Johann Michael Schang
Johann Michael Schang (born January 20, 1757 in Lixingen , Lorraine , † September 18, 1842 in Pirmasens ) was an important priest in the dioceses of Metz, Mainz and especially in the diocese of Speyer . He was highly valued by his bishops and venerated like a saint by the people. Those plagued by mental suffering took day trips in order to be able to make confession with him and to receive his encouragement. His main merits lay less in outward appearance than in piety and pastoral care. He is also known as the Palatinate Pastor of Ars .
Life
Origin and youth
Johann Michel Schang was born as the son of the farmer and mayor Christoph Schang and his wife Apollonia. Bush born. His birthplace Lixingen belongs to the diocese of Metz . In 1774 the boy entered the small seminary of St. Anna in Metz and studied philosophy there. From there he came to the great seminary of St. Simon in 1777 , where the alumni received their theological training. Both seminars were led by Lazarists . On September 22, 1781 Johann Michael Shang received in the cathedral of Metz , the priestly ordination from the hands of the diocesan Bishop and later Cardinal Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Laval .
Act as a priest
On October 9, 1781, Johann Michael Schang became pastor of Wiesbach , Southwest Palatinate. In Wiesbach, Schang also experienced the horrors of the revolutionary era. Like almost all priests, he refused to take the oath on the republican constitution , which proclaimed the church as the French national church and largely overruled the rights of the pope. A bloody persecution of these oath refusers began and Johann Michael Schang had to flee to Geinsheim in the Vorderpfalz for two days , hide or put on civilian clothes in order to remain undetected. Schang and his rectory were plundered several times. Once he only escaped arrest at school because he quickly threw himself on a peasant skirt and played the teacher. He had placed the - still young - real teacher among the older students. The whole community - regardless of denomination - covered the priest and saved him from arrest. From 1800 the conditions improved and the persecution stopped, although many restrictions on the church and the worship service remained. Wiesbach and the whole area belonged to Shanghai's home diocese of Metz until 1802. From 1802 the area became part of the new Greater Diocese of Mainz under the exceptional Bishop Joseph Colmar . During a visit to the new Bishop Colmar in Wiesbach, he got to know and appreciate Pastor Schang. The bishop saw the exemplary piety and zeal of the priest and congregation.
From February 1802 to April 1806 Schang was pastor in Maßweiler from May 1806 to September 1807 in Hornbach .
On September 28, 1807 Johann Michael Schang moved into the important pastoral care position in the city of Pirmasens and on January 29, 1808 he became pastor there. He worked here until his death in 1842 and is also called the "Apostle of Pirmasens" because of his tireless pastoral care. Pastor Schang completely renewed the congregation and developed a very beneficial pastoral activity. He was in friendly correspondence with Bishop Joseph Colmar and he said about him: "I have many pastors but only one Apostle Schang". Colmar wrote to the Bishop of Metz on September 17th, 1808: “The pastor of Pirmasens is a holy priest ...” The clergyman organized popular missions, gave catechesis and sermon instruction; he also encouraged the faithful to receive the sacraments. He was particularly famous as a sensitive confessor to whom people often traveled far and wide for his advice, consolation and encouragement. Pastor Schang dealt with some of the confessors for hours and discussed or arranged their entire previous life in so-called general confessions. Many believers parted with him after a confession with a completely new attitude and courage to face life. Schang was literally besieged by confessors from near and far and often spent half the day in the confessional until he could no longer stand it because of the cold and exhaustion. Many priests also came to the pastor of Pirmasens to confess to him - the ministerial brother - and to be raised up again. In doing so, they often accepted hours of waiting.
Shang was venerated like a saint by the people of his time, although he tried to ward off this in his modesty. He lived as poor as a beggar and gave away what little he had; even his own clothes. Many also came to be blessed by him or because he should pray the exorcism over them. Several healings from the blessings and exorcisms are reported, but have never been further explored. The phenomenon of a noticeable “glow” of his face during prayer has also been passed down several times.
Pirmasens fell to the re-established Diocese of Speyer in 1817, after the end of the French era, when the Grand Diocese of Mainz was divided . Thus, Pastor Johann Michael Schang also became a Speyer diocesan priest and a Bavarian citizen. He was promoted to dean and school inspector, in 1837 to the royal clergy and holder of the Bavarian Order of Ludwig . The Speyer bishops - especially Johann Jakob Geissel and Nikolaus von Weis - valued him just as much as before Bishop Joseph Colmar of Mainz. On January 1, 1841, Schang retired, but remained in Pirmasens. In the spring of 1842, shortly before his death, he visited his hometown Lixingen again, where he was received with great honor and held a festive mass. From there he returned home and fell ill; among other things he got an open wound on his foot. After being sick for six months, he died on September 18, the 85th year of his life, the 61st year of his priesthood and the 35th year of his ministry in Pirmasens. He was first buried in a simple grave in the Pirmasens cemetery.
His Pirmasens successor, the Blessed Paul Josef Nardini, however, solicited donations for a worthy grave monument that could be erected in 1853. When the new tombstone was placed, the coffin had to be opened. Here Pastor Nardini had the head of the deceased removed as a relic and from then on it was kept in the parish church. This already shows that Pastor Schang was worshiped almost like a saint. When the cemetery with Shanghai's grave was closed in 1939, pastor August Schmitt ordered the opening of the grave and had the remaining bones excavated. They were reburied in the outer area of the new parish church of St. Pirminius , behind the choir - together with the main one - in a concreted crypt. A certificate with the following wording was attached in a metal case:
“ In the year of the Lord 1939, on June 20, the undersigned Pastor of Pirmasens St. Pirmin, in the presence of Messrs. Karl Emanuel and Heinrich Peifer, left the remaining bones of the Pastor and Dean Johann Michael Schang in the old cemetery through the cemetery administrator Georg Lazy dig up and carried them to the rectory yourself. The following were still found: 2 humerus bones, 2 remains of scapula bones, two remains of the forearm bones (spoke and elbow), 2 collarbones, some remains of ribs, remains of chasuble and two tufts of hair. The bones were placed together with the head, which had already been moved to the old church under Pastor Nardini and which stood in the new church in the tabernacle of the Marian altar, here behind the parish church in a concrete grave on the evening of June 29th Participation of the parish is solemnly buried. "
The Catholic , the magazine of the Mainzer Kreis , wrote in his obituary in 1842: “Pastor Schang was the flower of the diocese, the man of the people far and wide, in the eyes of his fellow ministers a saint.” Pastor Hubert Pirrung von Kusel, Schangs former chaplain , stated in his biography, published shortly after the priest's death:
" ... the priests have a friend and a pattern in him, the parish of Pirmasens a father, stray souls a wise doctor, the poor a benefactor, the world a good person, the diocese a worthy priest, the church a lot of pious prayer, the state lost a useful and faithful servant - but heaven gained an ornament. "
The Catholic community center of Wiesbach is called "Johann-Michael-Schang-Haus".
literature
- Relics from the life of the priest Johann Michael Schang, former pastor of Pirmasens, Diocese of Speyer in Der Katholik , born in 1842, December issue, pages 241–277.
- Hubert Pirrung: A brief review of the life and work of the late Mr. Michael Schang, pastor of Pirmasens . circa 1842
- Johann Baptist Buohler: Character images from priestly and pastoral life , Hurter Verlag, Schaffhausen, 1858, pp. 318–347; (Digital scan)
- Karl Klein: Johann Michael Schang . Pilger Verlag, Speyer, 1939
- Alfons Hoffmann: Johann Michael Schang, a priestly life . Pilger Verlag, Speyer 1964
- Viktor Carl: Lexicon of Palatinate personalities . Hennig, Edenkoben 2004
- Joachim Specht: Great priest figure of the first years - Johann Michael Schang was born 260 years ago , in: Pilgerkalender 2017 (Yearbook of the Diocese of Speyer), Speyer 2016, pp. 60–62
Web links
- "Relics from the life of the priest Johann Michael Schang, former pastor of Pirmasens, Diocese Speyer" , from "Der Katholik" , year 1842, December issue, pages 241-277, complete scan of the obituary
- Genealogical website about Pastor Schang
Individual evidence
- ^ Government Gazette for the Kingdom of Bavaria , No. 6, of January 31, 1837 and No. 11, of March 17, 1837
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schang, Johann Michael |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Catholic priest of the Diocese of Speyer, venerated as a saint |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 20, 1757 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lixingen , Lorraine |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 18, 1842 |
| Place of death | Pirmasens |