Hieronymus Hofer

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Hieronymus Hofer
"ABC of Poor Care" , 1858
Hieronymus Hofer House in Frankenthal

Georg Hieronymus Hofer (born April 6, 1815 in Grünstadt ; † January 29, 1890 in Speyer ) was a German Protestant pastor and social reformer .

Life

Born as the son of the Grünstadt tailor Melchior Hofer and his wife Katharina geb. Baltz he first attended the Progymnasium in his hometown . From 1833 to 1837 Hofer studied theology at the Universities of Erlangen and Utrecht . Then he entered the service of the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate . He became vicar in Mimbach and Odenbach , 1840-1844 study teacher in Bad Bergzabern . From 1844 to 1859 Hieronymus Hofer officiated as pastor of Weisenheim am Berg , from 1859 to 1870 of Edenkoben and from 1870 to 1888 as pastor and dean of Frankenthal . In 1888 he retired and moved to Speyer, where he died two years later. Several of his theological treatises appeared in print.

Hofer's first marriage since 1841 was Juliane Luise Ernestine Heintz (1815-1847), daughter of the senior consistory councilor and Protestant Munich court preacher Philipp Casimir Heintz and sister of the later Bavarian Minister of Justice, Carl Friedrich von Heintz . The couple had four children who died at or shortly after birth.

On Christmas Day 1853, the non-denominational St. John's Association for voluntary poor relief in Bavaria was founded on the initiative of King Max II in Munich . The monarch took up this matter actively, gave him an organization on a semi-governmental basis and brought him public attention. Within only six years, 634 branches with 88,000 members followed nationwide. In 1855 a St. Johannis branch association was established for the canton of Dürkheim in the Bavarian Rhine Palatinate . Pastor Hieronymus Hofer was one of the founders and first activists of this association, he also chaired its general assemblies. In what was then Weisenheim am Berg, in 1857, despite great opposition, he founded a local association and in 1858 a savings and aid fund. For the 3rd annual general meeting of the Cantonal Association in 1858, he wrote the ABC of Poor Care , which described the various activities in detail and was intended to serve as a suggestion for activists from other parts of the country how the most relevant work could be done. In Bavaria on the left bank of the Rhine, the publication became the basis for the relevant activities. Help for the poor and needy was one of his main concerns throughout his life.

In recognition of his services, Pastor Hofer received the 1st Class Cross of the Order of Merit from St. Michael .

In Frankenthal (Palatinate) , the elderly care center Hieronymus-Hofer-Haus has been named after him since 1999 . In its website it says u. a .: “Hieronymus Hofer is one of the pioneers of the Palatinate diakonia in the middle of the 19th century. With his writing "ABC der Armenpflege" from 1858 he set a diaconal milestone for the Palatinate. His concern: Prevention of poverty and begging by strengthening personal responsibility and self-help of the people affected and coordinating the aid provided by the state, churches and associations. "

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinrich Dittmar : Short report on the status of the Royal Progymnasium in Grünstadt in Rheinbayern: announced at the end of the school year 1827/28 , Kirchheimbolanden, 1828, p. 10; (Digital scan) .
  2. ^ Theological text from 1846
  3. ^ Website on the history and the founding anniversary of the Bavarian St. Johannisverein (accessed on December 24, 2018).
  4. ↑ Hieronymus Hofer: ABC of Poor Care , 1858 (digital view)
  5. ↑ Page of the Hieronymus-Hofer-Haus on "Churches in and around Frankenthal" (accessed on December 24, 2018).
personal data
SURNAME Hofer, Hieronymus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hofer, Georg Hieronymus (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant pastor and social reformer
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1815
PLACE OF BIRTH Grünstadt
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1890
Place of death Speyer