Willibrord Benzler

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Willibrord Benzler as Benedictine abbot, around 1900
Bishop Willibrord Benzler, photo from the commemorative publication on the last German Catholic Day before World War I, August 17-21, 1913, in Metz.
Metz cathedral crypt , bishop's grave , memorial plaque for Bishop Willibrord Benzler

Willibrord Benzler OSB , (* October 16, 1853 in Niederhemer as Carl Heinrich Eugen Johann Benzler ; † April 16, 1921 in Baden-Baden ) was bishop of the Metz diocese from 1901 to 1919.

Life

The son of the farmer and innkeeper Leonard Carl Friedrich Benzler (1819 to 1871) and his wife Clementine (born Kissing, 1833 to 1862) grew up with his two and a half years younger brother Maximilian Wilhelm Heinrich and his two younger sisters Juliana Sophia Therese Josepha and Pauline Clementine Philippine Bernhardine up. He first attended the grammar school in Attendorn and from 1867 to 1871 that in Münster . He began studying architecture in Cologne, but in December 1871 he switched to studying philosophy and Catholic theology at the University of Innsbruck . Here he became an active member of the Catholic Student Union Akademia (now KStV Rhenania ) in the KV / ÖKV , to which he remained loyal until his death. In 1872 Benzler came to the Jesuit- run Collegium Canisianum . However, an application for membership was rejected in 1874. Instead, he was in the Benedictine - Beuron Archabbey added. There he took the religious name Willibrord . Benzler was ordained a priest on August 28, 1877 .

After a short stay in the Emmaus Monastery in Prague and the Seckau Abbey in Styria, he became the first abbot of the re-established Maria Laach Monastery on October 15, 1893 . Although Willibrord Benzler was in discussion for the bishopric in Cologne or Fulda, the appointment as Bishop of Metz on September 21, 1901 came as a surprise. He was introduced to the office on October 28, 1901. The diocese of Metz was responsible for the entire Lorraine region, insofar as it had belonged to the German Empire since 1871 as the realm of Alsace-Lorraine . In many areas of this diocese, French was spoken predominantly. In Metz itself, when Benzler was in office, around 70% of the population spoke German due to increased influx from the Reich. Benzler played a key role in organizing the last German Catholic Day before World War I , which took place in his episcopal city from August 17 to 21, 1913. As Bishop of Metz, Willibrord Benzler was constitutionally a member of the first chamber of the Landtag of the Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine from 1911 . He was a knight of the Knightly Order of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem .

When Metz became French again after the end of the First World War, a German became problematic as a bishop. Willibrord Benzler resigned in January 1919 so as not to endanger the peace in the city and in the diocese. The request to resign was officially accepted on July 10, 1919. On July 31, 1919, Benzler was appointed titular archbishop of Attalea in Pamphylia . He returned to the Abbey of Maria Laach and later to Beuron. Heart disease forced him to move to the Cistercian abbey in Baden-Baden Lichtenthal , where better medical care was possible. Benzler died in Baden-Baden Lichtenthal in 1921. He was buried in Beuron.

The beatification process of Bishop Benzler was initiated - with the support of his former diocese of Metz.

literature

Web links

Commons : Willibrord Benzler  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Willibrord Benzler  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b "Germany Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898," database, FamilySearch ( [1]  : 10 February 2018), Carl Heinrich Eugen Johann Benzler, 24 Oct 1853; citing; FHL microfilm 949.102.
  2. ↑ Folz, above surname: Metz as the German district capital (1870-1913), in: A. Ruppel (Ed.): Lothringen und seine Hauptstadt, Eine Sammlung orientierter Aufzüge, Metz 1913, pp. 372–383.
  3. ↑ Hans Jürgen Brandt: Jerusalem has friends. Munich and the Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, EOS 2010, page 61
predecessor Office successor
François Fleck Bishop of Metz
1901–1919 		Jean-Baptiste Pelt
Thomas II. Cup Abbot of (Maria) Laach
1893–1901 		Fidelis of Stotzingen
personal data
SURNAME Benzler, Willibrord
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benzler, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German bishop and abbot
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH Niederhemer , Germany
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 1921
Place of death Baden-Baden , Germany