Johann von Schönenberg

Johann VII of Schoenberg (* 1525 in Castle Hartelstein at Schwirzheim; † May 1, 1599 in Koblenz ) was 1581-1599 Elector and Archbishop of Trier.

Life and work

Origin and Early time

He was the son of the landed gentry Johann von Schönberg, bailiff to Wilsecker and nice corners and his wife Elisabeth pond to Nickenich who lived at Castle Hartelstein in the Eifel.

Johann was already 1538 Domizellar ( Kanonikatsanwärter ) at Trier Cathedral and studied from 1546 to 1548 in Heidelberg and Freiburg im Breisgau. In 1548 he received the office of Domkapitulars in Trier, in 1567 he was promoted there to Domkustos, 1570 to Provost. In May 1580 he was appointed Elector Jakob von Eltz governor of Trier, ie he headed the secular government in the city. In the same year, the bishop appointed him also rector of the university.

Archbishop and Elector

On July 31, 1581 his election was Archbishop and Elector of Trier, soon after he was ordained priest. Pope Gregory XIII. confirmed the election in February 1582, Schoenberg received the pallium and the cardinal legate Giovanni Ludovico Madruzzo ( 1532-1600 ) consecrated him on August 12, 1582 at the Diet of Augsburg bishop.

Johann von Schönberg resulted in the Electorate immediately the Gregorian calendar and continued the strictly ecclesiastical his predecessor Jakob von Eltz. He proved to be a staunch fighter against the aspirations of the Reformation and tried to align the spiritual life of his diocese to the decrees of the Council of Trent. His main concern was the formation of a capable pastoral clergy. In Koblenz and Trier, he founded in 1585 and 1586 small seminaries. All applicants for a pastorate had since 1587 strict exams and had to summon the Tridentine creed. Between 1583 and 1597 the chief shepherd for ten Kollegiatstifte enacted reform statutes in the diocese, in 1589 he published the first printed in Trier and intended only for his archdiocese Catechism out. Popular missions, the Brotherhood beings, stable visitations and catechesis were other priorities of Schoenberg's pastoral activity. On December 31, 1591, he donated the well-known a convert Cecilia Vasa ( 1540-1627 ), widow of Margrave Christopher II (Baden- Rodemachern ) and daughter of King Gustav I Vasa of Sweden, in the Jesuit church of Trier, the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Politically, the Elector remained cautious and less interested. Johann von Schoenberg was one of the most zealous reform bishops of his time marked by famine, crop failure, pestilence and chaos of war. In this context, it came in the Trier country also terrible witch hunts, but constitute an interdenominational and time- related phenomenon. In particular, the auxiliary bishop yet adopted by his predecessor Peter Binsfeld († 1598 ) also played a fateful role and even Dietrich Flade, the governor of Bishop Schoenberg, the witch craze fell victim. 1591 and 1592 adopted the Elector diverse regulations to curb the processes and to mitigate the cruel tests.

One of the favorite residences of the bishop was the remote Grimburg at Hermes wedge.

From 1594 Johann von Schönberg was so sickly that he wanted a coadjutor, who was put to him in the person of Lothar von Metternich to the side. Bishop Schoenberg is buried in the north aisle of the Trier Cathedral. His grave altar was made by Hans Ruprecht Hoffmann the Elder 1602.

John's brother was Georg von Schönberg ( often also Schoenburg ), Bishop of Worms ( 1530-1595 ).