Leo Scheffczyk

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Scheffczyk's cardinal coat of arms and motto

Leo Cardinal Scheffczyk (born February 21, 1920 in Beuthen , Upper Silesia , † December 8, 2005 in Munich ) was a Roman Catholic cardinal , German theologian and professor of dogmatics .

biography

Youth and Studies

After his childhood in Upper Silesia, Scheffczyk began studying theology at the University of Breslau in 1938 , but was drafted into military service in 1941. At the end of the war in 1945 he was taken prisoner by Norway. He graduated from the Philosophical-Theological University of Freising in 1947 after the end of the Second World War .

Church career

On June 29, 1947 Scheffczyk received in Freising Cathedral by Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber , the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Wroclaw and was initially 1947 to 1948 as a chaplain in Grafing near Munich and then in 1948 as assistant priest in Traunwalchen operates. From 1948 to 1951 he worked as a sub-rain at the seminary at the Philosophical-Theological University in Königstein im Taunus .

Due to his theological qualifications, he was appointed advisor to the Faith Commission of the German Bishops' Conference in 1970 and carried out this task until 1985.

On September 11, 1978, Pope John Paul I awarded him the title of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness .

From 1983 to 2001 he also worked as a consultor for the Pontifical Council for the Family .

Leo Scheffczyk was elevated to cardinal deacon by Pope John Paul II on February 21, 2001 with the title deaconry of San Francesco Saverio alla Garbatella . His motto was Evangelizare investigabiles divitias Christi (“proclaim the unfathomable riches of Christ”) and is taken from the letter to the Ephesians ( Eph 3.8  EU ). Since he had already turned 80 a year before his appointment as cardinal, he had no right to vote in the papal election in April 2005 . In view of his old age, Scheffczyk also refrained from receiving episcopal ordination on the occasion of his cardinal creation, as required by canon law .

academic career

1950 Scheffczyk was with his dissertation on Friedrich Leopold Stolberg to "History of the religion of Jesus Christ." The rejection of the Catholic Church history from the Enlightenment and its reorientation in the Age of Romanticism doctorate. From 1952 to 1959 he worked as a lecturer at the Philosophical-Theological University of Königstein (Taunus) . After his habilitation with a thesis on The Mystery of Mary in Piety and Teaching of the Carolingian Age at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich with Michael Schmaus in 1957, he also worked there as a private lecturer until 1959. In 1959 he became a full professor in the subject of dogmatics at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and in 1965 accepted a position at the University of Munich, where he researched and taught as a professor of dogmatics until his retirement in 1985 . Especially in the field of mariology he was considered a proven expert. His students included characters as diverse as Günther Storck and Leonardo Boff .

The theologian was the author of over 80 books and around 1,200 publications. Among his many scientific publications is the Catholic Dogmatics (8 volumes), which he developed together with Anton Ziegenaus , which is highly valued in conservative circles . Scheffczyk was editor of the Munich Theological Journal from 1966 to 1984 . Later he worked in the later Pope Benedict XVI. co-founded the Gustav Siewerth Academy .

In 1994 Leo Scheffczyk was awarded an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Navarra in Pamplona .

death

Leo Scheffczyk died on December 8, 2005 in Munich and was buried on December 15, 2005 in the cemetery of the clerical family “Das Werk” in Thalbach Monastery , Bregenz . The Requiem was held by the then Archbishop of Cologne , Joachim Cardinal Meisner (1933–2017).

First Mass stole , rosary and biretta of Cardinal

Memberships

Publications (selection)

  • Catholic faith world. Truth and shape. Pattloch, Aschaffenburg 1977, ISBN 3-557-91148-9 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Leo Scheffczyk  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annuario Pontificio per l'anno 1997 , Città del Vaticano 1997, p. 2403.
  2. ↑ Leo Scheffczyk. Teología, 29/1/1994. Entry on the university's website, accessed in November 2017.
  3. ↑ 'Do what he tells you' . ( kath.net [accessed January 11, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Scheffczyk, Leo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Scheffczyk, Leo Cardinal (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German clergyman, cardinal and theologian
DATE OF BIRTH February 21, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Beuthen , Upper Silesia
DATE OF DEATH December 8, 2005
Place of death Munich