Lorenz Jaeger

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Archbishop Lorenz Jaeger (2nd from left) at the 7th German Catholic Day in Fulda in 1954
Coat of arms of Lorenz Cardinal Jaeger

Lorenz Cardinal Jaeger (born September 23, 1892 in Halle (Saale) , † April 1, 1975 in Paderborn ) was Archbishop of Paderborn and an important ecumenist .

Life

Childhood and youth had a lasting impact on Lorenz Jaeger, who came from a humble background in a mixed denominational family of the Central German diaspora. Already at home he experienced the suffering of separation and the possibility of ecumenical coexistence. After the early death of his Catholic father, an iron turner, the Protestant mother moved with the children to Olpe in Westphalia . After the father's death, his family could no longer afford the school fees. Therefore, in 1907, the Franciscan Sisters of Eternal Adoration from Olpe offered him a place in the orphanage and thus enabled the gifted boy to do his Abitur at the Rector's School.

Lorenz Jaeger studied Catholic theology in Paderborn and Munich and philosophy in Münster . His studies were interrupted by the First World War , where he received several awards as a company commander and officer. In January 1920 he returned from English captivity and finished his studies. In Paderborn he became a member of the Teutoburg Catholic Student Association in the KV . On April 1, 1922, he received the sacrament of ordination in Paderborn Cathedral .

From 1922 to 1926 he worked as a parish vicar in Oebisfelde , Saxony , later mainly in Herne (1926–1933) at the Herne grammar school (today Pestalozzi grammar school Herne ) and Dortmund as a religious teacher in school service. In 1929 he became a member of the Verein für das Volkstum Abroad , which in 1933 was renamed the Volksbund for Germanness Abroad . After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists, he worked as a teacher at Dortmund's Hindenburg high school from 1933. In 1934 he joined the National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV) , as priests were forbidden to join a party after the Reich Concordat concluded in 1933 .

At the beginning of the Second World War he was called up in 1939 as a reserve officer of the First World War as a division pastor with the rank of major in the 302nd Infantry Division . Pope Pius XII appointed him Archbishop of Paderborn in a letter from the field post dated August 10, 1941 . On October 19, 1941, he received the episcopal ordination by the papal nuncio in Germany, Archbishop Cesare Orsenigo ; Concelebrants were Joseph Godehard Machens , Bishop of Hildesheim, and Augustinus Philipp Baumann , Auxiliary Bishop and Capitular Vicar in Paderborn.

In the pastoral letter of 1942 he proclaimed with reference to Russia: “Isn't that poor, unhappy country the playground of people who have almost degenerated into animals due to their hostility to God and their hatred of Christians? Aren't our soldiers experiencing misery and unhappiness there? And why? Because the order of human life was built there not on Christ, but on Judas . ” This statement in particular was accused of ingratiating rhetoric that adopted Nazi terminology. This is excused from Catholic circles that statements of this kind can be explained more from an anti-communism widespread in the clergy at the time than from an endorsement of National Socialism. With this, Jaeger knowingly adopted ideas and language, such as “Slavic subhumans”, from model sermons of the military chaplaincy and the pastoral words of the military bishop Franz Justus Rarkowski, who was close to the National Socialist regime . In January he called on Catholics to get involved in the fight against “liberalism and individualism on the one hand, collectivism on the other”.

Jaeger showed an early interest in questions of ecumenism and initiated numerous activities within the German Bishops' Conference that were intended to promote ecumenical dialogue, including the establishment of an “ecumenical seminar”. During the war, he worked with Karl Rahner and Romano Guardini to develop concepts to promote ecumenical dialogue and the reconciliation of Christians.

Together with the Protestant Bishop Wilhelm Stählin from Oldenburg, shortly after the end of the war, he headed a working group of Catholic and Protestant theologians, the so-called " Jaeger-Stählin-Circle ". This working group continues to this day, albeit under a different name. In 1952 he became a member of the academic Catholic student association Unitas -Hathumar Paderborn. In 1957, Jaeger founded the Johann Adam Möhler Institute for Denomination and Diaspora Studies , which is today an internationally renowned institution for dealing with ecumenical issues within the Catholic Church.

In 1949 he founded the social institute Kommende Dortmund to promote Catholic social teaching in all areas of society. Other educational institutions such as the country folk high school in Hardehausen followed. On May 11, 1952, on the Huysburg near Halberstadt, he set up a branch seminar of the Paderborn seminary for the parts of the Paderborn diocese in the GDR .

Grave of Lorenz Cardinal Jaeger in the crypt of Paderborn Cathedral

A short time later he was instrumental in setting up the Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity ("Unity Secretariat"). In the course of the second Vatican Council , Jaeger made an important contribution by persistently introducing ecumenical perspectives.

He was on January 15, 1965 by Pope Paul VI. as cardinal priest with the titular church of San Leone I. into the College of Cardinals received. With his appointment as cardinal, a bishop of Paderborn was appointed to the highest advisory body of the Pope for the first time. Pope Paul VI honored especially Jaeger's special pastoral work. On April 30, 1973, the Pope accepted his resignation from the office of Archbishop.

Lorenz Jaeger was invested in the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem on September 6, 1950 in Rome by Cardinal Grand Master Nicola Canali . From 1950 to 1975 he was the Grand Prior of the German Lieutenancy of the Papal Order of Knights. From November 24th to 29th, 1954, he led the first meeting of all German-speaking Lieutenancies of the grave knights in Oberwaid / St. Gallen. During an investiture ceremony of the order he said: "The rules of the game of democracy have largely distorted thinking." What is needed is "a religious leadership that is committed to eternal truths."

In the Western Action, which was close to the conservative Western Movement , Jaeger played a key role as a member of the Board of Trustees.

honors and awards

Military awards

Civil awards

Namesake

  • Name giver of the «Kardinal-Jaeger-Haus» of the Catholic Academy Schwerte (1967)
  • The parish center of the Catholic parish of St. Martinus in Olpe was named "Lorenz-Jaeger-Haus" in honor of the cardinal.
  • In Paderborn, Dellbrück, Arnsberg , Marsberg , Wenden (Sauerland) and Werl streets are named after Lorenz Cardinal Jaeger.

Works (selection)

  • Life and Peace , Paderborn 1956
  • The Ecumenical Council, the Church and Christianity , Paderborn 1960.
  • Unity and community. Statements on questions of Christian unity (= denominational and controversial theological studies, vol. 31), Paderborn 1972.

Literature (selection)

Web links

Commons : Lorenz Jaeger  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 280.
  2. ↑ a b c Sabine Kleyboldt: "Highly honored, not undisputed" on kathisch.de of September 23, 2017
  3. ↑ Quote, with the exception of the second sentence, also from Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich , Fischer Taschenbuch 2005, p. 280.
  4. ^ Günter Lewy: The Catholic Church and the Third Reich . Piper, Munich 1965
  5. ↑ Der Spiegel, 1975, 172
  6. ↑ Dietmar Klenke : Schwarz - Münster - Paderborn an anti-Catholic cliché picture . Waxmann, Münster / New York / Munich / Berlin 2008, p. 146 f.
  7. ↑ Alexander Gross: Obedient Church, disobedient Christians under National Socialism , Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag, 2000, p. 42 - Google Books (snippet view)
  8. ^ Matthias Pape: Archbishop Lorenz Jaeger von Paderborn in the fight against anti-Christian Bolshevism . In: People, Ideas, Events in Central Europe. Festschrift for Rudolf Lill for his 65th birthday . Konstanz 1999, pp. 145-169
  9. ↑ Der Spiegel, 51/2005, pp. 62,63
  10. ↑ “Fifty Years and More” , Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem Austria , Festschrift 2004, page 39
  11. ↑ Egmont R. Koch and Oliver Schröm: Dark Knights in White Robes , Die Zeit March 25, 1994 ( online ( memento of February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ))
predecessor Office successor
Caspar Klein Archbishop of Paderborn
1941–1973 		Johannes Joachim Cardinal Degenhardt
Wilhelm Cleven Croix de l Ordre du Saint-Sepulcre.svg Grand Prior of the German Lieutenancy of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
1950–1975 		Franz Cardinal Hengsbach
personal data
SURNAME Jaeger, Lorenz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jaeger, Lorenz Cardinal
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German clergyman, archbishop of Paderborn and cardinal
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH April 1, 1975
Place of death Paderborn