Guido Kolb

Guido Johann Kolb (born March 27, 1928 in Oberriet , Switzerland ; † January 2, 2007 in Zurich ) was a Roman Catholic pastor and author.

Life

Guido Kolb comes from the St. Gallen Rhine Valley . He was an industrial clerk and studied theology as a late-career worker in Innsbruck and Chur . In 1960 he became vicar at the Zurich Liebfrauenkirche , where he took over pastoral care in the Niederdorf . He took on his first pastor's position in 1966 in the Zurich workers' quarter in Schwamendingen in the parish of St. Gallus , where he succeeded Franz Höfliger , whom he posthumously memorialized in his work Franz Höfliger the Begging Prelate in 1988 . From 1972 to 1992, Guido Kolb was pastor of St. Peter and Paul , the Catholic mother church of Zurich in Aussersihl . He was Dean of Zurich from 1969 to 1974 , and from 1976 Canon of the Diocese of Chur . In 1993, for reasons of age, he was transferred to the small parish of St. Martin in the elegant Fluntern district on the Zürichberg , but did not feel at home there and returned to St. Peter and Paul in 1998 after a short detour in Wiedikon as an assistant pastor. There he died in 2007 in the old people's home belonging to the community, which he himself had planned at the time. Until recently he worked on his last work on the anniversary of the Roman Catholic community in Zurich.

writer

Kolb began writing at the Liebfrauenkirche, where he wrote short stories from his work in the Niederdorf district as a page filler in the parish gazette. When the proposal was made to publish these stories, he sent them to the publishing house of the then Catholic newspaper Neue Zürcher Nachrichten (NZN). The answer was: "No interest". Finally, a publisher was ready to publish the book if Kolb undertook to take over all unsold books after three years. Kolb made this commitment - and the book, the Niederdorf stories , was a huge hit. Since its publication in 1976, more than 50,000 copies have been sold in 13 editions.

After this first work, Kolb published over twenty books. They contain stories of simple people and marginalized people whom he met as a pastor. Everyday stories from the pastor's practical work are told with lots of love and humor.

In June 2007 the book When the Priests were still Revered was published posthumously . It tells the history of the Catholic community in Reformed Zurich from 1807 to 2007.

Works

• 1976 Niederdorfgeschichten , Jordan Verlag, Zurich 2005, ISBN 978-3-906561-47-9
• 1978 From Niederdorf to Aussersihl , NZN Buchverlag, Zurich, ISBN 3-85827-039-3
• 1979 In the land of the sun god. Peruvian travel diary , NZN Buchverlag, Zurich, ISBN 3-85827-045-8
• 1982 Grenzsteine , NZN Buchverlag, Zurich, ISBN 3-85827-063-6
• 1984 The May Beetle And Other Stories , NZN Buchverlag, Zurich, ISBN 3-85827-069-5
• 1985 Manila and its thousand faces. Report from the Philippines , NZN Buchverlag, Zurich, ISBN 978-3-858-27070-2
• 1987 Call after midnight , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 3-85764-247-5
• 1988 Franz Höfliger the begging prelate , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 3-85764-276-9
• 1988 search for a hostel. Christmas stories, Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 3-85764-266-1
• 1988 The treasure in the screed. Jugenderinnerungen , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 3-85764-256-4
• 1989 Schalk des Himmels , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 3-85764-301-3
• 1990 Light in dark night , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 3-85764-327-7
• 1991 Rascals never die out , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 3-85764-348-X
• 1991 Wisdom rediscovered , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 978-3-85764-351-4
• 1992 Quiet smile in a noisy city , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 3-85764-370-6
• 1994 The Clochard at the registry office , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 978-3-85764-409-2
• 1996 The forgotten saint on the Zürichberg , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 3-85764-451-6
• 1997 The Christ Child at the Christmas party , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 3-85764-471-0
• 1999 Zürcher Schmunzelgeschichten , Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 3-85764-506-7
• 2003 Scherbeviertel-Story and other calendar stories , Jordan Verlag, Zurich, ISBN 978-3-906561-43-1
• 2007 The church in the village . Jordan-Verlag, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-906561-48-6
• 2007 When the priests were called reverend. A reader on the 200th anniversary of the Catholic community in Zurich , Edition NZN at TVZ, Zurich, ISBN 978-3-290-20038-1

literature

• Pastors from the people - for the people , from the Tages-Anzeiger on June 29, 2007

Web links

• Literature by and about Guido Kolb in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry about Guido Kolb in the lexicon of the Association of Authors of Switzerland
• Hugo Hungerbühler: Guido J. Kolb. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Obituary KIPA (Catholic International Press Agency)
• Obituary from the NZZ
• Obituary in the St. Galler Tagblatt