Rudolf Schmid (bishop)
Life
Schmid was born in 1914 as the first of four children of German parents in the Swiss Schiers in Graubünden. In 1915 the family returned to Augsburg. After graduating from Benedictine High School St. Stephen in Augsburg in 1933 Schmid studied philosophy at Augsburg and at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, where he 1933 member of the Scientific Catholic Students Association Unitas Markomannia was in the summer semester, and Catholic Theology at the Seminary of Philosophy and Theology Dillingen. On 27 February 1938 he was ordained a deacon and on 26 June 1938, the priestly ordination in Dillingen on the Danube. He initially worked as a chaplain in Murnau. In 1939 he was appointed prefect of the minor seminary of St. Stanislaus in Dillingen - a job, but he could not compete because the seminar was transformed with the outbreak of war to the hospital. Schmid was convened in late 1939 the Wehrmacht. As a sergeant in a medical unit, he participated in campaigns in France, Poland, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Russia. He was wounded in late 1944 and spent the rest of the war in a military hospital. He got into American captivity and was released in summer 1945.
In 1945 he was working as a chaplain at St. Peter and Paul in Augsburg- Oberhausen, together with a second, young Josef Kaplan Stimpfle, the future Bishop of Augsburg. From 1949 to Rudolf Schmid was in the teaching profession, most recently as Professor study. In 1963 he became rector of the seminary Dillinger.
He was canon 1969 in Augsburg and was a speaker for the priests and candidates for the priesthood and thus for the Episcopal diocese and seminars in the diocesan office professions of the church responsible. On January 3, 1972, he was called by Pope Paul VI. appointed Titular Bishop of Dionysiana and auxiliary bishop in the diocese of Augsburg. He received his episcopal consecration of the Bishop of Augsburg Josef Stimpfle on March 25, 1972; Co-consecrators were the Bishop of Passau Anthony Hofmann, the Bishop of Regensburg Rudolf Graber, the Apostolic Exarch for Ukrainian Catholic Byzantine Rite in Germany and Scandinavia Plato V. Kornyljak and the Curia Bishop Antanas Louis Deksnys. His motto as a bishop is in accordance with its Benedictine marked " Benedictus Deus " ( " Praise be to God ").
Rudolf Schmid, since the mid- 1960s, a board member of Caritas, also was responsible for his episcopal ordination as Episcopal Vicar for the area Caritas and Social Affairs. On his retirement, he was until 1994 Chairman of Caritas Association and the Catholic child care in the diocese of Augsburg. Schmid was also dubbed as " Caritas bishop". Even after his retirement and discharge of all offices he was still there for the people. Its that time diary evidence of his untiring zeal. He never saw himself and his commendable work in the center. Its strengths were the authenticity with which he represented his views, and the piety with which he lived out.
1990 his age-related resignation by John Paul II was upheld. On June 24, 2012 Rudolf Schmid has died at the age of nearly 98 years and in 41 years as a bishop. He was buried at Augsburg on 30 June at the Great Cathedral.
Honors
In 1978 he was awarded the " bread plate ", the highest award of Caritas in Germany, honored for his commitment to the charity by the Central Council of German Caritas Association. In 1982 he was elected to the Central Council of German Caritas Association. For his service to people in need, Caritas and the Catholic Bishop childcare Schmid was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit and the Order of Merit. On the occasion of his 70th jubilee of priestly ordination, as well as his 94th birthday on 26 June 2008 he was awarded the Medal of Merit for the city of Augsburg Augsburg for his " significant life's work ." A day later, on 27 June 2008, the Diocese of Augsburg honored him with a solemn Mass in the chapel of Augsburg Vicentinums, which diocesan Bishop Walter Mixa, together with his predecessor Viktor Dammertz and the Auxiliary Bishops Joseph Grunwald, Anton Losinger and Max Ziegelbauer celebrated.
Rudolf Schmid was KDSt.V. since 1978 honorary member of the Catholic Student Association Algovia Augsburg in the CV.