Hermann Knoll (priest)

Spiritual Hermann Knoll

Hermann Knoll (born July 5, 1897 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein ; † February 20, 1935 in Quirnheim , Boßweiler district ) was a priest of the Speyer diocese and spiritual and spiritual director of the Order of the Hildegardis Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate . During the First World War he had been given high honors for leading an assault as a Bavarian officer , where he suffered very serious wounds that caused irreparable damage to health and a disability.

Life

family

He was the son of the Ludwigshafen senior teacher Valentin Knoll and his wife Maria Rosa, née Thomas. Both parents came from Herxheim near Landau and Hermann had four siblings, with the eldest brother Albert Knoll also becoming a priest. The father Valentin Knoll was one of the best-known Catholic laypeople of his time in the Speyer diocese, which is why his own biography was published in 1925.

Front officer

Knoll wanted to become a priest and studied theology. In 1916 he interrupted his military service studies in the Bavarian Army and went through his military training with the 17th Infantry Regiment "Orff" in Germersheim . In the same year he moved to the western front as a member of this unit . The obituary states in this regard: "Bravery and faithful fulfillment of duty distinguished him, his genuinely comradely, self-sacrificing nature made him very popular with his superiors and comrades." Knoll was therefore quickly promoted to lieutenant and company commander. When he led his company to assault in the 1918 spring offensive in the Montdidier - Noyon area , the officer received a life-threatening bullet in the heart and a severe leg wound. In the book “The Palatinate Theologians in World War I” Knoll reports in detail about his war experiences. He writes about the wound:

“ As ordered, I storm up the uncovered hill under heavy fire with my platoon, which has barely 12 men. I am preparing to take a short jump. There - a sharp blow to my chin, stabbing pain in the chest, blood shoots in black puffs from a wound in the neck. "God help me, I'm hit!" But nobody hears it anymore, my braves had stormed forward. With a lot of effort I can put an emergency bandage on my neck wound, I can still crawl a few steps behind a bush - then it will be black night around me. When I come to, a slightly wounded man, unknown to me, tries to stop the running blood. "

- The Palatinate Theologians in World War I, Speyer, ca.1930, page 13

Lieutenant Hermann Knoll was rescued by a medical column that night and operated on in the field. As if by a miracle he survived, hovering between death and recovery for a long time. For his bravery he was awarded the Iron Cross First Class and the Order of Military Merit , among other things, and he was also awarded the Badge for Wounded .

Priest and spiritual

Knoll returned home as a war disabled . Because of his severe heart injury, he was hardly physically resilient, and one leg was shortened, which made it difficult to walk. Nonetheless, he resumed studying theology and was ordained a priest in 1922 in Speyer Cathedral by Bishop Ludwig Sebastian . The clergyman comments on this himself: "By God's providence I stayed alive despite the neck and chest plug in the pericardium and today I can thank my God at the altar for the almost wonderful salvation from great danger during my last storm."

Obituary from Spiritual Hermann Knoll, Der Pilger , No. 8, from 1935

From 1922 to 1927 the young priest worked as a chaplain in Blieskastel , where he had to lead the parish almost alone because the pastor was ill. Due to increasing health problems was admixed Knoll as a Spiritual and spiritual director in the parent company of the newly founded Order of Hildegardis Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate . This was in Quirnheim near Grünstadt , in the Boßweiler district and was called "Haus Nazareth". The founder and spiritual father, Father Adolf Panzer , died in 1925 and the sisters were in dire need of spiritual guidance. Mainly based in the local diocese, the community should also be more closely connected to the episcopal see of Speyer. Kaplan Knoll took on these tasks from 1927 until his death in 1935. He consolidated the young order, shaped it spiritually and became, so to speak, a second founder. However, the priest increasingly suffered from his war wound in 1918 and ultimately died as a result of the consequences.

The Speyer bishop Ludwig Sebastian personally paid his last respects to his burial in the Quirnheim cemetery, as did many of his war comrades and the sisters he looked after. Pilgrim No. 8 of February 24, 1935 pays tribute to the priest with the words: “A brave German officer, an exemplary priest, a great sufferer and God-filled prayer - this is how Spiritual Knoll lives on in our memories. What will remain unforgettable will be what he has achieved great things, even though suffering more and more from the consequences of his war injury and death before his eyes. "

Hermann Knoll was buried next to the founder of the order Adolf Panzer in Quirnheim. When the sisters moved their motherhouse to Gimmeldingen , to the Hildenbrandseck monastery , the two dead - as the founding fathers of the community - were transferred there on October 29, 1959.

literature

• The Palatinate theologians in the World War. Pilger Publishing House. Speyer approx. 1930. pp. 7, 12f.
• Spiritual Hermann Knoll. A war victim of the Palatinate clergy. The pilgrim . Speyer No. 8 of February 24, 1935.
• Jakob Knauber : Valentin Knoll. Senior teacher in Ludwigshafen (1854-1921). Ludwigshafen 1925.
• Karl Hoffmann: Adolf Panzer. Lahn Verlag, Limburg 1959.

Web links

Commons : Hermann Knoll  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry in "Saarland Biographies" .
• Entry on the history of the Hildegardis sisters on medals online