Pauliner

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Father Pius Przeździecki, Superior General 1931–1941

The Paulines ( Ordo Sancti Pauli Primi Eremitae ; Hungarian pálosok ; Croatian pavlini , order abbreviation OSPPE ) or the Order of St. Paul, the first hermit, is a religious community in the Roman Catholic Church . The motto of the order is Solus cum DEO solo ("alone with the one God").

history

The Pauline Order goes back to a hermit movement in the 13th century . It was founded in Hungary in 1250 by the blessed Eusebius (Hungarian Boldog Özséb ), a canon of Gran (Hungarian Esztergom ). Eusebius gathered the hermits living in Hungary and Croatia and chose the rule of St. Augustine for their lives . The monks chose St. Paul of Thebes as their patron and model, who is also referred to as "the first hermit" in church tradition. The order was recognized by the Holy See as early as 1270.

In Croatia there was once an important Pauline monastery in the Kapela Mountains, which was founded by the princes of Frankopan . The pilgrimage site of Jasna Góra in Czestochowa , the largest Marian shrine in Central and Eastern Europe, which the Paulines have looked after for more than six centuries, plays an outstanding role . Every year around three to four million pilgrims come to the miraculous image of the Black Madonna .

In Hungary and the Habsburg countries, the order of the Paulines had been repealed by Joseph II in 1786 . After a brief return in the 1930s, it was again banned in Hungary in 1951 and has only been able to work there again since 1989.

Quirk

The origin and the formation gave the order its own characteristics: The first Paulines, as hermits, sought prayer, contemplation in solitude and a strict way of life. The historical development of the order shows its constant endeavor to bring the contemplative life into harmony with pastoral activity.

Over the centuries the order has remained flexible and open to the challenges of the time. He took on missionary tasks, developed his spirituality, his apostolic work and devoted himself to scientific and educational work.

The essence of the Pauline Order includes:

  • Contemplating God in solitude,
  • Love of liturgical prayer,
  • a poor and hard-working life,
  • apostolic activity, especially the preaching of the word of God and the giving of the sacrament of penance.

Thanks to the numerous Marian shrines entrusted to it , the order soon acquired another special characteristic: in the general conviction of the faithful, but also of the Paulines themselves, it is considered a Marian order. The spread of the veneration of Mary clearly distinguishes the Pauline order.

admission

The first stage of religious life is the postulate , which lasts up to six months. The candidate lives in the monastery and has the opportunity to review his or her vocation. The second stage begins with the novitiate . According to canon law, a novice must be at least 17 years of age. The novitiate lasts one year for candidates for the priesthood and two years for candidates for friars. The German-speaking candidates can complete the novitiate in one of the German monasteries. The candidates for the priesthood still await six years of theology studies .

Branches

There are currently around 500 Pauliners living in around 65 monasteries spread across 16 countries and four continents.

German province

The beginnings of the Paulines in Germany go back to the year 1351. It was not until the secularization in 1807 that the order in Germany, with the Pauline monastery in Bonndorf being the last to be dissolved , disappeared for almost a century and a half. In 1981 the Pauliner returned and founded their first modern branch in Germany in the Lower Bavarian monastery of Mainburg . With now six branches and around 30 members of the order, it continues the original tradition of the order in this country. In 2002 the German Province of the Pauline Order was established. Every three years, a new provincial superior is elected at the provincial chapter; re-election is possible once.

Provincials of the German Province since 2002:
2002–2005 P. Mirko Legawiec OSPPE
2005–2008 P. Maximilian Melonek OSPPE
2008–2014 P. Mirko Legawiec OSPPE (re-election 2011)
2014– 0000P. Peter Dus OSPPE (re-election 2017)

Austrian Province

The first settlement is Ebnit (Vorarlberg) in 1351 by the Lords of Ems , it still belonged to the Swabian order province, and was given up again in 1377. This was followed in 1414 by the Pauline monastery Unterranna (Lower Austria), and then in close succession in around 1460 Schlaining , 1473 Kulm-Eberau , 1475 Baumgarten (all of today's Burgenland, at that time Kgr. Hungary), and 1480 Wiener Neustadt (Lower Austria). The Burgenland convents were gradually abandoned in the 15th and 16th centuries. Active in Bohemian during the Counter-Reformation , the Maria Trost monastery in Graz followed in 1708 (today's Mariatrost Basilica ). Turn of 17th / 18th centuries In the 19th century there were ten convents in the Habsburg Monarchy, which were initially directly subordinate to the Prior General and from 1700 belonged to the Provincia Croato-Austriaca , from 1710 to the Provincia Germano-Austriaca (6 convents). Hernals Abbey followed later . On March 20, 1786, in the secularization of Josephinism , the order was repealed by an imperial decree and the monasteries were nationalized (including two monasteries in Swabia that were on Austrian territory).

Prior General

(Sketchy)

See also

literature

  • Julius Dirnbeck u. a. (Red.): The order of the Pauliner OSPE. Its history - its tasks - its position . Eisenstadt 1994.
  • Kaspar Elm u. a. (Ed.): Contributions to the history of the Pauline Order (= Berlin Historical Studies 32, = Order Studies 14). Berlin 2000.
  • Elmar L. Kuhn : The Pauline order in Germany. A research report . In: Freiburg Diocesan Archive 131, 2011, pp. 137–164 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Pauliner  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elmar L. Kuhn: Pauline Order . Pages The Austrian Province of the Pauline Order: The Origin and The Abolition - with detailed information on the afterlife of the branches.