Johannes Schneider (pastor)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johannes Schneider

Johannes Schneider (born January 11, 1824 in Dittmannsdorf , Neustadt OS district , today a Schulzenamt in the city of Prudnik ; † December 7, 1876 in Breslau ) was a German Roman Catholic pastor in Breslau. He was moved by the social question of his time and engaged in charitable work, above all by founding the Congregation of the Sisters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception . In 2001 the beatification process was opened for him.

Life

Schneider came from a family of farm workers . Through the mediation of the local pastor, he was able to attend the Jesuit grammar school in Neisse . After graduating from high school in 1845, he began studying theology at the University of Breslau . School and study years were characterized by the poorest living conditions. In 1848 he was admitted to the seminary of the diocese of Breslau taken and received on July 1, 1849 Breslauer Dom the priesthood .

From his origins he knew the poverty of the farm workers; as a chaplain in Wansen he got to know the needs of the new factory working class . 1851-1854 he was chaplain at the Sand Church in the center of Breslau, then curate and from 1869 pastor at St. Matthias .

In 1854, the new prince-bishop of Breslau, Heinrich Förster, was made aware of the problems of the country girls who were sent to the city at the age of 15 to earn their living as servants , and who often ended up in social misery and prostitution . He commissioned Johannes Schneider, who had been unanimously elected by the priests' convention, to found an aid association. The association for the moral improvement of female servants was formally established in October of the same year and named St. Mary's Association by Schneider in view of the impending proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, 1854 , and placed under this special patronage . Members could be both maids and willing “gentlemen”. The association provided temporary housing, job placement, professional and religious education, nursing and community.

The association grew rapidly and after a provisional apartment was able to acquire its own house in 1857. In 1862 he received state recognition as a legal person and in 1870 was free of debt. The organization was considered exemplary, and Schneider was brought in as a consultant for similar start-ups in other cities.

From the beginning, Schneider had the intention of founding a new religious order as the core of the association, as had succeeded almost simultaneously with the Elisabeth and Hedwig sisters . The beginning of this could be made in 1863 with four sisters who, through private vows, committed themselves to dispossession, devoted work and communal prayer, and who received a religious costume. The community elected Mathilde Scholz as the first superior in 1864 .

Schneider waited until 1867 to ask the prince-bishop to recognize the new community as a congregation . The latter forwarded the request to Rome in 1868, where it was lost. As a result, the position of the sisters under canon law remained unclear and there was irritation between Schneider and the ordinariate . For the same reason Schneider's founding escaped closure in Bismarck's Kulturkampf .

Johannes Schneider died at the age of 53 as a result of a longstanding stomach illness and probably also of overwork. The Requiem on December 11, 1876 celebrated Robert Spiske . He was buried in the Breslau-Oswitz cemetery. His community grew, gained full ecclesiastical recognition and kept the memory of its founder alive. His death cross and some relics were recovered when he was transferred to the Laurentiusfriedhof in 1944. In 1969 his remains were transferred to the sand church. Documents of his sacred life were collected. On May 16, 2001, in Wroclaw, as the official start of the beatification process, he was awarded the title of Servant of God .

literature

  • Johannes Mertens: Johannes Schneider , Ed .: Congregation of the Sisters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Province of Berlin, photos from the archives of the Congregation
  • Joseph Schweter: History of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mary from the mother house in Breslau 1854-1945 , 2nd improved and expanded edition, Berlin 1981; Ed .: Generalate of the Sisters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Via Trionfale, 6470, I-00135 Roma

Web links

Commons : Johannes Schneider  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Origin and career
  2. ^ Founding of the St. Mary's Society
  3. ↑ Work for the maids
  4. ↑ Order-like forms of life
  5. ↑ Striving for ecclesiastical recognition
  6. ↑ Kulturkampf
  7. ↑ Death and adoration of the founder
  8. ↑ Our founder, Pastor Johannes Schneider
personal data
SURNAME Schneider, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic pastor, founder of the order
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1824
PLACE OF BIRTH Dittmannsdorf , district of Neustadt OS
DATE OF DEATH December 7, 1876
Place of death Wroclaw