Joseph Schmidlin

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Joseph Schmidlin (born March 29, 1876 in Kleinlandau in Alsace ; † January 10, 1944 in the Schirmeck security camp ) worked as a Catholic theologian and is considered the founder of Catholic missiology .

Life

Joseph Schmidlin was a son of the teacher Augustinus Schmidlin (1841–1915) and the clerk Maria Anna, geb. Hoefferlin (1843-1908). He had two brothers (including church musician August Schmidlin ) and three sisters. He attended the Episcopal Progymnasium and the St. Stephan High School in Strasbourg , studied philosophy and theology at the seminary in Strasbourg . In 1899 he was ordained a priest .

Scientific career

From 1899 to 1901 he studied history and classical philology for teaching at the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg im Breisgau and was awarded a doctorate in 1901. phil. PhD. During his studies in Rome from 1901 to 1905, he was Vice Rector of the National Church of Santa Maria dell'Anima and the College of Priests there (today: Pontifical Institute Santa Maria dell'Anima ). In addition to a story of the anima, he worked on Ludwig Pastor's papal story . 1904 Schmidlin was in church history for Dr. theol. PhD. After a chaplaincy in Gebweiler , he completed his habilitation in 1907 under Albert Ehrhard for church history at the University of Strasbourg . He later received his habilitation in Münster, where he was appointed professor for church history, the history of dogma , patrology and mission studies there in 1910. In 1914 Schmidlin was appointed full professor of missiology with an additional teaching position for church history, the history of dogma and patrology.

Work and meaning

Schmidlin founded missiology as an independent discipline within Catholic theology . Its forerunner in the Protestant area was the holder of the first chair in missiology in Germany, Gustav Warneck . In 1911 he founded the magazine for missiology , which he edited himself.

After Pope Benedict XV. In the circular Maximum illud (1919), the Magna Charta of the Catholic Mission , which called for the establishment of mission science chairs and institutes, numerous chairs were founded at home and abroad based on the Münster model, including in Munich, Würzburg , in Nijmegen , Freiburg im Üechtland , Leuven and Vienna. These were based on Schmidlin.

In 1911 Schmidlin founded the International Institute for Mission Research .

The Catholic Missionary Doctrine (Münster / Westf. 1919) two years after its introduction to Mission Studies (Münster / Westf. 1917) was the standard work of Catholic Mission Studies for decades.

Schmidlin also worked as an assistant to Ludwig Pastor in numerous volumes of his 16-volume papal history . After Pastor's death Schmidlin wrote a continuation of the Pastor's work representing the latest Pope story , which covers the period from 1800 to the death of Pius XI. treated. This work represents his most extensive scientific work.

Schmidlin was forced to retire on July 14, 1934. Later he was sent to prison because of his negative attitude towards the National Socialist regime , then to a mental hospital and later to the " Vorbruck-Schirmeck security camp ". While still in the security camp, he raised his voice against National Socialism . It was learned that he was beaten up and taken to a bunker, where he died on January 10, 1944.

Appreciation

The Catholic Church accepted Schmidlin as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century .

At the entrance to the Breisach Minster there is an impressive plaque with the words:

" In this early Gothic crypt (...) the parish of Breisach commemorates the priest and church historian Professor Dr. Josef Schmidlin, who worked in Breisach and died as an opponent of the National Socialist tyranny in 1944 in the Schirmeck concentration camp (...) "

Publications (selection)

  • The historical-philosophical and church-political worldview of Otto von Freising. A contribution to medieval intellectual history. Herder Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1906, online .
  • Mission and culture conditions in the Far East: impressions and reports from my missionary study trip in the winter of 1913/14. Borgmeyer, Münster 1914, online .
  • The Christian world mission in the world war. Mönchen-Gladbach 1915.
  • Catholic missionary teaching in plan. 2nd edition, Verlag Aschendorff, Münster 1923.
  • The Catholic Missions from the Great Migration to the Present. Berlin 1925.
  • Papal history of the latest time. 3rd volume. Papacy and Popes in the XX. Century. Pius X and Benedict XV (1903-1922). Regensburg 1936.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joseph Schmidlin: History of the German national church in Rome S. Maria dell 'Anima . Ed .: Herder. Freiburg iB 1906.
  2. ↑ see also Catholic mission theory. 1931, online


personal data
SURNAME Schmidlin, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian, missionary and missiologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 29, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Kleinlandau , Alsace
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1944
Place of death Schirmeck (Alsace)