Wilhelm Anton Neumann

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P. Wilhelm Neumann O.Cist.

Wilhelm Neumann O.Cist. (* July 4, 1837 in Vienna as Anton Neumann ; † October 5, 1919 in Mödling , Lower Austria ) was a Catholic religious and theologian, as well as archaeologist , biblical scholar and medievalist .

Life

Anton Neumann was born in Mödling as the son of Anton Neumann and his wife Theresia, née Schaller. From 1847 he attended the Schottengymnasium in Vienna, but after moving after his mother's death, he moved to the Theresianum in Vienna with the fourth grade .

At the Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Cross on September 14, 1855, Neumann entered Lilienfeld Abbey and took the religious name Edmund. From 1856 to 1860 he studied at the Institutum Theologicum in Heiligenkreuz and in 1858 - even before the solemn profession - transferred his religious professorship to Heiligenkreuz in order to be able to pursue scientific studies here earlier. Here Neumann also adopted the new order name Wilhelm, since "Edmund" was already represented as the name of the abbot and another conventual in Heiligenkreuz. On September 25, 1859, he finally made his solemn profession in the monastery.

The ordination received Neumann on 25 July in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral and celebrated his first Mass on the following feast of the Assumption . From 1860 on he was a teacher at the Boys' Choir in Heiligenkreuz for a year before he was appointed professor of the Old Testament in 1861 and probably librarian at the Hochschule in Heiligenkreuz in 1864 and held this position until 1874. From 1861 he was also the preacher in the monastery. Until February 1869 Neumann acted as provisional parish administrator in Maria Raisenmarkt for a few months before setting off on his first visit to Palestine in the spring. His further career also shows Neumann's enthusiasm for the new discipline of Palestine Studies , in which he was mainly active throughout his life: on June 13, 1874 he was appointed associate professor for Semitic languages ​​at the University of Vienna and received his doctorate there on June 27 . So in October he moved to the Heiligenkreuzerhof in Vienna in order to better carry out his duties at the faculty. Neumann was also a member of several associations in Vienna, including the Antiquities Association in Vienna. From 1880, his second major area of ​​interest, art history and handicrafts, emerged more and more, as his publications show. In 1886 he finally applied for the appointment of full professor of Semitic languages ​​and higher exegesis and was appointed to such a position in November of the following year.

Neumann was dean of the Catholic Theological Faculty in Vienna three times - 1890/91, 1897/98 and 1904/05 - and in 1899 was even appointed Rector Magnificus of the university. In May 1900, however, in the course of the student riots, he inadvertently came into conflict with the Academic Senate and therefore resigned as rector.

In 1895 Neumann was awarded the Commander's Cross II. Class of the Dannebrog Order by the King of Denmark, in 1897 he received the Order of the Iron Crown III from Emperor Franz Joseph I. Class. He was always fond of traveling well into old age and often used his vacation trips for research - among other things, he was alone three times in Palestine.

At the end of 1904 Neumann bought a house in Mödling (Kirchengasse 6) with the approval of the abbot and from 1908 he retired there until his death. Even before he moved to Möding, he had given more than a third of his books to the library at Heiligenkreuz Abbey. In 1906 he also took his incapacitated brother in with him in Mödling. He died there on October 5, 1919 at an old age.

On December 28, 1910, Neumann demonstratively took the anti-modernist oath , although he had already retired and there was no pressure to do so. His research on Palestine and art historical studies on the Heiligenkreuz Abbey were decisive for the regotisation of the Abbey. During various restoration work, Neumann not only limited himself to giving advice, but even picked up a shovel himself out of art-historical and archaeological interest, so that he could, for example, discover an old mosaic paving in the choir. As a result of his historical research in this context, he published the article: Handwerk und Kunst im Stift Heiligenkreuz from the 17th to the middle of the 18th century , in: Reports and communications of the Altertumsverein zu Wien 18 (1879), pp. 125–166 .

Ex libris from Neumann's library, view of the Heiligenkreuzer bell tower from the Way of the Cross

Works

  • The reliquary of the House of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . Vienna: Hölder 1891
Text: Digitized version of the Braunschweig University Library
Tables: digitized version of the Braunschweig University Library
  • About the Druze people and the Emîr Fachrêddin . Vienna 1878
  • Architectural history of Sanct Stephan in Vienna, Gothic period. 1905
  • Three medieval pilgrims' writings III: Philippi descriptio Terrae Sanctae, in: Austrian Quarterly Writing for Catholic Theology, Volume 11 (1872), pp. 1–78, 165–174

For a complete bibliography of Neumann's works see: Norbert Stigler, Wilhelm Anton Neumann 1837–1919 (Vienna Contributions to Theology 46, Vienna 1975) pp. 145–162.

literature

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Neumann, Wilhelm Anton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Neumann OCist, Wilhelm; Neumann, Anton (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian Catholic theologian
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH October 5, 1919
Place of death Mödling , Lower Austria