Stephan Horrichem

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Stephan Horrichem OPraem (* December 21, 1607 in Erp ; † August 12, 1686 ) was the prior of the former Premonstratensian monastery Reichenstein near Monschau , "Apostle of the Venn".

Stephan Horrichem was born in Erp (now part of Erftstadt ) near Cologne, the son of a Halfen . In 1627 he followed his older brother Johannes Horrichem to the Premonstratensian monastery in Steinfeld in the Eifel . In 1632 he was ordained a priest. He was initially inclined to scientific activity and obtained a master's degree in the liberal arts. In 1637 he returned to Steinfeld as a theology teacher and subprior.

In 1639, in the middle of the Thirty Years War , he was commissioned as prior to manage the Reichenstein Monastery in the Eifel. In this function he also had to take care of the pastoral care in the surrounding areas. The Reichenstein Monastery was one of the poorest possessions of the Premonstratensian order. After a fire long ago, it was only poorly rebuilt. Due to the turmoil of the war, the surrounding population was exposed to unimaginable hardship and misery. Many villages in the Monschau area were devastated, the farms burned down and some of the people lived in forests.

Horrichem devoted himself wholeheartedly to the comfort and support of the people in need. He sometimes disguised himself as a farmer to protect himself from attacks, to provide help from farm to farm and from village to village. In doing so, he gained respect, prestige and even admiration from the people in need. An event from the last year of the Thirty Years' War, 1648, has been handed down. Even after the peace treaty between Münster and Osnabrück in October 1648 there were still occasional armed conflicts between migrating soldiers and the population. On December 15, 1648, a grueling fight took place in the cemetery of the Eifel village Kalterherberg near Monschau. Horrichem stayed with the fighting peasants who had holed up against Lorraine soldiers in the cemetery, cared for the wounded and stood by the dying. 56 farmers were killed in this fight.

After the end of the catastrophic war, Horrichem worked intensively on the reconstruction of the churches in the Monschauer Land and the monastery entrusted to him. Numerous new church buildings in and around Monschau, such as the first parish church for Roetgen, owe their construction to the initiative or support of Horrichem. Reichenstein Monastery also flourished again under his leadership.

Richelsley with cross

Horrichem died after almost 47 years of working for the monastery and the Monschauer Land on August 12, 1686. As early as 1711, he was called the "Apostle of the Monschauer Land ". A 6 m high cross on the Richelsley and a statue in the entrance area of ​​the Church of St. Lambertus von Kalterherberg remind of him to this day.

swell

  • Manfred Gehrke (edit.): Conventual directory of the Premonstratensian Abbey Steinfeld in the period from 1541 - 1795 , Kall 2002.
  • Norbert Backmund (arrangement): Monasticon Praemonstratense, Tomi Primi Editio Secunda, Pars prima et Secunda. , Berlin, New York 1983.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manfred Gehrke (arrangement): Conventual directory of the Premonstratensian Abbey Steinfeld in the period from 1541 to 1795 , Kall 2002, p. 173.
  2. ↑ Richelsley
personal data
SURNAME Horrichem, Stephan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Apostle of the Venn (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German prior of the Premonstratensian monastery Reichenstein
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1607
PLACE OF BIRTH Erp
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 1686