Josefinum (Ellwangen)
The St. Josef Missionary Seminar , or Josefinum for short , is the headquarters of the German-speaking province and the seat of the provincial superior of the Comboni missionaries in Ellwangen .
history
The newly built building was moved into in Ellwangen in 1926 and used as a seminar building. The previous building of the Comboni Missionaries (since 1921) in the Schrezheim part of Schleifhäusle was too small for the steadily increasing number of seminarians. In addition, the daily way to the Peutinger Gymnasium was too long. As early as 1934, over 100 seminarians were housed in the building. With the beginning of the Second World War , the buildings of the seminary were confiscated by the Nazi regime and used to accommodate soldiers and as a hospital. In front of the advancing Americans, the building was blown up by the SS on April 21, 1945 .
After the reconstruction, the mission seminary was reopened on March 18, 1952. Already in 1953 the occupancy reached an all-time high of 132 students.
In 1981 the seminary had to be closed because social developments made it less important as a source of missionary professions. In the years of its existence, well over a hundred priests, including two bishops, emerged from the Josefinum.
After a broad discussion about its future use, the former Josefinum became the headquarters of the German-speaking province of the Comboni missionaries and the seat of the provincial superior from 1985 onwards.
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 57 '47.1 " N , 10 ° 7' 38.3" E