Nikolaus Schöneck

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Funerary inscription by vicar Nikolaus Schöneck, 1561

Nikolaus Schöneck (* around 1500 in Iggelheim ; † December 26, 1561 in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse ) was the last Catholic pastor in Neustadt before the Reformation .

background

In 1356, Elector Ruprecht I, based on the will of his brother Rudolf II. (Palatinate), donated the Liebfrauen Collegiate Foundation in Neustadt as a memorial for the family. He was headed by the collegiate dean, the collegiate church was the city's parish church; one of the canons held the nominal office of pastor, a vicar acted as pastor under him , and several during the heyday.

In 1556, Elector Ottheinrich introduced the Reformation in the sense of the Lutheran Confession in the Electoral Palatinate and forbade the Catholic cult. In Neustadt his predecessor Friedrich II had already appointed a Protestant pastor in 1554, who had to be paid for by the Old Believer monastery.

The theologian Johannes Marbach from Strasbourg visited all the parishes in the Electoral Palatinate on behalf of the state in 1556 and forced them - where they had not already done so - to accept the new doctrine or chased away opposing clergy. Because of the complicated legal matter, the monasteries and monasteries in the country were for the time being largely spared from coercion, but were often brought about by more subtle means to accept the new faith. According to Marbach's visit report, the pastors in the Neustadt Oberamt were “vastly all unskilled papists” who had to be removed from their offices by him.

The last Neustadt monastery dean Laurentius Kercher put up stubborn resistance to the Reformation and held steadfast to the previous faith, the last official representative of which he was with his community in the vicinity of the city. According to the historical Seelbuch of the collegiate monastery, he ensured that despite the complete dissolution of all Catholic life around him, the services and prayer commitments at his church continued faithfully as ever. This Catholic island in Neustadt was preserved until his death on April 24, 1561. After that no more dean could be elected, some clerics died or left the monastery, others converted to the Protestant faith. In 1563, the new Palatinate Elector Friedrich III. introduced Calvinism as the state religion instead of the Lutheran creed. Now the few remaining monastic communities were no longer spared. In 1566, the Wittelsbacher Friedrich III. the pen founded by his own family and drew the slopes in his favor. He handed the church over to the Reformed congregation, the collegiate houses their preachers for lease.

Live and act

Nikolaus Schöneck came from Iggelheim in the Speyer diocese . The Schönecks are among the oldest proven families in Iggelheim. He enrolled at the University of Heidelberg on October 25, 1522 . In November of the same year, Nikolaus Schöneck obtained the degree of Baccalaureus Artium here .

He entered the clergy and became a priest. As such, he worked at the Neustadt collegiate and parish church as parish vicar. He was the pastor of the city parish appointed by the monastery.

On April 24, 1561, the last dean of Neustadt, Laurentius Kercher, died, and a successor could not be elected. The pen was already in the state enforced dissolution phase.

After the dean's death, Nikolaus Schöneck continued to provide pastoral care on behalf of the monastery. He died on December 26th of the same year as the last Catholic parish vicar (pastor) at the Neustadt collegiate church . No successor could be appointed for him either; a Protestant pastor had been in office since 1554.

Schöneck received a grave inscription on his church, which is located on the outer northwest corner (ground floor of the tower). It is of poor sculptural quality, in particular the writing was only carved very superficially. It says that he was separated from the world "with a spirit directed to God, in the hope of a better time" .

The abbey house he lived in was built in 1564 by Elector Friedrich III. sold.

literature

  • Silke Burkhardt: Famous grave monuments in the Neustadt collegiate church , Historischer Verein der Pfalz , Neustadt district group, 1984, p. 43
  • Gustav Adolf Benrath: Reformation - Union - Awakening: Examples from the Church History of Southwest Germany , Volume 228 of: Publications of the Institute for European History Mainz , Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012, p. 62, ISBN 3525101104 ; (Digital scan)
  • Alban Haas : “From the Nüwenstat; on the development and life of medieval Neustadt an der Weinstrasse ”, Pfälzische Verlagsanstalt, Neustadt, 1964, p. 55

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the founder of the monastery and the purpose of the memoria for the House of Wittelsbach
  2. ↑ Udo Wenemuth: 450 years Reformation in Baden and Palatinate , Kohlhammer Verlag, 2009, p 43, ISBN 3170207229 ; (Digital scan)
  3. ^ Theologische Realenzyklopädie , Part 2, p. 325, Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 1999, ISBN 3110162954 ; (Digital scan)
  4. ^ Johann Marbach: The share of the Strasbourgers in the Reformation in Churpfalz, Strasbourg, 1856, p. 20; (Digital scan from Johannes Marbach's report from the Palatinate church visit from 1556)
  5. ^ Reinhold Schneider: Iggelheim: a village and its history , Gemeindeverwaltung Böhl-Iggelheim, 1991, p. 423; (Detail scan)
  6. ^ Silke Burkhardt: Famous grave monuments in the Neustadt collegiate church , Historischer Verein der Pfalz , Neustadt district group, 1984, p. 43
personal data
SURNAME Schöneck, Nikolaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Catholic clergyman, last Catholic pastor of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, before the Reformation
DATE OF BIRTH around 1500
PLACE OF BIRTH Iggelheim
DATE OF DEATH December 26, 1561
Place of death Neustadt an der Haardt, today Neustadt an der Weinstrasse