Matthäus Gottfried Hehl

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Hehl's grave on the church in Lititz

Matthäus Gottfried Hehl (born April 30, 1705 in Ebersbach an der Fils , † December 4, 1787 in Lititz (Pennsylvania) ) was a German-American clergyman and bishop of the Moravian Brethren .

Life

Matthäus Gottfried Hehl went to school in Kirchheim / Teck and studied Protestant theology at the University of Tübingen . In 1723 he received his master's degree here . He received his first pastor in 1729 in Groß Heppach. He met August Gottlieb Spangenberg , took his leave in 1734 and went to the Brothers Congregation in Herrnhut . Here he was first as the successor to Spangenberg's private tutor for Renatus von Zinzendorf and in 1736 became a supervisor at the orphanage.

In 1744 he was ordained presbyter and served congregations in Silesia, Wetterau and Barby . In 1751 he was appointed to the American colonies in Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) . On the journey there he was consecrated as bishop in London on September 24, 1751 .

He stayed in Bethlehem until 1757 when he was called to Lititz, a Herrnhut re-establishment. Before leaving for Lititz, he made the first finding aid from the Moravian Archives, Bethlehem. For 28 years he provided for the town and the associated rural communities. In 1784 he retired for health reasons. John Augustus Klingsohr was his successor.

Since 1737 he was with Anna Maria, geb. Jaehne (born November 17, 1716 in Berthelsdorf , † November 22, 1777 in Lititz) married. The couple had three children, two of whom died early. The son Matthäus Leonhard (* 1749) was left behind in Barby when he left the country and only came after 19 years.

Hehl composed hymns, some of which were published in the Moravian Hymn Book of 1735 and his successors and Geht, Rise the Majesty was also translated into English ( Rise, exalt the Majesty ).

literature

  • Acts, documents and news on the latest church history. Volume 2, Weimar 1791, pp. 869f
  • Abraham Reinke Beck: The Moravian Graveyars of Lititz, Pa., 1744-1905. In: Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society 7 (1906), pp. 215-336, especially p. 243
  • Christoph E. Schweitzer: The Significance of a Newly Discovered Volume of Verse by Matthaeus Gottfried Hehl. In: Yearbook of German-American Studies 16 (1981), pp. 67-71
  • Martin Wissner: MG Hehl. Collaborator of Zinzendorf in Herrnhut and bishop of the Brethren Church in Pennsylvania (1705-1787). In: Life pictures from Swabia and Franconia ISSN  0521-9868 17 (1991), pp. 51-67
  • Hehl, Matthäus Gottfried , in: Rudolf Vierhaus (Ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia. 2nd edition, Volume 4, Berlin: de Gruyter 2006, ISBN 9783110946543 , p. 559

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthaeus Hehl, Inventory of the archives of the Bethlehem congregation, Feb. 1757, mss., BethCong 536, Moravian Archives, Bethlehem .
  2. ↑ Beck (Lit.), p. 236
  3. ↑ Matthew Gottfried Hehl at hymnary.org
personal data
SURNAME Hehl, Matthäus Gottfried
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hehl, Matthew G.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American clergyman and bishop of the Moravian Brethren
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1705
PLACE OF BIRTH Ebersbach an der Fils
DATE OF DEATH December 4, 1787
Place of death Lititz, Pennsylvania