Hans Hermann Groër

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Hans Hermann Groër in 1975

Hans Hermann Cardinal Groër OSB (born October 13, 1919 in Vienna ; † March 24, 2003 in St. Pölten ) was Archbishop of Vienna from 1986 to 1995 .

Life

Adolescence

Hans Groër came from an Austro-Hungarian officer family. He attended secondary school Fichtnergasse , came in 1933 in the minor seminary Hollabrunn and visited the Federal Hollabrunn , where he on 2 June 1937 graduated . He then entered the Vienna seminary , where he was influenced by the then spiritual Friedrich Wessely . He was called up for military service as an air force medic in 1941.

priest

On April 12, 1942, while on leave from the front, he received the sacrament of ordination through Theodor Cardinal Innitzer . Because of a heart valve defect, Groër was released from military service on March 11, 1943 and was initially a chaplain in Petronell and from August 15 in Bad Vöslau . In 1944 he joined the oratorio Sanctissimae Trinitatis founded by Friedrich Wessely . From 1946 he was prefect of studies at the boys' college in Hollabrunn . In 1947 he received his doctorate in theology. From 1952 to 1976 he was a religion teacher and student chaplain at the Bundesgymnasium Hollabrunn , Lower Austria. From 1959 to 1963 he was also chaplain of the parish Hollabrunn.

He founded scout groups and in 1963 became the state curate of Lower Austrian scouts and girl guides . He was the spiritual director of the Legio Mariae lay movement . From 1962 he was responsible for the Hollabrunn area and from 1970 for all of Austria. From 1974 to 1986 he was director of the secondary school in Hollabrunn, which was founded by Rector Johann Kurz and himself .

His work finally determined the old Marian pilgrimage site Roggendorf near Hollabrunn . The pilgrimage was - like many others - in 1785 the Josephinism fallen victim and forgotten. After the restoration of the miraculous image of the parish and pilgrimage church of the Birth of Mary from the 15th century, painted on leather , it was consecrated on September 14, 1969, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross . Groër suggested that the faithful begin a new type of pilgrimage: on every thirteenth pilgrims - in memory of the Marian apparitions in Fátima  , Portugal - should come to Roggendorf for consolidation in the faith, to pray for the renewal of the Church, for priestly and religious professions and for peace in the world. This monthly pilgrimage became a permanent fixture. From the beginning Groër wanted it to be understood as a “pilgrimage for the Church” led by cardinals , bishops , abbots etc. from Austria and all over the world. The small cadastral community has been called Maria Roggendorf since 1971 . On August 6, 1988, the parish and pilgrimage church of Maria Roggendorf was raised by the Pope to the rank of basilica minor .

In 1974 he entered the Benedictine monastery in Göttweig and was given the religious name Hermann. On September 8, 1977, he made Perpetual Vows . He founded the Marienfeld Cistercian convent near Maria Roggendorf, which was consecrated by Franz Cardinal König on November 14, 1982 .

Bishop and Cardinal

Cardinal Groër's coat of arms

On July 15, 1986, Hans Hermann Groër was appointed Archbishop of Vienna by Pope John Paul II and was ordained episcopal on September 14, 1986, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna by Franz Cardinal König ; Co- consecrators were Karl Berg , Archbishop of Salzburg , and Stephan László , Bishop of Eisenstadt .

On July 29, 1987 he received the pallium from Pope John Paul II as a sign of his position as Metropolitan of the Vienna Church Province . On June 28, 1988, the Pope in Rome accepted him as a cardinal priest with the titular church Santi Gioacchino ed Anna al Tuscolano in the college of cardinals . The Austrian bishops elected him on May 13, 1989 as chairman of the Austrian Bishops' Conference .

Coat of arms and motto

The coat of arms of Cardinal Groër was quartered: Fields 1 and 4 on a red background a Greek cross on a white bar (= coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Vienna); Fields 2 and 3 split, in front four times obliquely left divided by gold and blue, behind silver without image (= coat of arms of the extinct noble family of the Ruckhendorff , former owners of the Ruckhendorff rule ).

Behind the shield is the double cross (patriarchal cross), above it the red galero (cardinal's hat) with the fifteen hanging red tassels (fiocchi).

His motto was In verbo autem tuo (“But on your word”) and was taken from the Gospel of Luke ( Lk 5.1-11  EU ).

Abuse affair and resignation

On March 27, 1995, in the news magazine “ Profil ” (issue 13/95), a former student of Groër raised serious allegations of sexual abuse against the cardinal at the time . As a result, other ex-students from the Hollabrunn boys' seminar contacted them and reported sexual harassment or abuse. Groër was initially silent and resigned on April 6, 1995 as chairman of the Bishops' Conference. In a statement dated April 7, 1995, Groër explicitly rejected the "content and form of the defamation and devastating criticism made against me". In a further declaration of May 15, 1995, Groër renewed the rejection of the criticism and justified his other silence on this matter. The Vatican reacted "diplomatically": Groër was appointed coadjutor Archbishop Christoph Schönborn on April 13, 1995 with the right of succession and with effect from September 14, 1995 it was already on October 13, 1994 - before the "Groër affair" Resignation request submitted for reasons of age accepted.

After resigning, Groër retired to the Marienfeld Cistercian convent he had founded . On September 1, 1996, he was given an ecclesiastical office as prior of the house of St. Josef in Maria Roggendorf, an offshoot of the Göttweig monastery . After persistent allegations, he had to give up this position on January 5, 1998.

After the bishops Christoph Schönborn, Johann Weber , Georg Eder and Egon Kapellari had stated in a statement that they had come to “moral certainty” that the allegations against Groër “essentially apply”, and after a visit to the monastery ordered by the Vatican In 1998, Göttweig asked Groër in a declaration “God and the people” for forgiveness “if I have blamed myself”. Cardinal Groër then moved to a nunnery of the Nazareth sisters in Goppeln in Germany, from October 1998 he lived in a secluded life in Marienfeld.

death

Cardinal Groër's grave in front of the Marienfeld monastery in Lower Austria. Left and right with votive tablets .

His burial on the grounds of the Marienfeld Monastery on April 5, 2003 received little media attention. Joachim Cardinal Meisner , then Archbishop of Cologne, gave the sermon.

Awards

Consequences of the abuse affair

The Groër affair led to a referendum for a church referendum in Austria in March 1995 . The We Are Church initiative collected more than 500,000 signatures for a “fundamental renewal of the Church of Jesus”. Reforms are necessary to "help the Catholic Church to regain more respect and acceptance".

Works

  • The controversy of the post-Tridentine theologians about the presence of God in the righteous on the basis of the broadcasts . (Dissertation) Vienna 1947.
  • One hundred years of the Archdiocese of Vienna's boys' seminar 1856–1956 . Hollabrunn 1956.
  • Mary in Revelation . Salterrae, Maria Roggendorf 1987.
  • The calls from Loreto . Herold, 1987; Salterrae, Maria Roggendorf 1991
  • In front of the Sacred Heart: Triduum in St. Stephen's Cathedral - Vienna; three sermons in preparation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 1991 (June 4 to 6, 1991) . Salterrae, Maria Roggendorf 1991.
  • Austria's Rosary Atonement Crusade for Peace (Ed.): This country, in the midst of the world, needs your protection: Celebration of the names of Mary, September 11th and 12th, 1993: Sermons by Cardinal Hans-Hermann Groer . Vienna 1993.
  • Mary in the mystery of Jesus Christ . EOS Verlag, Archabbey St. Ottilien 1999.
  • Christmas and New Year's speeches on radio and television . Edited by Ildefons Manfred Fux OSB. Consecrated Supplement 12, Vienna 2007.

literature

  • Gerhard Heger:  Hans Hermann Groër. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 26, Bautz, Nordhausen 2006, ISBN 3-88309-354-8 , Sp. 529-534.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Hellmut Butterweck : Austria's cardinals: from Anton Gruscha to Christoph Schönborn . Ueberreuter, Vienna 2000. ISBN 3-8000-3764-5 .
  • Anna Coreth and Ildefons Fux : Servitium pietatis: Festschrift for Hans Hermann Cardinal Groër on his 70th birthday . Salterrae, Maria Roggendorf 1989. ISBN 3-900978-01-8
  • Hubertus Czernin : The book Groër: A church chronicle . Wieser, Klagenfurt 1998. ISBN 3-85129-255-3
  • Sebastian Fels : Groer, Ringel, Krenn: Dramolet in one go for two bishops, a psychoanalyst and thirteen wax stick madonnas . KrenFleischPress, Heimsotten 1993.
  • Ildefons M. Fux: I want to go to the altar of God. Hans Groër's Path to the Priesthood . Consecrated Supplement 15, Vienna 2011.
  • Ildefons M. Fux: The Hollabrunn years. Hans Groër as professor, youth minister and parish provisional . Consecrated Supplement 16, Vienna 2011.
  • Ildefons M. Fux: Maria at work. The monthly pilgrimage. Groër and the Legion of Mary. Marienfeld. The monastery “St. Joseph". The advanced high school . Consecrated Supplement 17, Vienna 2011.
  • Ildefons M. Fux: The Unexpected Archbishop. Groërs appointment and consecration . Consecrated Supplement 19/20, Vienna 2012.
  • Ildefons M. Fux: Building in Resistance. Groër's first bishopric 1987-1989 . Consecrated Supplement 21–23, Vienna 2013.
  • Ildefons M. Fux: Victor qvia victima - How to bring down a bishop I , Patrimonium-Verlag , Aachen 2015, ISBN 978-3-86417-040-9 .
  • Ildefons M. Fux: The pilgrim's homecoming - How to bring down a bishop II , Patrimonium-Verlag , Aachen 2017, ISBN 978-3-86417-071-3 .
  • Peter Paul Kaspar : The silence of the cardinal and the desire of the church people . Kulturverlag, Vienna 1995. ISBN 3-85400-001-4
  • Alfred Stirnemann : In verbo autem tuo: the ecumenical movement under Cardinal Groër; Festschrift for the 75th birthday of Cardinal Groër . Tyrolia, Innsbruck / Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-7022-1963-3 .
  • Gabriele Waste: Hans Hermann Cardinal Groër: Reality and Myth . Verlag Kardinal-von-Galen-Kreis eV, Münster 2013. ISBN 3-9812187-8-7
  • Alfred Worm : The failed church experiment. An analysis from a journalistic point of view , in: Robert Kriechbaumer (Hrsg.): Austrian National History after 1945 , Vol. 1: The mirror of memory. The view from the inside . Vienna u. a. 1998, pp. 709-723.

Web links

Commons : Hans Hermann Groër  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Statements by Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër from April 7, 1995 and May 15, 1995. Accessed on August 20, 2018 .
  2. ^ Sermon by Archbishop Joachim Cardinal Meisner at the Requiem by Hans Hermann Cardinal Groër in Maria Roggendorf on April 5, 2003 ( Memento from February 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on stjosef.at
  3. ↑ Catalog list Austrian National Library
predecessor Office successor
Franz Cardinal König Archbishop of Vienna
1986–1995 		Christoph Cardinal Schönborn OP
Karl Berg Chairman of the Austrian Bishops' Conference
1989–1995 		Johann Weber
personal data
SURNAME Groër, Hans Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Groer, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman Catholic bishop, cardinal
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 2003
Place of death St. Polten