Peter Wirth (Franciscan)

Br. Jakobus Wirth,
(1830–1871)

Peter Wirth (* 15. October 1830 Niederbreitbach in Wiedtal (now Rhineland-Palatinate ), † 28. March 1871 ) was a German Franciscan - Brother ( religious name : Brother James).

childhood and education

He was the fourth child of the couple Theodor Wirth and Katharina Andries. His father was a shepherd , his mother ran a small tavern . When he was nine, Peter Wirth lost his father, and when he was ten he became an orphan. The impoverished family was torn apart. Peter was accepted by his godfather, Johann Peter Andries, who was a village teacher in Niederbreitbach. This drew him up as an assistant in the school; for financial reasons, however, Peter could not attend a teacher training college. Peter Wirth, he began an apprenticeship as a shoemaker in the workshop of Johann Schmitz, with whom he also lived (today Jakobus-Wirth-Straße 19).

Spiritual life and formation of orders

The withdrawn Peter joined the Franciscan Tertiary , who were socially and religiously committed in his homeland. He felt more and more drawn to the religious order . So in the summer of 1854 he and a friend founded a “community of devout craftsmen”, who nourished, educated and trained orphaned boys with their hands . On June 12, 1862, with the help of Pastor Gomm and the permission of the Bishop of Trier, the Congregation of the Franciscan Brothers of the Holy Cross (FFSC) was founded. With the clothing he took on the name James. The first mother house - St. Josefs House - was built in 1866. Its founder was taken away from the growing social and charitable community soon after his profession . While caring for smallpox patients , he infected himself and died on March 28, 1871. His grave is in the tower chapel of the St. Josefhaus in Hausen im Wiedtal.

The Franciscan Brothers still run charitable institutions for old and sick, handicapped and poor people.

literature

• Jakob Backes: Living out of poverty. Brother Jakobus Wirth, founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Brothers of the Holy Cross Hausen ; Neuwied: Neuwied Publishing Company, 1962, 1980 ³
• Jakob Backes: The Kreuzkapelle Waldbreitbach ; Werl: Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, 1969; Neuwied: Neuwied Publishing Company, 1984
• Maura Böckeler OSB : The power of powerlessness. Mother Maria Rosa Flesch, founder of the Franciscan Sisters BMVA von Waldbreitbach ; Mainz: Grünewald, 1962; TB: 1987
• Eric Steinhauer:  Wirth, Jakobus (Peter). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 19, Bautz, Nordhausen 2001, ISBN 3-88309-089-1 , Sp. 1565-1566.
• Franciscan Brothers of the Holy Cross (Ed.): Rule and Life of Brothers and Sisters of the Third Regulated Order of St. Francis ; Rome 1982
• Congregation of the Franciscan Brothers of the Holy Cross St. Marienwörth (Ed.): In Cruce Victoria. Salvation is in the cross. Festschrift for the centenary of the Franciscan Brothers of the Holy Cross ; Bad Kreuznach: Fiedler, 1991
• Herbert Kröll: From orphan to donor of the order. The vita of the founder of the order "Brother Jacobus" Peter Wirth. In: Heimat-Jahrbuch Landkreis Neuwied 2012, ISBN 978-3-9814662-0-1 , pp. 277–283.

Web links

• Entry to Jakobus Wirth on Orden online
• Jakobus-Wirth-Page of the Franciscan Brothers