Raimund Bruns

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Title page of the most printed book by Raimund Bruns (edition from 1843)

Raimund Bruns OP , also Raymund (us) Bruns , (born January 3, 1706 in Hanover ; † May 1780 in Paradiese ) was a German Dominican priest , military and civil cleric in Potsdam , prior in Halberstadt , most recently provost in Paradiese near Soest . Through his writings on the declaration of the Catholic faith, he made a significant contribution to the strengthening of the Catholic diaspora in Berlin and Brandenburg and received attention in all of Catholic Germany and in Rome.

Life

Raimund Bruns' father Heinrich Wilhelm Bruns came from Osnabrück and was in the military service of the Hanoverian Elector . His mother Margereth Elisabeth b. Roebers was a goddess Gerin and the Catholic Church converted . After finishing school in Hildesheim and Osnabrück, Raimund entered the Benedictine monastery Huysburg near Halberstadt in 1722 at the age of 16 , but one year later he switched to the Dominican monastery in Halberstadt , whose preaching activity he recognized as his own vocation. After the novitiate in Trier , he studied philosophy in Dortmund and theology in Münster , where he was ordained a priest in 1729 .

In 1731 Bruns first became an employee, then successor to Ludwig Belo OP (also: Belau) as chaplain of the " Long Guys " in Potsdam. He won the trust of Frederick William I. notably in - who also spoke with him about matters of faith, the pastoral care of the Catholic civil parish in Potsdam took Liege recruited Catholic skilled workers of the royal weapons factory , which the king pastoral care had promised - and achieved the construction of the St. Peter and Paul Church at the expense of the king, which he consecrated himself in 1738 because the king did not want to let a bishop into the country.

At this time Bruns began his most momentous activity, the writing of Catholic prayer books , catechisms and declarations of faith, expressly intended for both Catholics and non-Catholics and, if the content was decidedly, kept in a non-polemical tone. As the first Catholic writings since the Reformation , they were printed and published in Berlin, and reprints appeared in various cities in the German-speaking area. His most important work from this period is his “Great Catechism”, the Catholic instruction, prayer and hymn book from 1738, which was distributed throughout the empire and made Bruns widely known.

In 1740 the "soldier king" died. As in many other areas, his son Friedrich II broke with his father's line when dealing with Catholicism. In October 1742 he had Bruns imprisoned in Spandau on the pretext that he had helped a deserter . The king initially responded to the interventions of Pope Benedict XIV and Empress Maria Theresa with the following comment: “I know that the father did nothing, because if he had committed anything wrong I would have hung him. But I want to show the priests and monks that I can force them too. ”In August 1743 he finally released Bruns, but did not allow him to return to Potsdam.

Bruns went back to the Halberstadt Dominicans. The Pope invited him to Rome, but Bruns refused, probably in order not to bring his convent into royal disgrace. In 1745 he became prior. In addition to the preaching and leadership tasks, he now concentrated on scientific work, wrote a history of the Halberstadt monastery and the Catholic missions in Brandenburg, as well as an explanation of the Catholic creed, based on scripture and reason, according to the Principles of the Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy churches, all of them, in and out of them, presented for examination , which could only be printed in Arnsberg in 1768 and then reissued until the middle of the 19th century.

In the 1760s Bruns took over the provost office in the Dominican convent Paradiese near Soest. He died there in May 1780.

literature

  • Raimund Bruns: The Catholic Creed , reprinted Berlin 1843, photomechanical digitized version ( Google books )
  • Liesen .:  Raimund Bruns . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 27, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, p. 180 f.
  • Willibald Herrmann (Ed.): The diary of the Dominican Father Bruns from Halberstadt, the pastor of the Potsdam giant guard. Wroclaw, 1925
  • Erich Klausener: A priest in Prussia. The life of the field preacher in Potsdam, Father Raymundus Bruns. , Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-87554-196-0 .
  • Hans - Georg Mann: The king and his monk. Narrative with free use of the notes of the Dominican Raymundus Bruns about his Potsdam years 1731 - 1740. , Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-0000-6904-8 .
  • Johannes Mertens: Father Raymundus Bruns. Catholic pastoral care in Potsdam at the time of the soldier king. , in: Gert Adler: Confession to Potsdam. , Potsdam 1997, pp. 9-41.
  • Matthias Rogg , Martin Winter (ed.): Raymundus Bruns. Memories of Catholic religious life and military pastoral care in Prussia in the 18th century. Translation from the Commentarium . Rombach, Freiburg im Breisgau 2012, ISBN 978-3-7930-9701-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e BBKL
  2. ↑ a b c ADB
  3. ↑ The exact date is unknown (BBKL).
personal data
SURNAME Bruns, Raimund
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bruns, Raymundus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Dominican and theological author
DATE OF BIRTH January 3, 1706
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH May 1780
Place of death Soest