Wenzel down thrower

Wenzeslaus (Wenceslaus) Niederwerffer , or Wenzel Niederwerffer for short (* 1667 in Martinsdorf near Leitmeritz in Bohemia; † November 22, 1732 in Neusalza / Oberlausitz), was an Evangelical Lutheran clergyman and theologian of Bohemian origin with the academic degree of a master's degree in philosophy and third Pastor at the Dreifaltigkeitskirche Neusalza in the small town of the same name in the Saxon city ​​of exiles .

Live and act

Wenzeslaus Niederwerffer saw the light of day in 1667 as a child of Protestant parents in Martinsdorf, Bohemia, which no longer exists. As a Protestant believer, his parents and their two-year-old son had to leave their hometown in 1669 as a result of the effects of the Counter Reformation , which were particularly noticeable in Bohemia , Moravia , Hungary and Silesia . As exiles, they found a new home in Electoral Saxony, in whose capital Dresden, Elector Johann Georg II. (1613–1680) ruled as sovereign. There the young Wenceslas spent his childhood and youth and attended high school. Since he, raised as a Protestant, felt called upon to pursue a spiritual career after graduating from high school, he received the appropriate ecclesiastical and theological education and training in Dresden and later at the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg . In 1690, at the age of 23 , the Studiosus Niederwerffer successfully defended his thesis in Latin with the then well-known German Protestant theologian Johann Deutschmann (1625–1706), which was published a little later and acquired the academic degree of a master's degree in philosophy , which at that time was about today Doctorate title corresponded. Then he received his ordination in Wittenberg .

Niederwerffer was probably married to a Dresden citizen's daughter. With her he fathered a son who was baptized Friedrich Constantin Niederwerffer. He later made a name for himself as a painter. Nothing has been passed on about Niederwerffer's further life from 1690 to 1700. In any case, on May 1, 1701, the senior consistory in Dresden gave the now 33-year-old Wenzel Niederwerfer the vocation to work as pastor at the Exile Church of the Holy Trinity in Neu-Salza and to preach in two languages ​​- German and Czech. He succeeded the “Bohemian catechet” and pastor Nikolaus Künzel in Neu-Salza, who was there from 1693 to 1700. Niederwerffer prevailed against another Bohemian competitor and "knowledgeable studiosus" named Peschek from Zittau and was confirmed as pastor by the manor.

It is interesting in this context that Master Niederwerffer when he took office in New Salza on July 30, 1701 an extra one lapel, so a declaration of commitment, the then basic and magistrate and patron of Neusalza and Spremberg , Count Ludwig Gebhard of Hoym , sign had . The document contained a number of restrictions on himself and his office for the clergyman, which ultimately underscored the pastor's dependence on the count's rule of the von Hoyms. The long, awkward and pompous text has stood the test of time. With his calm manner as a pastor, Magister Niederwerffer gained respect and recognition from the rulers and the community of the cross-border parish. In addition to his spiritual duties, he found time and leisure to write theological and local history treatises that would be preserved for posterity. However, some of his writings were only found or published after his death. Wenzeslaus Niederwerffer, the official colleague of the pastor and Magister Israel Traugott Garmann of the neighboring parish of Spremberg , exercised his pastoral vocation "to general satisfaction" in the parish of Neusalza until his death on November 22, 1732.

With over 31 years of service, he was the one with the third longest term of office of the 17 pastors of the city of Neusalza from its foundation in 1670 to the church union in 1937, after the municipalities of Neusalza and Spremberg merged in 1920 to form the city of Neusalza-Spremberg. His son, the Dresden artist FC Niederwerffer, "[...] painted his father for the church of Neusalza in full regalia [...]" and provided the oil painting with the following inscription (below): "M. Wenceslaus Niederwerffer Pastor here, was born in Boheimb in 1667, as Exul. educated in Dreßden. Vocated for pastorate anno 1701. Died blissfully Anno 1732 / age 65, 6 months. “ After Niederwerffer's death, the vacant pastor's position at the Evangelical-Lutheran Trinity Church in Neusalza was taken over by the Silesian student of theology Christoph Gottlob Richter, who is now the fourth and bilingual preacher in the Stadtkommune Neusalza was active until his death in 1753.

Works

Title page of Biblical Core and Star , 1734

• Biblical core and star: inside as in a comfortable hand-concordantz The main sayings of the whole holy scripture as well as the nominibus as well as verbis and adjectivis, read without further ado, read the most distinguished names of the patriarchs, kings, judges [et] c. dero Leben… to be found Wobey to find a short biblical calendar. Leipzig: JCG Fritsch 1714, Königsberg: CG Eckardt 1734 ( digital copy from SLUB Dresden ).

• M. Wenceslai Niederwerfers former pastor at Neu-Salza in Meissen Biblical Hand Concordance: in which the proverbs of the entire holy scripture, both the nominibus as well as the verbis and adiectivis, read completely without further opening, at the same time the most distinguished different meanings of the words indicated , and the most important articles of the Christian religion from the Theologica thetica, morali and paracleticia are proven in short sentences with a lot of sayings: together with a preface Mr. D. Johann Christian Stemmler . Königsberg / Leipzig: Johann Wilhelm Hartung 1753.

literature

• Gottlob Friedrich Otto: Lexicon of Upper Lusatia. Writer and artist , Görlitz 1800 ff.
• Cornelius Gurlitt : Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony . Issue 34: Official Authority Löbau. Dresden: CC Meinhold 1910.
• Lutz Mohr : Personalities of the local history: Wenzeslaus Niederwerffer (1667-1732) . In: Official journal of the administrative community for the city of Neusalza-Spremberg with the district Friedersdorf and the communities Dürrhennersdorf and Schönbach, 19/2014/2, p. 7.
• August Adolph Tuchatsch (ed.): Historical news about the city of Neu-Salza on the basis of historical documents and traditions. Ceremony for the 200th anniversary of the city of Neusalza . Neusalza: Reinhold Oeser 1870. Photomechanical reprint. Neusalza-Spremberg: Michael Voigt 2000.
• Carl Gottlob Hohlfeld: 100 years of the city of Neusalza . Historical report ... 1768 with additions up to 1777. Transferred and edited by Siegfried Seifert. Neusalza-Spremberg: Michael Voigt 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Disputatio theologica, de paradisaci festi pentecostalis operibus & fructi bus es Gen. III. Wittenbergiae: Schrödter 1690.
2. ↑ August Adolph Tuchatsch (Ed.):… Festgabe 1870, reprint 2000, pp. 71–73.
3. ↑ Cornelius Gurlitt, 1910; P. 421.