Stephan Alexander Würdtwein

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Bishop Stephan Alexander Würdtwein; Painting by Johann Wilhelm Hoffnas

Stephan Alexander Würdtwein (* 1719 in Amorbach ; † April 11, 1796 in Ladenburg ) was a theologian, auxiliary bishop of Worms , church historian and researcher into the history of the city of Mainz .

Life and spiritual training

Würdtwein's birthplace at Pfarrgasse 3 in Amorbach
Memorial plaque at Würdtwein's birthplace

Würdtwein was born in Amorbach, Lower Franconia , as the third son of the prince-elector of Mainz city ​​and bailiffs clerk Ferdinand Kasimir Würdtwein and his wife Magdalene (née Marklein). He attended the convent school Amorbach and later by Jesuit led Kronberg-Gymnasium Aschaffenburg .

During his studies at the University of Heidelberg from 1738 to 1743, he took the subjects philosophy , Catholic theology and canon law . During his studies he lived in the theologian convict named after Karl Borromeo , the Karl III. Philipp von der Pfalz had founded to enable talented people to get an education. Würdtwein acquired the academic degrees Baccalaureus Artium and Magister Philosophiae and studied Thomism .

Then he studied canon law and dogmatics , continued his education in the Roman Catholic seminary of the diocese of Mainz and was ordained a priest on July 18, 1745. After his chaplaincy in Bingen from 1746 to 1747, he received the altar beneficiary in Werbach an der Tauber.

He was back in Mainz as early as 1750, where he studied canon law at the University of Mainz until 1752 .

Career in the ore monastery of Mainz

Bookplate Stephan Alexander Würdtwein

Würdtwein served under the archbishops Johann Friedrich Karl von Ostein , Emmerich Joseph von Breidbach zu Bürresheim and Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal , the last elector and archbishop of the old Mainz and ancien régimes .

Elector Johann Friedrich Karl von Ostein, who also came from Amorbach, appointed him the tutor of his nephew Philipp Karl and in 1751 procured him a Domizellarius prebende at the monastery of St. Maria ad Gradus . There he was also dean between 1762 and 1783 .

Qualified through his extensive study of canon law, he was appointed clergyman in 1758 and appointed to the general vicariate , the central administrative authority of the archbishopric. Here he made it up to the Fiskalis Maior in 1767, an office for the supervision of religious and moral life and for punishing non-compliance with spiritual ordinances. In 1770 he finally became an official who, along with the vicar general, was the highest clerical official in the archbishopric. His advice was sought particularly in ecclesiastical marriage law and in ecclesiastical legal matters.

In 1783 he became auxiliary bishop and provicer of the diocese of Worms . His appointment took place on July 18, 1783, he received the episcopal ordination as titular bishop of Heliopolis in Augustamnica on August 31, 1783 by the Elector of Mainz - Archbishop Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal .

Journalistic activity

Stephan Alexander Würdtwein in his document archive. Contemporary engraving by Georg Paul Nussbiegel (1713–1776)

Stephan Alexander Würdtwein already enjoyed a great reputation during his lifetime. His historical collecting, research and writing work was considered groundbreaking for church and state historical source research . Since the Kurmainzer archives were scattered and partly destroyed in the course of history, his work within the Germania Sacra is of fundamental importance. He was recognized by his admission as an extraordinary member in the Palatinate Academy of Sciences in 1765 (honorary member 1784), in 1776 a member of the Academy of Non-Profit Science in Erfurt and in 1781 in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich.

estate

Around 800 volumes from Würdtwein's scholarly library are closed in the Martinus library . As part of a DFG project, Stephan Alexander Würdtwein is using the example of Stephan Alexander Würdtwein to research prenumerations and correspondence as principles of academic publishing in the 18th century at the Mainz Institute for Book Studies. A portrait of the famous scholar from 1784 by the Palatinate court painter Johann Wilhelm Hoffnas (1727–1795) was discovered by the Mainz book scholar Franz Stephan Pelgen in Worms, restored in nine months by the restorer, Benedictine sister Johanna from the Engelthal monastery and has been around since June 2012 on permanent loan from the city of Worms in the theological Martinus library in Mainz, Grebenstr. 8. The sitter wears canons clothing and holds a book in his hand which he seems to be interrupting from reading.

Works

Bishop Stephan Alexander Würdtwein
  • Elenchus conciliorum Moguntinorum (1761)
  • Concilia Moguntina (1766)
  • Tres epistulae ad LB Karl Ant. De Dalberg de conciliis Moguntinis (1766)
  • Notitiae Historico diplomaticae de Abbatia Ilbenstad Ordinus Praemonstratensis in Wetteravia (1766)
  • Dioecesis Moguntina in Archidiaconatus distincta I-IV (1767–1790)
  • Middle and younger age Mainz coins for the purpose of the history of the Vatterland, Mannheim 1769. Digitized at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
  • De baptisterio Moguntino , 1771
  • Subsidia diplomatica I-XIII , 1772–1780 (reprinted 1969)
  • Ad rei diplomaticae cultores Epistola de datis diplomatum , 1776
  • Ad Concordata Germaniae I-IV , 1776–1778
  • Nova Subsidia Diplomatica I-XIV , 1781–1792 (reprinted 1969)
  • Commentatio historico-liturgica de stationibus ecclesiae Moguntinae , 1782
  • Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, Moguntiacae superioris Germaniae metropolis conditor , 1782
  • Diplomataria Maguntina I-II , 1786–1789
  • Bibliotheca Moguntina , 1787
  • Wars and Feuds of the noble Franz von Sickingen , 1787
  • Manipulus chartarum XVI, Palatinorum Rhenicomitum historiam illustrantium cum notis , 1787
  • Epistolae St. Bonifacii , 1789
  • Depends on the literary. Context of the current u. previous times in the Palatinate , 1791
  • Monasticon Palatinum I-VI , 1792-1796
  • Monasticon Wormatiense , Ladenburg 1795
  • Chronicon diplomaticon Monasterii Schoenau in Sylva Odoniana ord. Cisterciensis , 1793

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Stephan Alexander Würdtwein  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry on www.catholic-hierarchy.org
  2. ↑ Dr. Franz Stephan Pelgen MA, research assistant. Teaching topics. (No longer available online.) Institute for Book Studies Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz , archived from the original on May 22, 2012 ; Retrieved April 21, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.buchwissenschaft.uni-mainz.de
  3. ↑ tob: Blänsdorf: "A big piece of education and writing history." Exhibition with parchment fragments in the Martinus Library in Mainz. In: Mainzer Bistumsnachrichten No. 14. Episcopal Press Office Mainz , April 18, 2012, accessed on April 21, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz from June 27, 2012, Mainzer Kultur
personal data
SURNAME Würdtwein, Stephan Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German auxiliary bishop and church historian
DATE OF BIRTH 1719
PLACE OF BIRTH Amorbach
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1796
Place of death Ladenburg