James Nesser

Jacques Nesser , also James Nesser , (born July 29, 1858 in Gostingen , † October 5, 1936 in Duncton in West Sussex ) was a Luxembourg Jesuit and missionary .

Basic training

Jacques was born in Gostingen as the third child of the married couple Hilaire Nesser and Marie Schmit. At the age of seven he already had a desire to become a priest . But the death of his father during cholera in 1866 meant that he had to help his mother on the farm until he was 17. Then he followed his calling . He moved to the Episcopal Konvikt in Luxembourg and studied for five years at the " collège royal ". He then moved to the "École Apostolique" of Dole in the French Jura department for two years and seven months and completed his studies with the "rhétorique" (today's Abitur ). At that moment he spoke three languages ​​well ( Latin , German , French ) and could read some Greek . But his preference was mathematics .

The time of training to be a missionary

One day he surprised his mother, who was milking in the barn, by announcing that he was going to be a father, Jesuit father. Shortly afterwards he packed his suitcase and went out into the world alone - to London . The big city, however, must have come as a shock to the young man; when he stood in front of the train station, he was completely confused and insecure. A quick prayer to St. Josef , he said later, brought him a man who showed him the way. On April 15, 1882, at the age of 24, he asked for admission to the “Society of Jesus” in the Manresa House with the express aim of later serving in the Zambezi Mission. He had already been accepted for the Zambezi Mission by Father Alfred Weld on March 10th .

The Zambezi Mission was founded in 1877 and was incorporated into the English Jesuit Province, as the whole area was also under British rule. The mission area covered large parts of Rhodesia south and north of the Zambezi River, including part of the '' Bechuanaland '', the area of ​​today's Botswana , which was declared a British protectorate by the British government in 1885 . The Jesuit father Alfred Weld (1823–1890) was one of the great supporters and leaders of the Zambezi Mission.

Exactly three years to the day after his admission, Jacques Nesser left the juniorate, the period of formation for religious, during which he immersed himself in the spirituality of St. Ignatius was introduced by Loyola and learned English, dismissed and traveled to South Africa .

In Dunbrody ( Eastern Cape ), where the Jesuits under the leadership of Father Weld had maintained a training facility for prospective members of the Order since December 8, 1882, Jacques Nesser studied philosophy and some native languages ; at the same time he was introduced to the conditions of missionary life. After teaching at St. Aidan's in Grahamstown, located in the Cape , halfway between East London and Port Elizabeth was, he returned in 1889 to Europe back, studied theology in Jersey , where he on September 8, 1892 ordination received, and acted in Westminster for a year. He completed his third exam, the third year of examinations, which concludes the long training period of the Jesuits, in Tronchiennes ( Drongen in Flanders ) and took his last religious vows on August 15, 1894 in London. A year earlier he had been assigned to the English Jesuit Province and had wanted to take on British citizenship in order to better serve the British Zambezi Mission. The provincial at the time, however, refused.

During this stay in Europe he returned home for the first time. After all these years he had changed so much - he had a full beard - that even his mother didn't recognize him until he began to speak.

Missionary work

In the autumn of 1894, Father Nesser returned to South Africa. He lived in Stutterheim and worked among the Kaffirs . The "Obermosel-Zeitung" of February 14, 1896 (and a partial correction on February 21) reported in the chronicle from the capital: Jacob Nesser, who "works as a missionary in the Betschuanahlande (South Africa) (...) has ended Four magnificent exotic birds were sent to the dark continent, stuffed here and then incorporated into the natural history cabinet in the former Vaubank barracks. The most beautiful and stately one of them is a nearly three-foot tall, very grave and bureaucratic, prudish-looking secretary , serpentarius cristatus; the same has get the name "Secretary" because the feathers on the back of the head and neck look as if he had put them behind the ear like a busy secretary; the second is characterized by brightly colored plumage; it is the helmet cuckoo , tourago; the other two are parrots (Psittacus) and belong to the genus Mascarinus. "

After five years, Father Nesser was transferred to Bulawayo , where he taught at St. George's College for sixteen years. One of his acquaintances later stated that he devoted himself particularly to the poor, the mourning and the unemployed and that he was able to make friends everywhere: "He would make friends with anybody and everybody; with railwaymen traveling even on the engines, with gold miners, prospectors, etc. " During the holidays he traveled through Rhodesia and was happy to serve other priests. He represented priests in Gwelo, Gatooma, Insiza, Wankie and elsewhere. Because of that he was very well known in Rhodesia. In the obituary for Father Nesser, it is also reported how much the Father put himself at the service of everyone, regardless of race, rank or religious affiliation and how well he was known by the high and low. To illustrate this, the eyewitness describes how Father Nesser unceremoniously ended a conversation with Count Gray, a high-ranking military man , when a tramp waved to him from across the street. During the Boer War , the war between England and the South African Boer states (1899-1902), he worked as chaplain of the British troops and was rewarded with a medal for his services.

The home visit in 1910

For health reasons he returned home in 1910 and carried presents in his suitcase: an African spear and ostrich eggs. On July 31, he took part in Henri Schmit's primary course. The Obermoselzeitung of August 2nd recorded a peculiarity that is "certainly unique of its kind": "Four Gosting clergymen from 3 different parts of the world assisted at the Holy Mass: PJ Jakob Nesser from Southeast Africa, Father Phil. Schritz from North America, the university student Nik. Weirich from Berlin and the high level Dr. Rumé, seminar professor in Luxembourg. "

A few days before September 16, Father Nesser left home to return to the missions in South Africa. At home he had said that in South Africa he had witnessed how that country quickly grew into a large industrialized country through the discovery of gold and diamond mines.

The fateful turning point

At the outbreak of the First World War (1914-18), Father Nesser offered himself again to look after the British soldiers , but his superior did not want to do without him. On February 14, 1915, Jacques Nesser was commissioned to open a new Catholic mission in Gatooma in Rhodesia (now Kadoma (Zimbabwe) ) under the influence of the Anglicans . This decision marked a fateful turning point in the life of the priest.

In Gatooma, Father Nesser faced the most difficult trial of his life, which not only damaged his career, but above all broke his heart. What happened? After visiting 17 locals in prison one day, the father was unjustifiably accused of inciting the locals. He was alleged to have asked the prisoners whether they would rather have the Germans or the English as masters, and was charged with treason . For Father Nesser, who had always believed in the good in people, a world collapsed.

Treason had at least six months of forced labor or a £ 100 fine. Although the judge confided to the father immediately after the trial that this case should never have come before a court, he condemned him and found him guilty of treason. The verdict (£ 10 or twenty days of forced labor) was well below the minimum sentence, but it was still a conviction.

Many years later, Father Nesser learned what a policeman had entrusted to another Jesuit in Rhodesia. They wanted to seize Father Nesser long before that and expel him from the country. He had been suspicious since the day he spoke in German at an official banquet with the German Colonial Minister who was visiting Bulawayo. This message prompted Father Nesser to write down the following in English on July 11, 1927: "I will try to find the address of this policeman and tell him that I have no grudges against him; I forgive him with all my heart that terrible injustice he did to me. It will be good for him to know that I was never a German and never intended to become one. I never had any inclinations towards the German nor was I on the side of the Germans during of the war. I told the judge that too. My sympathies were with England. (...) I am a Catholic priest and a Jesuit. I am proud of both. I have no other interests except those of my Lord God. I am a worker in the Services of his kingdom. His enemies are my enemies; his friends are my friends. I have no political beliefs and have never had any, not even those of my country. I am how the St. Paul, everything to all people. " And the note ends with the confession: " What happened to me in Rhodesia was done through the divine providence of the Almighty. Humans were just God's instruments to carry out His wonderful plan. "

The family tradition knows that the Grand Duchess Adelheid intervened to secure Father Nesser's freedom. The fact is that Father had to leave Rhodesia and was brought to Holland on the SMS Mecklenburg . The deportation became the most severe emotional burden for him. The constant surveillance by police officers, the abuse of the officials who used to be so friendly to him, the suspicious looks of the passengers, the pinprick that an overzealous patriot inflicted on him, the ridicule as a "German spy" from the mouth of a child and the fear of the sailors could lynch him , the insomnia and the loneliness, all this made him, who was physically strong, collapse mentally on the night of July 17, 1915 and implore God for mercy. The next morning he spoke to the captain and wished to see a doctor. But there was no doctor on board. But seeing the state of the priest, the captain took him into his cabin, gave him the opportunity to cry himself and assured him that he was a free man in Holland. From this encounter a deep mutual friendship gradually grew, which gave Father Nesser hope again.

After his arrival in Holland, Father Nesser was finally able to pray in a church again and was warmly welcomed by the Jesuit community closest to him. Here he found some of his strength again and then moved home, to his nephew, who was vicar in Differdange .

The involuntary stay in Luxembourg

In early 1916, the English Provincial of the Society of Jesus informed Father Nesser that he could move to New York . After extensive correspondence and numerous investigations, Father Nesser moved to Maastricht in June , but the trip already ended there. There was another bitter disappointment: the British consul refused to sign the passport, so that the priest returned to Differdange in August.

Here he earned his livelihood by doing odd jobs: holding mass, helping out in various parishes , giving English lessons, secretarial work in the diocese under Bishop Nommesch , who was a schoolmate of his. He even did work in the Luxembourg National Museum ; here he benefited from a passionate interest in natural history , photography , postage stamps and archeology .

The last stages of life

Although he occasionally expressed doubts about the purpose of proselytizing at home, he was so attached to Rhodesia that immediately after the end of the war he set everything in motion to be able to return there. But he was no longer wanted there. On November 21, 1923, however, he was allowed to return to England. He came to Glasgow in the parish of St. Joseph. Here he devoted himself body and soul to his pastoral and liturgical duties. He visited the families of the parish very regularly and systematically and was a much sought-after confessor . He accompanied the dying very self-sacrificing, carried them communion and, even at his age, he was not afraid to climb 70 or 80 steps several times a day to look after the bedridden. One of his superiors wrote: "He was an exemplary religious, extremely obedient and a very brilliant member of the community."

In Glasgow he had to undergo a major operation without being able to be chloroformed .

When the Jesuits ceded the parish of St. Joseph to the Archbishop on January 14, 1931, Father Nesser moved to the community of Farm Street in London. There he took over the last mass and heard confessions. He maintained contact with the numerous Luxembourgers living there. On January 23, 1934, on the Grand Duchess' birthday, he received the Orden de l'Ordre de la Couronne de Chêne for valuable services to his country .

Once again he returned to his home country of Luxembourg for a final visit for a few days. Age-related health problems then forced him to gradually reduce his pastoral work. Father James, as he was called in England, eventually had to move to the Jesuit retirement home in Petworth , Sussex, on the south coast of England, where he was preparing for his final journey.

On September 17, 1936, he asked for the Last Unction , although he still read mass every day and took part in community prayer. His health deteriorated. When this news reached Luxembourg, his two nephews, Nicolas and Joseph Weirich, set off on a trip to England and visited their uncle, who was already struggling with death. He died on October 5, 1936. He was buried in the graveyard of Duncton Church in Burton Park.

literature

• Guy Weirich, Missionaries in Africa , in: Gouschtenger Jubilee Book. D'Geschicht vum Duerf a senge Leit, Lëtzebuerg 2005, pp. 122–126.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Lëtzebuerger Journal emerged in 1948 from the Obermosel newspaper founded in Grevenmacher in 1881 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Quote from: Guy Weirich, Missionaries in Africa, in: Gouschtenger Jubiläumsbuch. D'Geschicht vum Duerf a senge Leit, Lëtzebuerg 2005, pp. 122–126.
3. ↑ St. George's College, Harare, Zimbabwe