Josef Emil Nünlist

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Pastor Josef Emil Nünlist around 1930

Josef Emil Nünlist (born August 18, 1875 in Olten ; † May 22, 1952 in Bern ) was a Swiss Catholic clergyman with the town of Hägendorf .

Life

Josef Emil Nünlist was the son of Emil Nünlist (1850–1876), teacher and office worker from Hägendorf , and his wife Mathilde nee. Brunner von Laupersdorf , who died three years before her son's primary birth . At the primary school in Hägendorf, Nünlist received his first Latin lessons from the pastor and later canon Jakob Probst. In 1888 he was able to enter the second class of the Einsiedeln grammar school , where he passed the Matura with the top grade in 1895 . From 1895 to 1897 he studied in the Paris seminary of Saint Sulpice, where he also trained in the French language. He used the holidays to study at Oxford to study English. He was able to complete his Italian language skills during holidays in Italy and later as a priest he also acquired Spanish and was then able to preach in five languages.

From 1897 to 1898 Nünlist studied at the University of Freiburg i.Ü. From 1898 to 1899 he continued his studies at the theological faculty in Tübingen and completed his studies at the diocesan seminary in Lucerne with the ordination on July 22, 1899. The Primiz took place on August 12, 1900 in Hägendorf. The first places of activity as vicar were for a short time in Basel and in San Niccolò. In Florence this was followed by a position as vicar at the Franciscan Church in Lucerne. As early as October 1901, Bishop Leonhard Haas sent him to Grellingen as pastor of the St. Laurentius Church, where new stained glass windows were installed at his instigation. In addition, he founded several Catholic and socially active associations there. After Jakob Stammler was elected bishop in 1906 , Nünlist took over the extensive Bernese Trinity Parish as his successor.

The Bernese period of activity

The then only Roman Catholic parish church Dreifaltigkeit in Bern and forty surrounding parishes had only been built eight years earlier. Much was still waiting for completion and the high debt burden hampered further projects. The artist August Müller-Warth was commissioned to complete the Nazarene- style murals begun by Franz Vettiger , a better organ was purchased and the poorly built roof soon had to be replaced. So Nünlist became a beggar priest. He managed to get support from all sides. He was able to acquire the area of ​​the “La Prairie” campaign and other adjacent parcels and thus, among other things, enable the construction of the journeyman's house and create a safe place to stay for the journeyman's association, which had become homeless after the Kulturkampf . The growing number of Catholics in Bern required decentralization and new churches in the suburbs. Thanks to the Nünlists initiative, an area in Breitenrain was purchased first in 1910 and the Marienkirche was built on it in 1931 . The Marienheim in the Länggasse was founded in 1919. In 1926, land was bought in Bümpliz and a year later the rectory and the previous church of the current Antonius Church were built there . The pastor also procured land for the Guthirt Church in Ostermundigen , built in 1937, and building land for the Brother Klaus Church in Bern's Burgernziel, which was built in 1954 . The voluntary tax revenue of the Kultusverein was not enough for the immense construction projects and the development and expansion of the parishes. Since the Kulturkampf, the religious association of the Roman Catholic community, organized under private law, had to collect the religious tax without state support , which together with the church sacrifice formed the regular income. In addition, Nünlist raised donations through sermons and appeals at home and abroad. (See the section on travel) It was not until 1939 that the Bern parishes were recognized by the state and the parishes were given equal status with the Protestant Reformed and Christian Catholic churches.

Pastoral activity

Memorial plaque in the prairie park

In addition to the development work, pastoral care for the parishioners was the most important concern of the pastor. He introduced home visits, taught the children, and preached in church services. He received support from four vicars to the end. Around thirty associations with a religious basic orientation were founded during Nünlist's 38-year period. In 1944 he resigned and handed over his office to Pastor Johann Stalder (1917–1988). From then on, he lived with his loyal parsonage keeper Ida Zemp, the daughter of Federal Councilor Josef Zemp , in La Präirie, which he had bought as a retirement home .

Pastor Josef Emil Nünlist died on May 22, 1952 at the age of 77. After the funeral on May 27th in his Trinity Church, with many well-known mourners, he was buried in the Bremgarten cemetery "in the diversion". The tombstone was later used as a memorial stone in the Prairiepark, on the left apse of the church.

to travel

Pastor Nünlist collected around three million francs for the Bernese diaspora parishes on the begging trips, which were mainly undertaken in the summer months . He traveled all over Switzerland from 1919 to 1925, the USA and Eastern Canada in 1922 and Spain in 1923. In spite of the exhaustion caused by the strenuous travel, Nünlist followed the request of the diocesan bishop to travel to the World Eucharistic Congress in Sydney as his representative in 1928 . The travel memories were published and sold as a booklet, and the proceeds were used to build St. Mary's Church.

Awards and honors

  • In 1915 Josef Emil Nünlist was awarded the title of Papal Secret Chamberlain .
  • 1932–1942 Appointment by Bishop Ambühl as Dean of the Bern parishes
  • Awarding the prelature
  • Appointment as Honorary Choir of the Abbey of Saint-Maurice
  • 1926 member of the Committee of the Eucharistic World Congresses in Sidney (1928) and Carthage (1930).

literature

  • Angelika Boesch et al .: Catholic Bern from 1799 to 1999, A stopover . Roman Catholic Overall parish, Bern 1999, p. 32-43 .
  • Vicariate of the Roman Catholic Bern parish: On the jubilee of Mgr. J. Emil Nünlist . Roman Catholic Parish office, Bern 1931, p. 16 .
  • Adolf Bürgi et al .: Bern churches from the Catholic period: A contribution to their history . Buchdr. Eicher & Roth, Bern 1935.
  • J. Emil Nünlist: A trip around the world to the International Eucharistic Congress in Sydney: Travel memories of a Swiss pastor from 1928. Benziger & Co. AG, Einsiedeln 1931, p. 40 .
  • J. Emil Nünlist: The church buildings of the dean's office in Bern . O. Walter A.-G. ; Ms. Lindner, Olten; Basel 1937, p. 20 .
  • J. Emil Nünlist: The Catholic Church in the Bern area: On the history of the parishes of the Deanery Bern. Self-published, Bern 1941, p. 76 .
  • J. Emil Nünlist: Father Gregor Girard, 1765–1850, the first Swiss diaspora pastor and the first Catholic pastor of Bern . Benziger & Co. AG, Einsiedeln 1939, p. 40 .
  • J. Emil Nünlist: The Marienkirche and the Roman Catholic. Bern municipality . Benziger & Co. AG, Einsiedeln 1933, p. 63 .
  • J. Emil Nünlist: Medieval Bern: Its religious and ecclesiastical conditions . Buchdr. Eicher & Roth, Bern 1936, p. 88 .
  • Roman Catholic parish, rectory of the Trinity Church [Bern] (Ed.): 150 years of the Roman Catholic parish in Bern; 50 years of the Trinity Church: Jubilee publication . Parish office of the Trinity Church, Bern 1949.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Vicariate Dreifaltigkeit Bern: On the parish anniversary of Mgr. J. Emil Nünlist . Roman Catholic Parish Office, Bern 1931, p. 16 .
  2. ^ Nünlist, Joseph Emil (1875-1952). Retrieved September 28, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Angelika Boesch et al .: Catholic Bern from 1799 to 1999, A stopover . Roman Catholic Overall parish, Bern 1999, p. 32-43 .
  4. ^ J. Emil Nünlist: A trip around the world to the International Eucharistic Congress in Sydney: Travel memories of a Swiss pastor from 1928. Benziger & Co. AG, Einsiedeln 1931, p. 40 .
  5. ^ Nünlist, Joseph Emil (1875-1952). Retrieved September 28, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Nünlist, Josef Emil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nünlist, J. Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss Catholic clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH August 18, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Olten
DATE OF DEATH May 22, 1952
Place of death Bern