Joseph Bauer (pastor)

Joseph Bauer (born December 4, 1864 in Dühren near Sinsheim ; † June 6, 1951 in Mannheim ) was the first dean of the city ​​dean's office in Mannheim and a long-time pastor at the Mannheim Jesuit Church and an honorary citizen of Mannheim .

Life

Joseph Bauer was born on December 4, 1864 as the child of a respected farming family in Dühren , now a district of Sinsheim. After attending school in Dühren, Sinsheim and graduating from high school in Wertheim , he studied theology at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg . On July 12, 1888, he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Christian Roos . He then worked as a chaplain at the Lower Parish of St. Sebastian until 1889 in Rastatt and from 1889 to 1894 in Mannheim . On February 24, 1895 he was appointed pastor at the Jesuit Church. With the creation of the new archiepiscopal city dean of Mannheim on January 23, 1902, he was appointed the first city dean. In July 1946 he was released from his position as city dean. On January 6, 1949, after 53 years, he retired as pastor of the Jesuit Church and died on June 6, 1951 in the St. Hedwig Clinic in Mannheim. During the three-day laying out of the deceased in the Jesuit church, around 30,000 people passed the open coffin. He was buried in the crypt of the Jesuit church. During the last renovation of the church, a memorial stone was set into the floor of the main nave. Next to the celebration altar is another bronze commemorative plaque with his portrait.

Act

Due to industrialization , Mannheim experienced a population explosion in the second half of the 19th century. The two existing Catholic houses of God, the Jesuit Church and the Lower Parish Church of St. Sebastian, were no longer sufficient. In order to alleviate the social hardship of the new urban proletariat , Catholic professional associations were established and charitable religious orders were established. New parishes were founded on the initiative of Joseph Bauer. A large part of the newly built churches fell during his tenure as city dean. By 1915, seven large representative church buildings were built within the city limits at that time. Further new churches were built after the First World War . Joseph Bauer was therefore given the nickname “Church Builder of Mannheim”. His charitable and pastoral work is supported by Pastor Dr. Karl Anton Straub in his “Mannheim Church History” summarized as follows: “ Liturgy and sacraments , sermons and catechesis were the heart of his work in his own parish and in the deanery. Only then did his charitable work flow, which cannot be appreciated enough. He founded various houses and homes, institutes and clinics. The procurement of land and houses for orphans and boatmen's children, for young people and professionals, for sick people and pensioners was his stressful concern. Mannheim's importance as a port let him dedicate himself for decades as General Praeses of the St. Nikolaus-Schifferverein to the pastoral care of the ship's people on the Rhine, Main and Neckar. The Catholic labor movement and the various professional associations enjoyed his valuable and stimulating work. "

During the Nazi dictatorship of the Third Reich , he was exposed to hostility because he z. B. refused the Hitler salute. The rectory and the rooms of his chaplains were searched several times, but he stood before the youth chaplain, chaplain Franz Weinmann, as the youth chaplain in particular was constantly in conflict with the Nazi rulers. However, he was unable to prevent Weinmann's arrest in 1942 and imprisonment in the Dachau concentration camp until 1945. The war also destroyed 17 of the 22 Catholic churches in Mannheim. In September 1943, British-American bombing destroyed the rectory, the St. Anton orphanage, the Luisen-Stephanienhaus, the St. Claraheim, the St. Monikaheim and the servants' home St. Maria and the Jesuit church was badly damaged. Another bombardment on March 1, 1945 meant that the Jesuit church could no longer be used. Most of the parish was totally destroyed and the population fled. In 1947 the 82-year-old prelate was assigned to support Father Franz Meßbacher SJ as an assistant. After the abolition of the Jesuit order in 1773, the second period of Jesuit presence in Mannheim began. In order to preserve the Jesuit church and to give impulses for its reconstruction, he began to celebrate Holy Mass in the ruins of the church. After Prelate Bauer retired on January 6, 1949, Father Meßbacher remained as parish administrator until the arrival of the new pastor.

Honors

• 1915 Appointment by the Archbishop's Spiritual Council
• 1923 to the papal house prelate
• 1938 as honorary chapter of the Freiburg cathedral chapter
• 1946 as Apostolic Protonotary
• 1951 honorary citizen of the city of Mannheim

The Mannheimers called him "Lockeseppel". In 2005 the newly built Catholic parish hall in his place of birth, Dühren near Sinsheim, was named "Prelate Farmer House" in his honor. In the foyer, the sculptor Michael Huber from Oberkirch has artistically designed a stele with the portrait of the prelate.

literature

• “Time to sow” commemorative publication for the 100th anniversary of the city dean of Mannheim 1902–2002