Johann Jakob Humann

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Bishop Johann Jakob Humann, contemporary engraving.

Johann Jakob Humann (born May 7, 1771 in Strasbourg , † August 19, 1834 in Mainz ) was a German bishop. From 1806 he was Vicar General of the Diocese of Mainz , from 1817 to 1821 Apostolic Vicar for the new Diocese of Speyer , which was separated there, from 1818 to 1830 also Apostolic Vicar of the Diocese of Mainz , and in 1834 for a short time Bishop of Mainz .

Life

Origin and career

Johann Jakob Humann studied philosophy, rhetoric and theology at the royal college in Strasbourg from 1782 to 1787 . From 1790 he attended the local seminary . After the abolition of the seminary of the Diocese of Lower Alsace in the course of the French Revolution , he fled together with Cardinal Louis René Édouard de Rohan-Guéméné to the possessions of the diocese of Strasbourg on the right bank of the Rhine at Ettenheimmünster Monastery . On May 21, 1796, he was ordained a priest in Bruchsal , Principality of Speyer.

After the French occupation of the German areas on the left of the Rhine, according to the Concordat of 1801 between Pope Pius VII and Napoleon , dioceses that were identical in area were established at the departmental seats. The old dioceses were declared dissolved (with regard to their left bank, now French areas). The present-day areas of Rheinhessen and Palatinate belonged to the French Département du Mont-Tonnerre with the department headquarters in Mainz . The parts of the old dioceses of Mainz , Worms and Speyer on the left bank of the Rhine were combined to form this large diocese . The new bishop was Joseph Ludwig Colmar , a man who completely reformed the church in this area and, with his seminary rain, Bruno Franz Leopold Liebermann, set up a seminary that was widely known for education and church loyalty . Under her aegis and from her students, the so-called Mainz Circle was formed , to which many influential, mostly clergy people of the 19th century can be assigned.

Johann Jakob Humann knew both Bruno Liebermann and Bishop Colmar. All three of them came from the diocese of Strasbourg and Liebermann, too, had stayed temporarily - just like Humann - in the Ettenheimmünster monastery on the right bank of the Rhine with Cardinal Louis René Édouard de Rohan-Guéméné . Humann worked for Bishop Joseph Colmar as private secretary from 1802 and became vicar general of the diocese of Mainz in 1806 . After the end of the French era, the southern part of the large diocese of Mainz was separated again in 1817 and the new diocese of Speyer was formed from it. The actual separation of the two districts, which now also belonged to different countries - namely the Palatinate (Bavaria) and the Grand Duchy of Hesse - dragged on until 1821.

Apostolic Vicar

Depiction on the grave monument in Mainz Cathedral

From 1817 to 1821 Johann Jakob Humann acted very competently and conscientiously as diocese administrator or apostolic vicar of the new diocese of Speyer, which was formally founded but in fact not yet existed . Belonging to the loyally ecclesiastical Mainz circle , he knew how to fill the new Speyer cathedral chapter with the same people or to propose them for them. According to the Concordat, the Bavarian government and the Apostolic Nuncio Franz Serra Cassano appointed the cathedral capitals in unison. The nuncio informed Cardinal Secretary of State Ercole Consalvi in Rome on October 28, 1821 , by letter and wrote:

“ In the formation of the chapter of the new Diocese of Speyer, the explanations of the apostolic vicar - that is, Humann - helped me a lot to get decent men into the chapter and to eliminate the bad ones. The ecclesiastical spirit of this Mainz clergy is the best, thanks to the care of the excellent, late Bishop Colmar. "

- Ludwig Stamer, Church History of the Palatinate, Speyer 1964, Volume IV, page 70

King Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria would have liked to have won Joseph Colmar as Bishop of Speyer, whom he held in high esteem and knew from Strasbourg. He had the bishop's seat officially offered to him on December 24, 1817. Due to his advanced age and poor health, Colmar declined in a letter of February 8, 1818, but recommended his Vicar General Johann Jakob Humann to the king warmly, but who was not enforceable in the liberal Bavarian government under Minister Montgelas because of his emphatically loyal to the church . On February 16, 1818, the state church-minded Matthäus von Chandelle was appointed Bishop of Speyer . Johann Jakob Humann headed the official business for him as "Apostolic Vicar" for the diocese of Speyer until September 23, 1821. After Joseph Colmar's death on December 15, 1818, he performed the same task (until 1830!) In the northern (Hessian) remainder of Mainz.

The new cathedral chapter was installed in the St. Magdalena monastery church in Speyer on December 9, 1821 , followed by a “happy meal” in the monastery, in which the previous diocese vicar Johann Jakob Humann and the newly introduced cathedral chapter took part in a warm atmosphere. The new Bishop Matthew von Chandelle was not yet present. Humann gave a solemn address at the installation of the canons, excerpts from Franz Xaver Remling , "Modern History of the Bishops of Speyer" :

“ The Speyer diocese, which, like so many other church institutions, perished under the storms of the past few years, is rising again from its trap. Its venerable name is to take its place in the ranks of the episcopal seats and the glorious shepherds, who presided over it for centuries, are to receive successors again, who replace and reproduce themselves from centuries to centuries. An apostolic decree has already assigned another district. Today you are entering the path of your lofty profession as its Senate. Divine Providence goes, so to speak, step by step in carrying out its great plan for the restoration of the Church in our fatherland. ... The bonds of a common diocese that have embraced and fraternized us for 18 years are currently torn by the diocesan division that has taken place, but the bonds of admiration and love will continue, which I even more than those in this diocesan portion and its worthy ones The clergy. Let me, revered gentlemen, take back the assurance that Mainz and its clergy, too, will never be estranged from your heart. "

- Franz Xaver Remling, Modern History of the Bishops of Speyer, 1867, page 81

Just as Joseph Colmar previously organized the new French diocese of Mainz, Humann now has to do the same for the remainder of the Hessian diocese of Mainz. He endeavors to reconcile the line of strict faithfulness to the church of his predecessor Colmar with the state church-minded government in Darmstadt. The Hessian government tries to intervene in church life in its own right, a concordat that regulates mutual rights - as in Bavaria - does not exist. That is why there is no replacement of the episcopal chair for a long time. You stay in the status quo on both sides, so to speak, and fight trench warfare. 1822 z. B. the printing of the renowned Rome-oriented magazine of the Mainz seminary (mouthpiece of the Mainz district ) "Der Katholik", unceremoniously banned. The newspaper had criticized the state squandering monastic goods. Here Humann benefited from his old connections to Strasbourg and Speyer. The sheet could be further printed there. It was not produced again in Mainz until 1842. In the Mainz seminary, with its professors who are as traditional as they are combative, more than 30 new priests can be ordained annually under Johann Jakob Humann; a very proud number compared to the rest of Germany. Internally, Humann adheres to Joseph Colmar's pastoral and spiritual course, externally he cooperates as well as possible and necessary with the Darmstadt government. Again and again he knows how to smooth things over and in many cases the somewhat relaxing climate leads to good results. In Darmstadt, for example, they help financially with the restoration of the Mainz Cathedral, which is very important to Humann. The cathedral was given a new roof structure and the east tower was given a round (later removed) iron dome in 1828, designed by Georg Moller, Darmstadt's chief building director . On July 12, 1830, the Mainz bishop's chair was finally filled in the person of the liberal and state church-minded Bishop Joseph Vitus Burg . He was a former Franciscan from Speyer and came from Offenburg in Baden. Johann Jakob Humann's reign as Apostolic Vicar ended. Bishop Burg died of pneumonia on May 22nd, 1833.

Bishop of Mainz

Grave monument in Mainz Cathedral

On July 16, 1833, Johann Jakob Humann was appointed Bishop of Mainz as Burg's successor and consecrated on June 11, 1834 by the Bishop of Fulda , Johann Leonhard Pfaff . According to the constitution of the Grand Duchy of Hesse , as a bishop he was a member of the first chamber of the state estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse .

He issued only one pastoral letter:

“ We say it with sadness, but a diverse, painful experience vouches for the sad truth of our saying that that unmeasured striving for freedom and independence, which our sex is sick of, seeks to evade any higher authority in church and state. The movement that shakes and ravages civil society also wants to penetrate the Church of the living God. Their venerable institutions are portrayed as outdated forms that demand a new transformation in line with the spirit of the times, and lay people presume to prescribe the leaders of his flock appointed by Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 4: 1), the servants and dispensers of his secrets want, in what way, under what external customs, in what language and in what places the same of them should be dispensed. "

- Bishop Johann Jakob Humann, Mainz, pastoral letter of June 11, 1834

Johann Jakob Humann died on August 19, 1834 and is buried in Mainz Cathedral. Despite his very short term as bishop, he has the dioceses of Mainz a. Speyer, clearly shaped as vicar general or as apostolic vicar over many years and earned great merit in the process. When the Diocese of Speyer was reestablished in 1817, Humann made an excellent start for the diocese through a clever personnel policy in filling key positions, which would certainly have been even better with a more suitable bishop than Matthäus von Chandelle .

literature

  • Franz Xaver Remling : Modern history of the bishops of Speyer , Verlag Ferdinand Kleeberger, Speyer 1867.
  • Ludwig Lenhart : Johannes Jakob Humann, the long-time diocesan administrator (1818-1830) and the short-term Bishop of Mainz (July 16 to August 19, 1834) in the spirit of Colmar . In: Yearbook for the Diocese of Mainz , vol. 3 (1948), pp. 37–54 and 186–213.
  • Ludwig Stamer : Church history of the Palatinate , Volume 4: 1801-1918 . Pilger-Verlag, Speyer 1964.
  • Georg May : The right to worship in the Diocese of Mainz at the time of Bishop Joseph Ludwig Colmar . John Benjamin Publishing Company, Amsterdam 1987, ISBN 90-6032-289-4 .
  • Klaus Schlupp: School, Church and State in the 19th Century. The Catholic elementary school in the Diocese of Mainz and the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt 1830–1877 . Bautz, Nordhausen 2005.
  • Jacques-Olivier Boudon: Les élites religieuses à l'époque de Napoléon. Dictionnaire des évêques et vicaires généraux du Premier Empire . Nouveau monde, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-84736-000-X , therein p. 169: Jean-Jacques Humann .

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predecessor Office successor
Joseph Vitus Castle Bishop of Mainz
1834–1834 		Peter Leopold Kaiser
personal data
SURNAME Humann, Johann Jakob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Mainz
DATE OF BIRTH May 7, 1771
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH August 19, 1834
Place of death Mainz