Heinrich Metzroth

Heinrich Metzroth (born December 17, 1893 in Bingerbrück , † January 19, 1951 ) was a Catholic auxiliary bishop .

Life

Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Metzroth in Rome

Metzroth was born the son of Rector Josef Metzroth. He grew up with ten siblings in the community on the Rupertsberg . On the other side of the Nahe , in Bingen , he attended the Progymnasium and then moved to the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Trier , where he passed the final examination in 1912 as a pupil of the Bischöflicher Konvikt. On August 12, 1916, after studying philosophy and Catholic theology, he was ordained a priest by Bishop Felix Korum .

For five years he worked as a chaplain at the Liebfrauenkirche in Koblenz and as a religion teacher at the Ursuline School . This was followed by further studies at Cologne University , which he completed in 1927 with the state examination for higher teaching service. Thereupon, on April 8, 1927, he took a position as a teacher at the Reform Realgymnasium. On April 26, 1936, he was appointed to the Kaiserin-Augusta-Gymnasium in Koblenz.

On October 2, 1936, he was appointed to the High Cathedral Chapter by Bishop Franz Rudolf Bornewasser . As early as December 1936, he was entrusted with the school department in the Episcopal Vicariate as a clergyman . In the struggle for the continued existence of the Catholic denominational schools, he consistently represented their existence, which was guaranteed by the Reich Concordat of 1933. Despite this agreement, the community school was introduced in 1937. When the professional teacher training finally became impossible and even religious instruction in the elementary school was finally abolished, Heinrich Metzroth introduced child pastoral care lessons in the diocese of Trier . In February 1942, Heinrich Metzroth was interrogated by the Trier Gestapo for distributing the 30 items on the program of the national church in Germany , and documents from his office and apartment were confiscated.

Act as auxiliary bishop

Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Metzroth's prayer seat in the Catholic parish church of Bingerbrück

On May 12, 1941, Pope Pius XII appointed him . in "recognition of his services and in appreciation of his outstanding personality" as titular bishop of Thyatira and auxiliary bishop in Trier . The consecration took place on June 8, 1941 by Archbishop Bornewasser. Co-consecrators were the auxiliary bishops Albert Maria Fuchs from Trier and Wilhelm Stockums from Cologne . His motto # motto of church dignitaries was: In veritate et caritate ('In Truth and Love'). In the ten years of his activity as auxiliary bishop Heinrich Metzroth visited 862 parishes and vicarages, he donated the sacrament of Confirmation 155,000 times , gave 507 tonsure and minor orders and 76 times ordained a priest.

In 1947, Metzroth headed a commission of the German bishops, in which experts from various German dioceses worked out a list of "unified songs" for parish singing.

At the beginning of 1951, Heinrich Metzroth had to go to hospital, where he died on January 19, 1951 after an operation. Metzroth found his final resting place in the auxiliary bishop's chapel in the Trier cathedral cloister.

literature

• Wolfgang Seibrich: The auxiliary bishops of the Diocese of Trier. Paulinus Verlag, Trier 1998, ISBN 3-7902-1326-8 ( publications of the diocese archive Trier 31).
• Heinz Monz (Eds.) And Martin Persch (Author): Metzroth, Heinrich . In: Trier Biographisches Lexikon , Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2000, ISBN 3-88476-4004 , pp. 294-295.

Web links

• Entry on Heinrich Metzroth in the Rhineland-Palatinate personal database
• Entry on Heinrich Metzroth on catholic-hierarchy.org
• Metzroth, Heinrich In: Saarland biographies

Individual evidence

1. ^ Thomas Labonté: The collection "Kirchenlied" (1938). Origin, corpus analysis, reception. Francke Verlag, Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-7720-8251-1 , p. 181.
2. ^ Carl Woog: Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Metzroth . In: Bingerbrücker and Rupertsberger stories . No. December 11 , 1999.