Rupert Mayer

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Rupert Mayer

Rupert Mayer SJ (born January 23, 1876 in Stuttgart , † November 1, 1945 in Munich ) was a German Jesuit and President of the Marian Congregation for Men . In the time of National Socialism he was part of the Catholic resistance . In 1987 he was beatified .

Life

Rupert Mayer came from a large family. After graduating from high school in 1894, he studied philosophy and Catholic theology in Freiburg (Switzerland) , Munich and Tübingen. On May 2, 1899, he was ordained a priest in Rottenburg . He then worked from June 10, 1899 to August 5, 1900 in Spaichingen as a vicar . As the Jesuit Law was passed as a result of the Kulturkampf , which was not repealed until 1917, it was not possible for Rupert Mayer to form a Jesuit order in Germany. He therefore started a novitiate with the Jesuits in Feldkirch in Vorarlberg on October 1, 1900 and later continued his training in the Netherlands. There, as well as in Germany and Switzerland, he worked as a people's missionary from 1906 . From 1912 he was given pastoral care for the immigrants in Munich.

Rupert Mayer's Iron Cross, exhibited in the Bürgersaal in Munich

During the First World War he made himself available as a military chaplain. On December 12, 1915, he was awarded the Iron Cross (EK I) for his "drive and exemplary example." when defending a position against a French attack. After he was seriously wounded as a chaplain of the 8th Bavarian Reserve Division in the Romanian Sultatal at the end of December 1916 , his left leg had to be amputated. The amputation was carried out by the doctor and poet Hans Carossa , who was also assigned to this section of the front.

Bust in the lower church of the Bürgersaalkirche in Munich
Remembrance in St. Benedikt (Munich)

After the war, in his sermons, he called on people to seek inner renewal. He attended political events, including those anti-church groups. The Munich Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber appointed him President of the Marian Congregation for Men at the Bürgersaal in Munich in 1921 . In 1925 Mayer initiated the introduction of Sunday services at Munich Central Station.

Mayer recognized the danger posed by the National Socialists as early as the 1920s . After they came to power, he resolutely stood up for the rights of the church and for religious freedom . He publicly declared that a Catholic could not be a National Socialist. When the Caritas collection was banned in 1935, he stood in protest on May 18th of that year with the collecting box in front of St. Michael's Church . Since he also denounced the regime in his sermons, he was banned from speaking in April 1937 after his sermons against the National Socialists' defamation campaign as part of the so-called morality trials . When he did not do so, he was arrested on June 5th. In July he was convicted of pulpit abuse by a special court. However, because of the indignation of the cardinal and large parts of the Munich population, he was released. Before the special court, he declared: "Despite the ban on me from speaking, I will continue to preach, even if the state authorities judge my pulpit speeches as a criminal offense and as pulpit abuse."

As he continued to preach anti-regime, he was arrested again on January 5, 1938 and taken to the prison in Landsberg am Lech . He was released on May 3, 1938 through an amnesty. He now adhered to the ban on preaching, but refused to provide information about his pastoral discussions. He was therefore arrested for the third time on November 3, 1939 and taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp . After his health deteriorated significantly, he was finally interned in Ettal Abbey in August 1940 .

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Until the end of the war he was not allowed to leave the monastery or to receive any visits, except from officials and confreres. Nevertheless handwritten letters came again and again to the outside, which were reproduced with simple means and within the circle of his closest confidants circulated (u. A. Through his Sodalen Matthias Pfäffl). At this time it was extremely explosive to have any records or messages from Father Rupert Mayer or to bring them into circulation, as this is treated as a high treason and punished at least with a stay in a concentration camp. Since Father Mayer was no longer allowed to exercise any pastoral activity and was only allowed to celebrate in the house chapel, he wrote in one of these letters:

" [...] Since then I have been living dead, yes, for me, who am still so full of life, this death is much worse than the real death for which I have been prepared so often. "

- Rupert Mayer

After the end of the war he returned to Munich in May 1945, but could not enjoy the freedom he had gained for long. On the feast of All Saints' Day , he suffered a stroke during the sermon at morning mass in the Kreuzkapelle of Munich's St. Michaels Church . He was carried from the altar in liturgical clothing. He had n't fallen over. He received the last unction and died 2 1 ⁄ 2  hours later without having regained consciousness. This mode of death left a deeply impressed congregation assembled. His burial took place first in the order cemetery in Pullach . After countless people visited his grave, his remains were transferred to the lower church of the Munich Citizens' Hall on May 23, 1948 . Rupert Mayer cared for all strata of the population, which is why he was referred to as the “Apostle of Munich” and venerated as a saint even during his lifetime. His grave is visited by countless believers to this day.

Death note from Father Mayer

In 1950 the beatification process was initiated. On May 3, 1987, the beatification by Pope John Paul II took place in the Olympic Stadium in Munich , who then visited the grave.

Rupert Mayer was a member of the KDStV Teutonia Friborg, the KDStV Aenania Munich and the AV Guestfalia Tübingen in the Cartell Association of Catholic German Student Associations .

Several institutions named themselves after Rupert Mayer. In 1954 the Cartell Rupert Mayer (CRM) was founded, a community of Catholics in business, politics, culture and administration who wanted to penetrate the new beginning after the Nazi dictatorship with Christian values. The Pater Rupert Mayer day home schools are located on the site of the former Jesuit monastery in Pullach. The novitiate house of the German-speaking Jesuit provinces also bears his name, as does the “Rupert Mayer School” in Spaichingen .

The Catholic Council of the Munich Region, the highest lay committee in the city, has awarded the Pater Rupert Mayer Medal every year since 1987 as a token of thanks to people who have done and are doing exemplary voluntary work in church and society.

In 2004, under the aegis of Monsignor Hans Appel, a bell was dedicated to Mayer as part of the renovation of the Weilheim parish church under the motto “I cannot be silent!”.

Father Rupert Mayer Prayer

Rupert Mayer. Painting in the Church of St. Martin in Leutkirch in the Allgäu

The following prayer is known in the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising and in the Rupert Mayer Cartel as the Father Rupert Mayer prayer :

Lord, as you want it should happen to me,
and as you want, I want to go.
Just help you understand your will.

Lord, when you want, it's time,
And when you want, I'm ready.
Today and forever.

Lord, what you want, I'll take it,
and what you want is my gain.
Enough that I am your own.

Lord, because you want it, that's why it's good,
and because you want it, that's why I have courage.
My heart rests in your hands.

Movies

The production company Munich International Pictures also made a film about Father Rupert Mayer, directed by Damian Chapa . The premiere of the film took place in March 2014 in Munich.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160217070820/http://www.kirchengemeinde-spaichingen.de/centix/de/geschichte/pater_rupert_mayer.html
  2. ^ Sandfuchs, Wilhelm: Father Rupert Mayer: Defender of Truth, Apostle of Charity, Pioneer of Modern Pastoral Care . 2nd Edition. Echter Verlag, Würzburg 1982, ISBN 3-429-00712-7 , p. 56 .
  3. ↑ Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv IV , war ranking list No. 189
  4. ^ Memorial site in the Transylvanian Carpathians (in Kostelek), where he lost his leg
  5. ↑ Hans Carossa: In the "dreadful place of residence of this monster" , PNP of July 1, 2014
  6. ↑ Gerhard Krause, Gerhard Müller (Ed.), 2000: Theologische Realenzyklopädie. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 3-11-002218-4 , ISBN 978-3-11-002218-6 . P. 62
  7. ↑ The pulpit paragraph imposed during the Kulturkampf was not repealed until 1953.
  8. ↑ Bischöfliches Ordinariat Munich: Article for the episcopal process of the servant P. Rupert Mayer SJ Hrsg .: Bischöfliches Ordinariat Munich. M. Greske Buchdruckerei-Buchbinderei-Verlag, Munich January 1, 1962, p. 2-15 .
  9. ↑ Cartell Rupert Mayer: "Wir über uns" , accessed April 4, 2017
  10. ↑ http://www.prmg.de/
  11. ↑ Joachim Heberlein: History of the bells in the churches of Weilheim i. IF. In: www.weilheimerglocken.de. November 26, 2016, accessed January 13, 2019 .
  12. ↑ World premiere by Father Rupert Mayer in Munich. In: www.muenchen.de . Portal München Betriebs-GmbH & Co. KG, March 7, 2014, accessed on January 13, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Rupert Mayer  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Mayer, Rupert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Jesuit
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH November 1, 1945
Place of death Munich