Josef Müller (pastor)

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Josef Müller (born December 30, 1870 in Altdorf UR ; † May 25, 1929 in Altdorf UR) was a Swiss hospital priest and collector of folk tales .

Life

Josef Müller was born the last of six children to a farming family. He expressed the desire to become a scientist . During his time at the canton school in Altdorf from 1884 to 1890, however, his "philosophical and theoretical studies" moved him to become a pastor .

After graduating from high school, he studied philosophy at the Episcopal Lyceum Eichstätt ( Middle Franconia ) in 1890/91 . Here he joined the Helvetia Eystettensis section of the Swiss Student Association . In 1891 he switched to the study of theology to Milan to the archbishop's seminar, where there were courts for Swiss students, and was on May 19, 1894 Milan Cathedral for Roman Catholic priests ordained. On June 3, 1894 he celebrated his first session in the parish church in Altdorf UR. He then stayed for the fourth theological course in the St. Luzi seminary in Chur .

From 1895 Müller was a parish assistant and teacher in Spiringen . From 1899 he was pastor in Bauen . On September 3, 1903, he became pastor of the Uri Cantonal Hospital ; he gave up in this activity by 1921 at the latest, but remained in the hospital until his death.

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As a hospital priest, Müller wrote down legends that the hospital inmates told him. He often tried to find stories in conversation by first telling a story himself. After the conversation, he made notes.

Müller's work was pioneered in three ways:

  1. During Müller's lifetime it was not customary to use narrators as sources. Only written texts served as sources. (The Brothers Grimm were an exception here.)
  2. The stories collected are not the usual legends about heroes , but rather legends from everyday rural life. The stories show everyday feelings and the behavior of the population.
  3. The legends are not formed literarily, but of a very original, sparse character.

Müller collected around 1,600 legends and several variants of the same story. In doing so he created one of the most important sources of folk culture in the Alpine region.

With his collection of legends, Müller influenced many artists from the canton of Uri and Switzerland , including the artist Heinrich Danioth and the filmmaker Fredi M. Murer .

Own publications

  • Collaboration on the Historical-Biographical Lexicon of Switzerland (HBLS) and the Swiss Idioticon
  • Betrayer from Uri (1917)
  • Legends from Uri. Collected from the vernacular. Three volumes, Volume 1 (1926) and Volume 2 (1929) ed. by Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli , Volume 3 (1st edition 1945; reprint 1969 and 1978) ed. v. Robert Wildhaber (= writings of the Swiss Society for Folklore. 18, 20 and 28).
  • Fairy tales, sagas, tales, legends from Uri from the estate of Josef Müller. (1987) (= Histor. Nbl. Of the Association for History and Antiquities of Uri, NF 41–42)
  • Folklore essays, including: Historical notes on the parish of Spiringen . In: Histor. Nbl. the Society for History and Antiquities of Uri to the year 1901 (1901), pp. 18–73; An old invitation to the Ennet market. Historical sketch . In: Historische Neujahrsblätter (Nbl.) Of the Association for History and Antiquities from Uri to the year 1902 (1901), pp. 65–73; Two nut tenths of the parish church Altdorf from 1491 and 1532 . In: The history friend. Communications from the Historical Association of Five Places 70 (1915), pp. 295–304; The foundation of two chaplains in Sargans in 1394 . In: Zeitschrift für Schweizerische Kirchengeschichte 14 (1920), p. 148; The chaplains of the family pledges of the Lords of Beroldingen in Altdorf . In: Histor. Nbl. of the Canton of Uri (1921); Zug clergy in Uri . In: Heimatklänge. Weekly supplement to Zuger Nachrichten 2 (1922), pp. 89-107; The year book of the parish church Isental . In: The history friend. Messages from the Histor. Association of Five Places 77 (1922), pp. 97–148; Files of the prince abbey of Sankt Gallen on the Bellenzerzuge 1478–1479 . Edited by J. Müller. In: Histor. Nbl. des Kantons Uri 33 (1927), pp. 81-92

Works based on his collection of sagas

  • Legends from Uri, with woodcuts by Peter Denier . Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, Altdorf 1977
  • Legends of Uri, based on Josef Müller, arr. and translated into dialect by Walter Sigi Arnold . 2nd unaltered edition, book and CD. Quadrat-Verlag, Altdorf 1995, ISBN 3-9520745-0-0
  • Numerous other compilations

literature

  • Eduard Wymann : ( Obituary ). In: Neue Zürcher Nachrichten (1929)
  • Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung (1929), p. 202
  • (Illustration from Müller). In: Ceremony for the 75th birthday of Msgr. Eduard Wymann (1944), p. 9.
  • Lutz Röhrich : The saga collections of Alemannic Switzerland in the present . In: Alemannisches Jahrbuch 1973/75, pp. 434–468, especially pp. 443–454
  • Daniela Walker: Curate Josef Müller, Altdorf: Fairy tales, sagas, tales and legends from Uri. Habilitation thesis University of Zurich (1986)
  • German Biographical Encyclopedia (DBE). Volume VII (1998), p. 272
  • Siegfried Schieweck-Mauk: «... unforgettable years» - Swiss students at the Episcopal Lyceum Eichstätt (1848–1912). SH-Verlag, Cologne 2007, pp. 301f. (with a portrait of Müller)

Web links

Wikisource: Josef Müller  - Sources and full texts