Erwin Kreuzer

Erwin Kreuzer ( born February 24, 1878 in Berlin, † August 20, 1953 in Bonn) was the fifth bishop of the Old Catholic Church in Germany. For publications, he often used the pseudonym EK Zelenka, which was composed of his initials and his mother's maiden name.

Life

Kreuzer was born as the youngest son of six children of the royal Prussian invoice Council Hermann Oswald Anton Kreuzer. He studied from 1897 Old Catholic theology in Bonn, where he was ordained a priest on April 1, 1900. Then he was short vicar in Cologne, parish administrator of the municipality of Passau and parish administrator in Kempten. In Kempten in 1903 he was finally elected as pastor and remained in that position until 1915, when he was elected to the priest in Freiburg im Breisgau. In 1919 he became chairman of the Baden regional synod, in 1922 a member of the Synodalvertretung 1924 and Vicar General for the state. On 20 March 1934 he became vicar general for the diocese and episcopal. With 119 of the 121 votes he was elected on March 20, 1935 Old Catholic bishop in Germany and the fifth on May 8 in Mannheim by Adolf Küry with the assistance of the bishops Henricus van Vlijmen ( Haarlem ) and Johannes Hermannus Berends ( Deventer ) consecrated. Bomb attacks in 1945 forced him to relocate to Kempten. But in December 1945, he was able to return to Bonn. Despite a massive heart attack in September 1946 and clearly symptoms of Parkinson's disease he remained until his death in office in 1953, but was represented largely by the Auxiliary Bishop Otto stone wax.

Cruiser married on June 19, 1906 Elisabeth Umbreit, but died on 28 September 1906 and 1920, the widow Clothilde Leichtle Aurenhammer born († 1976). He had two daughters and a daughter from the first marriage of his second wife Clothilde.

At his own request he was buried in the cemetery in Kempten.