Hector Mithobius (theologian)

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Hector Mithobius , also Hektor , surname Latinized from Mithoff (born August 16, 1600 in Hanover ; † June 7, 1655 in Ratzeburg ) was a German Lutheran theologian and superintendent, initially for the Ratzeburg monastery , from 1653 also for large parts of western Mecklenburg.

life and work

Mithobius was the son of the lawyer of the same name and later Chancellor of Saxony-Lauenburg, Hector Mithobius . After a trip to Italy he studied in Giessen, Tübingen and Jena. In 1625 he was appointed court preacher to Saxony-Lauenburg and in August 1626 in Tübingen he was appointed Dr. theol. PhD. From 1627 he worked as superintendent in Böblingen .

In the course of the Swedish occupation of the Halberstadt Monastery, Mithobius was appointed there; his brother, the lawyer Daniel Mithoff, was working here at the same time as Swedish councilor and commissioner. In Halberstadt he gave a well-known series of 132 sermons on the Book of Jonah ; the sermons were printed in Halberstadt in 1639 and again in Leipzig in 1654. In 1639 Emperor Ferdinand III raised him . together with his father and his brothers in the hereditary nobility under the name Mithobius von Mithoffen .

After the end of the Swedish occupation of Halberstadt, he went to the state of Hadeln, which belonged to Saxony-Lauenburg, and became a pastor in Otterndorf . In 1641 the cathedral chapter in Ratzeburg appointed him as successor to Nicolaus Peträus as superintendent of the monastery and preacher at the Ratzeburg cathedral . In the same year he held an in-depth church visitation in Ratzeburg Abbey and arranged the church conditions affected by the effects of the war . In 1644, because of the determination of the Duchess Katharina von Lauenburg (1582–1644) that Mithobius should give the funeral oration at her burial in the Ratzeburg Cathedral, a violent dispute with the actually responsible Saxon-Lauenburg superintendent Cramer.

Grave slab in the Ratzeburg Cathedral

When the diocese of Ratzeburg was converted into the Principality of Ratzeburg by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and initially fell to Mecklenburg-Schwerin , its spiritual supervisory area expanded considerably. Since the previous Wismar superintendent had to be reorganized due to the transfer of Wismar and Neukloster to Sweden, a new Mecklenburg district was established in 1653 with Mithobius as superintendent. Here, too, he immediately made a visit. In 1650 he published an adaptation of the Small Catechism : Methodus catechizandi simplices, di most simple-minded and short instructions on how the very simple-minded people are to practice the H. Catechismo . It was printed in Rostock in 1653 after the Mecklenburg Superintendent was established and remained in use in Mecklenburg until 1812.

In 1655 the cathedral school at Ratzeburg Cathedral was rebuilt according to a statute drafted by Mithobius. He was very committed to church music, and his son of the same name (archdeacon from 1655 and later superintendent in Otterndorf) documented his father's sermons in his De Psalmodia Christiana , which is important for the history of evangelical church music , in which he defends figural music against criticism.

His successor as superintendent and cathedral preacher was Johann Friedrich König .

family

Mithobius was married three times, first from 1628 to Anna Elisabeth Meißner (1602–1643) from Stuttgart ; after her death he married Maria Chop (1614–1649) from Ratzeburg on October 17, 1643 and finally in 1650 Emerentia (von) Hahn (- Basedow ) (1599–1677). Of the first two women, 13 children were born to him.

Fonts

  • Exēgēsis Primi Capitis Matthaei Evangelistae: In Qua Prolegomena Quaedam Generalia Praemittuntur, Deinde Dicta Fere Omnia, adhaec usque tempora in controversiam vocata… Dissertation. Werlinus, Tübingen 1619.
  • The Prophet Jonah: Explained and explained in a hundred and two and thirty sermons / With detailed locis, or Christian usage / Particularly on the practice of this growing and gloomy time / directed to penance. Kolwald, Halberstadt 1639.
  • Methodus catechizandi simplices, di most simple-minded and short instructions on how to practice the really simple-minded people in H. Catechismo ... Keyl, Rostock 1653.
last edition: Catechism questions oeder exercise of the little catechismi D. Martin Luther, which initially designed by Weyland D. Hector Mithobius but afterwards by various servants of the divine. Word has been increased. Glasses, Ratzeburg 1805.

literature

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Nicolaus Peträus Superintendent of the Ratzeburg bishopric
1641–1655 		-
personal data
SURNAME Mithobius, Hector
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mithoff, Hector; Pick up, Hector
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lutheran theologian, superintendent
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1600
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH June 7, 1655
Place of death Ratzeburg