Joseph Georg von Ehrler

Bishop Joseph Georg von Ehrler, around 1880

Joseph Georg Ehler , von Ehrler from 1879 , (born April 8, 1833 in Miltenberg ; † March 18, 1905 in Speyer ) was bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer from 1878 to 1905 .

Life

Origin and early work

Joseph Georg Ehrler was born the son of a tailor and had six siblings. The boy attended - together with the later Archbishop of Bamberg, Joseph von Schork - the Latin school in his hometown Miltenberg and in 1847 switched to the episcopal boys' seminar in Würzburg, where he passed the Abitur. In 1852 he began studying philosophy and theology at the University of Würzburg . Here he taught u. a. Professors Franz Hettinger , Josef Hergenröther and Heinrich Denzinger ; the later Archbishop of Munich, Franz Joseph von Stein, was his fellow student, which is why they both enjoyed a lifelong friendship. On August 10, 1856, the alumne Ehrler was ordained a priest in Würzburg by Bishop Georg Anton von Stahl and celebrated his first mass on August 15 in his home town of Miltenberg.

One day later he received his appointment as chaplain in Bad Neustadt an der Saale , and from 1855 he went to Wolfmannshausen (Thuringia) as a missionary chaplain , from where he also looked after the Hildburghausen community . He then worked in Hammelburg, Bad Kissingen and Kitzingen. In Bad Kissingen he held the office of preacher and practiced the English language at the same time.

Cathedral preacher in Munich

Joseph Georg von Ehrler, pulpit speeches, 1904

Bishop Joseph Georg von Ehrler, around 1900

Joseph Georg von Ehrler, 1903, supplement to the Augsburger Postzeitung

In 1867 the Bavarian King Maximilian II appointed him as cathedral preacher in Munich. One of his most eager listeners there was Queen Mother Marie, who had converted to Catholicism . On September 14, 1870 Ehrler preached in Munich on the occasion of the consecration of the Speyer bishop Konrad Reither , in the presence of the consecrators Gregor von Scherr , Franz Leopold von Leonrod and Ignatius von Senestrey , on the subject: "What is the bishop in the Catholic Church?" Only eight years later he was to be Reither's successor. Ehrler published his sermons held in Munich from 1872 to 1878 under the collective title Das Kirchenjahr in seven volumes. Bishop Paul Wilhelm von Keppler von Rottenburg, himself a well-known pulpit speaker, called this work “almost classic” and a “high point in the development of our sermon”. Outside the Catholic Church, too, the monumental work, which had numerous editions, received praise and friendly attention.

Bishop of Speyer

On June 9, 1878, Joseph Georg Ehrler was appointed Bishop of Speyer by King Ludwig II (Bavaria) and consecrated there on October 6, 1878 by the Archbishop of Bamberg, Friedrich von Schreiber ; Bishops Lothar von Kübel from the neighboring diocese of Freiburg and Franz Leopold von Leonrod von Eichstätt acted as co-consecrators . The Queen Mother and Princess Gisela donated the bishop's chalice and ring. In 1879 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown , combined with the personal nobility and the appointment to the Imperial Council of the Crown of Bavaria for life. In addition, Bishop Ehrler was a knight of the 2nd class with the Star of the Order of Merit of St. Michael and Grand Cross of the Austrian Order of Franz Joseph . On the 25th anniversary of the bishopric he received the honorary title of papal assistant to the throne and Roman count .

In 1882, the head shepherd had a new Speyer diocesan hymn published under the title Salve Regina , which was in use under this name (with changes due to time) until 1975 and was replaced by the standard hymn book for God's praise . As a bishop, he promoted the founding of the Capuchin monastery at St. Ingbert , the expansion of the Maria Rosenberg pilgrimage site and the Paulus monastery in Herxheim near Landau / Pfalz , and the construction of a Catholic church in Breitenbach (Pfalz) . During his tenure in 1900, the imperial tombs in Speyer Cathedral were opened and archaeologically examined.

Bishop Ehrler traveled to Rome a total of three times. Pope Leo XIII received him there twice, namely in 1881 and 1894 . The last time the Speyer Shepherd went to the Vatican in October 1903, accompanied by his secretary Jakob Baumann . Both were received very kindly by the new Pope Pius X.

In 1904 the bishop began to show signs of illness. From November of that year he was barely able to leave the room, his mental powers weakened considerably and sometimes he could not find the words he wanted to pronounce, or he could no longer put them into longer sentences. The doctor diagnosed age-related hardening of the arteries. In January 1905 he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage which led to death a few weeks later. He was buried in the cathedral. At the funeral, the bishops published in Speyer Georg Heinrich Maria Kirstein from Mainz , Willibrord Benzler of Metz , Ferdinand von Schlör from Würzburg , and Anton von Henle , Passau .

Burial place and fame

The grave inscription in Speyer Cathedral read (the old grave slabs were removed in 1961):

"Omnia uni. Josephus Georgus de Ehrler epps spiren nat. VIII. Apriliis MDCCCXXXIII. declaratio sermonum tuorum illuminat: et intellectum dat parvulis. Ps. CXVIII. Rip "

" All the one. Joseph Georg von Ehrler, Bishop of Speyer born on April 8th, 1833, died on March 18th, 1905. 'The explanation of your speeches enlightens and gives the little ones understanding.' Ps. 118. May he rest in peace. "

A commemorative article on the 50th anniversary of his death in 1955 in the Speyer diocesan newspaper Der Pilger states: "As a preacher and author of homiletic masterpieces, Ehrler still holds a respected place among the spiritual men of the Catholic Church in Germany."

In fact, the merits of the bishop are clearly on the spiritual level of the proclamation and consolidation of the faith, while on the other hand, during the long period of his pontificate, which fell into the so-called "early days", e. B. not a single new parish was founded in the diocese. Bishop Ehrler was of great personal piety and deep faith, but outwardly not combative and rather reserved. He once wrote to his friend, Bishop Franz Joseph von Stein , that the church political situation in Bavaria was in dire straits, but in his opinion more could be achieved with “patience, prudence and caution” than with “sharpness”. This attitude was typical of Ehrler. In the Franconian Volksblatt zu Würzburg there was a critical article about him that took up this trait and about which the bishop was very annoyed, since he was probably launched from a group of Speyer diocesan priests. There it said about his pontificate a. a., it begins: "a precarious calm to encamp over the Catholic Palatinate, a lulling of the Catholic conscience and a peace of the churchyard, which must stifle all Catholic life."

Works

• The church year. A series of sermons on the most excellent truths of faith and moral doctrine, given in the Metropolitan Church of Our Lady in Munich by Dr Joseph Georg von Ehrler. 7 volumes, Herder, Freiburg.

literature

• Jakob Baumann : Joseph Georg von Ehrler, Bishop of Speyer. Herder, Freiburg 1911.
• Der Pilger , Speyer: Memorial sheet for Bishop Ehrler - On the 50th anniversary of his death , Pilgrim No. 11, March 13, 1955.

Web links

Commons : Joseph Georg von Ehrler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry on catholic-hierarchy.org (English)
• Joseph Georg von Ehrler in the Saarland biographies
• Quotation page about Bishop Ehrler

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.gottwein.de/SP_Inscr/SP10.htm
2. ↑ According to the Masoretic text, which is also followed by the Roman Catholic standard translation, it is Psalm 119,130 EU .

predecessor	Office	successor
Daniel Bonifaz von Haneberg	Bishop of Speyer 1878–1905	Konrad von Busch