Johann Melchior Mohr

Johann Melchior Mohr (1762–1846)

Johann Melchior Mohr (born April 28, 1762 in Lucerne ; † May 25, 1846 there ) was a former Catholic clergyman and politician during the Helvetic Republic .

Life

Melchior Mohr was born in Lucerne in 1762 as the son of a patrician family. His father was a member of the small council . After basic training at the ex-Jesuit high school in Lucerne (1773–1777), he chose the career of an officer in the French service. However, he soon resigned. He returned to Lucerne and completed his theological studies at the college . In 1787 he was ordained a priest and after a brief vicariate position in Neudorf LU, he was appointed pastor of Geiss in 1789 . From 1792 he was canon at the St. Leodegar Abbey in the courtyard and worked as a conductor and teacher at the Abbey School . From 1795 he was a member of the Helvetic Society . With other enlightened people of the Lucerne upper class, he was a co-initiator of the Lucerne Reading Society.

After the proclamation of the Helvetic Republic in 1798, Mohr completely dedicated himself to the revolution. In order to be able to work as a Swiss civil servant, he gave up the priesthood. He initially worked as secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs Louis François Bégoz and in 1800 succeeded Philipp Albert Stapfer as the Helvetian Minister of Fine Arts and Sciences in Bern. In this function he campaigned for the introduction of compulsory schooling and promoted the establishment of community schools. After the coup d'état of October 1801, he lost his office and returned to Lucerne with other Unitarians ( Rüttimann and Meyer ). After another coup d'état in April 1802, he returned to Bern and was appointed President of the Assembly of Notables , which deliberated on the Second Helvetic Constitution. In the newly constituted government he was a senator and from November 1802 State Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He remained in this office until the dissolution of the Helvetic Republic in 1803.

With the end of the Helvetic Republic, he withdrew from political life. He returned to Lucerne and was again canon at St. Leodegar Abbey, where he twice refused to be elected provost . He remained active in the education system in the canton of Lucerne. From 1804 to 1806 he was chief inspector of the cantonal school system and from 1806 to 1809 rector of the high school (grammar school) in Lucerne. In old age Mohr turned into a supporter of conservative ultramontanism . He died at the age of 84 as a senior canon in Lucerne.

In addition to two smaller works, part of his rich correspondence has been preserved. Correspondence partners included Paul Usteri , Franz Bernhard Meyer von Schauensee , Vinzenz Rüttimann and his wife Anna Maria Rüttimann-Meyer von Schauensee .

Works

• Analytical attempt to modify the unity in the state with regard to Switzerland. Lucerne 1800.
• Historical illustration of the relationship between the Adligenschwyl parish and the monastery at St. Leodegar at the Lucerne court. Lucerne 1805.

literature

• Brigitte Baur, Evelyn Boesch, Lukas Vogel: “What a life!” Source texts on the social upheaval in Central Switzerland after 1798. Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-905312-63-8 .
• Josepf Bannwart, Waltraud Hörsch: Lucerne parish and world clergy, 1700–1800. Lucerne 1998.
• Paul Bernet: The canton of Lucerne at the time of the Helvetic Republic. Aspects of civil service and church politics. Lucerne 1993.
• Hans Wicki: State, Church, Religiosity. The canton of Lucerne between baroque tradition and the Enlightenment. Lucerne, Stuttgart 1990.
• Placid Meyer von Schauensee:  Mohr, Johann Melchior . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, pp. 71-73.

Web links

• Markus Lischer: Mohr, Johann Melchior. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ulrich Im Hof , François de Capitani: The Helvetian Society. Late Enlightenment and Pre-Revolution in Switzerland. Frauenfeld, Stuttgart 1983.
2. ^ Wicki (1990), p. 500.