Jakob Baumann (priest)

Cathedral Vicar Jakob Baumann

Cathedral Vicar Jakob Baumann, drawing by Joseph Braunmiller, around 1910

Title page of the first year of pilgrims , edited by Jakob Baumann , 1906

Jakob Baumann (born May 20, 1862 in Hördt ; † January 12, 1922 in Speyer ) was a Catholic priest of the Speyer diocese , cathedral vicar and bishop's secretary, clergyman , long-time editor of the church newspaper Der Pilger, and a writer and poet.

Life

Jakob Baumann was born as the son of the mill owner and mayor Peter Anton Baumann and his wife Maria Magdalena. Hörner, born in Hördt, southern Palatinate. He attended the Latin school in Germersheim and the grammar school in Speyer. Then he studied philosophy and theology in Munich and Innsbruck. During his studies he became a member of the KDStV Aenania Munich in the CV in 1883 . One of his Munich professors who strongly influenced him was Georg von Hertling , later German Chancellor. Finally, Baumann moved in 1886 as a one-year volunteer with the 17th Infantry Regiment "Orff" in Germersheim. With the qualification as reserve lieutenant he left the Bavarian Army in 1887 and was ordained a priest on March 17, 1888 by Bishop Joseph Georg von Ehrler in the Speyer Cathedral . From September 11th of this year Jakob Baumann worked as chaplain in St. Martin , on September 2nd, 1889 he went to Kaiserslautern as chaplain .

Baumann was appointed cathedral chaplain in Speyer on September 1, 1892, cathedral vicar on July 25, 1894, and on August 16 of that year, Bishop Georg von Ehrler appointed him his personal secretary. Baumann had already made a certain name for himself as a spiritual poet at this time, especially on the occasion of a reception for the aged Prince Regent Luitpold on June 10, 1894 in front of the Speyer Cathedral, for which Baumann wrote an official homage poem. Under the pseudonym "Jakob von Terherdi" (after the first documented name of the hometown Hördt) and "Jakob von der Mühle" (after his family origin) he wrote religious writings and plays and rhymes since 1892. Jakob Baumann accompanied Bishop von Ehrler virtually everywhere, including Rome in October 1903. The new Pope Pius X welcomed the bishop and secretary very warmly. According to his own statements, the pontiff shook Baumann's hand twice and said to him: “You are the bishop's secretary. The office of bishops is difficult and the secretary must be the right hand of the bishop. Your bishop has advanced in old age and it is all the more your duty that you stand by him faithfully. ” Thereupon Bishop Ehrler remarked: “ He is doing his duty, ” to which the Pope replied: “ I am happy to hear that, then grant I give you my full blessing with all my heart. "

After Ehrler's death, Bishop Konrad von Busch appointed the writer Baumann as the Pilgrim's editor-in-chief with effect from January 1, 1906 . The priest remained in this position until his death in 1922. The number of articles, reports and leading articles he wrote here - mostly under the name "The Pilgrim's Man" - is in the thousands; he also continued to write books, poems and theater works. During the First World War he published three popular volumes with poems and local history stories under the title: "Palatinate Wild Fruit" . His biographies on the cathedral capitular Franz Xaver Remling (1903) and on Bishop "Joseph Georg von Ehrler" (1912) are important. An unsurpassed work that is constantly being reissued and is part of the standard tourist repertoire of the Speyer bookshops is “The Opening of the Imperial Tombs in Speyer Cathedral” (first edition in 1906). The "Pilgrim Calendar" initiated by Baumann, the yearbook of the Diocese of Speyer, is still published today and enjoys unbroken popularity as a treasure trove of church and local history. Many of Baumann's books - especially the church history works - also appeared under his real name and not under the pseudonyms.

In the last years of his life Jakob Baumann was in poor health, but he continued to work as a “pilgrim man” and editor of the diocese newspaper. On January 11, 1922, the cathedral vicar and Episcopal Spiritual Council died of a heart attack. He was personally buried on January 14th by Bishop Ludwig Sebastian in Hördt.

Works

(Selection)

• The giving of holy orders in the Catholic Church. - 1897
• Franz Xaver Remling - 1903
• Historical news about the Catholic parish of Hördt. - 1904
• The opening of the imperial tombs in Speyer Cathedral - 1906
• History of the Bishops of Speyer, numerous continuation articles in Pilger, born in 1906
• On the history of Hördt. - 1909
• Joseph Georg von Ehrler, Bishop of Speyer - 1912
• Palatinate wild fruit, 3 volumes, - 1916–1917
• History of the St. Aegidienkirche and the Capuchin Convent in the free imperial city of Speyer. - 1918

literature

• Isa Maria Betz: Jakob Baumann, life and work of the cathedral vicar and pilgrim editor , Verlag des Diözesan-Archiv Speyer, 2008, 210 pages, ISBN 978-3-87637-092-7 .
• Viktor Carl: Lexicon of Palatinate personalities . Hennig Verlag, Edenkoben, 2004, ISBN 3-9804668-5-X , p. 41.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Complete directory of the CV The honorary members, old men and students of the Cartell Association (CV) of the cath. German student associations. 1912, Strasbourg i. Els. 1912, p. 239.