history at the University of Freiburg from the summer semester of 1944 , and continued studying theology. With the dissertation The ratio of Warmia and their environment in the late Middle Ages , he was in 1944 at the University of Freiburg for doctor of philosophy doctorate . On February 5, 1945, he was the bishop of Warmia Maximilian Kaller in Frombork for deacon ordained. In the course of the flight and expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe in 1945 , he arrived at Hardehausen Monastery , traveled to Bishop Maximilian Kaller in the Soviet occupation zone in Eisleben in December 1945 and received the sacrament of ordination on December 16, 1945 in St. Gertrud's Church .

At the end of January 1948 he received his doctorate in theology at the University of Freiburg with the dissertation The Clergy of the Diocese of Warmia at the End of the Middle Ages . Years of extensive pastoral and academic activity followed, including as a clinic pastor and assistant chaplain in Freiburg, as a secretary in the special papal office for expellees in Frankfurt am Main and at the same time as a pastor in the local parish of St. Bonifatius . He completed his habilitation in 1958 with the text On the prehistory and history of the Corpus Christi celebration, especially in Spain at the University of Freiburg. He became a lecturer and from January 1959 a full professor for church history and religious education at the Philosophical-Theological University in Königstein im Taunus , worked as a spiritual at the local seminary and as a religion teacher at the St. Angela School of the Königstein Ursulines .

At the beginning of October 1962, Gerhard Matern was appointed professor at the Philosophical-Theological University in Fulda. In 1963 he moved into the parent company in Fulda and lived there until the end of his life. In recognition of the diverse activities in the diocese of Fulda , including as a member of the Liturgical Commission, were given to Gerhard Matern by Pope Paul VI in 1968 . conferred the titles of Papal Honorary Chaplain and Monsignor .

In addition to teaching as a professor of pastoral theology in Fulda, which he held until his release in June 1981, there were theological lectures at the Philipps University in Marburg, where he was appointed director of the Catholic theological seminar in 1967 . During his tenure, the range of courses and courses offered at this seminar for training religious teachers at grammar schools was greatly expanded. On May 28, 1971 he was appointed honorary professor at the University of Marburg.

He was an uncle of the journalist Norbert Matern .

Awards and honors

Publications

  • The relationship between Warmia and its environment in the late Middle Ages . Freiburg im Breisgau 1944. Zugl. Dissertation, Philosophical Faculty, Freiburg im Breisgau 1944.
  • The clergy of the Warmia diocese at the end of the Middle Ages . Zugl. Dissertation of January 29, 1948, Theological Faculty, Freiburg im Breisgau 1946.
    • expanded and revised edition: Church conditions in Warmia during the late Middle Ages . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 1953.
  • On the prehistory and history of the celebration of Corpus Christi, especially in Spain. Studies on popular piety in the Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern era (= relationships of science. Spanish research by the Görres Society . Series 2; Bd. Görres Society for the Care of Science 10). Also habilitation thesis , 1958. Aschendorff Verlag, Münster 1962.
  • Encouragement in the morning. Speeches on how to live with confidence . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1988, ISBN 978-3-7917-1172-0 .
  • A new step closer to God. Speeches and meditations . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1990, ISBN 978-3-7917-1237-6  :
  • Encounters with Jesus - then and now . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1992, ISBN 978-3-7917-1340-3 .
  • One be your teacher. Faith help in our time . Verlag Styria, Graz 1995, ISBN 978-3-222-12332-0 .

literature

  • MATERN, Gerhard in; Walter Habel: Who is who? The German who's who . Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 1974, p. 670. (PDF)
  • Gerhard Matern in: Alfred Penkert : Higher powers have decided. Flight, expulsion and arrival of East Prussian Catholics as reflected in their correspondence with Bishop Maximilian Kaller. With an outline of the Warmia post-war history (= Contributions to Theology, Church and Society in the 20th Century , Volume 15). Lit Verlag, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-8258-1227-0 , p. 152 (footnote 248).
  • Gerhard Matern in: Dieter E. Kilian : Bible-Church-Military. Christianity and being a soldier through the ages . Book on Demand, Norderstedt 2018, ISBN 978-3-752891669 , p. 31 (footnote 70).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Matern, Gerhard - Biography. Trace of war, accessed November 10, 2018 .
  2. ^ A b Dieter E. Kilian : Bible-Church-Military. Christianity and being a soldier through the ages . Book on Demand, Norderstedt 2018, ISBN 978-3-752891669 , p. 31 (footnote 70)
personal data
SURNAME Matern, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic clergyman, university professor and non-fiction author
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Lisettenhof , Warmia
DATE OF DEATH October 1, 2011
Place of death Fulda