Joseph Michael Weinhofer

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Signature of Michael Weinhofer

Josef Michael Weinhofer (born May 16, 1778 in Pinkafeld , Kingdom of Hungary , today Burgenland , † June 27, 1859 in Pinkafeld) was an author, homilet and catechist from German-West Hungary . Five of his books (catechesis and sermons) appeared in print, partly in two editions or in Hungarian translation.

Life

Michael Weinhofer was born the first of eleven children. His parents were Anna Maria and Michael Weinhofer (head of the Batthyány financial administration and later court judge in Pinkafeld). The parents were very religious. Three of his brothers also became priests . Weinhofer attended elementary school in Pinkafeld and the royal Catholic grammar school of the philosophical institute in Steinamanger . In Steinamanger he finally completed a five-year theological course.

Michael Weinhofer's period of activity is the time of the Napoleonic Wars , the Congress of Vienna , the Biedermeier period , the revolution of 1848/49 and neo-absolutism . He was ordained a priest on May 1, 1801. He spent his chaplain years in Lockenhaus and Schlaining . From 1806 until his death he was pastor in Pinkafeld for 53 years. These places are now part of Burgenland . At the time of Weinhofer, the area belonged to the Holy Roman Empire and from 1804 to the Austrian Empire . An area that was then under Hungarian administration. The manorial power in Pinkafeld was held by the Hungarian noble Batthyány family .

In addition to his job as a pastor, Weinhofer was dean and school inspector . At that time, 11 branch churches belonged to the mother parish of Pinkafeld. Weinhofer is described as an excellent preacher. People from Hungary, Austria and Styria came to Pinkafeld to hear Michael Weinhofer preach. He was able to inspire 40 pinka fields to become a priest. He maintained contacts with politicians, artists, theologians and bishops and worked in the “Viennese Romantic Circle” around Klemens Maria Hofbauer . During the Biedermeier period, Countess Franziska Batthyány invited numerous members of the Romantic Circle (including Zacharias Werner , Leopold Kupelwieser , Eduard Steinle , Roman Sebastian Zängerle , Johann Emanuel Veith and perhaps also Klemens Maria Hofbauer himself) to the Pinkafelder Castle . Weinhofer made numerous contacts here.

Pope Pius IX made him a secret chamberlain . Emperor Franz Joseph awarded him the Knight's Cross of the Leopold Order , the Bishop of Steinamanger appointed him consistorial councilor . Weinhofer's personal library was transferred to the Eisenstadt diocesan library as a deposit around 1972 and, according to the diocesan library, is part of its valuable historical holdings. The inventory comprises 162 titles (426 volumes) in Eisenstadt. An Augustine edition in 18 volumes (1756–1768), the previous owner of which was the Augustinian hermit Martin Rosnak († 1801 in Lockenhaus), should be emphasized. Around 100 more volumes from Weinhofer's personal library are currently in Pinkafeld. His book collection consists exclusively of theologica.

Weinhofer was able to win over the owners Nikolaus and Franziska Batthyány to support numerous construction projects financially. The population of Pinkafeld and the surrounding towns also donated. And so, during Weinhofer's time, a church in Hochart and the Pinkafeld cemetery chapel were rebuilt, and the church in Wiesfleck as well as the stations of the cross and the Marian column in Pinkafeld were renovated.

The author and preacher Michael Weinhofer

As an author, Weinhofer left an extensive body of literature. The handwritten Weinhofer chronicle (he himself called it “school protocol” because the first pages are dedicated to the school) comprises 293 pages and covers the period from 1808 to 1859. It contains local events and topics from contemporary history. The personal diary wine Hofer consists of 16 parts to the total 424 handwritten pages with many thoughts, sayings and teaching wisdom. Bishop Michael Haas , a former student of Weinhofer, reported that 8,000 sermons by Pastor Weinhofer had been preserved. It is a collection of about 9,000 handwritten pages of sermons in which he systematically interpreted almost the entire New Testament over a period of 30 years .

According to Johannes Pratl, Michael Weinhofer found himself in the field of tension between the Enlightenment and Catholic renewal. Seemingly frustrated by the supposedly negative effects of enlightenment tendencies, he wrote in his 1827 chronicle on the “State of the Present Age”: “... Vice wins, nefariousness mocks virtue, religion is the fairy tale of the cities, justice is for sale, money is idol "Selfishness is the life of mankind, and the young generation educated with the principles of this wrongdoing apparently promises us an even worse future ...". At the same time he tried to renew the sermon and used original methods in teaching, such as the so-called proverb method. It is reported that every year he collected and numbered around a hundred sayings and proverbs that had to be learned by heart by the schoolchildren. Number 23 of this collection was, for example: "A person who can rule his passion and senses, He may rightly bear the title of king."

Weinhofer also broke new ground as a preacher. In his day it was customary to give the sermon after the Eucharistic celebration . But after the Eucharist, many believers left the Church. To prevent this, Weinhofer preached immediately after the Gospel .

Memory of Michael Weinhofer

Weinhoferschule in Pinkafeld: in memory of Joseph Michael Weinhofer

The elementary school (Weinhoferschule, today Roman Catholic parish home) and Weinhoferplatz in Pinkafeld were named after Weinhofer. On the 150th anniversary of Weinhofer's death, a special exhibition was held as well as a festive mass in Pinkafeld with the bishop of the Eisenstadt diocese Paul Iby .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Diözesanbibliothek the Diocese of Eisenstadt on the homepage of the portal b2i
  2. ↑ Weinhofer-Chronik 1825-1829 on the homepage for the commemorative year of the Pinkafeld parish
  3. ↑ Pinkafelder Pfarrblatt , June 2009
personal data
SURNAME Weinhofer, Joseph Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weinhofer, Josef Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pastor and theologian
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1778
PLACE OF BIRTH Pinkafeld
DATE OF DEATH June 27, 1859
Place of death Pinkafeld