Matthias Erz

Matthias Erz (born January 10, 1851 in Großwinternheim , † December 2, 1899 in Chicago ) was a Roman Catholic clergyman, alternative practitioner and early archaeologist.

Life

Born in Großwinternheim near Ingelheim in 1851 , Erz was ordained a priest in 1874. He initially worked in Rockenberg in the Wetterau and came to Horchheim near Worms as a chaplain in 1875 . In addition to his priestly duties, he dealt with medicine and had a large influx of patients whom he treated according to the so-called electro-homeopathic procedure . Through medicine he came into close contact with the general practitioner in Pfeddersheim, Dr. Carl Koehl . Together they began in 1878 with the excavation of the Franconian row grave field in Wies-Oppenheim near Worms. By 1880 they had uncovered more than 200 Franconian burials from the 6th to 8th centuries there. Presumably they dug together in Offstein in 1882 . In the decades that followed, Koehl carried out extensive excavations in Rheinhessen and developed an excellent ability to interpret the finds that made him a pioneer in archeology . Kaplan Erz, on the other hand, was hostile in his parish because of his friendship with the Protestant Dr Koehl and for allegedly disturbing the peace of the dead through his excavations. Since the chaplain also spent a lot of time with his hobbies and did not always adequately fulfill his ecclesiastical duties, the episcopal authority asked him to give up his medical activity. Since his parents and siblings had already emigrated to the United States , Matthias Erz decided to emigrate in 1883. He went to Chicago , where he built the (first) St Matthias Church in 1887. He died on December 2, 1899 at the age of only 48 as a pastor at St Matthias in Chicago. The excavation finds were handed over by Koehl in 1882 as the "Koehl-Erzsche Collection" to the Worms Museum founded in 1881 (today " Museum of the City of Worms in the Andreasstift ").

Literature and evidence

About Matthias Erz's biography:

• Hermann Schmitt's estate in the cathedral and diocesan archives in Mainz: postponed manuscripts for a planned publication Heiligkreuz in Horchheim near Worms - pastor and parish in the 19th and 20th centuries , Part of Johannes Kumpf (1868-98) p. 8f. and part of chaplains in Horchheim p. 2.
• Mathilde Grünewald, Alfried Wieczorek (eds.): Between Roman times and Charlemagne . 3 vol. Lindenberg 2009, vol. 1 p. 10.
• 1200 years of Wiesoppenheim. 793-1993 . Ed. V. Karlheinz Henkes u. a., Worms 1993, p. 26, p. 113f.
• Illustrated Souvenir of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Chicago (IL) 1916, p. 80 ( PDF ).

To the excavation in Wiesoppenheim:

• Hermann Schmitt's estate in the cathedral and diocesan archives in Mainz: postponed manuscripts for a planned publication Heiligkreuz in Horchheim near Worms - pastor and parish in the 19th and 20th centuries , Part of Johannes Kumpf (1868-98) p. 8f.
• Mathilde Grünewald, Alfried Wieczorek (eds.): Between Roman times and Charlemagne . 3 Vol. Lindenberg 2009, Vol. 1, p. 10 and p. 370-429.
• 1200 years of Wiesoppenheim. 793-1993 . Ed. V. Karlheinz Henkes u. a., Worms 1993, p. 26f., p. 113f.

About the excavation Offstein II 1882:

• Mathilde Grünewald, Alfried Wieczorek (eds.): Between Roman times and Charlemagne . 3 Vol. Lindenberg 2009, Vol. 1, p. 10 and Vol. 2, pp. 810–817.

To Carl Koehl :

• Mathilde Grünewald, Alfried Wieczorek (eds.): Between Roman times and Charlemagne . 3 Vol. Lindenberg 2009, Vol. 1, pp. 9-14.
• Hermann Ament, An excursion into the history of research: An archaeological map of the Zellertal from 1903 , in: Archeology between Donnersberg and Worms . Regensburg 2008, pp. 15–22, therein p. 15 and pp. 18–20.

Web links

• Museum of the city of Worms in the Andreasstift
• St Matthias in Chicago