Johannes Pohlschneider

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Memorial stone to Johannes Pohlschneider in the All Saints Chapel of Aachen Cathedral

Johannes Pohlschneider (born April 18, 1899 in Osterfeine near Damme (Dümmer) ; † March 7, 1981 in Aachen ) was Bishop of Aachen from 1954 to 1974 .

Life

Johannes Pohlschneider, second of twelve children of the businessman Bernhard Pohlschneider and his wife Maria geb. Schmiesing, studied after high school in 1917 at a secondary school in Munster and a short military service initially mathematics in Berlin , then philosophy in Innsbruck and Münster and eventually theology at the German College in Rome . In Münster he became a member of the Catholic student union Unitas Winfridia and thus a corporation in the Unitas association. In 1919 he was able to take up his studies at the Gregorian University and complete his doctorate in philosophy (1921) and doctorate in theology (1925). On April 19, 1924 he received in the Lateran Basilica , the ordination . As vicar of the diocese of Münster , he first worked in Lutten near Vechta and then as a chaplain in Oldenburg-Osternburg . There he succeeded in building a new parish under difficult political circumstances. At the same time he worked as a prison chaplain.

In 1940, Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen appointed him, despite obstacles by the authorities, as the successor to the official Franz Vorwerk, who had been expelled from the Oldenburg region by the National Socialists . Pohlschneider was appointed to his post on June 2nd at the end of May after the oldenburg state government had not protested in due time.

Thereupon the state government declared the existing agreements between the Oldenburg state and the Catholic Church to be invalid, confiscated the office building and stopped paying the so-called lump sum , which was intended from the state budget for the maintenance of the office. Pohlschneider was then able to continue his official business in provisionally furnished rooms and even set up his own pastoral care office in 1941 in order to adapt pastoral care to the difficult times. He was able to vigorously and skillfully fend off attacks and attacks by the National Socialists. After the end of the war, he led charitable relief measures for bombed-out people and refugees, carried out extensive collection campaigns and, in particular, looked after the Catholic refugees from Silesia in the Protestant part of the country. From the summer of 1945 he engaged in negotiations with the provisional state government in Oldenburg for the reintroduction of denominational schools and began preparations for the establishment of a Catholic college of education in Vechta (today's University of Vechta ), which was able to start teaching in March 1946 .

On December 17, 1945 he became a non-resident cathedral chapter in Münster. On October 8, 1948, Bishop Michael Keller appointed him vicar general of the Rhenish-Westphalian part of the diocese of Münster. His tasks included the difficult reconstruction of the church buildings and facilities that had been destroyed in the war, as well as the reorganization of the church tax system and church administration.

Pope Pius XII appointed him on August 30, 1954 the fourth bishop of Aachen . On November 18, 1954, he received the episcopal ordination in Aachen Cathedral from the Archbishop of Cologne, Josef Cardinal Frings . Co- consecrators were Michael Keller , Bishop of Münster, and Friedrich Hünermann , Auxiliary Bishop in Aachen. As a motto he chose: "Christ pax nostra - Christ our peace".

He was a Council Father of all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. As head of the German Bishops' Conference was for the School System ( "School bishop") and the Episcopal Commission for the family, school and education, he significantly involved in the declaration of the Council Gravissimum educationis over Christian education. Special events during his term of office were the Aachen Shrine Trips in 1972 with 175,000 believers, the Catholic Day 1974 in Mönchengladbach and the beatifications of the founders of the Salvatorian Sisters from the diocese , Therese von Wüllenweber (1968), and the poor sisters of St. Francis , Franziska Schervier ( 1974).

In 1965 he was appointed Grand Officer of the Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem by Cardinal Grand Master Eugène Cardinal Tisserant and invested in Jerusalem on May 5, 1965 by Lorenz Cardinal Jaeger , Grand Prior of the German Lieutenancy . According to his own confession, Pohlschneider was affectionately connected to Opus Dei and met its founder Josemaría Escrivá several times personally.

On December 13, 1974, Pope Paul VI. his age-related retirement. Until the inauguration of his successor Klaus Hemmerle in October 1975, he administered the diocese as apostolic administrator . He was buried in the bishop's crypt in Aachen Cathedral.

honors and awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Pohlschneider: God's work in people's everyday life. For the 50th birthday of Opus Dei. In: Theologisches 103 (1978), Sp. 2960-2965.
predecessor Office successor
Franz Vorwerk coat of arms
Episcopal Münsterscher official in the official district of Oldenburg
1940–1948 		Heinrich Grafenhorst
Heinrich Gleumes Vicar General of the Diocese of Münster
1947–1948 		Laurenz Böggering
Johannes Joseph van der Velden Bishop of Aachen
1954–1975 		Klaus Hemmerle
personal data
SURNAME Pohlschneider, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German clergyman, Roman Catholic bishop of Aachen
DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Damme (Dumber)
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1981
Place of death Aachen