Thomas Spreiter
Thomas Francis Xavier spreading agents, OSB ( born December 28, 1865 in Regensburg, † January 27, 1944 in Vryheid, South Africa ) was a German missionary. He was one of the first Missionary Benedictines, who worked in German East Africa and later South Africa. He was Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic Dar es Salaam in German East Africa and the Apostolic Vicariate Eshowe.
Life
Childhood and early education
Spreiter was born into a deeply religious Catholic family of the middle class into it. Early on, he showed interest in missionary activity, but no orders could be missionary actively times the Kulturkampf. However, the Benedictine visionary Andreas Amrhein had just founded his St. Benedict - Missionary Society and opened a facility in Reichenbach near Regensburg.
There Spreiter began on September 29, 1886 the novitiate. The device was housed in a former Benedictine monastery and the first years were marked by poverty and hard work. It was also spreading agents Arnheins personal secretary. 1887 pulled the young community in the monastery of Saint Ottilia where spreading agents on February 2, 1888 obtained his vows. On 28 July 1897 he was ordained.
First missionary journey
In 1900, spreading agents traveled to Zanzibar. There appeared the Benedictines of Saint Ottilia of since 1888. 1905 he headed the missionary work until the beginning of the Maji Maji uprising, during which Bishop Cassian and four other bishops were killed. As the mission work and his life was threatened, spreading agents fled and returned to Europe.
Second missionary journey
After his return Spreiter was appointed Apostolic Vicar and thus joined Bishop Spiss ' the research. The episcopal ordination took place in Saint Ottilia on 1 May 1906. He was titular bishop of Thenae. Still in itself year, he returned to Africa to missionary all there and supervise educational activities in his Vicariate. To this end he undertook a journey through his mission area annually. That meant he was up to six months on the road and walk back covered a distance of about 1500 kilometers.
After the outbreak of the First World War, all mission activities had to be interrupted. Spreading agent was placed in Dar es Salaam until 1920 under house arrest and had to travel back to November 24, 1920 Germany and leave office in Zanzibar.
Third missionary journey
On August 27, 1921 Spreiter was appointed the first Apostolic Prefect of the newly formed from the Vicariate Apostolic of Natal Apostolic Prefecture of Zululand. In 1922 he founded with the help of other German missionaries Inkamana Abbey. Three years later, on 26 January 1924 he was appointed first Vicar Apostolic of the renamed Vicariate Apostolic of Eshowe. He was described as " unyielding and uncompromising ." On 14 May 1943 he retired and died on January 27, 1944 in the Inkamana Abbey. There he was buried.
Bone finds
While Spreiters time resulted in Zanzibar Werner Janensch and Edwin Hennig their expedition to Tendaguru by. On May 30, 1910 Spreiter visited the camp, where he met with Hennig. Spreading agents showed him a bone fragment, which he had found in a village near the Mbalawala Plateau and another from a village west of Kilwa Kivinje. These findings demonstrated that dinosaur bones even hundreds of kilometers could be found by Tendaguru what had been the original goal of the expedition.
Swell
- Entry to Thomas spreading agents on catholic - hierarchy.org (English)
- Godfrey Sieber: The Benedictines of Ikamana. EOS -Verlag, St. Ottilie 1995, ISBN 978-3-88096-480-8.