Jacob Reihing

Jacob Reihing, copper engraving by Melchior Haffner

Jacob Reihing (born January 6, 1579 in Augsburg , † May 5, 1628 in Tübingen ) was a theologian who was very zealous in the defense of Catholicism , but surprisingly fled to Württemberg and converted to Lutheranism .

Life

Jacob Reihing was a son of the Catholic patrician of the same name from Augsburg and his wife Katharina born. Flasher. After attending the Jesuit College St. Salvator , he was accepted into the Jesuit order in 1597 and began studying theology at the Jesuit University of Ingolstadt . In 1608 he became a philosophy professor at the Bavarian State University of Ingolstadt. In 1613 he was brought to Neuburg an der Donau by the Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm, who had converted to Catholicism , where he became the personal confessor of the Count Palatine and his wife Magdalene as well as court chaplain. Reihing became an energetic supporter of his master, who pushed the re-Catholicization of his Protestant principality Pfalz-Neuburg . Reihing was considered a representative of intransigent Catholicism, and as late as 1620 he emerged as a Catholic theologian of controversy.

But on January 5, 1621, Reihing left Neuburg secretly and completely by surprise and went to Stuttgart , where he revealed his evangelical sentiments and asked Duke Johann Friedrich for asylum. After a test of faith, his stay in Württemberg was initially tolerated. Gradually the integration of the former Jesuit, who settled in Tübingen, took place. The public revocation of Catholicism was considered an important step in this direction. At the solemn oath that the provost and university chancellor Lucas Osiander took off on 23 November 1621 alongside the Duke Johann Friedrich and his brothers came Achilles and Magnus also the prince Franz Heinrich von Sachsen-Lauenburg and the rector of the University of Tubingen Johann Ludwig Mögling and numerous lecturers. In 1622 Reihing married Maria Welser, who, like him, came from the Augsburg patriciate. In the same year he submitted a dissertation, whereupon he was awarded the title of Doctor of Theology. Now he became a citizen of Württemberg and an associate professor at the University of Tübingen. In 1625 he was finally promoted to full professor of theology.

Commemorative publication on the occasion of the public revocation of the “papal doctrine” on November 23, 1621 in Tübingen

There are no external reasons for the surprising change to the Protestant camp. On the contrary: the Thirty Years' War began in 1618 , and the situation of the Protestants was very critical in its initial phase. To this end, Reihing sacrificed his high social prestige and material prosperity. It was completely uncertain what to expect in Württemberg. Reihing's extensive correspondence with the ducal chamber secretary Conrad Brodbeck gives an idea of ​​his gradual integration. The picture suggests that Reihing's religious reasons were actually decisive for the change of confession. His former Jesuit fellow believers tried to discredit Reihing after his conversion. Numerous writings appeared, z. T. factual, z. Some polemicized with him insultingly. Georg Stengel , Felix Simon , Andreas Förner , Christoph Grentzing and Matthäus Rader stood out among his critics . Reihing's work Laquei pontificii contriti , published in 1621, was placed on the index in the following year by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith .

Jacob Reihing was not allowed to live long. He died at the height of his strength at the age of 49 as a respected professor. Countless mourners attended the funeral, which took place on May 8, 1628. The funeral sermon was delivered by Lucas Osiander, the same one who had accepted Reihing's revocation of Catholicism less than seven years earlier.

Fonts (selection)

• Muri civitatis sanctae, hoc est, religionis catholicae fundamenta XII: quibus insistens… Wolfgangus Wilhelmus Comes Palatinus Rheni, Dux Bavarae… in cicitatem sanctam, hoc est Ecclesiam Catholicam faustum pendem inttulit… , Cologne 1615
• Muri civitatis sanctae, that is the basic principles of the Catholic religion XII. Through which ... Wolfgangvs Wilhelmvs Pfalzgraf bey Rhein, Hertzog in Bayrn ... from the Augspurgischen Confession to the Vralten ... Catholischen and Apostolic Churches ... , translated by Conrad Vetter, 1615
• Excvbise angelicae civitatis sanctae: pro denfensione XII. Fundamentorum catholicorum Ser.mi principis Wolfgang Wilhelmi… , Neuburg an der Donau 1617
• Laqvei Pontificii contriti, Quibus Adiuvante Domino liberatus Liberatori Svo Ter Opt.Max. Libenter, Meritò, Pvblicas, Solemnesque Gratias, In Illvstri Et Orthodoxa Tubingensi Academia dicere voluit , Tübingen 1621
• Laquei Pontificii contriti, That is, owed most thanks, Jacob Reihings, dynasty von Augspurg, the H. Schrifft Doctors: That he, by God's help, was torn out of the ropes of the papal mistakes, and saved ... , Tübingen 1621
• Thorough report of the wonderful conversion of the Pope to H. Evangelio , Tübingen 1621
• Sermon. From the supposed Bäpstischen Mass victim ... At the festival of the holy Apostle Andreae, in Stuttgart, held in the Princely Hoff-Capell ... , Tübingen 1621
• Dissertatio de vera Christi in terris ecclesia, adversus Larvatum iesuitam dilinganum… , Tübingen 1622
• Araneorum Operae: Quas Contra Laqueos Pontificios Contritos, Texturam Improbam suspenderunt, Georgius Stengel, Simon Schaittenreisser, per Metamorphosin a sociis suis Felix, Laurentius Forer, sub larva Viti ... , Tübingen 1623
• Retraction and thorough refutation of his incorrectly referenced Catholic manual , 2 volumes, Tübingen, Bd. 2: 1626

Contemporary source texts

• Hymenaeo Jacobi Reihingi, Patricii Avgvstani, theologiae doctoris et professoris Tubingensis, sponsi: & Mariae Velserae, Antonii Felicis, Patricii Augustani, F. sponsae: Sacrum ab amicis , Tübingen 1622
• Lucas Osiander: Christian funeral sermons, Bey of the funeral, Weil and the venerable and highly learned gentlemen, Jacobi Reihings, the Holy Scriptures Doctoris and famous professors in Tübingen: who fell asleep on the 5th day of May, in Christ gently and blissfully asleep, and the eighth day of the month was buried honestly to the earth at the popular assembly there , Tübingen 1628

Notes and individual references

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Wolfgang Mährle: Conversion in the war of religion ...
2. ↑ On this occasion, the 17-page book Hymenaeo Jacobi Reihingi, Patricii Avgvstani, theologiae doctoris et professoris Tubingensis, sponsi: & Mariae Velserae, Antonii Felicis, Patricii Augustani, F. sponsae: Sacrum ab amicis , who u. a. Contains wedding poems. Among them there is a Hebrew poem by Wilhelm Schickard and its Latin translation.
3. ↑ Main State Archives Stuttgart A 63 Bü 85.
4. ↑ Reihing, Jakob. In: Jesús Martínez de Bujanda , Marcella Richter: Index des livres interdits: Index librorum prohibitorum 1600–1966. Médiaspaul, Montréal 2002, ISBN 2-89420-522-8 , p. 750 (French, digitized ).

literature

• Wolfgang Mährle: Conversion in the religious war: The Jacob Reihing case . In: "Archivnachrichten - Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg" 57, 2018, ISSN  1437-0018 , pp. 12-13.
• Reinhold Rieger: Art. Reihing, Jakob , in: RGG⁴, vol. 7, 2004, col. 237.
• Kurt Schwindel: D. Jakob Reihing. A contribution to the history of the Counter Reformation , Munich: Kaiser 1931
• Julius Schall: Jakob Reihing, once a Jesuit, then a Protestant Christian. 1579–1628 , Halle ad Saale: Association for Reformation History 1894
• Theodor Schott :  Reihing, Jacob . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 27, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, pp. 698-700.

Web links

Commons : Jacob Reihing  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Further letters from Reihing and to him in the Kalliope union catalog