Maria Joseph Weber
Maria Joseph Weber CSSp (born January 3, 1887 in Metz , Lorraine, † January 5, 1949 in Speyer ) was a priest in the diocese of Speyer , Spiritan Father and for 25 years superior of the St. Guido Mission Convict in Speyer; also pastor of the Speyer branch of St. Guido, well-known people's missionary, preacher and writer.
background
Since the Middle Ages, one of the city's four great spiritual monasteries has been on the Weidenberg in Speyer. For centuries relics of St. Guido of Pomposa were venerated here; From 1922 Spiritaner Fathers received their training for missionary work around the world in the St. Guido Convict in Speyer . Around 1030, at the same time as the construction of the Speyer Cathedral and the Limburg Monastery, Emperor Konrad II founded the St. Johannes Evangelist monastery on the Speyer Weidenberg. Its two-tower church was one of the largest in the city with a length of 75 meters. In 1047, Emperor Heinrich III. the bones of the holy abbot Guido of Pomposa from northern Italy transferred to the monastery, which has since been called St. Guido-Stift. In 1689 the French destroyed the church. After the reconstruction, one of the towers collapsed in 1754, and in 1794 the monastery was looted again by the revolutionary troops. In 1822 the last tower fell victim to the pickaxe, before a fire in 1839 destroyed the rest of the church. The relics of St. Guido were at this time, however, long gone there. The revolutionary soldiers who looted the monastery in 1794 did not stop at the holy grave. They smashed the shrine and threw the bones under the oats that were stored in the choir of the church. A warehouse worker informed the monastery of St. Magdalena , whereupon two courageous sisters gathered the relics and brought them to safety in their monastery. There they found a new home in the side altars of the monastery church.
The year 1922 marked a new beginning: At that time, the St. Guido Mission House was built on the site of the medieval St. Guido monastery through the conversion of a tobacco magazine. It served the missionary order of the Spiritaner Fathers as a place of study. In 1930 some of the Guido relics returned to the Weidenberg when Bishop Ludwig Sebastian presented them to the Spiritans for the chapel of their mission house for the 900th anniversary of the monastery. At that time, 60,000 people lined the processional path from St. Magdalena Monastery to Weidenberg. Siemens had installed its first loudspeaker system along the streets for this purpose. Five years later, Bishop Sebastian consecrated the new St. Guido Church, which was built according to plans by Landau architect August Joseph Peter. It not only served as the church of the monastery, but also for a number of years as the spiritual center of the St. Guido branch, a pastoral branch of the parish of St. Joseph.
A lack of religious offspring forced the Spiritans to give up their mission house in 1991. The new owner was the Diocese of Speyer, which used part of the monastery as a temporary residence for asylum seekers until autumn 1996. The St. Guido Church was closed; the fathers moved to the nearby rectory of St. Bernhard. At the beginning of 1999 the diocese finally sold the building complex to the non-profit housing and settlement GmbH (GEWO) Speyer. Two years later, the city's road and traffic office moved into the former Konvikt building. The relics of St. Guido found a new home in two outstanding places: While some of the remains were transferred to the reliquary chapel of the Speyer Cathedral , to the great delight of the Italian Catholics, one relic returned to Pomposa in November 2000 and has since been kept in the local abbey church .
Father Maria Joseph Weber
Father Maria Joseph Weber was born in Metz to Palatinate parents from the diocese of Speyer , entered the Spiritanerorden (Mission Society of the Holy Spirit) in Knechtsteden and was ordained a priest on October 1, 1911 in the German headquarters of the order there.
Initially the young priest worked as a teacher and director of the mission students in Broich , from 1919 he worked as a people's missionary in Heimbach . On July 14, 1924, Father Weber became Superior of the Speyer Mission House St. Guido, which was founded in 1922. This was his "real life's work" , as the obituary states. The name of the well-known, long-standing superior of the renowned institute will remain inextricably linked with him and Speyer for all time. Superior Weber himself reported in 1930 in the diocese newspaper " Der Pilger " about the development of his mission convict, in the tradition of the old St. Guidostift:
“ With the French Concordat of 1801, the old pen came to an end. The church with the adjoining apartment of the dean was used as a madder mill. Madder is a plant from which red dye was obtained, among other things for the French red pants. The last tower was dismantled in 1822. When a fire destroyed everything in 1839, a building 71 m long and 15 m wide was constructed from the stones of the church. At first it was used as madder dehydration, later - when artificial colors were produced instead of natural ones - as a tobacco magazine. A number of Gothic vault keystones were set into the walls, the floor was covered with tombstones that were found in the church and in the cloister. This seemed to seal the end of the Weidenberg. New interest was aroused when in 1909 the church building association of the St. Joseph parish bought the old tobacco store in order to set up a church service for the planned third parish in Speyer. After long negotiations, these needs were taken into account when the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit took over the building in 1921 and opened a mission convict there. With the great benevolence of His Episcopal Grace, Dr. Ludwig Sebastian , his then vicar general of the revered Prelate Molz, and the entire cathedral chapter, the tobacco store on the Weidenberg came into the possession of the missionaries of the Holy Spirit in 1922. How right and right, they put the new foundation under the protection of St. Guido, whose bones had rested here for almost 800 years. It was still a matter of converting the whole thing into a mission house, a training facility for future missionaries. Father Ritter started the expansion of the southern part on May 14, 1922. Hard-working friars supported the work so much, despite the difficult time, that the HH Bishop was able to inaugurate the chapel on December 19 of the same year. Father Superior Lehleiter saw the first group of boys from the Palatinate populate the new house at Easter 1923; however, a serious illness forced him to put the burden of leadership on stronger shoulders. After Father Klein took over the management of the institution from November 1923 to July 1924, the current Superior Father Joseph Weber, a child from the Palatinate, was appointed superior of the St. Guido Mission House on July 14th. "
In 1930, under Father Weber's direction, the Guido relics were returned to the institute church. In 1935 he had a new house of worship built, corresponding to the importance that the relics of the city patron had for Speyer. After the closure of the mission convict by the state, Father Weber worked as a people's missionary and spiritual master in the diocese. From October 1, 1940, the Spiritaner Institute Church of St. Guido became a branch of the Speyer parish of St. Joseph. In addition to his office, Father Maria Joseph Weber received an official position as an expat (pastor) of the diocese of Speyer, responsible for the parish of St. Guido. In 1944 the church and mission house were badly damaged in an air raid. After the Nazi era, the institute was able to reopen and Father Maria Joseph Weber took over the position of director again. During the war he had suffered from severe sugar problems. Father Weber kept the religious and pastoral office as the branch office of the diocese until his death on January 5, 1949 in Speyer. The circumstances of Father Weber's death are very tragic. He died of sudden cardiac death in the morgue. He had just buried a member of the community and was about to take off his stole and tunic in the sacristy when he sank dead on the floor. The Pilgrim, No. 3, 1949, dedicates a detailed, honorable obituary to Father Maria Joseph Weber. There it says u. A .: "Zealotry, energy, love for his order and high professions formed his personality, combined with true kindness of heart and a deep understanding of social conditions - the righteous lives in eternal memory!" Father Maria Joseph Weber was a very striking one across Germany well-known priestly figure, also a well-known religious author. In addition to many small and occasional writings, his two main works are: "The Secret of the Ave Maria" (374 pages) and "The Task of Mary in Our Soul" . The first book, published in 1939, was reviewed and recommended in Pilger by the chief editor Nikolaus Lauer and the director of the Episcopal Konviktes St. Joseph, Joseph Wendel (later Bishop of Speyer and Cardinal-Archbishop of Munich). Both Speyer priests also write recommendations on the inside flaps of the book cover. Nikolaus Lauer explains:
“ Father Weber, who was born in the Palatinate, has been a people's missionary, exercise master and religious educator for years. With special love, urgency and thoroughness, he knew how to describe Mary's mystery in God's plan of salvation and in the plan of the world with polished words. From prayer and contemplation, from studies and practical pastoral work, the author's first book has matured in 15 years. ... The presentation of this extensive and not always easy matter of faith takes place in a rousing, strongly moved and personal persuasive form. Behind the word is life. "
literature
- Obituary and obituary notice in Pilgrim No. 3, 1949
- Book reviews in the Pilger , e.g. B. in Pilgrim No. 49 from 1939
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Weber, Maria Joseph |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Weber, Joseph; Weber, Josef |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Lorraine priest, Spiritan priest, superior of the Missionskonviktes St. Guido in Speyer, author and people's missionary |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 3, 1887 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Metz |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 5, 1949 |
| Place of death | Speyer |