Urban Loritz

Monument to Urban Loritz on Urban-Loritz-Platz in Vienna-Neubau

Urban Loritz OSB (born January 1, 1807 in Vienna ; † September 30, 1881 there ; actually Joseph Loritz ) was an Austrian Benedictine minister and pastor .

Life

Loritz, the son of a watchmaker, came after the visit of the Vienna Schottengymnasiums 1825 the Scots Abbey one, graduated in theology at the University of Vienna and was ordained a priest in 1830. In 1831 he volunteered for pastoral care in the Gumpendorfer Choleraspital . As a cooperator in Eggendorf im Thale from 1832, he also looked after people with infectious diseases , but contracted the leaves himself . From 1836 to 1841 he was an associate professor for pedagogy and pastoral theology as well as an academic preacher at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna . In 1841 he became a cooperator in Schottenfeld under Honorius Kraus , whom he succeeded as pastor in 1850. He held this office until the end of his life in 1881.

Following the example of his predecessor Kraus, he committed himself to the socially disadvantaged, especially children and young people, and tried to overcome social differences and tensions. In 1853 he founded an infant care facility for neglected children. In addition, he was also active as a writer. Due to his popular and original manner, he developed into one of the most popular pastoral personalities in Vienna in the 19th century.

The grave at the Hitzinger Friedhof

For his services Loritz received the Golden Cross of Merit with the Crown in 1867 and the Golden Salvator Medal of the City of Vienna in 1869; the University of Vienna made him an honorary doctorate in 1880 . In 1892 Urban-Loritz-Platz was named after him in Vienna- Neubau (7th district) , and in 1901 a bronze bust with the inscription “Dem Menschenfreunde Pater Urban Loritz” was erected there.

Urban Loritz was buried in Vienna's Hietzinger Friedhof in an honorary grave (group 10, number 145).

Works (selection)

• The Lord be with you! Prayer and edification book for Catholic Christians . Vienna 1844 (6th edition 1860).
• The child's angel. Prayer and edification book for Christian Catholic youth . Vienna 1846.
• Leaves from the diary of my pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1855 . Vienna 1856 (4th edition 1862).

literature

• Scriptores Ordinis S. Benedicti, qui 1750-1880 forunt in Imperio Austriaco-Hungarico . Vienna 1881, p. 279 f.
• Ekkart Sauser:  Loritz, Urban (Joseph). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 22, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-133-2 , Sp. 793-794.

Web links

Commons : Urban Loritz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Loritz P. Urban (Joseph). In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 5, Publishing House of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1972, p. 324 f. (Direct links on p. 324 , p. 325 ).
• Entry on Loritz, Urban Joseph in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
• Urban Loritz in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna