Leonhard Meisser

Leonhard Meisser (born December 21, 1803 in Davos ; † February 29, 1872 in Chur ) was a Swiss Reformed clergyman and hymn poet .

Life

Leonhard Meisser was born as the son of the farmer Simon Meisser and his wife Anna Büsch. Meisser decided to become a pastor at a young age. His parents were against it, as they were of the opinion that the goal could not be achieved for their son. The famine of 1817/1818 confirmed the parents' opinion. In 1820 Meisser was able to convince his parents and from then on attended the Bündner canton school in Chur. At the theological institute attached there, he planned a four-year training course in order to be accepted into the Graubünden Synod . The institute was intended to replace studying at a university in order to overcome the shortage of pastors in the canton through faster and cheaper teaching. Despite these circumstances, Meisser had to interrupt his studies in order to work as a tutor for a family in Reichenau GR for two years so that he could raise the funds to finance his studies at the institute.

During this period of study, he wondered whether he should become a pastor or a teacher. In any case, he passed his Matura at the canton school on October 11, 1838 and spent the following three years at the Theological Institute. In Chur he was accepted into the Graubünden Synod on June 20, 1841, allowing him to work as a pastor in the canton. A few weeks later, Meisser took over the pastorate in Tschappina . At the beginning of June 1843 he moved to Tenna GR , where he moved into his own rectory two years later. On the side, like his parents, he ran agriculture. During this time he also occupied himself with composing and collecting hymns.

In 1849 he was sent to Wiesen , where he edited a work for the school there. On December 30, 1853, his wife died of tuberculosis . Meisser was very concerned about this and wrote some hymns. He remarried three years later. In 1859 he took over the pastor's position in Maladers ; there, too, he published a collection of poems. He also campaigned for the school system and published another work for the school.

In the winter of 1862 Meisser fell ill with tuberculosis. The illness subsided in the spring of 1865, but he was so weakened that he gave up the pastor's office in Maladers and retired. Nevertheless, he took over the parish in Valzeina . At that time this congregation only comprised 230 people, but Meisser soon felt overwhelmed because the congregation members lived too far apart. In June of the following year he left the parish again, but still did not give up his parish work entirely, but continued it in Schuders , the smallest parish in the canton, from September 1866 .

On January 1, 1869, Meisser finally gave up the pastoral office due to his health situation. He moved to Chur and died there on February 29, 1872 at the age of 68.

Works

• Spiritual harp sounds (Chur / Leipzig 1847)
• Collection of exercises for style exercises for elementary schools. A practical aid for elementary school teachers, collected and processed (Chur 1851)
• The German essay and its treatment in elementary school. A resource for the teachers on the same, collected and processed. First section: Tasks carried out for the lower school together with short and comprehensible instructions for use (Chur 1862)
• Second section: Tasks carried out for the middle school along with an appendix on treatment and types of the essays (Chur 1862)
• New harp sounds. A song offering for the Christian home (Bern 1863)
• The German essay and its treatment in elementary school. Third section: Tasks carried out for the secondary school together with a collection of dispositions and topics and, an appendix, containing: business essays (Bern 1875)

literature

• Karin Marti-Weissenbach: Meisser, Leonhard. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Erich Wenneker :  Meisser, Leonhard. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 19, Bautz, Nordhausen 2001, ISBN 3-88309-089-1 , Sp. 969-972.