Johann Anton Joseph Hansen

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Johann Anton Joseph Hansen (born January 10, 1801 in Quiddelbach , † May 3, 1875 in Ottweiler ) was a German Catholic clergyman, left-wing politician in the revolution of 1848 and regional historian.

Origin and education

Hansen was the son of a forester and was born in Quiddelbach. After primary school and with the support of Vinzenz Hellenthal, he attended the Latin school in Adenau . Hansen then briefly studied philosophy in Cologne and soon broke off studying geology in Bonn . Instead, he studied Catholic theology in Trier and was ordained a priest in 1824. Then he was chaplain in Mayen . There he began to study local history. He published his "Contributions to the History and Description of the City of Mayen" in 1828 in the journal "Chronik der Diözese Trier", which he himself edited.

From 1828 Hansen was a school inspector for the Trier district. He was also the pastor of the local farmhouse. At times he was probably the personal secretary of Bishop Josef von Hommer . During this time Hansen planned a "historical topographical-statistical" description of the entire diocese of Trier, supported by the bishop.

Church reform movement

It was also during this time that Hansen joined an internal church reform movement aimed at holding mass in German, involving the pastors in the administration of the diocese and abolishing celibacy . Hansen was a leading proponent of these demands. In 1831 he published a first text on this, which was followed by numerous others: "Appeal to the Catholic clergy in Germany to actively participate in the necessary ecclesiastical reform to be carried out by them."

Parish activity in Lisdorf and Ottweiler

At the instigation of the local bishop, Hansen gave up this commitment. Instead he became a pastor in Lisdorf . There he turned intensively to research into local history. He also founded an agricultural school in 1835.

In 1838 he moved to the pastorate in Ottweiler. He was also a school inspector there. In Ottweiler he founded a branch of the Cologne Cathedral Building Association . On the occasion of the exhibition of the holy skirt in Trier, Hansen wrote two papers on this. In 1845 he founded a local section of the Borromeo Association . He also founded a brotherhood of Mary of the hearts.

Revolution of 1848

Hansen was politically, which was not taken for granted in the Rhineland at the time, and was emphatically friendly to Prussia . He organized an anniversary event for the 25th anniversary of the Rhine Province.

His position changed at the latest after the beginning of the March Revolution of 1848. Hansen was elected to the Prussian National Assembly. There he joined first the extreme left and later the moderate left around Johann Karl Rodbertus . Shortly before the dissolution of the National Assembly, he wrote: “It is said that the king wants to proclaim a constitution briefly, probably one that he has agreed with his camarilla , but not with the representatives of the people. We will not accept it. We want our freedom as a right and not as a grace, as a chunk that falls from the table for dogs. The people will not snap at the chunk. Long live freedom! Long live the fatherland! God with us in victory and in death! "

Founding of associations and pastoral care

After the National Assembly was broken up, he was elected to the Prussian state parliament in 1849, but returned to his pastoral duties intensively. In 1855 Hansen supported the establishment of the “St. Barbara Brotherhood for Miners and Huts” in Ottweiler. He wrote a prayer book for them: "Happiness in Christ Jesus". The brotherhood, which in addition to the promotion of religious and moral life also provided for mutual encouragement and support, spread in the Saar area and in the emerging Ruhr area . In 1859 he founded a miners' association in Ottweiler. This first club of its kind on the Saar was followed by various subsidiary clubs. The aim was to promote the sociable and intellectual life of the miners and ironworkers.

Hansen also founded the first diocese gazette for the diocese of Trier. For his services after 1848 he was appointed dean in 1866 and again received the position of school inspector. In Ottweiler he was the founder and director of the "Association for History and Antiquity".

In the beginning of the Kulturkampf in the 1870s, Hansen was anxious to find a balance between state and church.

A school and a street in Ottweiler are named after Hansen.

Fonts (selection)

  • Contributions to the history and description of the individual parishes of the city chapter Trier , Trier 1830.
  • Trier Cathedral - Contributions to its history and description , Trier 1833.
  • The auxiliary bishops of Trier , Cologne 1834.
  • Johann Philipp von Walderdorff, Archbishop and Elector of Trier , Trier 1841.
  • (under the pseudonym Junius Sempronius Gracchus): Appeal to the Catholic clergy in Germany to actively participate in the most necessary reform to be carried out by them , 1831.
  • Remarks on the parish of Lisdorf , 1834ff.
  • Our Fatherland , 1837.
  • The main relationships of civil life , 1837.
  • Two brochures, written on the occasion of the exhibition of the Holy Rock in Trier in 1844.
  • The Rongesche Spuk zu Ottweiler , 1863.
  • House and family chronicle of the city of Ottweiler , 1875.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hansen, Johann Anton Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic clergyman, politician and historian
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1801
PLACE OF BIRTH Quiddelbach
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 1875
Place of death Ottweiler