Johannes Gropper

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Johannes Gropper as cardinal
Coat of arms of Johannes Gropper

Johannes Gropper , also Johann Gropper (born February 24, 1503 in Soest , † March 13, 1559 in Rome ) was a Catholic theologian, lawyer and church politician at the time of the Reformation. He is considered a defender of the Catholic faith in the Archdiocese of Cologne during the so-called Cologne Reformation and one of the most important Catholic theologians of the 16th century.

Life

Gropper began studying philosophy and law in Cologne in 1516 and received his doctorate in law on November 7, 1525. In 1524 or 1525 he was ordained a priest .

In September 1525 he became official of the cathedral provost Hermann von Neuenahr (1492–1530), in September 1526 he was the keeper of the seal of the Archbishop of Cologne , Hermann von Wied , on September 23, 1527, the scholaster of the St. Gereon monastery . In 1529 Gropper was a brief professor at the Law Faculty of the University of Cologne . That year Gropper took part in the second Reichstag in Speyer and in 1530 in the Reichstag in Augsburg as a representative of the Bishop of Munster . From 1530 he was canon, later also pastor and dean in Soest. In 1532 Gropper became a canon and in the following year also a scholaster and from 1543 dean at the Viktorstift in Xanten . In 1533 he was given leave of absence from the Archbishop of Cologne and devoted himself to the preparation of the Cologne Provincial Council , which took place from March 7 to 10, 1536, and the reform of the electoral land law.

Since October 30, 1534 Canon in Cologne, he wrote the "Enchiridion" (Institutio compendiaria doctrinae christianae, in concilio provinciali pollicita) in 1538 , in which he approximated the Reformation views in the doctrine of justification , but otherwise represented the teaching of the Catholic Church. Together with Julius von Pflug , he took part in the religious discussions in Hagenau and Worms in 1540 , and in the Reichstag in Regensburg in 1541, where he led the party of the "Exspekanten" and made extensive concessions to the Protestant Christians. In February 1542, Gropper held talks with Martin Bucer about church reform in the Archdiocese of Cologne. When Bucer received an order from Archbishop Wied in December 1542 to deliver a Protestant sermon in Bonn Minster , Gropper became Bucer's opponent. When Archbishop Hermann von Wied wanted to introduce the Reformation in the Archdiocese of Cologne and summoned Philipp Melanchthon and other Protestant theologians to Cologne in May 1543 , Gropper fought the Archbishop with the help of the cathedral chapter and managed to have Bucer and other Protestant preachers dismissed in August 1543. Finally, in September 1544, the cathedral chapter appealed to Pope and Emperor Charles V , demanding that the archbishop be dismissed. Already in December 1544 Heinrich von Stollberg split the cathedral chapter and the state parliament in Bonn approved the reformation ideas of the archbishop. Only on January 2, 1546 Hermann von Wied was from Pope Paul III. suspended, excommunicated on April 16, and deposed on July 3. Adolf von Schaumburg was appointed archbishop and Gropper became provost of the Cassius monastery in Bonn on July 2, 1548 . With his appointment as provost, he renounced his cathedral canonical.

With the help of the Jesuits , Gropper tried to recatholize the Archbishopric of Cologne . He was a chief editor of the Augsburger Interim from 1548, which he carried out in Soest with moderate success. In 1551/52 he took part in the Council of Trent . An appointment as cardinal by Pope Paul IV on December 20, 1555, he wanted to reject, probably for health reasons, but finally became a cardinal deacon of the titular church of Santa Lucia in Orphea on January 13, 1556 . In 1558 Gropper traveled to Rome with his brother Kaspar Gropper because he had been accused of heresy at the Inquisition because of his dogmatic writings . But he was able to defend himself and became an advisor to the Pope on questions of German church policy. In Rome, Gropper lived in the Vatican, where he also died. At his funeral in the Church of Santa Maria dell'Anima , Pope Paul IV himself gave the funeral oration. On March 15, 1559, the Pope held a consistory to which he himself had the sick cardinals come, at which he once again expressed his great appreciation for Groppers.

plant

In his book Enchiridion Christiane institutionis from 1538 Gropper refers to the Apostolic Succession , which is necessary for the valid ordination of a priest. This concept comes from Irenäus von Lyon and can be found in his work Adversus Haereses . Until Gropper's work, the idea of ​​the Apostolic Succession was forgotten in the church; Petrus Lombardus, for example, the author of the famous sentences, did not know them. Luther also referred to this. Melanchthon contradicted Gropper in his work "On the Church and the Authority of the Word of God" from 1539.

  • Christian and Catholic opposition eyns Erwuldigen Dhomcapittels zu Coellen, against the book of the gnanter Reformation. Coloniae excudebat Iaspar Gennepæus…. Anno 1544. ( Mainz City Library ; Sign. XIII m: 2 ° / 33 (R))

literature

  • Claus Arnold: The Roman censorship of the works of Cajetans and Contarini (1558–1601). Limits of theological confessionalization (= Roman Inquisition and Index Congregation, Vol. 10). Paderborn 2008.
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz:  Gropper, Johann. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 355-357.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Reinhard Braunisch: Johannes Gropper. Correspondence. Aschendorff, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-402-03458-1 .
  • Reinhard Braunisch: The theology of justification in the "Enchiridion" (1538) of Johannes Gropper. Aschendorff, Münster 1974, ISBN 3-402-03716-5 .
  • Leonhard Ennen :  Gropper, Johannes . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, pp. 734-740.
  • Heinz Finger : The Cologne pastor and theologian Cardinal Johannes Gropper. An exhibition by the Cologne Diocesan and Cathedral Library on Gropper's 500th birthday (February 25 to April 30, 2003). Archbishop's Diocesan and Cathedral Library, Cologne 2003.
  • Walter Lipgens:  Gropper, Johannes. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , pp. 133-136 ( digitized version ).
  • Walter Lipgens : Cardinal Johannes Gropper, 1503–1559, and the beginnings of Catholic reform in Germany. Aschendorff, Münster 1951.
  • Heinrich Lutz : Gropper, Johann . In: Josef Höfer , Karl Rahner (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 2nd Edition. tape 4 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1960.
  • Johannes Meier : The priestly service according to Johannes Gropper (1503–1559). The contribution of a German theologian to the renewal of the priestly image as part of a pre-Tridentine reform concept for church practice (= Reformation-historical studies and texts 113). Aschendorff, Münster 1977.
  • Johannes Meier: Johannes Gropper (1503–1559) - Theology for a renewal of the practice of the church . In: Archive for Middle Rhine Church History 70 (2018), pp. 127–146.
  • The apostolicity of the Church. Study document from the Lutheran / Roman Catholic Commission for Unity. Bonifatius, Paderborn 2009 pp. 110–111.

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Gropper, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gropper, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Catholic theologian, church politician and lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1503
PLACE OF BIRTH Soest
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1559
Place of death Rome