Kilian Kirchhoff

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Memorial plaque for Kilian Kirchhoff, Rietberg Abbey

Father Kilian Kirchhoff OFM (born December 18, 1892 in Rönkhausen ( Archdiocese of Paderborn ) as Josef Kirchhoff ; † April 24, 1944 in Brandenburg-Görden ) was a Catholic priest , translator and dissident . He was sentenced to death and executed by the People's Court for "disruptive" statements .

Life

Orphaned at an early age, Josef Kirchhoff was accepted into the Franciscan Order ( Order Province of Saxonia ) on April 19, 1914 and was given the order name Kilian . He was ordained a priest in Paderborn Cathedral on April 1, 1922, together with candidates from the diocese, including the later Archbishop Lorenz Jaeger . From 1931 he made a name for himself through numerous translations of Eastern Church liturgical hymns from Greek. He received suggestions and support from the orientalist and liturgical scholar Anton Baumstark and assistance from Kirchhoff's brother Elpidius Markötter OFM.

After being denounced by the daughter of a family friend he had visited in early October 1943, Kirchhoff was arrested by the Gestapo on October 21, 1943 for expressions critical of the regime . In the subsequent trial, the witness justified the denunciation with her hatred of priests, "because they were opponents of National Socialism". Roland Freisler sentenced Kirchhoff to death on March 7, 1944 at the People's Court in Berlin. Kirchhoff himself as well as a group of theologians and orientalists from various universities submitted written requests for grace, set up and supported by Anton Baumstark. After the war, the intercession of the Apostolic Nuncio Cesare Orsenigo , the head of the Episcopal Commissariat of the Fulda Bishops' Conference in Berlin, Heinrich Wienken , and the Paderborn Bishop Lorenz Jaeger can be heard. Nonetheless, Kirchhoff's death sentence was carried out on April 24, 1944 in Brandenburg-Görden by beheading. The urn with Kirchhoff's ashes was buried on April 1, 1950 in the crypt of the Werl Franciscan monastery in the Werl park cemetery.

Representatives of church life in Rönkhausen endeavor to explore new details from the life of Father Kilian. The first results relate to previously unpublished and not yet evaluated correspondence by Kirchhoff in the parish archive of Balve and an archive of the Franciscans in Paderborn. The efforts to gain additional knowledge of Father Kilian's work also serve to discuss the possibility of a beatification process .

Works

  • Light from Light: Hymns / Symeon the New Theologian , Hegner, Hellerau 1930;
  • The Eastern Church prays. Hymns from the times of day of the Byzantine Church , 4 vols., Hegner , Leipzig 1934–1937 ( Triodion , German);
  • Easter celebration of the Eastern Church . 2 vols., Regensberg, Münster 1940 [-1943] ( Pentekostarion , German);
  • In paradisum. Hymns of the Dead of the Byzantine Church , Regensberg, Münster 1940;
  • Glory to God. Trinity hymns of the Byzantine Church , ibid. 1940;
  • The world rejoices in you. Marian hymns of the Byzantine Church , ibid. 1940.

Honors

Streets in Oerlinghausen , Rietberg (both Kilian-Kirchhoff-Straße ), Balve ( Pater-Kilian-Straße ), Attendorn (Pater-Kilian-Weg), Plettenberg ( Kilian-Kirchhoff-Damm ) and Rönkhausen ( Kilianstraße ) are named after Kirchhoff .

The Kilian-Kirchhoff-Haus in Brilon- Rösenbeck was named after Kirchhoff and was built in 1962 as a primary school. Today it serves as a village community center and is managed by the Förderverein Kilian-Kirchhoff-Haus Rösenbeck eV.

literature

  • Engelbert Kutzner, Art .: Father Kilian (Joseph) Kirchhoff. In: Helmut Moll (ed.): Witnesses for Christ. The German Martyrology of the 20th Century Paderborn 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Vol. 1, pp. 914-918.
  • Johannes Madey : Father Kilian Kirchhoff OFM - bridge builder between East and West. For the 90th birthday of a martyr from the Archdiocese of Paderborn. In: Theology and Faith. Journal for the Catholic Clergy , Volume 73 (1983), pp. 64–70.
  • Johannes Madey, Ottokar Mund:  Kirchhoff, Kilian. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 3, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-035-2 , Sp. 1518-1519.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Ottokar Mund: Kilian Kirchhoff: Faith witness, bridge builder between East and West . 2nd Edition. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl 1983, ISBN 3-87163-142-6 .
  • Ottokar Mund: Flowers on the ruins: martyrs of the Nazi era - Kilian Kirchhoff OFM, Elpidius Markötter OFM, Wolfgang Rosenbaum OFM. A picture biography. Bonifatius-Druckerei, Paderborn 1989, ISBN 3-87088-566-1 .
  • Ottokar Mund: “Witness of the faith and worker of the reconciliation of the East and West”: On the 50th anniversary of the death of Fr Kilian Kirchhoff, OFM . In: Sauerland: Journal of the Sauerland Heimatbund . No. 1 , 1994, ISSN  0177-8110 , p. 18–20 ( online (PDF; 4.9 MB) - with photos).
  • Heinzgerd Brakmann: Baumstark and Syzygoi. Eastern liturgical studies at the University of Bonn . In: Albert Gerhards - Tinatin Chronz (ed.): Orientation over the whole . LIT. Berlin 2015, 99–144, esp. 136f with notes 151–154.
  • Peter Bürger: Sauerland witnesses of life: peace workers, anti-fascists and martyrs of the Sauerland region of Cologne , vol. 2, BoD, Norderstedt 2018, 195–246, ISBN 978-3-7460-9683-4

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ottokar Mund:  Markötter, Josef P. Elpidius. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 5, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, ISBN 3-88309-043-3 , Sp. 844-845.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  2. ↑ Rainer Asshauer: His conviction cost him his life. Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung , April 21, 2014, accessed on January 31, 2015 .
  3. ↑ see also the article "Bis an die Gottes" in: Sauerlandkurier für Lennestadt, Kirchhundem and Finnentrop, edition of May 1, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Kirchhoff, Kilian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kirchhoff, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German priest, translator and dissident
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Rönkhausen
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1944
Place of death Brandenburg