Simon Peter Ernst

Simon Peter Ernst (born August 6, 1744 in Aubel , † December 11, 1817 in Afden, today part of Herzogenrath ) was a Catholic religious and historian from the Duchy of Limburg .

Live and act

The son of the mayor of the municipality of Fouron-Saint-Martin (left: Sint-Martens-Voeren) as well as the municipal secretary of Aubel Guillaume Ernst (* 1719) and Marie Jeanne Dael (* 1713) initially received at the request of the father, who himself was a former Student of the professor for canon law Zeger Bernard van Espen , classes in Latin and was then sent to a grammar school in Mainz . Then joined Ernst in 1763 as a novice at the Augustinian canons of Rolduc Abbey and laid a year later on August 17, 1764 his vows from. After a brief assignment as a librarian and archivist , Ernst began studying theology at the University of Leuven , which he completed with a doctorate. He was then ordained a priest on September 23, 1769 in Liège . In 1774 he followed a call back to his previous place of work in Rolduc, where he took over the professorship for theology.

In his teaching activities, Ernst was instrumental in ensuring that the reforms begun under Abbot Johann Bock in 1680 to return to a stricter religious life and adherence to traditional conservative traditions should be retained and thus opposed that of Emperor Joseph II. issued tolerance patent . After he had published his views in several brochures from 1783 onwards, this went too far for an influential part of his fellow believers, who were more likely to make friends with so-called Josephinism and they then prompted his release from the monastery in 1787. They gave him a vacant pastor's position in the neighboring village of Afden, now part of Herzogenrath, which was under the patronage of the monastery.

In the years that followed, Ernst found enough time in this office to develop, sometimes anonymously, literarily. With the effects of the French Revolution and the annexation of the Austrian Netherlands by the French, Ernst, in contrast to the majority of his fellow believers, joined the new order introduced by the French in the ecclesiastical field, such as the separation of state and church and the plurality of religious creeds. In this context he defended the “priesthood” on the new constitution in many mostly anonymously printed rallies. With the Concordat of 1801 these points of contention were finally settled for Ernst. In the meantime, during the French occupation, the Abbey of Rolduc was dissolved by the French on September 1, 1796, but Simon Peter Ernst and six former confreres ensured that the vacant buildings and lands could be bought back and handed over to the Diocese of Liège in 1817 after his death which the abbey later used as a seminary from 1831. With this initiative, Ernst secured the continued existence of Rolduc in the long term.

In the last 15 or so years of his life, Ernst was mainly concerned with researching the history of Limburg, which he wrote down in seven volumes. He did not see the publication of the work himself, but his nephew Edouard Lavalleye took over this task in 1837. In his complete work, in the edition of the sixth volume, he integrated the yearbooks of Rolduc, the Annales Rodenses , which had been started for the first time in 1104 and were updated by Abbot Nikolaus Heyendal at the beginning of the 18th century. Ernst had kept these annals hidden from the French in his parish. The " Histoire de Limbourg " also contains informative and new knowledge about the County of Leuven , the House of Limburg-Arlon , the rule of Heinsberg and Valkenburg , the United Duchies of Jülich-Kleve-Berg , County of Mark and the Duchy of Geldern and their respective regents.

In addition, he wrote a copy book for the Aachen Minster for the city of Aachen and saved it from final loss by copying the " Annales Aquensis " in good time , the original documents of which were lost during the French occupation. The later Aachen local researcher and librarian Christian Quix finally took over these copies in his 1830 " codex diplomaticus aquensis ". Furthermore, Ernst himself wrote a detailed " codes diplomaticus " on the Counts of Ardenne and Hainaut as well as on the House of Lorraine and began another one on the Counts of Salm-Dyck , which he did not finish due to his death on December 11, 1817 could.

For his historical and literary successes, Ernst was accepted as a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Brussels .

Already during his lifetime he supported the poor in his community with extensive donations and after his death left them another 1000 Reichstaler . He bequeathed his extensive library to the seminary in Liège. In 2001 the city of Kerkrade , on whose territory the Rolduc Abbey is located, named a path after Simon Peter Ernst.

Fonts (selection)

• Ordines Apud Brabantos Ejusdem Cum Eorum Principibus Esse Ætatis: Ad Illustrissimorum Ordinum Sententiam in Libellis 29 Jan & 23 Apr. datis expressam, Trajecti ad Mosam , Leekens, Maastricht, 1788 ( digitized version )
• Histoire abrégée du tiers-état de Brabant, ou mémoire historique dans lequel ... on voit l'origine des communes en Brabant, l'epoque & les causes de l'intervention de leurs deputés aux Assemblées de la Nation, & les occasions ou elles se sont particulièrement distinguées .... , Lekens, Maastricht 1788
• Observations sur l'instruction en forme de catéchisme, publiées par le professeur Eulogius Schneider à Bonn, par un ami de la vérité , Cologne, 1791
• Réflexions sur le décret de Rome et la décision de quelques eveques - Rélativement au Serment de haine & c. exigé en vertu de la Loi du 19 Fructidor an 5 , Nypels, Maastricht, 1798
• Tableau historique et chronologique des suffragants ou coévêques de Liége , Vise, 1806
• Notice historique sur le château et les anciens Seigneurs d'Argenteau , Vise, 1806
• Des comtes de Durbuy et la Roche au XI e XII. siècle , 1816
• Simon Peter Ernst / Edouard Lavalleye (eds.): Histoire de Limbourg, suivie de celle des comtés de Daëlhem et de Fauquemont, des annales de l'abbaye de Rolduc. by MSP Ernst, curé d'Afden. ancien chanoine de Rolduc. l'un des auteurs à véritier les dates, à Liége chez Collardin , 7 volumes, Liège, 1837

Literature and Sources

• Friedrich Haagen:  Ernst, Simon Peter . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, pp. 327-329.
• AEM Janssen: De betrokkenheid van Simon Pieter Ernst bij de abdij Rolduc, Drijfveren en activiteiten van een gewetensvol handelend kanunnik, in PSHAL 900 jaar , Rolduc 2004, ISSN  0167-6652

Web link

• Kanunnik Ernstpad (2001) (ndl.)