Christian Friedrich Schwarz

Christian Friedrich Schwartz, in English-speaking Christian Frederick ( h ) S ( ch) was (t ) z, ( born October 8, 1726 at Kuestrin Sonnenburg, Brandenburg, Prussia, † February 13, 1798 in Thanjavur, South India ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran missionary in India.

Life

Christian Friedrich Schwartz learned Tamil to assist with a translation of the Bible. Here he developed the desire to become a missionary in India. He joined to the Danish - Halle mission. On August 8, 1749, he was ordained in Copenhagen. Then he spent some time in England to learn English. Early in 1750 he traveled together with the missionaries Georg Heinrich Conrad hut man and David Poltzenhagen from India.

On July 30, he reached over Tranquebar Tiruchirappalli. Tranquebar was his headquarters for some time, but he often visited Thanjavur and Tiruchirappalli. In 1766 he then moved to Tiruchirappalli. Here he worked as a chaplain to the garrison, built a church for its general use.

In 1769, he secured the friendship of the king Raja Serfoji, who, although he never converted to Christianity, gave him any support for his missionary work. Raja Serfoji built a church to express his affection for Schwartz. This is still a symbol of tolerance of the Chola rulers towards different religions. Shortly before his death he confided Schwartz on the education of his adopted son and successor. Schwartz briefed the prince Serfoji ( later known as Serfoji II ) and another, slightly older students, Vedanayagam, now known as Vedanayagam Sastriar, where he pursued the Gurukulam approach, together with the teachers and students.

1779 Schwartz undertook at the request of the British government in Madras (now Chennai) a private diplomatic mission to Haidar Ali, the ruler of Mysore. As Haidar in the Carnatic occurred ( see Second Mysore War), it was Schwartz allowed to pass through the enemy camp without harassment. After twelve years, he moved to Tiruchirappalli, Thanjavur, where he spent the rest of his life.

Legacy

Schwartz's immediate success in proselytizing of people to Christianity rose to each other Protestant missionary in India. In addition, he won the respect of Muslims and Hindus. The Raja of Tanjore ( Thanjavur ) made ​​by John Flaxman a monument in the mission church built for him. It shows how the Raja takes the hand of the dying missionary and receives his blessing. A Schwartz monument dedicated by John Bacon the Younger was built by the East India Company in St. Mary's Church in Chennai. The Black High School in Ramanathapuram has had numerous later famous students, including Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, one of the President of India.

Remembrance

February 13th Evangelical calendar name.

The day of remembrance has already been performed prior to the introduction of the official name of the calendar in:

  • Theodor Fliedner: Book of Martyrs, Kaiserwerth 1849/1859, Vol 4, pp. 1399-1404
  • Ferdinand Piper: Protestant Calendar in witness of the truth, Berlin 1874/1875, Vol 1, pp. 14-25
  • Prussian Protestant Oberkirchenrat: Name calendar for the German people, Berlin 1876
  • BC Geyer: The lively calendar Rudolstadt 1927
  • Jörg Erb: The cloud of witnesses, Kassel 1951/1963, Vol 4, pp. 508-520
  • A. Ringwald: People before God, Stuttgart 1957/1968
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