Joseph Hesser

Joseph M. Hesser SVD (born September 29, 1867 in Lahr (Hunsrück) , † June 15, 1920 in Taikiachwang , Republic of China ) was a Catholic missionary and author to China .

Life

Joseph Hesser came from a deeply religious Hunsrück farmers and carpenters family. He was the oldest of eight children of the married couple Peter Hesser and Maria Magdalena geb. Friedrich. Two siblings died young, one brother also became a priest and two sisters became nuns. His wish to become a missionary, cherished from a very early age, was supported and encouraged by the pastor. On October 7, 1882 he was accepted as a high school student in Steyl and later entered the novitiate. He carried out his philosophical and theological studies in Sankt Gabriel near Vienna . There he was ordained a priest on June 25, 1893. The young priest traveled to China on September 17th of the same year. With him was among other things P. Georg M. Stenz SVD (1869-1928), who was badly mistreated in November 1898 on the eve of the Boxer Rebellion . In Puoli / Südshantung, Hesser began studying the Chinese language and culture , which he continued in Wangchwang / Ostshantung.

Initially, Joseph Hesser was a traveling missionary, in 1894 a chaplain in the district town of Chüchow and since 1896 rector of the mission station there. Here he campaigned for the protection of the villagers against gangs of robbers. This and his unyielding nature made him a target himself. So he was transferred to Tsining, where Chinese catechists were trained at the bishop's ward. Hesser headed this school from 1899 to 1919, but was in the meantime rector of the order's headquarters in Taikiachwang.

When most Germans under 60 years of age were expelled from China after the First World War , Joseph Hesser was allowed to stay at the behest of the local mandarin for honesty . On June 15, 1920, the China missionary died as the provisional director of the retreat house in Taikiachuang after a three-week illness in the presence of his youngest brother Aloys (1881–1962), who had also become a Steyler China missionary.

According to the biography of his brother Aloys, Joseph Hesser was a very popular confessor who was already venerated as saintly during his lifetime, and after his death there should have been efforts for a beatification process . In any case, Joseph Hesser was characterized by glowing zeal for soul, great patience, punctuality and accuracy, but also severity.

Literary work

Joseph Hesser has published at least 22 books in the Chinese language. These include theological works, religious edification books and - especially noteworthy - the first Chinese grammar (1905) and a collection of Chinese proverbs (1909). The latter helped the missionaries to formulate their sermons in a popular way. His way of writing books is interesting. He dictated it to one of the staff members during the meal, while another had to make sure that the employee did not make any mistakes.

Here is a selection of topics from his publications:

• Instructions for confession.
• The Sunday saints.
• Chinese Proverbs, Phrases and Sayings (744 pages)
• Chinese grammar (1905)
• Commentary on the Catechism (1910 first edition, 1930, 8th edition)
• Translation of the Epistles and Gospels of Sundays and Holidays (248 pages)
• History of the Old and New Testament (textbook for mission schools; 1940, 11th edition)
• The fourth commandment
• About the bliss of heaven
• Adoration of the Mother of God
• The deadly sin
• Communion prayers

literature

• Aloys Hesser: Chronicle or brief memory of the Schneirasch family (Peter Hesser) zu Lahr 1843-1946 (as yet unpublished manuscript); Edition in the series From the history of Lahr / Hunsrück in preparation.
• Johannes Fleckner: So they were - Steyler missionaries from 19 countries , Volume 4. Steyl o. J.
• Norbert J. Pies: Joseph M. Hesser SVD . In: Hunsrücker Heimatblätter vol. 50 No. 142 March 2010.
• Paul Steffen: Two Lahr China missionaries . In: Yearbook District Cochem-Zell 2011, pp. 194–197.
• Paul B. Steffen, Father Alois Hesser (1881-1960) - the second China missionary from Lahr , in: Hunsrücker Heimatblätter vol. 51, no. 145 (2011) 275-279.
• Paul B. Steffen, HESSER, Joseph SVD: China missionary (1867–1920): Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon XXXIII (2012) 678–681.