Hermann Westermann (Bishop)

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Hermann Westermann SVD (born April 24, 1905 in Werne , Westphalia province , † October 23, 1985 in Münster , North Rhine-Westphalia ) was a Roman Catholic bishop .

biography

Early years and ordination

Westermann grew up as the son of a miner in simple circumstances on the edge of the Ruhr area . He was the oldest child in the family and attended the Rector's School in Werne. Emulating his uncle Heinrich Rohling, who was active as a Steyler missionary in Argentina , Westermann attended the St. Xaver Missionary School in Bad Driburg from 1920 . Later he moved to the St. Michael-Gymnasium in Steyl and passed the Abitur in 1925 at the Gymnasium Thomaeum in Kempen . In August of the same year he joined the religious order of the Steyler Missionaries in Sankt Augustin . In 1927 Westermann passed his first professorship and began to study philosophy . In 1928 he came to the United States through a student exchange run by his order in order to pursue further studies in Techny , Illinois . On 22 May 1932 he received in the chapel of the Minor Seminary in Chicago , the ordination . His home prime followed on July 10th . Since he was supposed to work as a Divine Word missionary in India , he traveled there from Genoa on November 22, 1932 . At this point in time, the Steyler missionaries had just taken over the central Indian mission area of ​​Indore from the French Capuchins.

Missionary work in India

His first field of activity was the Khurda-Mariapur station. However, since Westermann did not feel fully occupied there, he also visited the Nimar area on a motorcycle and tried to bring the Christian faith closer to the people there. In 1936 he was admitted to the Council of the Region. Three years later he became pro-prefect. During the Second World War Westermann was interned for 13 months, inter alia in Ahmednagar , Deoli and in Dehradun on the Himalayas . Westermann used the time and devoted himself to studying Sanskrit . In the following years he published several church books in it.

On June 29, 1948 Westermann became the new Apostolic Prefect of the Apostolic Prefecture of Indore . He succeeded the Steyler missionary Peter Janser , who carried out this task from 1935 to 1945. In mid-June 1951 were offset Westermann into the new Divine Word mission area Sambalpur and was there bishop. The episcopal ordination took place on July 29, 1951 due to a home leave in Sankt Augustin. Now as bishop, Westermann immediately donated the sacrament of ordination to 39 confreres in Sankt Augustin for the first time on August 26, 1951. Then on December 12th of that year he traveled from Rome to Sambalpur. Once there, he undertook a tour of the mission area, visited all the main stations and numerous secondary stations and tried to get an overview.

Since there were very few Christians in the diocese at the beginning of his missionary work, and these were looked after by a distant station, Kalunga became the temporary residence of the bishop. Kalunga was easy to get to by train. He tried to include the people of his mission area in his plan and campaigned for the establishment of schools and better medical conditions. He also saw his most important task as bishop in enabling the Christians in his diocese to become messengers of faith among their country people themselves. Another success of his work was the priestly ordination of a Steyler missionary who had emerged from the diocese of Sambalpur, to whom he donated the priestly ordination on October 4, 1959. When Rourkela became a modern steel town due to rich ore deposits and thus developed into the new center of the region, the focus of the diocese's work shifted there. Westermann also moved to Rourkela and was based there from 1966.

Return to Germany and end of life

In 1974 Westermann resigned from his position as bishop for reasons of age. On May 18, 1974, he consecrated his Indian brother and general councilor in Rome, Raphaele Cheenath , as his successor as bishop. On May 25, Westermann returned to Germany and settled in Münster in Westphalia , where he moved into a simple rented apartment. In his home country he now took on the duties of auxiliary bishop and held mission Sundays and individual mission sermons until March 1980. After that he devoted himself to the promotion of missions, so he took care of the provision of funds for the mission in general. In particular, however, the handmaids of Mary remained a personal concern of his. During his time as bishop he strongly supported and promoted this congregation of sisters after he moved to Rourkela. He had tried to give the sisters a sound education in order to better prepare them for local issues and thus to ensure better social conditions.

In 1976 Westermann received honorary citizenship from his hometown of Werne. He died on October 23, 1985 in the St. Franziskus Hospital in Münster . He is buried in Sankt Arnold near Rheine.

Aftermath

In 1980, the city of Werne sponsored the social center founded by Bishop Westermann in Rourkela and has since supported it with an annual financial grant. Furthermore, after his death, the "Bishop Westermann Foundation" was founded in favor of the maidservants in Sundargarh in the diocese of Rourkela . Westermann established the establishment of the foundation in his will and made an amount available for this from his own resources.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maidservants of Mary open second convent in Sundern in the Sauerland , April 1st, 2009, www.steyler.eu
predecessor Office successor
Peter Janser Apostolic Prefect of Indore
1948–1951 		Bishop Frans Simons
Bishopric was re-established Bishop of Sambalpur
1951–1974 		Raphaele Cheenath
personal data
SURNAME Westermann, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman Catholic bishop
DATE OF BIRTH April 24, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Werne , Province of Westphalia
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 1985
Place of death Munster , North Rhine-Westphalia