Johannes Cronauer

Cathedral Chapter Johannes Cronauer

Damaged tombstone of Johannes Cronauer, Speyer, cathedral chapter cemetery.

Funerary inscription by Cathedral Capitular Cronauer, already badly weathered.

Johannes Cronauer (born June 6, 1793 in Clausen , † November 20, 1870 in Speyer ) was a Catholic priest , cathedral vicar, bishop secretary and cathedral capitular of the diocese of Speyer ; also papal secret chamberlain. He belonged to the so-called Mainz Circle .

Life

Johannes Cronauer was born in Clausen, West Palatinate, in the diocese of Worms in 1793. 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). At that time Clausen belonged to the French Département du Mont-Tonnerre with its head office 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 Colmar , an outstanding man who completely reformed the church in this area and, with his seminary rain of Bruno Liebermann, set up a seminary that is widely known for its excellent education and loyalty to the church. 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.

Johannes Cronauer entered the seminary of his new diocese in Mainz and was ordained a priest there on August 31, 1816 from the hand of Bishop Joseph Colmar. The later bishops Johannes von Geissel and Nikolaus von Weis , with whom he remained friends throughout his life, also studied with him . 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, which also included Clausen, Cronauer's home town.

From November 2, 1816, Cronauer officiated as cathedral chaplain in Speyer, which at that time still belonged to the Mainz diocese and was not a bishopric. When Matthäus Georg von Chandelle , the first bishop of the newly established diocese of Speyer, formed the diocesan curia, the latter appointed him cathedral vicar on December 9, 1821 , whereby he also had to serve the bishop as secretary and travel companion. In this capacity he accompanied the aged shepherd u. a. 1826 on the tragic company trip to the West Palatinate, from which he arrived in Speyer dying on June 30th, had to be carried out of the carriage by Cronauer and a valet and died about 1 hour later in the arms of the cathedral vicar when he was about to take him Wanted to lead toilet.

Chandelle's successor, Johann Martin Manl, also took on Domvikar Cronauer with the same duties as before and promoted him in addition to episcopal ceremonies. Later he also became secretary of the vicar general and the diocesan official . When his former fellow student Nikolaus Weis had become Bishop of Speyer, he advocated the appointment of the tried and tested Cronauer as cathedral chapter by King Ludwig I. The monarch made the appointment dated July 19, 1844. From this time on Johannes Cronauer acted as cathedral capitular in the diocese leadership, but also retained his offices as secretary of the vicar general or in the official office until 1860.

When Johann Jakob von Geissel, the former bishop of Speyer, became coadjutor bishop and archbishop of Cologne , he often visited his Palatinate homeland and always traveled around the country with Johannes Cronauer. Conversely, Cronauer also often visited the episcopal friend in Cologne, which Geissel z. B. stated in a letter to Minister Karl von Abel on January 20 . There it is said that Cronauer had been with him "in friendship" since their time in the Mainz seminar and had spent several months with him in Cologne in the summer of 1843 in order to give him, who was now alone among strangers, "the consolation of friendly contact" . According to a personal notebook, Cronauer did business for him in Speyer (banking, furniture purchases, correspondence, etc.), at least during the first years of Geissel's move to Cologne. When Geissel became a cardinal in 1857 , he took his friend canon Johannes Cronauer to Rome to receive the cardinal's hat . The trip took place from March 4 to May 18 of the year, with Cronauer and Geissel taking part in the Easter ceremonies in the Vatican, both of which were repeatedly attended by Pope Pius IX. were received. On the occasion of the final audience on May 1, 1857, the pontiff awarded Johannes Cronauer the title of papal secret chamberlain (honorary prelate; salutation: 'Monsignore').

Cathedral Capitular Cronauer died in Speyer in 1870 and was buried in the old cemetery . He bequeathed his house in Stuhlbrudergasse to the church. Cronauer's tombstone has been preserved in today's cathedral chapter cemetery near St. Bernhard, but the previous figure in the niche of the memorial is missing.

literature

• "Cardinal von Geissel, in life and work" , Franz Xaver Remling , Ferdinand Kleeberger Verlag, Speyer 1873
• "Nikolaus von Weis, Bishop of Speyer, in life and work" Franz Xaver Remling , Ferdinand Kleeberger Verlag, Speyer 1871
• "Modern history of the bishops of Speyer" , Franz Xaver Remling , Verlag Ferdinand Kleeberger, Speyer 1867, mainly page 250
• "The canons since the re-establishment of the Speyer diocese, in 1817" , Guido Nonn, Speyer Diocesan Archive, 1981, page 33