Siegmund Henrici

Pastor Siegmund Henrici around 1870

Siegmund Henrici , also Sigmund , (born August 13, 1823 in Rimbach (Odenwald) , † October 21, 1884 in Ebersheim ) was a Hessian Protestant pastor and theological author after his conversion to Catholicism .

Life

Henrici was the son of a Lutheran doctor and his Catholic wife. Through this he received impressions of the Catholic liturgy in his childhood, as he often used it to celebrate St. Fair to Mörlenbach accompanied. After attending grammar school in Darmstadt , he studied Protestant theology at the University of Giessen from 1841 to 1844 . Siegmund Henrici experienced a conversion from theological rationalism to Pietism during his practical training at the theological seminary in Friedberg . In 1847 he became vicar in Großenlinden . Shortly afterwards he became the parish administrator and on December 23, 1854 pastor in Götzenhain . It was here that he first turned to "strict Lutheranism ". Starting in 1853, he prepared for his conversion to Catholicism by studying the Church Fathers and the writings of Wilhelm Löhe , finally by listening to Jesuit sermons and exchanging ideas with his former fellow student Karl Wagner . On October 16, 1856 he was dismissed from the service of his regional church at his own request and converted to the Catholic Church. In 1856/1857 he attended the episcopal seminary in Mainz , on December 19, 1857 he was ordained a priest and then worked as a secular priest in the diocese of Mainz . In 1860 he became pastor in Kostheim , in 1862 in St. Ignaz in Mainz , in 1868 in Lörzweiler , in 1872 in Ebersheim, where he died in 1884. His grave in the local cemetery is still there (2012).

He justified his conversion, which caused a public sensation, with the wish for the sacramental authority in the sacrament of penance , without which all pastoral care would be “hollow and vain”, and with the Eucharist that brought forth the saints .

Together with Siegmund Henrici, his brother Albert Dieffenbach (1832–1865), Protestant parish vicar of Dietzenbach, converted . Dieffenbach did not become a Catholic priest, but studied medicine and later worked as a military doctor in Worms .

Works

• Open letter to his Protestant friends . 1857
  • Reply to this: Peter Götz: Evangelism and Katholicism according to their main differentiation doctrines in form e. Reply to d. public letters d. Siegmund Henrici, former Protestant clergyman, now a Catholic layman. 1857
• The seven letters of the secret revelation of John . 1862
• Seven sermons of Lent: held during Lent in the parish church of St. Ignaz in Mainz . 1867

literature

• David August Rosenthal : Convertite pictures from the nineteenth century. Volume 3/2. Schaffhausen 1870 ( digitized version ). Therein: Siegmund Henrici , pp. 379–387.
• Wilhelm Baur : Memoirs (= Hessian People's Books. 10/11). Edited by Wilhelm Diehl . 1911, p. 265, note 78.
• Caroline v. Andrian-Werburg: Convert certificates for the Catholic faith. Paderborn 1929, p. 516ff.
• Simon Bäumer: From Protestantism to the Roman Church: From German converts and their motives from the 17th to the 20th century. 2011, ISBN 3640970721 , p. 8 ( digital scan from the source ).
• Doctrine and Defense. In: Journal of the Missouri Evangelical Synod. No. 7. 1857, pp. 220f. ( Digital scan of the contemporary commentary on the conversion by Sigmund Henrici ).

Web links

• PDF document about the Catholic pastors of Ebersheim, with photo by Sigmund Henrici ; Digital scan from: F. Eckert: Mainz-Ebersheim, Das Leben in der Kirchengemeinde St. Laurentius , Volume 3, 1988, page 48

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Self-testimony, Rosenthal p. 379f.
2. ↑ Rosenthal p. 381
3. ^ Franz Falk: Bibelstudien , Verlag Kirchheim, Mainz, 1901, page 309; Digital scan for visiting the Mainz seminary
4. ↑ Information from Baur / Diehl, memoirs
5. ↑ lectured at Andrian-Werburg
6. ^ David August Rosenthal: Convertite pictures from the nineteenth century . Volume 3/2, Schaffhausen 1870, page 494; ( Digital scan of Albert Dieffenbach )