Jean-Théodore Laurent

Johannes Theodor Laurent ( born July 6, 1804 in Aachen, † February 20, 1884 in Simpelveld ) was Vicar Apostolic of Luxembourg.

Life

Laurent came from a family of modest prosperity. His father, the Luxembourg Francis Laurent, had his coming from Aachen wife Gertrude Fine 14 children. After attending high school in Aachen Johann Theodor spent two years studying theology in Bonn. Since he disliked the lectures of Professor Georg Hermes, he moved to the diocese of Liège, in whose seminary he continued his studies. Here he was ordained priest on 14 March 1829. From 1829 to 1835 worked as a curate in Heerlen, he was pastor from 1835 to 1839 in the Belgian Gemmenich, part of today's Plombières. In escalating at that time Cologne church dispute in which he was involved by his own writings, Laurent stood on the side of the founder of the Aachen priests circle and Ultramontanistem, the chief pastor Leonhard Aloys Joseph Nellessen, and argued that against the theses of Hermesianism.

Laurent, who with the Leuven Professor Karl Möller, as was also a friend of the Brussels nuncio Raffaele Fornari, was appointed Vicar Apostolic of North and Titular Bishop of Chersonesus in Crete on 17 September 1839. On December 27, 1839, he received episcopal ordination in Liege. Since Laurent was rejected on the basis of its opinion in church dispute of the Prussian government, the appointment was not in fact to bear and he was looking at the November 15, 1840 at a release from his office after. Until then, he had once again stopped in Aachen.

Appointed on 1 December 1841 Vicar Apostolic of Luxembourg, the appointment at the request of William the Second of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg ( in personal union king of the Netherlands) was kept secret for some time. He hit like a bomb and it came right between the strictly Roman thinking Laurent and the Liberal government equal to disputes. Laurent, more daredevils as a diplomat, sought the establishment of a seminary, a regular parish system and a stronger church influence on the schools.

During the 1848/49 revolution there were also false accusations against the bishop and an increased operating the government for its removal. Finally he left on May 1, 1848 Luxembourg. Numerous petitions, as the King of the Netherlands, led to no give in the government. Finally, Laurent filed, at the request of Pope Pius IX. , On June 2, 1856 his resignation. This was adopted on 10 July 1856, granted to him by the government in a pension Luxembourg. Yet on May 20, 1856 has come to Luxembourg to a statutory declaration that rehabilitated the bishop.

In Aachen, he lived in the house of his brother, City Archivist and Librarian Joseph Laurent, and participated from here to various monastic foundations. Especially at the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus, whose spiritual director he was and in whose church he preached regularly. In 1879, he followed this, as they had to go into exile in the wake of the Kulturkampf, to Simpelveld and functioned as their chaplain. His grave is located in the monastery cemetery of the Sisters.

Laurent was in handling a complicated man and of a certain imbalance. In his act of feelings and moods out, he followed his sympathies and antipathies and could easily occur spontaneously and energetically in his statements. At other times he was again full of melancholy and sadness. But when it came to the Catholic Church, he was full of energy and without compromise and always ready to fight. Himself he understood as a fighter of an orthodox faith, full of aversion to anything that smelled of Hermesianism. Equipped with a large theological knowledge, but he was less a scholar than an agitator and striker. His courage, his sincerity and his piety inspired even his opponents respect.

Works

  • Justification of the Lord Archbishop of Cologne against the political accusations of the Minister of the Old Stone. 1838
  • St. Peter of Alcantara golden booklet of the prayers and contemplation. Aachen 1839
  • Sky harp. Catholic church songbook, also for domestic use. Luxbg. 1846
  • Catechism of the Roman Catholic religion, first for the Apostolic Vicariate of Luxembourg. Luxbg 1847-1883
  • Larger Catechism. Luxbg. 1847-1879
  • Small Catechism. Luxbg. 1848-1883
  • Jesus Christ, the Truth, the Way and the Life. Pulpit lectures. Cologne 1850
  • The temporal blessings of Christianity. Pulpit lectures. Cologne 1851
  • The hl. Secrets of Mary the Virgin Mother of God. 3 Bde Mainz 1856-1870
  • Les mystères de la Vierge Marie see, Mère de Dieu. Sermons. 2 vol. Bruxelles 1857
  • Speech on the 50th anniversary of the Reverend priest. Dr. L.A.J. Nellessen. Aachen 1858
  • Christological preaching. 2 parts. Mainz 1860
  • The hl. Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, translated and explained. A Handbook for Catholic laity. Freiburg 1878
  • Oberhirtliche procedural documents 1842-1848; Spiritual lectures from the years 1871 and 1874. 4 vols Mskr ASK.
  • Every Sunday lesson on catechism. New course. Bd 1 Mskr ASK.
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