Johannes Raffl

Prince-Bishop Johannes Raffl (1921)

Johannes Raffl (born October 16, 1858 in Roppen , † July 15, 1927 in Brixen ) was Prince-Bishop of Brixen from 1921 until his death . He was the first bishop of the diocese after large parts of the diocesan territory, including the bishopric Brixen after the First World War in Italy had fallen.

Life

Johannes Raffl was born on October 16, 1858, the seventh of nine children of a farmer in the municipality of Roppen in the Upper Inn Valley. From 1871 to 1879 Raffl attended the Franciscan high school in Bozen . Subsequently, he entered the Brixen seminary. He was ordained a priest on July 15, 1883 . On August 31, 1883, Raffl began serving as prefect at the Vinzentinum boys' seminar in Brixen . Johannes showed great skill and empathy in dealing with the students. Thanks to his humor, he quickly found access to young people and enjoyed the reputation of an excellent teacher. After a time as a cooperator in Jenbach (1886-1887) and in Mieming (1887-1894) he became pastor in Oberhofen in the Inn Valley in 1894 . In 1904 he was appointed administrator of the episcopal canteen in Brixen. Raffl worked there as the prince-bishop's canteen administrator for around 17 years and, despite this task, remained an eager pastor. He regularly preached for the English ladies in Brixen, spent many hours in the confessional and took over the spiritual direction of two lay congregations.

After Prince-Bishop Franz Egger of Brixen died on May 17, 1918 on a company trip in Innsbruck and South Tyrol fell to Italy after the peace treaty of St. Germain in 1919, the diocese was vacant for several years . On April 28, 1921 Raffl was finally by Pope Benedict XV. appointed the new prince-bishop. The episcopal ordination took place on June 19, 1921 in the Roman basilica of S. Prassede by the cardinal secretary of state Merry del Val ; In the same year that gave him Innsbruck University , the honorary doctorate . Since 1924 he was an honorary member of the Catholic student union AV Austria Innsbruck . After Raffl had been in poor health for a long time, he died on July 15, 1927, exactly 44 years to the day after his ordination, in Brixen. Raffl was buried in the Brixen Cathedral .

Term of office as prince-bishop

Coat of arms of Prince Bishop Raffl Johannes (1921–1927)

Prince-Bishop of Brixen, Johannes Raffl (1858–1927)

Raffl's tenure as Prince-Bishop was shaped by the political circumstances of the time, namely the annexation of South Tyrol by Italy. In 1925, two thirds of the diocese area, namely the areas that had remained with Austria, were separated from the diocesan area. Three years earlier, the German-speaking areas of the Diocese of Trento were briefly subordinated to the administration of the Diocese of Bressanone, but this was reversed after an intervention by the Italian government. While the responsibility of his predecessors at the Bishop's Chair extended from Lake Constance to Upper Venosta Valley, from Reutte to Lake Achen and from East Tyrol to Ampezzo, Raffl was confronted with the loss of three quarters of the original diocesan area after 1925. In figures: If the “old” diocese of Brixen comprised half a million Catholics, Raffl ultimately only had around 96,000 believers in his “dwarf diocese”. The division of the diocese of Bressanone led to the establishment of the dioceses of Bozen-Brixen, Innsbruck (1964) and Feldkirch (1968).

The main focus of Raffl's activities was to defend against the Italianization efforts of the Italian fascist government. Raffl managed to ensure that religious instruction up to third grade could be given in German for the predominantly German-speaking population of the diocese . Raffl also supported research into the local history of South Tyrol. So he brokered the financing of a scientific work on the history of the Brixen cathedral chapter. He also sponsored the expansion of the Brixen Diocesan Museum .

In spite of the difficult circumstances after the separation of Tyrol, Raffl endeavored to protect the rights of religion and the church without exacerbating the differences. As Prince-Bishop (1921–1927) he sought closeness to the faithful and avoided hiding behind the sometimes strict protocol at the Brixen court. His sermons and catechesis were eloquent and prophetic at the same time. He was considered to be a benevolent and benevolent pastor.

The inscription on the memorial plaque on the parish church in his birthplace Roppen says: In truth, the word of Holy Scripture applies to him, which he had chosen as the episcopal motto: Learn from me, because I am meek and humble from the heart.

literature

Josef Gelmi : Johannes Raffl. In: Erwin Gatz (Ed.): The bishops of the German-speaking countries 1785/1803 to 1945. A biographical lexicon. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-428-05447-4 , p. 590 f.
Ekkart Sauser : Raffl, Johannes. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 7, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-048-4 , Sp. 1250 f .. ( article / beginning of article in the Internet archive )
Johannes Thomas Laichner: Johannes Raffl. The last common prince-bishop of Tyrol, South Tyrol and Vorarlberg. His life - his faith - his time. Weger, Brixen 2017, ISBN 978-88-6563-181-2 .

Individual evidence

^ Raffl, Johannes (1858-1927), Prince-Bishop . Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL 1815–1950), Vol. 8, Lfg. 40, 1983, p. 390, accessed on September 24, 2014.

Web links

predecessor	Office	successor
Franz Egger	Bishop of Brixen 1921–1927	Johannes Geisler

personal data
SURNAME	Raffl, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Roman Catholic bishop
DATE OF BIRTH	October 16, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ropes
DATE OF DEATH	July 15, 1927
Place of death	Brixen

[1] Raffl, Johannes (1858-1927), Prince-Bishop . Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL 1815–1950), Vol. 8, Lfg. 40, 1983, p. 390, accessed on September 24, 2014.