Seelnonne
As Seelnonnen in were Southern women referred from lower social classes, in the tradition of the beguines in the late Middle Ages and early modern times as occasional earnings tasks of the corpse scrubber took over, death notice and general organizational errands related to deaths. There were also regional names
- Light woman , light mother or - jungfern ( Münster ) - after arranging the sepulchral lighting or lighting to commemorate the dead, and closely afterwards
- Seelschwester , Seelweib - again as an indication of an analysis of the religious soul service ,
- Einmacher - according to the practical-technical aspects of her service, and finally
- Totenfrau , Totenweib (chen) ( Baden ), corpse woman ( official job title in Munich 1862) or corpse woman - these last, more prosaic names became the official designation in the 19th century.
Like the beguines, the soul nuns formed communities in so-called sea houses . Up until the professionalization and profanation of this early undertaker's profession as part of the communalization of the funeral service in the 19th century, spiritual tasks such as accompanying the funeral service and soul service were also part of their business, partly in employment with the church community as demonstrated in Münster from 1529. The activity of the sea nuns was thus essentially limited to those tasks that are still part of the undertaker's profession today , i. H. Organization, procurement of the coffin, etc.
literature
- Sigrid Metken (ed.): The last trip. Dying, death and mourning customs in Upper Bavaria. Hugendubel, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-88034-247-4 , pp. 100, 226 ff. (Exhibition catalog, Munich, Stadtmuseum, July 4 - September 9, 1984).
- Fritz Scherer: A nun for the soul. Seelnonne, a forgotten name for a service that is always up to date. In: Amperland . 25, 1989, ISSN 0003-1992 , pp. 361-364.
- Hedi Heres : Refuge in Faith. Escape into superstition. Museumsverein, Dachau 1997, ISBN 3-926355-08-5 , p. 143 ( cultural history of the Dachau country 8).
- Dietmar Cremers: grave wives and gravedigger in a small town in central Hesse. Two examples of how the corpse was handled in the 19th century. In: Norbert Stefenelli (Ed.): Body without life. Encounters and dealing with the dead. Böhlau, Vienna a. a. 1997, pp. 181-188.
Web links
- Krünitz ' Economic Encyclopedia , Vol. 73 (1798) on the subject of corpse woman
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Adolf Risse: The mother of light in Münster parish churches. In: Rheinisch-Westfälische Zeitschrift für Volkskunde. 22, 1976, ISSN 0342-1996 , pp. 91-97; Frederike Schepper-Lambers: Burials and cemeteries in the 19th century in Münster. Coppenrath, Münster 1992, ISBN 3-88547-811-0 , pp. 20ff. ( Contributions to popular culture in north-west Germany 73), (At the same time: Münster (Westphalia), Univ., Diss., 1992).
- ↑ Heres 1997, p. 137.
- ↑ Paul Sartori : Customs and Customs. First part: The main stages of human existence. Heims, Leipzig 1910, p. 134 ( Handbooks on Folklore 5).
- ↑ on this in detail Christine Rädlinger : The administered death. A history of the development of the Munich funeral service. Buchendorfer Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-927984-59-0 .