Karl Anton Scherer

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Karl Anton Scherer (around 1900)

Karl Anton Scherer (born November 26, 1831 in Winnweiler , † August 19, 1905 in Speyer ) was a German Protestant pastor , publicist and from 1876 to 1903 the first full-time house chaplain of the Evangelical Deaconess Institute Speyer .

Life

Scherer was born in Winnweiler in 1831 as the son of the shoemaker Peter Scherer, graduated from high school in Zweibrücken , studied theology in Erlangen and Utrecht and on September 20, 1859 married the merchant's daughter Wilhelmine Corcilius (1841-1908) from the Rheinschanze . From 1854 he was vicar in Großbundenbach and Ludwigshafen. In the disputes between liberal and positive pastors in the Palatinate Union Church, he stood on the side of the positive, who advocated a stricter confessional commitment. He supported the introduction of a new hymn book, which was supposed to replace the rationalistic hymn book of 1823 in the tradition of the Enlightenment . In 1863 he became pastor in Offenbach near Landau, in 1868 in Neuhofen. He published the Evangelical Papers , which merged with the Evangelical Church Messenger in 1867 ; Scherer was the publisher until 1881. In 1876 the committee appointed him to the house chaplain at the deaconess mother house in Speyer.

When Scherer took over the management of the motherhouse , the house on Johannesstrasse had become too small, the institution was in debt and suffered from hostility. From 1880 he published a monthly paper Phöbe to advertise the deaconess house and to ask for donations. He composed numerous songs that appeared in Phoebe and shaped the mother house and the sisterhood with a strictly biblical proclamation.

For the 25th anniversary of the Diakonissenanstalt he wanted to have a new motherhouse built. An inheritance enabled him to forego his salary from 1878, move into his own house in Kleine Gailergasse, and save up on salary and rent for the new building. When in 1881 contact was made with Heinrich Hilgard in New York , who supported the house with generous donations, he discovered a school friend from Zweibrücker times in him. A lively friendship developed between the pious mother house pastor and the cosmopolitan entrepreneur. With Hilgard's support, the women's hospital was built in 1891, named after Scherer's wife Wilhelminenstift at Hilgard's request, the rectory in 1894, the children's hospital in 1899 and the hospital in 1907 from his legacy. Scherer gave up his office in 1903 to the church councilor Friedrich Krieg. He died in 1905.

literature

  • Kurt Baumann: Carl Anton Scherer. Deaconess institution as a life's work. In: Rheinpfalz (Ludwigshafen) / Speyerer latest news. 9, 1953, No. 275 of November 26, 1953.
  • Ludwig Vienna: For "free and joyful service". Carl Anton Scherer the "deaconess father". In: ders .: Images in the stream. History and stories to the left and right of the Rhine . Speyer 1988, ISBN 3-925536-14-0 , pp. 207-217.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Death register StA Speyer, No. 337/1905
  2. ↑ Marriage register, civil registry office Ludwigshafen, No. 9/1859
personal data
SURNAME Scherer, Karl Anton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Scherer, Carl Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant pastor, publicist, personality of the Diakonie
DATE OF BIRTH November 26, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH Winnweiler
DATE OF DEATH August 19, 1905
Place of death Speyer