Moritz von Büren

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Memorial plaque in Büren

Moritz von Büren (born February 12, 1604 in Büren in the prince-bishopric of Paderborn ; † November 7, 1661 in Oelde ) was the last Baron von Büren , President of the Imperial Court of Justice in Speyer from 1629 to 1632 and founder of a college, today's Mauritius-Gymnasium , the Moritz von Büren School and a church in Büren, popularly known as the Jesuit Church.

Life

Because Moritz von Buren's father, Joachim von Büren, was brought up together with Moritz von Hessen-Kassel and, like him, had converted to Calvinism , Moritz von Hessen became a godfather. However, at the age of 9, Moritz von Büren converted to the Catholic faith in 1613. He followed his mother, Elisabeth von Loë , who had also converted three years after the father's death. At this time, under Dietrich von Fürstenberg , the prince-bishop of Paderborn , the Counter-Reformation was gaining ground. The foundation of a Jesuit college in Paderborn , where Moritz von Büren was trained, made a significant contribution. The Calvinist godfather from Hessen did not like that Moritz von Büren was trained at the Jesuit college. He therefore tried to send Moritz to Marburg for training . Moritz von Bueren to these efforts, however, eluded by first of Cologne , 1621 to Douai went to law study. After completing his studies, he went traveling. He stayed for a long time in France, Spain and Italy, was by Louis XIII. and Pope Urban VIII received. In vain he asked the Jesuit general Mutio Vitelleschi for admission to the Jesuit order, but on his advice studied canon law in Rome , where he stayed in 1625 on the occasion of the Holy Year .

In 1629 Moritz von Büren took up the post of President of the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Speyer , but in 1632, when his mother died, he let it rest in order to return to Büren. There he administered his lands himself during the worst period of the Thirty Years War . Between December 23, 1630 and April 15, 1631, the nobleman Moritz von Büren and his confidante Balthasar Bönninghausen had 55 “witches” executed in the Büren reign.

In 1640 Moritz von Büren wrote his will , in which he transferred all his assets to the Jesuit order, on the condition that "the order of the Society of Jesus, above all, as soon as possible, from my house in Büren a novitiate or study or college The above-mentioned Society of Jesus should do so by building a beautiful church. " (Quote from the will of Moritz von Büren).

When negotiations on the Peace of Westphalia began in 1643 , Moritz saw another chance to be accepted into the Jesuit order. On April 21, 1644, at the age of 41, he finally entered the Societas Jesu as a novice after he had submitted his resignation to the emperor and was ordained a priest after the retreat .

In the following years legal disputes over his will with his relatives broke out, which lasted for over a decade. After long negotiations, the Paderborn Jesuit Vitus Georg Tönnemann succeeded in reaching a settlement, so that nothing stood in the way of Moritz's desire for a college and a church in Büren.

Moritz died on November 7, 1661 in Haus Geist in Oelde , where he was hunting. He was buried in the Petrikirche in Münster .

Honors

The Westphalian School for the Deaf in Büren, which was newly built in 2006, was renamed the Moritz von Büren School in honor of the Baron .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Büren, Moritz von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION last Baron von Büren, President of the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Speyer
DATE OF BIRTH February 12, 1604
PLACE OF BIRTH Büren
DATE OF DEATH November 7, 1661
Place of death Oelde , Westphalia