Johannes Pistorius the Elder

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Plaque at the Johannes Pistorius House in Nidda

Johannes Pistorius the Elder , born as Johannes Becker , also called Niddanus after his place of birth (* January 1504 in Nidda , Hesse ; † January 25, 1583 ibid) was a German reformer and superintendent of the Alsfeld diocese in Hesse.

Life

He came from an old Nidda bourgeois family. His father Johann Becker (1476–1529) was mayor. After attending the Latin school in Nidda, the son studied, presumably in Mainz , and was awarded a Dr. theol. PhD. Even as the Catholic chaplain of the Niddaer Johanniter - Kommende he was a committed collaborator and promoter of the Reformation . As with Philipp Melanchthon , with whom he had a lifelong friendship, his roots in humanism did not allow any fundamentalist religious zeal. He was characterized by deep piety and tolerance, for example towards Jews .

Pistorius was involved in the drafting of the Confessio Augustana (CA) in the spring of 1530, as attested by his later successor in the office of superintendent Georg Nigrinus (1530–1602): “Anno 30 ... this first became known by order of the Elector of Saxony Drafted by Luthero and written in 17 articles, afterwards it was put under the hand of Philippo <Melanchthon> and his adjuncts, including Brentius , Schnepfius , Pistorius and others, to bring it into a form and acquaintance. ”Pistorius the Elder had had since Augsburg a Latin and German specimen copy of the now lost original CA from 1530.

In 1535 he married Margaretha (* February 1, 1516; † May 24, 1560), the daughter of Konrad Schreiber, writer for the city of Nidda. He had five sons and three daughters with her, including Johannes Pistorius the younger .

After the bigami affair of Philip of Hesse , Pistorius became superintendent of the Alsfeld diocese in 1541 (until 1580), but continued to live in Nidda. As a representative of the Protestant side, he participated with Melanchthon and Martin Bucer in the Worms Religious Discussion of 1540/41 and the Regensburg Religious Discussion of 1546. In 1555 a plague epidemic struck Nidda. 300 people fell victim to her, including five of the eight children of the Pistoriuses within just 19 days. Since two children had died young earlier, the nine-year-old John the Younger was left alone. Pastor friends wrote in a mourning poem (from Latin): “<In the time of the plague> you performed the honorable service of a faithful pastor by continuously looking after the flock entrusted to you. Why didn't the disgusting smell of the plague make you vomit? Your love for the herd defeated the breeze back then. ”An accident in 1560 stole his wife Margaretha from him.

After the Worms Religious Discussion of 1557, Pistorius was burdened by the increasing dispute over the direction between Lutheran Orthodoxy and Philippists . He was suspected of being a cryptocalvinist because, among other things, he rejected the formula of concord . As a contemporary witness of the Reformation, which Martin Luther († 1546) and Philipp Melanchthon († 1560) survived by decades, he wrote a Reformation history until 1580. The manuscript and the valuable library with the original CA inherited Johannes the Younger, with whom the father had a warm relationship throughout his life. Johannes Pistorius the Elder died on January 25, 1583 in his hometown of Nidda and was buried in the Johanniterkirche. The inscription on the tombstone, which John the Younger had erected for him, has been handed down (from Latin): “To the man who is well-known for his excellent learning and piety, Dr. Johannes Pistorius the Elder of Nidda, the superintendent of the Hesse region and pastor, the protector of the poor and the ornament of his homeland and all of Germany, after spending 60 years at home in Hesse and outside on Reichstag promoting religion, .. his only son Johannes Pistorius, doctor of medicine, sadly erected this monument to show his gratitude for his well-deserved father. He died at Nidda in 1583 AD, on January 25th, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. "

On October 30, 2011, the "Johannes Pistorius House" of the Evangelical Church Community was opened in Nidda.

Works

His only known printed work is the preface in: Michael Eychler: Christian ... report on how pastors in this Pestilentzian time and elsewhere can visit and comfort the poor sick people without danger ... 1578, Herzog August Bibliothek : A2r-B3v 8 °

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ "Pistorius" Latinized to "Becker"
personal data
SURNAME Pistorius, Johannes the Elder
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Becker, Johannes (maiden name); Niddanus, Johannes Pistorius the
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German reformer and superintendent of the Alsfeld diocese in Hesse
DATE OF BIRTH January 1504
PLACE OF BIRTH Nidda , Hesse
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1583
Place of death Nidda , Hesse