Rudolf Blüml

Rudolf Blüml (born April 16, 1898 in Karnitzen (near St. Paul im Gailtal ); † September 28, 1966 in Klagenfurt ) was a Carinthian Slovene and Austrian priest with a significant influence on the development of the Slovene ethnic group in Carinthia .

Life

Rudolf Blüml had a childhood full of privation : The belief system of the Kuglič family was Roman Catholic, its rural and naive form was determined by the Holy Trinity . The mother of the humble and talented youngster attached great importance to his education. Rather by chance and with the support of relatives from the area around Klagenfurt , Blüml was able to attend high school in the state capital. During the First World War , he attended the officers' school of the Agramer House Regiment, which was stationed in Rijeka , as a one-year volunteer . On May 29, 1918, Rudolf Blüml graduated from Klagenfurt and enrolled at the Diocesan Theological College in the same year.

Defensive struggle and referendum and the accompanying unstable political events prevented the continuation of the studies in Klagenfurt; With the support of his mentors, Blüml turned to Marburg an der Drau , where he continued his philosophical and theological studies and later left the seminary to continue his studies at the newly founded University of Ljubljana . There he took over the office of representative of the theological faculty at the university. He was ordained a priest on June 3, 1922 in Laibach and celebrated his primacy on July 16, 1922 in Karnitzen / Karnice im Gailtal.

Rudolf Blüml's further path led to Vienna , where he continued his theology studies. He initially lived in the Augustineum . Here he met the director of the institution, Theodor Innitzer , who became his “ dissertation father” and who also arranged for him to stay in the Sacred Heart Monastery in the 3rd district. Blüml thanked this with committed commitment as a pastor , preacher and confessor .

politics

He got to know the prelate Ignaz Seipel early on , who also used the Sacred Heart Monastery as his spiritual retreat. From this acquaintance, a friendly and friendly relationship developed between the two men, who were in an intensive intellectual exchange over the years. In the course of his further life, Blüml published several books about Ignaz Seipel or edited some for him when he could no longer publish them himself. One of the best-known appeared under the title “Prelate Seipel - A Great Life in Small Pictures” in the Carinthia printing house of the Sankt-Josefs-Verein in Klagenfurt in 1933. This shows how close Rudolf Blüml must have been to his fatherly friend and personal role model . This long-term collaboration was not limited to visits to exhibitions, theological discussions or walks, but over the course of several years it became a formative, spiritually-based friendship among theologians, in which not only the elderly the younger but also Blüml, who was born in the southern border region, the politician was able to convey helpful assessments. How much the two were able to work together shows, among other things, “a personal confession” of Rudolf Blüml, in which he thanked the priest and Federal Chancellor for the donation. Even in the year the politician died, he traveled to Klagenfurt, already marked by a serious illness, and visited Blüml, who had meanwhile settled in at home.

Education

Diocesan Bishop Adam Hefter had given Blüml , who had meanwhile trained as a philosopher , theologian , political scientist and sociologist , the newly established Slovenian department of Caritas and the administration of the parish of Sankt Johann im Rosental as a provisional. In addition, he became trustee of the Hermagoras brotherhood and secretary of the retreat movement of the diocese of Gurk . In 1934 - Blüml had gone through various stages of new church initiatives - Prince-Bishop Adam Hefter, at the age of 36 , appointed him to the Gurk cathedral chapter on the advice of Bishop Andreas Rohracher . The management of the pastoral office for the entire diocese was the next challenge for Rudolf Blüml. He initiated pastoral care courses, became a professor at the Ursulines' private teacher training institute in Klagenfurt, offered adult education courses and published in German and Slovenian media in both national languages.

MP

Due to his committed work and knowledge, Dr. From February 12, 1934, Rudolf Blüml was given a highly political task: As a representative of the diocesan bishop or as a representative of the church and religious communities, he became a member of the Carinthian state parliament . Although the Austrian Bishops' Conference on November 30, 1933 forbade the political activity of priests and the exercise of political functions, the diocese could not withdraw from the Catholic corporate state and allowed the mandate of its canon. In the Carinthian state parliament, this primarily dealt with the problems of the school system and questions of social welfare. In addition, he advised the governor on ethnic group issues .

Nazi persecution

Rudolf Blüml had the worst social experiences when the National Socialists took over the state and administration. As early as March 21, 1938, Prince-Bishop Adam Hefter was forced by the regime to transfer numerous Slovene-speaking clergy to other pastoral care posts, including Rudolf Blüml. On March 24, 1938, he and six other Slovenian priests were expelled from their parishes and from the Slovenian settlement area. After the referendum was held, with which Austria's statehood was finally extinguished, the situation calmed down somewhat; Blüml was able to return and was appointed pastor of the cathedral in autumn 1938. Two years later he became city dean of Klagenfurt, but was only able to exercise this function for six days. The raid of the German Reich on Yugoslavia had a direct impact on the Slovene-speaking Carinthian priest. 52 of them were interned on April 6, 1941 and then transferred to German communities in the country as a result of grueling negotiations that the ordinariate had to conduct with the Nazi authorities. Blüml was arrested by the Gestapo on the same day. He and the priest Konrad Mente received the district eviction and had to leave their homeland Carinthia. Only on July 1, 1945, after four years of exile, did Rudolf Blüml return to Klagenfurt.

Rubble priest

As a reinstated cathedral priest, he became a "rubble priest" who not only saw the rubble of the destroyed city and country, but also had to look after shattered souls. Often wrongly discriminated against, the cathedral priest showed that future work for the country and its people should focus on peace, reconciliation, overcoming hostility and imparting ethical values. Due to his initiative, the Slovenian church newspaper “Nedelja” (“Sunday”) appeared again and changed from a monthly to a weekly. At the same time he gave impulses for the publication of the German-language “Church newspaper” and the “Gotteskinder”. During this time he began his preparatory work for another book on Ignaz Seipel: "In the service of the word - sermons and speeches".

Due to a traffic accident on November 23, 1946, Blüml was convalescent and on leave of absence for three years . This happened at Wartberg in the Mürz Valley on a trip with lawyer Dr. Tschurtschenthaler . His priestly career developed differently than expected; however, the intellectual strength and the will to continue developing the message were retained by Rudolf Blüml. If one goes back to his dissertation “Paul and the Triune God”, then his theological motive is explained when he expresses the knowledge of his studies in this way in the foreword

“But it also became clear and increasingly clear to me that very lively, early Christian-Pauline Christianity can only exist in constant looking up at the likeness to the archetype, and that an essential understanding of the God-created living conditions in man and in mankind can only be based on what has been recognized and grasped by faith all-exemplary God becomes possible out of that God, in whose image and in whose image the 'new creation' is created and who is 'all in all'. For Paul, however, this all-exemplary God is a triune (...) "

Did the priest and high-ranking theologian from the Lower Gailtal already suspect a possible dispute about the path of the church, which began decades after his death? What is certain is that Rudolf Blüml was to take on important tasks within the Gurk diocese from the mid-1950s. The extensive experiences of his life so far were useful to him, and his promotion of the intellectual life of the Slovene ethnic group became legend. Despite many assaults and attacks on his person, Blüml's love of his homeland and commitment to the Republic of Austria remained inviolable.

After the establishment of the Federal High School for Slovenes in Klagenfurt (1957), he took on the role of a specialist religious inspector. For the Carinthian Slovenian youth he designed the retreat home in Tainach , and he designed plans for the newly purchased home in Heiligengrab / Božji. The church functions of the canon reached a climax with his appointment as Provost in August 1965, which he could not look forward to for long. His life ended after a last serious illness on September 28, 1966. He was buried on September 30, 1966, a rainy autumn day, in the crypt of the Gurk Cathedral Chapter in Klagenfurt Cathedral.

The personality of Blüml, who came from small backgrounds in the Lower Gail Valley, once characterized Auxiliary Bishop Dr. Rohracher in a letter to the papal nuncio :

"Cathedral Chapter Dr. Blüml is without a doubt the most lively and highly intellectually active of the Slovenian priests, which is why they apparently want to exclude him from working in the diocese of Gurk. His loss would mean a very heavy blow for us, especially for me personally. "

The long-time chairman of the Council of Carinthian Slovenes, Valentin Inzko , described him as a man with a strong awareness of Austria, as a priest who was influenced by the liturgical movement of Pius Parsch, as a church representative who reconciled his faith with the national sought, giving preference to religious interests over national concerns. In spite of his brilliant training, his speaking skills and his high standing, he always remained humble. Blüml himself formulated a final printed sentence to commemorate death.

“I sincerely ask forgiveness of all whom I have become a nuisance - how, where and whenever -, just as I forgive everyone with the willingness for which I entrust the Triune God with the intercession of the Mother of Mercy and of all saints the last great absolution please. "

Awards

• 2019 Rudolf-Blüml-Weg in Klagenfurt in Lendorf, from Feldkirchner Straße to the east

Works

• Rudolf Blüml: Paul and the Triune God. A biblical-dogmatic study. Mayer & Comp., Vienna 1929
• Rudolf Blüml: Ignaz Seipel. Man, Christian, priest in his diary. With a foreword by Cardinal Innitzer. Vienna 1933
• Rudolf Blüml: Prelate Dr. Ignaz Seipel. A great life in small pictures. Klagenfurt 1933
• Rudolf Blüml (ed.): Ignaz Seipel: Der Friede. A moral and social problem. Innsbruck 1937
• Rudolf Blüml: Ignaz Seipel. In the service of the word. Sermons and speeches. , Herold-Verlag, Vienna 1955

literature

• Josef Till: prelate, educator and politician Rudolf Blüml (1898 - 1966). In: Mikrut Jan (ed.): Fascinating figures of the church in Austria. Vienna 2003
• Tropper Peter G .: How Hemma von Gurk became a saint. Stages of a canonization process. In: Catalog for the exhibition Hemma von Gurk at Strasbourg Castle / Carinthia May 14 to October 26, 1988
• Vinzenz Jobst: Rudolf Blüml - Life picture of a priest in: Engelbert Obernosterer / Wilhelm Baum (ed.): Literary and historical forays through the Gailtal . Kitab Klagenfurt 2010. ISBN 978-3-902585-42-4

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Klagenfurt." March 13, 2019, p. 11.