Philipp Jeningen
Philipp Jeningen , called "the good father", (born January 5, 1642 in Eichstätt , † February 8, 1704 in Ellwangen ) was a German Jesuit , people's missionary and mystic and is venerated as an apostle of the Virngrund . His beatification is being prepared.
Life
Born the fourth of eleven children of the goldsmith and mayor Nikolaus Jeningen, he studied philosophy in Ingolstadt and entered the Landsberg novitiate of the Jesuit order in 1663 at the age of 21 . From August 15, 1654, he finally belonged to the Marian Congregation . After the novitiate from 1663 to 1665 Jeningen finally went to Ingolstadt to study for a second time; this time it was theology. Thereupon he was ordained a priest in June 1672 in Eichstätter Cathedral . In 1677 he made his perpetual profession and was thus definitely a Jesuit .
Initially he taught Greek, Latin and religion at schools in Mindelheim and Dillingen . In 1680 he was transferred to Ellwangen, "temporarily" as he thought. His greatest wish was to go on a mission to India and thus follow his great role model Franz Xavier . Although he kept asking for it, his superiors decreed that he should work for the mission in his home country and sent him to Mindelheim and Dillingen until he came to Ellwangen in 1680.
Work in Ellwangen
In Ellwangen and far beyond, Father Philipp worked as a people's missionary who enjoyed great popularity with young and old. He was less convincing because of his talent for preaching - he was considered to be a rather simple-minded speaker - but because of his ascetic way of life (for example, he slept on the bare floor) and his kindness, which he felt in the whole area, but especially with the children , popularized. But it was not only the ascetic way of life and his piety that impressed the people, the Jesuit priest did not miss out on humor: for example, he planned to pull through Ellwangen with rope, scourge and a cart in fool's clothing at Shrovetide and exclaim: “Here you are sin fools! / The journey goes up to heaven, / If you do not spare penance and scourge, / So get on my cart! ”, Which was forbidden to him by his superiors.
The building of the Schönenberg Church goes back to Father Philipp and Prince Provost Johann Christoph Adelmann von Adelmannsfelden : When lightning struck the Bucher house in Schmiedstrasse on September 14, 1681 and threatened the entire city; The prince- provost promised his friend Jeningen to build today's Schönenbergkirche, should the city be spared. A baroque pilgrimage church of the Virgin Mary was built on the Schönenberg between 1682 and 1685. The existing chapel with the miraculous image of the Mother of God was integrated into this church. The architects of the church primarily took into account the ideas of Father Philipp Jeningen, who then also took care of the pilgrimages to the Schönenberg.
The "good Father Philipp" Jeningen died, venerated as a saint and deeply mourned, on February 8, 1704 at the age of 62 in Ellwangen and was first buried in the cloister of the Basilica of St. Vitus. In 1953 his bones were lifted in the presence of Bishop Leiprecht and reburied in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Basilica of St. Vitus in Ellwangen .
Adoration
The grave of Father Philip in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Basilica of St. Vitus, built in 1473, is gladly visited by the population with thanks and pleading. You “go to Father Philip” and bring up your worries and needs, and so you can find people pausing at his grave almost at any time of the day.
In his honor, the “Father Philipp Year 2004” was held, which was accompanied by numerous church services and events, including the visit of the then Eichstätt Bishop Mixa . The “Action Spurensuche” was founded over 15 years ago by young adults with the idea of walking in the footsteps of Father Philip. Since then, the “Action Search for Traces” has organized an annual pilgrimage from Eichstätt to Ellwangen and has established itself as a fixture in parish life through further offers during the church year. Examples are the morning shifts in Advent and Lent. Today streets, buildings and squares in Ellwangen, Eichstätt and the surrounding area are named after Father Philipp.
The Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart , the German Bishops' Conference and the Jesuit Order applied in Rome in 1920 to initiate the beatification process for Father Philip. The beatification process began in Rome in 1945 .
In 1989 the “heroic degree of virtue” was established, so that Philipp Jeningen has since been allowed to be called “ venerable servant of God ”. On November 7th, 2011, Bishop Gebhard Fürst appointed the church court to examine the recognition of the inexplicable healing of a man on the intercession of Father Philip.
Epitaph
The Latin grave inscription in the Ellwangen cloister testifies to the life of Father Philip and his importance for Ellwangen. In German translation it reads:
P. Philipp Jeningen SJ,
a
tireless missionary
in the Ellwanger district and far in the whole area in four dioceses, rests here.
He would never have left his apostolic work
had it not been for the name of the Most High.
Field by field he always hurried on foot in
order to strengthen innumerable people on the right path and to
bring back those who erred heavenly from God and faith in large numbers.
Happy with that work, admirable in this one,
all his life dead to himself, he seemed to live only to his neighbor,
not all the world would have known that he only lived for God alone.
Our continent appeared to him to be all too narrow for the spread of divine honor.
That is why, at the age of sixty, he wanted India;
but his hot desires suddenly extinguished the fever
and set the man of desire a goal at the gate of eternity
on February 8th of the leap year 1704,
you wanderer, the never-resting, the pious, who is tied up here, ask for eternal rest.
literature
- Klemens Stock : P. Philipp Jeningen SJ. 1642 to 1704 . St. Vitus parish, Ellwangen 1988.
- Patriz Hauser: Philipp Jeningen. A Jesuit as he is in the book . Schwabenverlag, Ostfildern 1995, ISBN 3-7966-0764-0 .
- Ferdinand Holböck : Look to the pierced . Stein am Rhein (Christiana) 1990, ISBN 3-7171-0924-3 , pp. 230-232.
- Julius Oswald (ed.): "God is my heaven on earth too". Father Philipp Jeningen SJ - missionary and mystic. Life and letters . Schwabenverlag, Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-7966-1158-3 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Jeningen, Philipp |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Jesuit, people's missionary and mystic |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 5, 1642 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Eichstatt |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 8, 1704 |
| Place of death | Ellwangen |