Joseph Dahl

Vicar General Dr. Joseph Dahl

Joseph Dahl (born March 26, 1838 in Frankenthal (Pfalz) , † October 24, 1917 in Speyer ) was a Catholic priest , cathedral capitular and vicar general of the diocese of Speyer , papal house prelate . As a capitular vicar , he twice headed the Diocese of Speyer in the sedis vacancy periods of 1910 and 1917.

Origin and career

Joseph Dahl, born as the son of a primary school teacher, attended Latin school in his hometown, then moved to the episcopal Konvikt and the grammar school in Speyer. He studied theology in Munich and was ordained a priest on August 25, 1861 in Speyer by Bishop Nikolaus von Weis .

On September 26 of the same year he was employed as a cathedral chaplain, and on November 28, 1864 he was appointed prison curate in Kaiserslautern . From October 6, 1866 to March 2, 1880 Dahl officiated as pastor of St. Martin in Kaiserslautern, in addition he was dean of the rural chapter and district school inspector.

According to the obituary, Joseph Dahl was the owner of the German war memorial 1870/71 for non-combatants and therefore later automatically received the centenary medal for the 100th birthday of Kaiser Wilhelm I. As he was the owner of the war memorial for non-combatants and the war period 1870/71 in his work as a pastor in Kaiserslautern falls, he seems to have spent at least a short time in France as a pastor or nurse in 1870/71. Otherwise, according to the statutes, he would not have been entitled to the war memorial.

Cathedral Chapter

On March 2, 1880, King Ludwig II appointed him cathedral chapter in Speyer. On July 9, 1905, Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria promoted him to cathedral dean, and on January 5, 1909, Pope Pius X appointed him as provost of the cathedral.

As a member of the cathedral chapter, Joseph Dahl held almost all important posts, but mostly not at the same time. He was secretary of the episcopal ordinariate and the cathedral chapter, computer of the cathedral fund, custodian (guardian) of the cathedral, chronograph of the cathedral chapter, advisor for the school system, superior of the St. Magdalena monastery in Speyer (Dominican Sisters), defensor Matrimonii, director of the clergy, Diocesan Preses of the cath. Workers' associations, board of directors of the diocesan orphanage in Landstuhl and of the Boniface Association in the diocese, honorary member of the German Association of the Holy Land. Between 1905 and 1917 he served 3 Speyer bishops as vicar general, and as capitular vicar he twice headed the diocese of Speyer during the vacancy periods of 1910 and 1917.

On June 21, 1886, Bishop Georg von Ehrler held a pontifical request for King Ludwig II, who had drowned in Lake Starnberg, in Speyer Cathedral . Joseph Dahl gave the funeral sermon. On May 17, 1889, Queen Mother Marie of Bavaria, who had converted to Catholicism, died . At the bishop's funeral service on May 22nd, Dahl was again given the task of commemorating.

Bishop Konrad von Busch appointed Joseph Dahl as vicar general in 1905, Bishop Michael von Faulhaber entrusted him with this office again when he took office and after his departure in 1917 the new Bishop Ludwig Sebastian did the same. In the sedis vacancy periods of 1910 (after Busch's death) and 1917 (after Faulhaber's move to Munich), Domkapitular Dahl headed the diocese of Speyer as vicar capitular. In this capacity he picked up the newly appointed Bishop Faulhaber at the train station in Schifferstadt in 1910 , and in 1917 Bishop Sebastian in Speyer.

The obituary states that his daily work always started at 4 a.m. After getting up he used to hold a spiritual contemplation, at 5:45 a.m. he celebrated the morning mass every day in the Magdalenenkloster, at 7 a.m. he came to the cathedral for choir prayer. He basically spent the rest of the day working at a standing desk. He had a “Sanquin temperament” , “with a liveliness that helped him with all his work, but which flared up but could also be forgiven.” He was a fighter by nature against Old Catholicism and for the maintenance of the denominational school, as well as regularly active Participated in the Palatinate Catholic Days. The obituary further states that in old age he would have stooped and states: “People of his physique easily die from flapping. In fact, arterial sclerosis was also seen doing destructive work. Attacks of heart failure came from time to time; with such a syncope of the heart, he received the Holy Unction during an ordinary session. On October 24, 1917, Prelate Dr. Dahl for the last time, attended a requiem at 9 o'clock, attended the Rosary service in the afternoon and woke up on the night of October 25 to the defensive thunder against the planes that were firing over the cathedral to the northwest. A short time later a stroke took his mind and the old man passed away gently after receiving the Holy Unction. "

Joseph Dahl was buried in the cathedral chapter crypt on October 27, 1917, King Ludwig III. sent a personal telegram of condolence.

Dahl carried the papal honorary titles " Apostolic Protonotary " and " Papal House Prelate ". In addition to the war memorial 1870/71 and the centenary medal thus awarded , the clergyman wore the Royal Order of Merit of St. Michael III. Class, the Cross of Honor of the Bavarian Order of Ludwig and the King Ludwig Cross for local merit in the First World War . Dahl had also made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and toured several European countries.

Works

• “The Speyer City Council and the Convent Schools” , Joseph Dahl, Speyer, 1912.

literature

• "Joseph Georg von Ehrler, Bishop of Speyer" , Jakob Baumann, Herder Verlag, Freiburg, 1911.
• "Oberhirtliches Verordnungsblatt" , Speyer, Bischöfliches Ordinariat, No. 23, from October 31, 1917, obituary.
• Jakob Bisson : "Seven Speyer bishops and their time" . Pilger Publishing House. Speyer 1956.
• “The canons since the re-establishment of the Speyer diocese, in 1817” , Guido Nonn, Speyer Diocesan Archive, 1981, p. 37.