Rudolf Lunkenbein

Rudolf Lunkenbein SDB (born April 1, 1939 in Döringstadt near Bamberg , † July 15, 1976 in Merúri in Mato Grosso , Brazil ) was a German Salesian of Don Bosco and a missionary in Brazil.

Life

Memorial plaque in Buxheim Monastery

As a young boy of 10 years he expressed the desire to become a priest. Four years later (1953) he therefore went to the Progymnasium of the Salesians Don Bosco in Buxheim . He decided to join the Order of the Salesians of Don Bosco as a missionary, went to Brazil at the age of 19 and completed his novitiate near São Paulo . From February 1963 he completed a two-year internship in the mission station of Merúri and gave school lessons.

In order to finish his theology studies, he returned to Germany in 1965 to the religious college in Benediktbeuern . There he was ordained a priest on June 29, 1969 by the Augsburg auxiliary bishop Josef Zimmermann . On July 6, 1969, he celebrated Primiz in his hometown Döringstadt .

After he was ordained a priest, Lunkenbein soon went back to Brazil and became a missionary to the Bororo indigenous people in Merúri. To do this, he learned their language to understand why they had decided to become extinct in the face of land disputes with large landowners. He motivated them to continue living, taught them modern agriculture, built a hydroelectric power station and was able to convince the women not to drink the contraceptive sap of a plant from the jungle anymore .

In 1974, Holy Week was designed for the first time from the Bororos culture, music, dance, body painting and church decorations were incorporated into the liturgy.

Engagement and murder

Lunkenbein is seen theologically as a representative of the theology of liberation , for whom the option for the poor is essential and help for self-help is a pastoral and political goal. The indigenous people thanked him in 1973 when he was accepted into their tribe, giving him the name "goldfish". He is accepted and respected as the brother of the indigenous peoples and is considered the first and only white chief among indigenous people. Church and state also tried to involve Lunkenbein in their efforts to protect the Indians. In 1973 the "Indian Father" was elected to the Brazilian Mission Council for Indian Issues (CIMI), and two years later he became a member of the state Indian Protection Agency FUNAI . He particularly campaigned for the return of the land to the Indians, which large landowners (fazendeiros) had appropriated without right. On July 14, 1976, the surveying of the land by the state authorities, which was required by him, was completed. On July 15, 1976 the land cession should begin. Then there were the surveyors, but also the fazendeiros in Lunkenbein's mission station. Lunkenbein was shot at the age of only 37 together with the Indian chief Lourenço Simão Cristino and another indigenous man in the courtyard of the mission station by Manoel Borges da Silva, the leader of the Fazendeiros. Since then, Lunkenbein has been considered a martyr and witness of faith among the indigenous people.

On his grave it is written in Portuguese, German and Indian language: “I have come to serve and to die for it.” It is a reference to his first sentence according to Mt 20:28.

Commemoration and aftermath

The Catholic Church accepted Father Rudolf Lunkenbein as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century . Since his violent death, voices have repeatedly been heard calling for him and Lourenço Simão Cristino to be beatified; the request to start the process of recognition of martyrdom was presented to the responsible bishop on May 3, 2016. The beatification process was opened in January 2018.

The elementary school in Ebensfeld was named after him. A Pater Lunkenbein commemorative tournament in indoor football is taking place in Bamberg .

Martin Winklbauer wrote the drama Mani - The violent death of Father Rudolf Lunkenbein in 1993 .

From July 7th to 15th, 2006, Father Karl Oerder SDB organized a series of events in memory of the missionary, including an exhibition in Ebensfeld. Oerder interviewed contemporary witnesses in Merúri in May 2006. On July 10, 2006, the Archbishop of Bamberg, Ludwig Schick, celebrated a memorial service in Döringstadt. From July 10th to 14th, 2006 the school also commemorated its namesake with project days, a curriculum vitae and a school festival for the benefit of the Bororo indigenous people.

Peter Schanz wrote the Lunke scene , which was premiered in 2007 by the ETA Hoffmann Theater in Bamberg on the occasion of its 1000-year-old diocese project The Lord of Heaven sets time in motion .

literature

• Helmut Moll (ed.): Witnesses for Christ. The German Martyrology of the 20th Century , 7th revised and updated edition. Schöningh, Paderborn 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume II, pp. 1682–1684.
• Hans G. Röhrig, let's live. Murdered - for the rights of the Indians. Work and death of P. Rudolf Lunkenbein . St. Otto Verlag, Bamberg 1978.
• Günter Paulo Süss : Rudolf Lunkenbein (1939–1976): Murdered because he fought against the extermination of the Indians . In: Emil Stehle (ed.): Witnesses of Faith in Latin America. From discovery to the present . Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1980, ISBN 3-7867-0835-5 , pp. 97-100.
• Ekkart Sauser :  Lunkenbein, Rudolf. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 15, Bautz, Herzberg 1999, ISBN 3-88309-077-8 , Sp. 880.
• Josef Grünner (ed.): He lived what he preached. P. Rudolf Lunkenbein SDB: Murdered - for the rights of the Indians (= Benediktbeurer series of publications on shaping life in the spirit of Don Bosco, vol. 49). Institute for Salesian Spirituality, Benediktbeuern 2019.

Web links

• Entry in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
• Local history site from Döringstadt
• Ebensfeld school
• Don Bosco Mission

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The beatification process for P. Lunkenbein officially opened