Laurentius Kercher

Funerary inscription Dean Laurentius Kercher, collegiate church (Neustadt an der Weinstrasse)

Funerary inscription of Dean Laurentius Kercher, left of the church door

Laurentius Kercher (* approx. 1485, presumably in Neustadt an der Haardt, today Neustadt an der Weinstrasse ; † April 24, 1561 , ibid) was a Catholic priest, canon and last dean (head) of the Liebfrauen Collegiate Foundation in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse .

Live and act

The citizens of Neustadt Margaretha and Heinzelinus Kercher, who had a house in Webergasse, today Stangenbrunnengasse , were probably the parents of the clergyman.

As a canon, Laurentius Kercher owned a house with a courtyard at the entrance to Kesselringgasse, today Landschreibereistrasse , whereupon he issued a mortgage note in 1540. On the occasion of a related debt redemption, he was referred to as dean in 1556.

In 1356, Elector Ruprecht I , based on the will of his brother Rudolf II. (Palatinate), donated the Liebfrauen Collegiate Foundation Neustadt as a memorial for the family. He was headed by the dean of the monastery.

In 1556, Elector Ottheinrich introduced the Reformation in the sense of the Lutheran Confession in the Electoral Palatinate and forbade the Catholic cult.

In Neustadt his predecessor Friedrich II had already appointed a Protestant pastor in 1554, who had to be paid for by the Old Believer monastery.

The theologian Johannes Marbach from Strasbourg visited all parishes on behalf of the state in 1556 and forced them - where they had not yet done so - to accept the new doctrine or chased away opposing clergy. Because of the complicated legal matter, the monasteries and monasteries in the country were for the time being largely spared from coercion, but were often brought about by more subtle means to accept the new faith. According to Marbach's visit report, the pastors in the Neustadt Oberamt were "vastly all unskilled papists" who were removed from their offices by him.

Laurentius Kercher put up stubborn resistance to the Reformation and steadfastly adhered to the previous faith, the last official representative of which he was with his community in the vicinity of the city. According to the historical Seelbuch of the collegiate monastery, he ensured that despite the complete dissolution of all Catholic life around him, the services and prayer commitments at his church continued faithfully as ever. This Catholic island in Neustadt was preserved until his death on April 24, 1561. After that no more dean could be elected, some clerics died or left the monastery, others converted to the Protestant faith. In 1563 the new Elector Friedrich III. (Pfalz) to Calvinism a place of Lutheran Confession as the state religion. Now the few remaining monastic communities were no longer spared. In 1566, the Wittelsbacher Friedrich III. the pen founded by his own family and drew the slopes in his favor. He handed the church over to the Reformed congregation, the collegiate houses their preachers for lease.

Kercher was buried in the choir of the Neustadt collegiate church in 1561. He no longer received an epitaph, but his epitaph was simply chiseled into the outer, southern wall of the choir. It also contains the information that he was a jubilee priest , i.e. had been ordained for at least 50 years at his death, from which his approximate age can be calculated. The inscription is to the left of the door leading from the market square to the Catholic part of the collegiate church. It is:

" Anno domini 1561, 24 Aprilis obiit venerandus dominus Laurentius Kercher Decanus huius ecclesie, cuius anima requiescat in pace. Amen. Jubilee erat. "

- Inscription quoted from Alban Haas, “From the Nüwenstat; on the development and life of the medieval Neustadt an der Weinstrasse ”, page 95

Nikolaus Schöneck , the last Catholic parish vicar (pastor) of the monastery, died eight months later, on December 26, 1561. An epitaph of him has also been preserved on the monastery church.

literature

• Alban Haas : “From the Nüwenstat; on the development and life of medieval Neustadt an der Weinstrasse ”, Pfälzische Verlagsanstalt, Neustadt, 1950 and 1964, pages 94–95
• Friedrich Jakob Dochnahl : "Chronicle of Neustadt ad Haardt, together with the surrounding towns and castles", 1867, page 109, scan of the place about Laurentius Kercher

Remarks

1. ↑ Alban Haas; Hans Jacobi: From the Nüwenstat: from being and living the medieval Neustadt an der Weinstrasse. Palatinate Publishing House, 1964, page 109.
2. ^ Bavarian Main State Archives, Fasc. 26, no. 444.
3. ↑ On the founder of the monastery and the purpose of the memoria for the House of Wittelsbach
4. ↑ Source on the employment of a Protestant pastor at the expense of the Catholic Neustadt monastery
5. ↑ Source on the Palatine church visit by Johannes Marbach, 1556
6. ↑ Johannes Marbach's report from the Palatinate church visit from 1556
7. ↑ Meaning jubilant priest. In: Adelung - Grammatical-Critical Dictionary of High German Dialect, pages 1441–1442.
8. ↑ Alban Haas: “From the Nüwenstat; on the development and life of the medieval Neustadt an der Weinstrasse ”, page 95