Peter Köstler

Birth certificate of cathedral capitular Peter Köstler, written in French and dated according to the revolution calendar, birth register, registry office Grünstadt.

Cross of the Speyer Cathedral Capitals, 1822, as also worn by Peter Köstler as a symbol of his canon dignity.

Speyer cathedral chapter cemetery, grave stele for the early canons, on it also memorial inscription for Peter Köstler

Peter Köstler (baptized name Johann Peter), (born December 10, 1805 in Grünstadt , † October 11, 1870 in Speyer ) was a Catholic priest , cathedral vicar, clergyman , inspector (director) of the Catholic school teachers' seminar, reign of the seminary, cathedral chapter , as well Cathedral priest in Speyer; Co-founder and first superior of the poor school sisters of St. Dominic in the diocese of Speyer .

Life

Peter Köstler was born on December 10, 1805 in Grünstadt as the son of the carpenter Johann Peter Köstler and his wife Katharina Elisabeth, born in 1958. Shepherd born. At that time, Grünstadt belonged to the French department du Mont-Tonnerre with its departmental headquarters in Mainz . Peter Köstler was therefore born French. He attended the Progymnasium Grünstadt , then the grammar school in Speyer, where he "achieved excellent results" in Latin, mathematics, physics, history and French. He then studied in Würzburg and was ordained a priest in Speyer on August 28, 1830. In the same year Köstler took up his first position as chaplain in Landau, from 1831 to 1835 he officiated as administrator, then as pastor of Mörzheim, on January 19, 1835, he was appointed cathedral vicar (episcopal secretary) in Speyer by Bishop Johann Martin Manl .

In 1839, the mixed-denominational Palatinate school teacher seminar was separated into two denominationally independent, as there were repeated ideological controversies, especially in the area of ​​history. Initially, the Catholic department stayed at the old place in Kaiserslautern, but it soon moved to Speyer. From the creation of the independent Catholic school teacher seminar, Peter Köstler became its first inspector (director), initially in Kaiserslautern, and from November 4, 1839 in Speyer. The later Speyer Bishop Konrad Reither was his deputy, then successor in the management of the school teaching institution. At the same time, Köstler taught religion at the Speyer Latin School.

From 1845 to 1855 Peter Köstler was the head of the diocesan seminary, and on March 21, 1855 he was promoted to the position of cathedral capitular of the diocese of Speyer at the repeated suggestion of Bishop Nikolaus von Weis. The appointment was made by King Maximilian II of Bavaria. From 1855 to 1868 Peter officiated Köstler additionally as cathedral minister of Speyer, in imitation of the provost collected Anton Forch .

Domkapitular Köstler died on October 11, 1870, early in the morning around 8 a.m. and was buried on October 13 at 3 p.m. The diocesan newspaper "Der Pilger" (No. 43 from 1870) published an honorable obituary and later also reported on the funeral. It says there:

“ Despite the stormy weather, the participation in the funeral service on the part of the local citizens was very numerous. The local officials, headed by the district president von Pfeufer , as well as the most revered bishop with the cathedral chapter, paid their last respects to the deceased. The foreign clergy were also ... well represented. The funeral procession was extremely large and touching, for all the schoolchildren in the local boys 'and girls' schools, the school sisters, whose co-founder and since then the chief director of the deceased had been, strode mournfully ahead of the coffin; but at the grave the teachers sang in honor of their unforgettable inspector, a splendid, polyphonic Latin funeral song. ... The deceased was more than a father to many. "

- The Pilgrim , page 341 of 1870

Köstler's successor as cathedral chapter was on November 26, 1870, Philipp Dohm. When the old canon crypt was closed, the remains of Köstler were reburied in the newly created canon cemetery at St. Bernhard's Church. There today a modern stele indicates the oldest canons resting there, on whom Peter Köstler is also named.

Special from his work

Domkapitular Köstler was holder of the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Bavarian Order of Merit of St. Michael . Historically very interested, he published the book: “Tales from Bavarian History with Special Consideration of the Palatinate” , as well as a “Guide to School Education” .

The later director of the teachers' college, Ludwig Eid , wrote in 1911 that Köstler was "a man of willingness to work and a spirit of sacrifice" ; Fritz Steegmüller states in his work “History of the Speyer Teacher Training Institute” : “Köstler did not receive any special training for his new role as a teacher trainer. But he had excellent human qualities .... " .

In the obituary of Köstler's former chaplain, the later cathedral chaplain Peter Schwarz, it is said that there was a soothing, serene calm and modesty over his life, which was formerly known as "Modestia". This trait shows his former superior Peter Köstler to be a role model. (Obituary of Cathedral Chapter Peter Schwarz, Oberhirtliches Verordnungsblatt Speyer, No. 14, from July 1, 1911)

The obituary in the Speyer diocesan schema, 1873, also names him “... the superior of the Dominican convent and founder and director of the institute for the poor school sisters associated with him.” Franz Xaver Remling writes about the introduction of the school sisters in the diocese (Nikolaus von Weis, Volume 1, Page 252):

“ The zealous Prioress of the Dominican Sisters, together with their confessor, Peter Köstler, who was the rain of the clerical seminary at the time, gladly offered a hand on the worthy, important project. With a willingness to sacrifice, both undertook the not insignificant task of properly educating the suitable candidates who were registering for the school subject, of bringing them up in a monastic manner, and of giving the new institution such an institution that the sisters would continuously maintain a monastic relationship with those with theirs external spheres of activity so indispensable discipline supports and maintains. "

The work "The Orders and Congregations of the Catholic Church" , Volume 2, 1907, by Joseph Heimbucher, is named by Peter Köstler alongside Bishop Nikolaus von Weis as the founder of the "Poor School Sisters" of Speyer.

When Pope Pius IX, in 1849, in the run-up to the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary , directed inquiries to the individual bishops and cathedral chapters of the universal church, Peter Köstler - apart from Bishop Nikolaus von Weis - was the only canon of Speyer to support the proclamation of dogma. All the others agreed with the negative attitude of the canon Bruno Würschmitt , who classified a dogmatic decision on this point as "neither necessary nor advisable" . After the solemn proclamation of the dogma on December 8, 1854, Peter Köstler was given the honor of delivering the first sermon on the new belief on February 4, 1855, in the Speyer Cathedral, in an evening ceremony with "Te deum", which he put under the motto: "How the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is quite suitable to call the world to faith and to encourage virtue" ( Franz Xaver Remling : "Nikolaus von Weis" , volume 1, page 128, Ludwig Stamer , “Church History of the Palatinate” , Volume IV, page 236).

Peter Köstler was one of the initiators of the Pius societies in the diocese in 1849 with Wilhelm Molitor and the Blessed Paul Josef Nardini . This, after the then Pope Pius IX. named associations examined the rights newly granted by the Paulskirche parliament, implemented them for the benefit of the church and monitored their observance. They were a preliminary stage to later political Catholicism.

When Archduchess Sophie of Austria (sister of King Ludwig I and mother of Emperor Franz Joseph) visited the cathedral on September 5, 1863 and attended the high mass with “high entourage”, cathedral pastor Peter Köstler gave the sermon in her presence.

Works

• “Stories from Bavarian history with special consideration of the Palatinate” , Verlag Schmid, Augsburg, 2 editions, 1846 and 1852, with a foreword by Domdean Karl Borromäus Egger, Augsburg, member of the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies.
• "Guide to School Education"

literature

• Konrad Reither: "Memories - Festschrift for the 25th anniversary of the Catholic school teacher seminar " (with a separate chapter on Peter Köstler), Speyer 1864
• The pilgrim . No. 42 and 43, pages 333 u. 341 from the year 1870, obituary and report on the funeral.
• Franz Xaver Remling : Bishop Nikolaus von Weis. Speyer, Kleeberger Verlag, 1871, various places.
• Schematism of the Diocese of Speyer 1873, obituary on page 187
• Ludwig Eid : Peter Köstler. Catholic School Gazette No. 50, 1911.
• Max Heimbucher: The orders and congregations of the Catholic Church. Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, 1907 and 1933.
• 100 years of the Institute of the Poor School Sisters of St. Dominic. Festschrift, Speyer 1952.
• Ludwig Stamer : Church history of the Palatinate. Volume IV, Pilger-Verlag Speyer, 1964, various places.
• Fritz Steegmüller: History of the teacher training institute Speyer. 1839-1937. Pilgerverlag Speyer, 1978 (with its own chapter on Peter Köstler)
• Guido Nonn: The canons since the re-establishment of the Speyer diocese, in 1817. Writings from the Speyer Diocesan Archives, 1981.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Annual report from the Royal Progymnasium in Grünstadt in the Rhine district: made known at the public price distribution , 1823, Frankenthal, 1823; (Digital scan)
2. ↑ Konrad Reither : Memories - Festschrift for the 25th anniversary of the Catholic. School teacher seminars , Speyer, 1864, p. 26
3. ↑ Mention of Peter Köstler as the founder of the congregation in “The Orders and Congregations of the Catholic Church” , Volume 2, 1907