Joseph Dittrich

Bishop Joseph Dittrich

Joseph Dittrich's grave

Joseph Dittrich (born April 25, 1794 in Marschen , Bohemia, † October 5, 1853 in Dresden) was a German Roman Catholic clergyman . From 1845 the dean of the cathedral monastery of Bautzen and apostolic prefect for Upper Lusatia , from 1846 until his death he was also apostolic vicar in the Saxon hereditary lands .

Life

Joseph Dittrich came from a simple farming background. First he attended school in Mariaschein , then high schools in Leitmeritz and Prague . Immediately after graduation, he studied at Leitmeritzer diocesan seminary theology and in 1818 he became Bishop Josef Franz Hurdálek for ordained priests . Dittrich was then sent to Vienna for further studies, but as a supporter of the reform theologian Bernard Bolzano came into conflict with the spiritual authorities, was therefore released from the Augustinum and returned to Bohemia in 1820 without - as planned - acquiring a theological doctorate . He then worked for four years as a chaplain in the pastoral care of the diocese of Leitmeritz .

In 1824, Bishop Ignaz Bernhard Mauermann offered Dittrich a job in Saxony. First he worked for three years as the school director in Leipzig, where he also practiced his spiritual profession in the local community. Because of his success, Dittrich was called to the capital Dresden in 1827 to reorganize the Catholic school system there too. In 1831 he was appointed court preacher to succeed Ignaz Mauermann. From 1833 on, he was also the religion teacher of the Saxon princes and princesses. In addition to his work at the court, Dittrich was mainly involved in diaspora pastoral care. He played a key role in the 1830s when mission services were introduced for the Catholics, who were very scattered in the Saxon hereditary lands.

On May 28, 1844, Dittrich was elected to the Bautzen Cathedral Chapter St. Petri and barely a year later, after the death of Matthäus Kutschank on February 20, 1845, he became its dean. As such, he was a member of the first chamber of the Saxon state parliament . As Apostolic Prefect for Lusatia, Dittrich could no longer work at the Dresden court and King Friedrich August II released him from his duties without depriving him of the title of court preacher. When the Apostolic Vicar for Saxony, Franz Laurenz Mauermann , died in October 1845, the king sat down with Pope Gregory XVI. for Dittrich as successor. The Pope complied with this request on April 20, 1846 and also appointed Dittrich as titular bishop of Corycus . The episcopal ordination received his Archbishop Alois Joseph Schrenck of Notzing on May 10 of that year in Prague. Co- consecrators were the Leitmeritz bishop Augustin I. Bartolomäus Hille and the Prague auxiliary bishop František Vilém Tippmann . Like the Bautzen canon Franz Prihonsky, Joseph Dittrich also exchanged letters with Bernard Bolzano during the 1920s and 1930s. At that time, the spiritual climate at the St. Petri Chapter was shaped by Bolzano's reform theological views and efforts to achieve good understanding between Sorbs and Germans.

During his tenure as prefect and episcopal vicar , Dittrich was particularly keen to promote the Catholic school system. He had several books translated or rewritten for the Sorbian students, including a. a catechism, a biblical story and a primer. There was also a Sorbian prayer book for the adults. In a struggle with the authorities and the reluctant Protestant majority population, he laboriously managed to expand the Catholic school network in Saxony. So was z. B. the Catholic school in Reichenau near Zittau one of his foundings. In order to remedy the shortage of teachers, he founded the Catholic teachers' seminar in Bautzen, in whose financing he invested a large part of his not particularly large fortune. Bishop Dittrich was able to complete two important church buildings during his term of office, on the one hand the Trinity Church in Leipzig, which was the first Catholic church in the trade fair city, and on the other hand the new parish church in Dresden Neustadt.

In 1848 Dittrich took part in the Würzburg Bishops' Conference. In 1849 he reorganized the relationship between the Lusatian prefecture and the important Cistercian convent of St. Marienstern near Kamenz. In a contract drawn up by him, he enforced the episcopal jurisdiction rights in the patronage parishes of the monastery.

For his services Dittrich was honored with the appointment as Commander of the Royal Saxon Order of Civil Merit .

Dittrich died on October 5, 1853 and was buried in the Old Catholic Cemetery in Dresden-Friedrichstadt .

literature

• Emilian Wewerka: Eleven speeches by the blessed Joseph Dittrich. Held in the royal. Saxon Court Church in Dresden ; with a biographical monument. Regensburg 1854.
• Franz Prihonsky: Joseph Dittrich. Obituary. In: New Lusatian Magazine . Volume 31, 1855, pp. 257-266.
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Dittrich, Joseph . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 3rd part. Typogr.-literar.-artist publishing house. Establishment (L. C. Zamarski, C. Dittmarsch & Comp.), Vienna 1858, pp. 320–322 ( digitized version ).
• Heinrich Meier: The Apostolic Vicariate in the Saxon hereditary lands . (= Studies on the history of the Catholic diocese and monastery. 24). Leipzig 1981.

Web links

Commons : Joseph Dittrich  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry on Joseph Dittrich on catholic-hierarchy.org

predecessor	Office	successor
Franz Laurenz Mauermann	Apostolic Vicar in the Saxon Hereditary Lands 1846–1853	Ludwig Forwerk
Matthew Kutschank	Apostolic Prefect of Upper Lusatia (for Meissen's former diocesan area there) 1845–1853	Ludwig Forwerk