Ottonianum (Bamberg)

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Ottonianum Bamberg
Ottonianum 12.JPG
type of school Episcopal boys' seminary
founding 1828
closure 1999
address

Heinrichsdamm 32

place Bamberg
country Bavaria
Country Germany
Coordinates 49 ° 53 '15 "  N , 10 ° 54' 5"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 53 '15 "  N , 10 ° 54' 5"  E
carrier Archdiocese of Bamberg
student 126 (July 13, 1928)
Website bistumshaus-bamberg.de

The Ottonianum was the archbishop's seminary for boys in the Archdiocese of Bamberg , founded in 1828 and dissolved in 1999 due to insufficient profitability.

history

Historical background

The Council of Trent was the basis for the establishment of the boys' seminars . In the decree “ Cum adolescentium aetas ” of 1563 all dioceses were required to found a college in which a certain number of boys were cared for, religiously educated and trained in ecclesiastical sciences.

Decree on the seminars

View over the former soccer field

The decree on the seminars of the Council of Trent (Sess. 23, Can. 18 from De reformatione ) begins with a complaint about the susceptibility of young people to bad influences, which must be fought against by right education:

“ Since the youth, if not properly instructed, tend to follow worldly pleasures, and since they never remain perfectly in ecclesiastical discipline without the great and almost extraordinary help of Almighty God, if not of At an early age - before the tendency towards evil takes hold of the whole person - piety and religion are encouraged, the Holy Assembly stipulates the following: The individual cathedral and metropolitan churches, as well as the churches above them, should be held according to their possibilities and the The size of the diocese, a certain number of boys from their town and diocese or - if one cannot find that many there - from the same province in a college that is to be chosen by the bishop near these churches or at another suitable location to feed, religiously educate and instruct in ecclesiastical sciences. "

The conditions of admission are also mentioned. The claim that the pupils “ must come from a lawful marriage ” means in concrete terms that boys born out of wedlock were not allowed to be admitted. This obstacle to ordination was not lifted until the 1970s. At the same time, it is required that the students should strive for a career in the church:

“ In this college those boys should find admission who are at least twelve years old and come from a lawful marriage, who can read and write adequately, and whose talents and good will give hope that they will be permanently available for church service want. Primarily, the sons of the needy should be selected. However, the Synod does not exclude the sons of the well-to-do, provided that they support themselves at their own expense and show zeal for the service of God and the Church. "

Three years after the adoption of this decree, efforts began in Bamberg to set up a seminar. On June 23, 1586, Prince-Bishop Ernst von Mengersdorf was able to open the college required by the council. Possibly it was the financial situation that made it impossible for the prince-bishop to immediately comply with the demands regarding the establishment of a boys' college.

Foundation of the Aufseesianum in Bamberg

Aufseesianum

By the will of the cathedral capitular Baron Jobst Bernhard von Aufsees in 1738, an institution was founded in Bamberg in the seminarium Aufseesianum , which corresponded to a boys' seminar. This also applies to the Hospitium Marianum, which was founded by the Jesuits . Both institutions were dissolved in the process of secularization . After the Aufsees seminary was returned by royal decree in 1828, the cathedral chapter was no longer granted the right of supervision. The Aufseesianum remained subordinate to the Bavarian state government.

The Concordat between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Bavaria from 1817 regulated in its article 5 the establishment of Tridentine seminaries in the dioceses. Pope Pius IX In 1850, the Bavarian bishops again pointed out their obligation. Through the nunciature , the Archbishop of Bamberg , Bonifaz Kaspar von Urban, received another invitation in 1857 to found a boys' college. After the Ministry of Culture and Education did not return the leadership of the Aufseesianum to the cathedral chapter in order to be able to use it as a " seminarium puerorum ", Archbishop Michael von Deinlein ordered the addition of a convict for 12 boys to the archbishop's seminary .

Established in 1866

The boys' seminar was opened on January 3, 1866 . It was directed by the rain of the seminary and assigned to an alumnus as prefect . From September 15, 1882, the seminar was given an independent head with the title of inspector . In 1923 he was renamed director .

Development until 1928

Initially, the boys' seminar was located on the ground floor of the seminary at Bamberg's Maxplatz. The shortage of priests was the reason to enlarge the boys' seminary. For this extension, the former living quarters of the auxiliary bishop were used. After the seminary library was relocated in 1879, 28 boys could be admitted. The number rose to 78 students in 1882. After this expansion, Archbishop Friedrich von Schreiber placed the boys' seminar under its own management. On October 8, 1882, the Archbishop inaugurated the new rooms and named the boys' seminary Ottonianum in memory of the great Bamberg Bishop Otto I.

According to the first house rules, all students had free food, clothing, books and writing materials at the expense of the clerical seminary foundation. The behavior of the pupils was regulated in detail. The bishop's particular concern was the physical well-being of the boys: Breakfast consisted of a mug of milk and one and a half milk rolls, and they were given coffee on Sundays and public holidays. In addition, the pupils got a pint of beer on Wednesday and Sunday.

From 1878 onwards, the students paid for their own accommodation and meals according to their family circumstances. As the number of residents increased to one hundred, the Archbishop asked the Dillingen Franciscan Sisters to take over the household of both seminaries with five sisters.

New high school, 1891

All Ottonians received their school education at the old grammar school, now the Kaiser Heinrich grammar school . With the establishment of the New Gymnasium, today's Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium , all students moved to this newly founded school in 1890.

With the expansion, the number of students increased steadily. Often not a single boy could be accepted into the first grade, some got a place in the second grade, but most of them only got a place in the third or fourth grade.

First World War (1914–1918) and the interwar period (1919–1933)

Founded in 1928

In the war years, the number of pupils fell to around 50. After the war, however, the lack of space became noticeable again. For financial reasons, a new building was not yet considered. There were also legal reasons against it: It was feared that with a new building one would forego the right to supervise the Aufseesianum. In order to avoid this, the boys' seminar was not seen as an independent institute, but part of the Ernestine Seminar Foundation. The Concordat preserved the archbishop's supervision of the clerical seminary, while the state was reserved to visit the Ottonianum. After all, it was Archbishop Jacobus von Hauck who, in a pastoral letter of July 25, 1912, declared the new building of the Ottonianum to be an urgent task.

This Ottonianum, built in 1927/28 by the Nuremberg academy professor Ludwig Ruff , was opened on July 13, 1928 on Bamberg's Heinrichsdamm. It was built for 126 boys. The planned chapel as a wing construction across the playground was not implemented for financial reasons.

Period of National Socialism (1933–1945)

The extensive files in the archives of the Ottonianum suggest an intensive dispute between the leadership of the seminar and those in power at the time.

As early as 1930, the Archbishop of Bamberg had issued a ban, according to which the pupils were not allowed to participate in events organized by associations whose leadership was outside the seminar while they were in the seminar. With reference to this episcopal decree, director Johann Schmitt opposed the state government's demand in 1933 to allow Ottonians to participate in military sports and other events organized by the youth associations outside of the seminary. Despite the director's assurance that, as a former front-line officer, he would ensure that military sports, patriotic upbringing and physical training were firmly built into seminary life, the state's grip on the boys grew ever stronger.

On December 1, 1936, the Hitler Youth Act was passed. As a result, increasingly harsher threats came from the Hitler Youth demanding that the Ottonians be admitted to the groupings of the state youth. In a meeting between Director Lenhardt and the Bannführer Bausewein in Bamberg, the seminar leaders should agree to the gradual integration of the Ottonians. Director Lenhardt resisted this request and on February 6, 1937, he felt the sharpness of the dispute: In the grammar school, because of the public reading of a letter, the seminar leaders were held responsible for the fact that the seminarians became members of the Hitler Youth with effect from February 15, 1937 get lost because they are prevented from attending their events regularly.

In many letters from Bishop Jacobus von Hauck to the Reich Youth Leader and the director to the Bannführer it was pointed out that the Bishop was waiting for a uniform solution for the Reich, which should only be worked out by the Episcopate and the Reich Youth Leadership.

This reference to outstanding negotiations, the archbishop's backing and the fact that the Ottonianum knew that it was connected to the other Bavarian seminaries and religious schools were reasons that resistance could be offered for so long.

At the beginning of the war, the Ottonianum was confiscated as a hospital . The students were quartered in the lower rooms of the seminary. The hospital was constantly enlarged to accommodate the main hospital and administration of the Bamberg reserve hospital. The gym was used as a dormitory, the equipment room as a study room, and the shoe room as a sideboard and food counter. In addition, the Ottonianum was to accommodate ethnic Germans from Bessarabia in 1940 . The personal use of the rain from the seminary and a letter from the senior staff doctor in the hospital prevented this project. Many Ottonians were drafted, the rest of them kept fire watch in the lofts of the seminary during the nights of bombing. Over fifty died in the war. Less than half of some courses returned home from the war.

In Sister Hildebranda Burger's notes on the last weeks of the war, it can be read that three high-explosive bombs fell in the seminary courtyard: over thirty people died. The sisters continued to work in the kitchen despite all the danger. The number of those who fetched food from the kitchen was almost 800. All measures were taken to designate the Ottonianum as a hospital. Large Red Cross flags were made. The largest comprised 24 linen sheets. As we learned later, this measure was also of some use. An American said that the Red Cross flags could be seen more than 20 kilometers away and that the troops received orders to protect the big house. On April 13, the city was handed over to the US armed forces.

After the end of the war, the Americans occupied half of the hospital rooms, the ground floor, the dining room and the bathroom. The students lived on the first floor and used the table tennis room as a dining room. The seminary kitchen served the Ottonianum, the seminary and the Americans until 1950.

1945 to 1999

In the post-war years, the Ottonianum could hardly cope with the number of new admissions. The shortage of space caused Archbishop Joseph Otto Kolb to think about planning an extension. After the archbishop's death, his successor Josef Schneider acquired an old villa in Nuremberg on Dutzendteich and in 1956 established the St. Paul seminary as the second boys' seminary of the archdiocese, which was closed at the end of the 1998/99 school year.

Until the 1960s, the Ottonianum was run as a professional seminar. The statutes from 1942 stated:

“The boys' seminar is a spiritual vocational seminar. If a seminarian, after careful consideration and after a trusting discussion with his spiritual superior, recognizes that he has not been called by God to the priesthood, he, as an honest boy, has to ask his parents to allow him to leave. Such a departure from the house is not a shame, but happens in all honor. "

Current use and future of the building

The entire complex (Ottonianum and seminary ) is listed as an individual monument in the list of the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation with the following text:

“ Klerikalseminar Henricianum and boys seminar Ottonianum, multi-wing group building 1927/28 by Ludwig Ruff; with equipment . "

This building is 130 meters long and 80 meters wide with a cubature of 90,000 cubic meters.

After the conversion of the empty building on Heinrichsdamm into an education center for the diocese of Bamberg had been considered, the examinations of the building fabric initially showed that renovation would be very expensive. The renovations were delayed, according to other sources, the building should have been vacant until further notice without concrete plans.

In March 2007, however, the Heinrichs Verlag moved into the upper floor of the former Ottonianum ( Olymp ). In this part of the building, in addition to seminar and conference rooms, the main departments of school and religious education, pastoral staff (management until July 2008: cathedral chapter and former seminar director of the Ottonianum Otto Münkemer) and the diocesan offices for professions of the church as well as mission, development and peace, the universal church department , the Catholic Education Center and the media center.

Since the end of April 2007, the seminary has in principle again had its place on Heinrichsdamm, although the closure of the theological faculty of the University of Bamberg will lead to changes.

The house is now called the diocese house of St. Otto . The special rooms arranged around the inner courtyard, such as the dining rooms, ballroom, chapel and oratory, living quarters for the board members and the library, have largely remained unchanged.

everyday life

The everyday life of the students was strictly organized and in many ways was similar to everyday life in monastery schools. Special emphasis was placed on religious upbringing and academic performance. In addition, the students were given many opportunities to continue their musical education, be it through playing the piano or organ music. The Ottonianum had its own brass band , called " Die Blech", and the sacro pop band "Info Music". This band made recordings of songs by Peter Janssens in the 1970s , which is due, among other things, to the fact that Janssens lyricist Alois Albrecht was working as a diocesan youth pastor in Bamberg at the time.

Timetable (as of the late 1970s)

event Lower level Intermediate level annotation
Wake up 6:15 6:15 in the dormitory
church service 6:50 6:50 in the house chapel
breakfast 7:20 7:20 in the dining room
school 8:00 8:00 in the Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium
Having lunch 13:05 13:05 in the dining room
leisure 13:30 13:30 in the seminar courtyard
Study time 15:00 15:00 in the study room
coffe break 16:00 16:00 in the dining room
Study time 16:30 16:30 in the study room
dinner 18:30 18:30 in the dining room
leisure 19:00 19:00 in the house
Free employment 7:30 p.m. 20:00 silent activities at the study desk
Evening prayer 20:00 8:45 pm in the house chapel or in the oratory
night rest 20:15 21:00 Silentium silence until breakfast

Up until the beginning of the 1980s, the wake-up call was at 6:15 am on weekdays. At 6:35 am there was the so-called "spiritual reading", during which only special books with religious content from a separate library department were allowed to be read. The service began at 6:50 a.m.

Timetable (as of 1998)

event Lower level Intermediate level annotation
Wake up 6:45 6:45 in the rooms
Devotion 7:10 7:10 in the study room
breakfast 7:20 7:20 in the dining room
school 8:00 8:00 in the Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium
Having lunch 13:15 13:15 in the dining room
leisure 13:45 13:45 on the seminar area
Study time 15:15 15:15 in the study room
coffe break 16:15 16:15 in the dining room
Study time 16:45 16:45 in the study room
dinner 18:30 18:30 in the dining room
leisure 19:00 19:00 in the house
if applicable, free employment 7:30 p.m. 20:00 silent activities at the study desk
Evening prayer 20:15 21:15 in the study room of the respective level
night rest 20:30 21:30 Silentium silence until breakfast

Order of worship (as of 1998)

In addition to the daily morning and evening prayers as well as the prayers before and after meals, the following services were usually held:

Tuesday: 7:30 p.m. Eucharistic celebration or prayer
Thursday: 7:30 p.m. Eucharistic celebration (organized by the middle and high school students)
Sunday: 10:30 am Eucharist
Sunday: 5:30 p.m. devotional

Free time activities

The Ottonianum offered the opportunity for a large number of leisure activities (as of the 1960s). In addition to the music rooms (mainly the piano, violin, but also guitars were available for use free of charge, brass instruments for the brass , the in-house brass orchestra) there was the 'craft room', a photo laboratory for black and white photo work, a swimming pool, possibilities for running, long and high jump and a clay court for soccer games (with annual cup games including a championship of all Bamberg boys' boarding schools). The bowling alley that existed at the beginning of the 1960s was converted into a kind of small inn, the Radstübl , around 1963, mainly through an initiative of the then Prefect Otto Rauh, which was open for a few hours on the weekends. A play was performed each time during the carnival season. Parents, teachers and interested parties from the city were invited to various performances in the ballroom. A "summer party" was celebrated on the last school weekend. From the beginning of the 1960s until the 1980s, interested Ottonians went to tent camps every year at the beginning of the summer vacation.

Music teacher in the house

  • Arthur Bernhard (conductor of the brass band, † 1976)
  • Hans Kraus (temporary sheet metal master)
  • Johann Maser (conductor of the brass band, 1978–1999)
  • Anton Maser (trombone, tenor horn, tuba, leader of the quartet)
  • Josef Zgonine (piano, organ)
  • Gunda Zgonine (piano)
  • Günther Rosenberger (head of the seminar hall until 1995)
  • Johannes Klehr (head of the seminar hall until 1999)

Catchment area

Archdiocese of Bamberg

The students came from the Archdiocese of Bamberg , preferably from the Forchheim area , the Steigerwald , Franconian Switzerland and the Franconian Forest . With the establishment of high schools in Forchheim, Kronach and Ebermannstadt , a large part of the catchment area fell away from the 1980s. Students from the greater Nuremberg area attended the above-mentioned St. Paul seminar anyway. For a long time no students from the city of Bamberg were accepted.

staff

The title of director in the archbishop's seminary for boys was not infrequently a transit point for higher offices in the Archdiocese of Bamberg. Several directors or prefects later became auxiliary bishops or archbishops . Several others became members of the Bamberg cathedral chapter .

Inspectors and directors

Full-time prefects

Full-time prefects did not exist until 1928. Before that, alumni of the seminary had taken on this activity on the side. Alumni continued to work as part-time prefects.

  • Edmund Friedrich (1928–1932)
  • Max Matthäus Barnickel (1928–1932)
  • Konrad Hankl (1932–1937)
  • Michael Arneth (1932-1936)
  • Josef Kraus (1936–1938)
  • Rudolf Nickles (1937–1946; later reigning the seminary)
  • Martin Wiesend (1938–1944; later Auxiliary Bishop )
  • Johann Kriebel (1940–1941; later clergyman )
  • Matthäus Schmittlein (1945–1964)
  • Michael Eizenhöfer (1950–1963; later dean )
  • Otto Rauh (1963–1967; later director of the Aufseesianum )
  • Werner Radlayers (1964–1969; later Auxiliary Bishop )
  • Herbert Hauf (1968–1971; later Cathedral Chapter )
  • Martin Schenk (1969–1970; later director of the Aufseesianum )
  • Markus Brendel (1970–1972; later dean)
  • Valentin Doering (1971–1973; later Cathedral Chapter )
  • Theo Volz (1971–1975)
  • Edgar Hagel (1973–1976; later director of the grammar school of the English Misses in Bamberg)
  • Sr. M. Dietgard Weißenberger (1975–1988)
  • Otto Münkemer (1976–1978; later Cathedral Chapter )
  • Konrad Göller (1978- later head of the theological mentorship)
  • Peter Grau (later advisor for Caritas and Pastorales at the Diocesan Caritas Association)
  • Felix Thiel (1985)
  • Georg Nüßlein (1986–1999; later day school director at the English Institute )
  • Hans Kern (1988–1991; later Cathedral Chapter )
  • Manfred Herl (-1994; later pastoral consultant in Scheßlitz, diocesan position family, now parish association Breitengüßbach-Kemmern)
  • Frieda Metzler (née Feihl) (1991–1993; later educator in the day care center for the hearing and speech impaired on Stephansberg)
  • Wolfgang Bezold (1992–1998)
  • Norbert Oppel (1993–1999; later pastoral consultant in the parish of Gundelsheim )

Part-time prefects (alumni)

Alumni of the seminary worked as part-time prefects.

  • Alfred Welker from Stiebarlimbach (nickname Brandt ; until about 1963); was a Jesuit priest in Colombia until March 2011 (Pater Alfred Welker / Don Alfredo )
  • Hans-Jörg Elsner ( pen ) until his primacy (1964/65 (?); Now in the cathedral chapter)
  • Laus (Lauß) ( Bonzo ) from 1963
  • Theo Volz
  • Edgar Hagel (later seminar teacher at Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium; most recently director of the English Misses)
  • Konrad Göller
  • Raimund Reinwald (now pastor in Erlangen)
  • Peter Brandl
  • Bernhard Friedmann
  • Günther Seel (now pastor in Buttenheim)
  • Kilian Popp
  • Michael Mauerer
  • Hans Josef Pöhlmann
  • Ulrich Anneser
  • Uwe Altenbach
  • Thomas Teuchgräber (now pastor and regional dean in Kronach)
  • Markus Wolf (now: pastor in Pretzfeld)
  • Thomas Reich
  • Christian Düchting
  • Reinald Bogensperger (now Parish of the Twelve Apostles , Wunsiedel)

Later, former students of the boarding school were part-time prefects:

  • Andreas Birkel
  • Siegfried Grasser
  • Klaus Lang
  • Matthias Sommer
  • Bernd Schick (Rector of the Rödental-Oeslau Middle School since autumn 2017)
  • Franz Kraft

Prominent students

  • Joseph Otto Kolb (1881–1955), Archbishop of Bamberg from 1943 to 1955
  • Josef Müller (1898–1979), politician. "Ochsensepp", co-founder of the CSU
  • Georg Denzler (* 1930), professor of church history
  • Alois Albrecht (* 1936), vicar general and song poet
  • Anton Kennemich (1944–1996), former head of the church radio department of Bavarian Radio
  • Georg Kestel (* 1955), Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Bamberg
  • Edgar Endres (* 1962) sports commentator for Bayerischer Rundfunk
  • Rüdiger Feulner (* 1969), theologian, professor of dogmatics and diplomat at the Vatican

Cases of abuse

In July 2008, the Bamberg public prosecutor's office started investigations against the former head of the Ottonianum, Otto Münkemer, on account of the sexual abuse of wards. Despite the severity of the rapes he was charged with, these acts could no longer be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations and the proceedings were discontinued in January 2009 by the Bamberg public prosecutor. In this context, allegations have also been made that former victims of abuse were silenced by the diocese of Bamberg through monetary payments. Despite the statute of limitations, the Archdiocese of Bamberg arranged for the case to be clarified by a church court. In the spring of 2012 Otto Münkemer, at that time the Bamberg Cathedral Chapter, was put into permanent retirement by the Church Court of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising because of sexual abuse. In addition, he was banned from any pastoral activity in the future. The court of the Archdiocese of Munich also decided that the clergyman may no longer use the title of Cathedral Chapter with immediate effect. According to the church court, the clergyman is said to have sexually abused students during his time at the Bamberg boarding school. The ecclesiastical court spoke of six serious cases.

Illustrations

  • Football team before a cup game (1965)

  • Theater performance (1965)

  • Prefect Rauh in the door to the courtyard (1965)

  • Picture from the 1960s

  • Converted interiors

  • Stairwell

  • Converted main entrance

  • View into the atrium

  • Donor figures and tower

literature

  • Hans Schieber, Andreas Hölscher (ed.): Seminary on Heinrichsdamm. Spotlights on the beginnings and the present . Bamberg: Seminary, 2007
  • Michael Hofmann, Wolfgang Klausnitzer, Bruno Neundorfer: Seminarium Ernestinum. 400 years of the Bamberg seminary . Bamberg: St. Otto-Verlag, 1986

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from Hofmann / Klausnitzer / Neundorfer: Seminarium Ernestinum. Bamberg, 1986
  2. ↑ Quoted from Hofmann / Klausnitzer / Neundorfer: Seminarium Ernestinum. Bamberg, 1986
  3. ↑ Anton Kennemich
  4. ↑ Edgar Endres
  5. ↑ Incidents barred: Abuse proceedings against priests stopped. In: Spiegel Online . January 19, 2009. Retrieved June 9, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Allegations of abuse against priests: Investigators investigate the suicide of a possible victim. In: Spiegel Online . August 11, 2008. Retrieved June 9, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Chronology | Abuse in the Catholic Church
  8. ^ Matthias Drobinski: Bamberg. Allegations of abuse. The priest's favorites. Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 17, 2010. Online . As of March 15, 2016