kuk military chaplaincy

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The Austro-Hungarian military chaplaincy was an institution of the Austro-Hungarian Army .

Coloman Belopotoczky , Austro-Hungarian apostolic field vicar, 1890–1911
Greek Orthodox field curate

description

The exercise of the military chaplaincy and the military-spiritual jurisdiction over all active soldiers within the armed power was the task of the military clergy. For this purpose, the monarchy was divided into 15 pastoral care districts. The peace staff, according to the organic regulations of 1892:

  • an Apostolic Field Vicar with the rank of major general
  • a field consistorial director with the rank of colonel
  • a field consistorial director with the rank of major
  • a field consistorial director with the rank of captain

Furthermore, there were 15 military chaplain , 32 military curate , 39 Roman Catholic military chaplains, 12 Greek Catholic military chaplains, 9 Greek Orthodox military chaplains and eight spiritual professors.

The field vicar was an advisory body to the Reich Ministry of War . In this function he was supported by the field consistorial directors.

Each military chaplaincy district was led by a Roman Catholic military pastor with the rank of major. All the other military chaplains had the rank of captain. The military pastors had their seat with the military territorial command. They supervised the clergy under them and kept baptism, marriage and death registers. The military curates performed service in the garrison hospitals, while the military chaplains were responsible for service with the troops.

The Roman Catholic clergy working in the military educational institutions carried the title of "spiritual professor".

Adjustment

Catholic chaplains

The Catholic military chaplains wore clerical clothing in accordance with the adjustment regulation . It consisted of the black gown, the spiritual collare , and a black silk abbey coat. The corresponding clerical regulations had to be observed for church functions. During parades, special performances and celebrations, the clergyman also had to wear a military hat. During reports and military festivities, the clergyman had to wear a black skirt (clerical skirt) with a row of six black buttons and a stand-up collar, a collar, black pantaloons and a military hat. On marches, in addition to the clerical skirt and collar, the field cap and coat had to be taken with you. A clerical skirt or a black civilian skirt reaching above the knee could be worn outside of service. In addition, the collars and black pantaloons were mandatory. A civilian hat could be used as a hat.

Visit of the Apostolic Field Vicar Bjelik

The military hat was similar to that of the military doctors, but without the plume. In each of the two corners there was a golden tassel, which consisted of a layer of golden cord fringes with black threads. A row of seven golden bouillons was placed on top of this. The field cap largely corresponded to the cap of the infantry officers with yellow, small tunic buttons.

The cloak was made of blue-gray cloth, cut like that of the infantry and equipped with parolis of black velvet, passepoils of black cloth and yellow, smooth buttons. The bandage consisted of a 10.5 cm wide, smooth, black silk ribbon, the ends of which were trimmed with 8 cm long gold fringes. It was worn around the body.

Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic military chaplains

The military chaplains of the Greek Orthodox and all lines of the Greek Catholic Church represented in the Empire wore the gown and headgear according to their clerical regulations. The headgear had an imperial cockade and was equipped with a black mottled ribbon. The field cap and the cloak like the Catholic military chaplains.

Protestant military preacher

Protestant military preachers were adjusted like Catholic military chaplains. Instead of the collars they wore a white collar.

Jewish military chaplaincy

Pastoral care of Jewish soldiers, who had only been admitted to military service under Joseph II since 1788 , was initially not planned. The need for pastoral care for the increasing number of Jewish soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Army was discussed intensively in 1866 and in 1875 the first field rabbi of the reserve was appointed. Local civil rabbis looked after Jewish soldiers in peacetime .

Islamic military chaplaincy

Soldiers of the Bosnian-Hercegovinian infantry at the Islamic prayer

With the evacuation of Bosnian recruits after the occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1881 and thus the existence of Islamic soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian army, special regulations were issued to protect the religious needs and customs of the Bosnian conscripts. 1882 was thus with the appointment of its own military imams establishing an Islamic chaplaincy and establishing its own military mosque .

Adjustment

The military imams wore a dark blue cloth coat in Ottoman shape that reached below the knees. The stand-up collar and cuffs were alizarin red. On the cuffs above the seam, three gold distinctive braids were attached. The trousers were also dark blue, cut wider in the thighs than in the lower legs. A dark blue vest with 13 spherical buttons made of gold-plated metal was worn. A red scarf was wrapped around the body as a bandage. The shoes were black. A so-called Koran appendage similar to a cartouche was part of the completion . The strap was 2.5 cm wide, made of red saffiano leather and covered with a silver border. It was applied from the right shoulder to the left hip. The fez served as headgear , as it was standardized for the Bosnian-Hercegovinian infantry .

literature

  • Adjustment regulation for the Austro-Hungarian Joint Army, the Imperial and Royal Landwehr, the Imperial and Royal Landwehr, the affiliated institutions and the corps of military officials. (Part III) Published with the approval of the Austro-Hungarian War Ministry by Erich Christl's kuk Hofdruckerei, Bozen 1912.
  • Johann C. Allmayer-Beck , Erich Lessing : The K. (below) K. Army. 1848-1914. Bertelsmann, Munich et al. 1974, ISBN 3-570-07287-8 .
  • Oskar Brüch : The Austro-Hungarian Army in 1895. A series of images. (= Writings of the Army History Museum in Vienna. Vol. 10). Commented by Günter Dirrheimer. Stocker, Graz et al. 1997, ISBN 3-7020-0783-0 .
  • Stefan Rest, M. Christian Ortner , Thomas Ilming: The emperor's rock in World War I, uniforms and equipment of the Austro-Hungarian army from 1914 to 1918. Verlag Militaria Edition Stefan Rest, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-9501642-0-0 .

Web links

Commons : Military uniforms of Austria-Hungary  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Details of military uniforms of Austria-Hungary  - Collection of images, videos and audio files