Joseph von Hommer

Bishop Joseph von Hommer, in front of the Trier Cathedral

Joseph Ludwig Aloys von Hommer , also Josef Ludwig Alois von Hommer , (born April 4, 1760 in Koblenz , † November 11, 1836 in Trier ) was Bishop of Trier from 1824 to 1836 .

Life

Joseph von Hommer came from a Koblenz family, his father was the Electorate Privy Councilor and archive and office director Johann Friedrich von Hommer (1703–1773). His mother Ursula (1724–1782) was a daughter of the Cologne Chamber of Commerce Assessor Johann Melchior Cramer von Clausbruch (1680–1740) and Anna Maria Seraphina Edle von Solemacher from Namedy (1695–1734), and sister of the Cologne Chamber of Commerce Assessors Arnold Heinrich Cramer von Clausbruch (1720–1792).

Coat of arms of those of Hommer

Cramer of Clausbruch

His brother Peter Melchior von Hommer (1743–1809) was from 1796 to 1806 the Trier court assessor and grandfather of Karl von Mulzer (1805–1875).

He received his training as a cleric in the Jesuit college , later in the diocesan seminary in Trier (1778). This was followed by legal studies in Heidelberg , and from 1780 he worked as a practical lawyer in Wetzlar and Koblenz . In 1783 he was ordained a priest in Trier. In the same year he took over the parish of Wellersheim near Trier. This was followed by rising activities in the archbishopric ( vicariate and official ) up to the "Secret Council" (1786).

In 1794, as a confidante of the elector and archbishop Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony , he fled from the invading French across the Rhine and worked as a pastor in Schönberg / Westerwald . In 1802 he was appointed by the archbishop as pastor to Ehrenbreitstein , from 1816 he was vicar general of the cathedral chapter for the parishes of the diocese of Trier on the right bank of the Rhine .

When the diocese was reorganized in 1821 after being taken over by Prussia , Hommer was appointed Bishop of Trier in 1824 - at the suggestion of King Friedrich Wilhelm III. of Prussia - by Pope Pius VII. The episcopal ordination on August 24, 1824 was donated to him by Kaspar Max Baron Droste zu Vischering , Bishop of Munster . The solemn enthronement took place after eight years of vacancy on September 12, 1824.

Act

In addition to working on archives in the diocese, his main concern was to raise spiritual training and to promote the further training of the clergy in the spirit of the Enlightenment . Bishop von Hommer was a man of profound learning and a shepherd very popular with the people, who brought in funds from his own pocket for his own goals. He undertook numerous visitations in his diocese and gave the pastors precise instructions and advice on how to improve the conditions in their parish. He tried to find a balance, but was also able to take strict action when necessary. The furnishing of the churches and their structural maintenance was also of particular concern to him. Hommer promoted the “Hermesian Theology” (after Georg Hermes ; banned by Pope Gregory XVI in 1835 ) in Trier, which aroused strong opposition from the conservative forces, which increased when he advocated interdenominational marriage and the “Berliner Convention ”of 1834 on the“ question of mixed marriages ”(“ Every marriage is liturgically possible ”); other members were: the Archbishop of Cologne , Count Ferdinand August von Spiegel zum Desenberg and Canstein, and the Prussian envoy in Rome , Christian Karl Josias Freiherr von Bunsen . Immediately before his death, he regretted this step and revoked it. Gregory XVI. was informed about the convention early through the revocation and terminated it on December 10, 1837. A remarkable self-testimony and an important source for the history of his time are the "Meditationes in vitam meam peractam" written by Hommer, a mixture of religious contemplation , Diary and autobiography.

literature

• Wilhelm Arnoldi : Funeral speech for the Most Revered Highborn Mr. Joseph Ludwig Aloys von Hommer . Blattau, Trier 1836
• Franz Xaver Kraus :  Hommer, Joseph Ludwig Aloys von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, pp. 59-63.
• Johann Jakob Wagner: Joseph von Hommer, Bishop of Trier . Petrus-Verlag, Trier 1917
• Alois Thomas: The liturgical renewal movement in the Diocese of Trier under Bishop von Hommer (1824-1836). In: Archive for Middle Rhine Church History 15 (1963), pp. 208-238
• Martin Persch : Josef von Hommer (1760-1836). In: Rheinische Lebensbilder 10 (1985), pp. 47-66
• Joseph von Hommer: Meditationes in vitam meam peractam. Edited, translated and commented by Alois Thomas (sources and treatises on the history of the Middle Rhine church 25). Self-published by the Society for Middle Rhine Church History, Mainz 1976
• The bishops of Trier since 1802. Commemoration for Bishop Dr. Hermann Josef Spital on his 70th birthday on December 31, 1995. On behalf of the Episcopal Vicariate General, ed. v. Martin Persch et al. Michael Embach. - Trier: Paulinus Verlag 1996 (= publications of the Trier diocese archive, vol. 30).
• Martin Persch and Bernhard Schneider (eds.): On the way to modernity - History of the Diocese of Trier , Volume 4, Paulinus Verlag, Trier 2002, ISBN 3-7902-0274-6
• Alois Thomas:  Hommer, Josef von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , p. 592 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Hommer, Josef v .. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 1018-1020.

Web links

• Literature by and about Joseph von Hommer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry about Joseph von Hommer on catholic-hierarchy.org

Individual evidence

1. ^ New Nekrolog der Deutschen , Volume 14, 1838, p. 716.
2. ↑ The Reich Chamber of Commerce and its Judges, Family Table II, pp. 558–559.

predecessor	Office	successor
Charles Mannay	Bishop of Trier 1824–1836	Wilhelm Arnoldi