Jeremias L'Orsa

Jeremias L'Orsa , also Lorsa or Lorza (born January 5, 1757 in Silvaplana , Engadin ; † 1837 in Bätterkinden , Emmental ), was a Reformed pastor and educator from Graubünden who was friends with Pestalozzi and who later became involved in the Bernese awakening movement .

Life

Between Herrnhutertum and Enlightenment

Silvaplana on Lake Silvaplana . Postcard, 1899.

L'Orsa came from a Moravian family . He attended the private school of Pastor Luzius Bansi in Chamues-ch . This was also Moravian and therefore had to leave the Engadin. In 1769/70 he stayed with his students in Neuwied (today Rhineland-Palatinate ). In 1771 Bansi became pastor in Fläsch in the Bündner Herrschaft . In neighboring Malans , L'Orsa taught the children of a member of the extensive aristocratic Salis family , who were close to the Brethren, from around 1774 . L'Orsa's sister Ursina married Bansi's son Heinrich , who succeeded his father in 1776. Heinrich Bansi had broken away from the Moravian Empire and was permeated by the educational pursuit of the Enlightenment . Later he fought on the side of the patriots, the predominance of the Salis in Graubünden. Probably under his influence, L'Orsa caught up with theology studies in Halle (Saale) from 1780–1782 , although without such a degree - which was possible in Graubünden - he had already been admitted to the parish in 1777. His teachers Johann August Nösselt and August Hermann Niemeyer were representatives of rationalism . Later, however, L'Orsa returned to the religious heart of his youth. In 1784 he received his first pastor's position in his home parish of Silvaplana.

Friend of Pestalozzi and Illuminat

Hallwil Castle. Aerial view of Lutz Fischer-Lamprecht.

In 1785 L'Orsa was - probably through the mediation of his brother-in-law Bansi and because of the better wages - tutor to the young widow Franziska Romana von Hallwil (1758–1836). This daughter of the imperial-royal general Franz Anton Graf von Hallwil ran away with her Swiss cousin Abraham Johann Freiherr von Hallwil and managed the inheritance of her three underage sons in Seengen in Aargau since his early death . She was Pestalozzi's confidante, whom L'Orsa may have known for a long time. The two educators were friends until 1792 and spoke on terms with each other all their lives. Pestalozzi is considered to be the "main initiator of the Swiss Illuminati movement ". It is probably due to his influence that L'Orsa also became Illuminat. In 1785 he joined the Society for the Promotion of the Good in Zurich , which was close to the Illuminati Order. In 1785/86 he tried to found an offshoot of the company in Unteraargau. Pestalozzi and he remained corresponding members until at least 1790. In 1789/90, L'Orsa seems to have contributed to the drafting of the writings in which Pestalozzi, on behalf of the patriots, denounced the Salis rule over the Valtellina . 1791–1793 he stayed with his feral pupils in Neuchâtel , where they were supposed to learn French. In 1794 he accompanied Franz von Hallwil, who entered Russian service, to the Baltic States . In 1795 he was accepted into the Helvetic Society in Aarau . In 1796 he brought Karl von Hallwil to Berlin for military training and then visited Vienna. At the instigation of Ms. von Hallwils, he was also admitted to the parish office in Bern in 1797 and initially received a vicariate in Auenstein (Aargau) .

Awakening exponent

Organ consecration in the Nydegg Church by Jeremias L'Orsa, 1812. Drawing by Karl Howald .

In contrast to Franziska Romana von Hallwil, who became an honorary citizen of the newly founded canton of Aargau , L'Orsa rejected the Helvetic Revolution . In 1798 he returned to his homeland. As pastor of Seewis in the Prättigau , he improved his school. He ended his activity in Graubünden in 1800 as dean of the Ten Court Association . After becoming a helper (administrator) at the Nydegg Church in Bern in 1801 , he married the daughter of the doctor Mrs. von Hallwils, Anna Kühn († 1815). In 1809 he received the pastor's position at the church mentioned. He also ran a private school for girls. From 1818 on he was involved in the Bern revival movement. In 1832 the now 75-year-old was transferred to Bätterkinden for this reason. His son Theophil founded the salt company L'Orsa & Cie. in Rheinfelden , from which the Swiss salt works emerged .

Works

• Collection of selected sermons with mixed content. From Jeremias l'Orsa, former preacher at the Nydeck Church in Bern. Thun / Aarau 1839.

literature

• Christian Roedel: Pestalozzi and Graubünden. Winterthur 1960, specifically pp. 35–52, 255–257.
• Alois Koch: Franziska Romana von Hallwil. Seengen 1968, specifically pp. 43–50.
• Hans Ulrich Gloor: Heinrich Pestalozzi, Jeremias L'Orsa and the Countess Franziska Romana von Hallwil. In: Brugger Neujahrsblätter, 1983, pp. 23–32.
• Erich Wenneker :  LORZA, Jeremias. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 19, Bautz, Nordhausen 2001, ISBN 3-88309-089-1 , Sp. 955-956.
• Christine Stuber: “Que ce réveil est beau!” On the revival movement in Bern from 1818 to 1831. In: Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Heimatkunde, 64/2002, Issue 1, pp. 1-44.
• Dolf Kaiser: L'Orsa. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

References and comments

1. ↑ On the modest level of education of the Bündner pastors, compare Heinrich Zschokke : Historical Memories of the Helvetic State Upheaval. 1. Volume, Winterthur 1803, pp. 106-108.
2. ↑ Roedel, p. 37.
3. ↑ The keep (right) was demolished at the beginning of the 19th century.
4. ↑ Koch, pp. 44, 127.
5. ↑ Koch, p. 45.
6. ↑ Roedel, pp. 40 f., 256, 318 f.
7. ↑ Richard van Dülmen: The secret society of the Illuminati. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1975, p. 97.
8. ↑ Apparently, apart from Pestalozzi and L'Orsa, only the Aarau silk ribbon manufacturer Johann Rudolf Meyer and the Catholic pastor of Sarmenstorf near Hallwil , Karl Joseph Ringold, wanted to take part.
9. ↑ Roedel, pp. 44-48. Dülmen does not include L'Orsa in his list of members of the Illuminati Order.
10. ↑ Roedel, pp. 49-51, 62, 104 f. Pestalozzi's family comes from Chiavenna . His writings On the (...) Unauthorized Stay of the Reformed Bündner in Subject Lands and Some Principles of Law and Equity in the Dignities of the Republic of Bünden with their members appeared anonymously in 1790.
11. ↑ Koch, pp. 45 f., 128.
12. ↑ Roedel, pp. 255-257.
13. ↑ In Bern, seven different aid associations were established, mainly through L'Orsa's initiative. "He was in contact with the Moravians and the Christianity Society and was a pioneer of the Mission Association and the Bible Society in Bern." (Stuber, p. 6 f.)