Theodosius Florentini

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Portrait mid 19th century.
Martin Disteli: Father Theodosius (lower picture) in January 1841.

Theodosius Florentini OFMCap (born May 23, 1808 in Müstair as Anton Crispin Florintöni ; † February 15, 1865 in Heiden AR ) was a Swiss Capuchin priest and social reformer .

Life

Florentini's birthplace in Müstair

The son of Paul Florintöni and his wife Maria Anna, born Fallet, received his basic education from the Capuchins of his hometown. He received further training in Bozen , Stans , Baden in Aargau and Chur . At the age of 17 he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Order in 1825 and received the religious name Theodosius for his profession in 1826 . In 1830 he was ordained a priest in Sion . Until 1841 he worked in the Capuchin Monastery of Baden as a novice master, guardian and teacher of philosophy and theology. After he was convicted and expelled in absentia as an agitator in a popular uprising in Aargau in 1841 , he stayed for a few months in Ribeauvillé in Alsace.

At Easter 1841, Father Theodosius went to Altdorf as a walker , where he attended school. His motto was: “What is the need of the time is the will of God.” In 1844 he and Bernarda Heimgartner founded the Institute of the Sisters of Education of the Holy Cross in Altdorf. A short time later the community moved to Menzingen , where the mother house was established. In 1845 the first five sisters made their profession and began teaching in the schools in Menzingen and Galgenen .

From 1845 to 1858 Florentini worked as the court pastor in Chur and from 1854 he increasingly developed activities in popular missions, retreats, sermons and lectures. In 1850 he founded a small hospital in the Planaterra house in Chur. On July 1, 1852, in addition to the school in Menzingen, he started Caritas , which resulted in two main focuses. Sisters Teaching and Sisters of Mercy still belonged together. In 1856 there was a separation, and Florentini and Maria Theresia Scherer founded the order of the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross . From 1857 to 1860 he was the Definitor of the Swiss Capuchin Province in Chur, then Vicar General of the Diocese of Chur .

Florentini was buried in the Chur court church. On February 15, 1906, the bones were transferred to the Ingenbohl monastery church .

meaning

Swiss Catholicism owes important initiatives to the versatile and restless Capuchin Father : in 1856 the reopening of the college Maria Hilf in Schwyz (today the canton school college Schwyz ) as a boys' school with boarding school, in 1859 the founding of the "book club for Catholic Switzerland" and in 1863 the convocation of the first Swiss Episcopal Conference . His efforts to resolve the educational shortage in the school system, to support women in charitable tasks and to address the social problems of the industrial age are also of lasting importance. Florentini supported Johann Kaspar Rohner when he organized a work school for girls in 1829, six years before the legal requirement.

literature

Web links

Commons : Theodosius Florentini  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ actually Florintöni, only his cousin Nikolaus Franz has renamed himself Florentini as Bishop of Chur
  2. ↑ Josefa Harter: Networked worldwide. The Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross in Hegne Monastery . In: Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur , Journal, March 31, 2015, pp. 5–7, quotation p. 6.
  3. ^ Bote der Urschweiz , May 21, 2008
personal data
SURNAME Florentini, Theodosius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Florentini, Anton Crispin (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss Capuchin priest and social reformer
DATE OF BIRTH May 23, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Mustair
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 1865
Place of death Heiden AR