Paulus Moritz
Encyclopedia
Paulus Moritz was a German Roman Catholic cleric and founder of a minor branch of the Franciscan
order.
Moritz was born in Königsberg
, Prussia
, to Jewish parents and was named Heymann Hermann Moritz. He received his Jewish and primary education in Königsberg.
With regard to his conversion to Catholicism there is hardly any traceable record. It could have taken place around his 16th or 17th year of life. After this, one finds him next in the historic city of Cologne
. Here he became a close associate of the veteran Jesuit missionary to British India, the late Antonius Maria Bodewig
.
Moritz joined the Missionary Society of the Immaculate Conception founded by Bodewig as one of its first members. However, this Missionary Society never took off the ground. A group of its members sent to the Belgian Capuchin
-run Lahore Mission in 1895 was stranded there. Its leader was one Nicholas Ludwig Hohn, a close friend of Moritz, hailing from Bonn
. The Belgian Capuchin Bishop of Lahore constituted the stranded group of German youth in his diocese into a Congregation
of Franciscan Tertiary Brothers whose services he hoped to enlist for the diocese.
Moritz broke with Bodewig by 1899 and associated himself with the new Diocesan Congregation of Lahore. Around this time, he had also knotted a firm relationship with the French Fransalian Bishop Msgr. Pelvat of Nagpur
, headquarters of the Province of Central India & Berars.
In November 1890, Moritz arrived in India with a few associates. He went to Nagpur from where he, in January 1901, proceeded to Lahore where Bishop Pelkmans admitted him into the Franciscan order and appointed him the Procurator of the new congregation. He then returned to the Nagpur group of his Brothers.
However, his relationship with Msgr. Pelkmans had been a stormy one and he finally broke off with him and constituted his group into a separate congregation under the Fransalian Bishop Jean Marie Crochet of Nagpur as the Congregation of the Missionary Brothers of St. Francis of Assisi, or C.M.S.F.. This was on February 21, 1901. Moritz was chosen as the Superior-General of the new congregation and Hohn as the Asst. Superior-General. The community chose to retain its Franciscan character, i.e., remain within the Franciscan order as an autocephalous constituent congregation.
In 1902, the Nimar Mission in the North Khandesh region in the province of Central India & Berrars with Khandwa
as its headquarters was assigned to the new congregation.
Between this period and the outbreak of World War I, the young congregation made rapid and impressive strides in its expansion and development. They had expanded to place like Agra
and Crishnagar (Krishnanagar
in the Bengal Presidency); had been given the Padroado
parish of Mount Poinsur
on the island of Salsette next to Bombay, by the Portuguese
Padroado Bishop of Damaõ, and had expanded to Maslianico
in north Italy
.
At the outbreak of World War I, the British India government interned the German brothers of the congregation, including Moritz. Towards the close of the war, while most of the brothers were deported, Moritz and three of his companions were permitted to stay back. The future of the congregation hanged on the thread of uncertainty.
By 1921, the first of the deportees began to return to India and the congregation began to reclaim its lost ground.
In the first-ever General Chapter of the congregation, held in 1930 under the auspices of the Pontifical Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide), Moritz was elected Superior-General. In the 2nd. General Chapter of the congregation, he was re-elected.
At the outbreak of World War II, the British briefly detained him, but owing to his ill health and advanced age, he was set free.
On November 19, 1941, he resigned office and exactly one year later, on November 19, 1942, he died at Mount Poinsur
. His mortal remains are laid to rest in the Monastorial Cemetery at Mount Poinsur.
The Generalate of Paulus Moritz's Congregation is located in the vicinity of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church, Mt. Poinsur
, Mount Poinsur
, at the Monastery of St. Francis of Assisi, Mount Poinsur, Bombay 400 103, at a short distance east from the Borivali Railway station.
Today, the C.M.S.F. friars operate not only the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception parish and their friary, but also the St. Francis of Assisi Technical Institute nearby, which provides vocational training in the technical arts to students.
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
order.
Moritz was born in Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
, Prussia
Province of Prussia
The Province of Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1829-1878 created out of the provinces of East Prussia and West Prussia....
, to Jewish parents and was named Heymann Hermann Moritz. He received his Jewish and primary education in Königsberg.
With regard to his conversion to Catholicism there is hardly any traceable record. It could have taken place around his 16th or 17th year of life. After this, one finds him next in the historic city of Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. Here he became a close associate of the veteran Jesuit missionary to British India, the late Antonius Maria Bodewig
Antonius Maria Bodewig
Antonius Maria Bodewig was a German Catholic Priest regarded as the spiritual founder of a religious order, the Missionary Sisters of Queen of Apostles , founded 1923. A would-be missionary to India, he promoted inculturation, a method of evangelisation whereby the Christian message is presented...
.
Moritz joined the Missionary Society of the Immaculate Conception founded by Bodewig as one of its first members. However, this Missionary Society never took off the ground. A group of its members sent to the Belgian Capuchin
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
-run Lahore Mission in 1895 was stranded there. Its leader was one Nicholas Ludwig Hohn, a close friend of Moritz, hailing from Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
. The Belgian Capuchin Bishop of Lahore constituted the stranded group of German youth in his diocese into a Congregation
Congregation (catholic)
The term "congregation" has three usages specific to the Roman Catholic Church. One concerns the Roman Curia, the other two concern religious institutes.- Roman Curia :...
of Franciscan Tertiary Brothers whose services he hoped to enlist for the diocese.
Moritz broke with Bodewig by 1899 and associated himself with the new Diocesan Congregation of Lahore. Around this time, he had also knotted a firm relationship with the French Fransalian Bishop Msgr. Pelvat of Nagpur
Nagpur
Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...
, headquarters of the Province of Central India & Berars.
In November 1890, Moritz arrived in India with a few associates. He went to Nagpur from where he, in January 1901, proceeded to Lahore where Bishop Pelkmans admitted him into the Franciscan order and appointed him the Procurator of the new congregation. He then returned to the Nagpur group of his Brothers.
However, his relationship with Msgr. Pelkmans had been a stormy one and he finally broke off with him and constituted his group into a separate congregation under the Fransalian Bishop Jean Marie Crochet of Nagpur as the Congregation of the Missionary Brothers of St. Francis of Assisi, or C.M.S.F.. This was on February 21, 1901. Moritz was chosen as the Superior-General of the new congregation and Hohn as the Asst. Superior-General. The community chose to retain its Franciscan character, i.e., remain within the Franciscan order as an autocephalous constituent congregation.
In 1902, the Nimar Mission in the North Khandesh region in the province of Central India & Berrars with Khandwa
Khandwa
Khandwa is a town in the Nimaad region of Madhya Pradesh, an Administrative State in central India. It is the administrative headquarters of Khandwa District, formerly known as East Nimar District.Khandwa is an ancient town, with many places of worship, like many other towns in India...
as its headquarters was assigned to the new congregation.
Between this period and the outbreak of World War I, the young congregation made rapid and impressive strides in its expansion and development. They had expanded to place like Agra
Agra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
and Crishnagar (Krishnanagar
Krishnanagar
Krishnanagar can refer to:* Krishnanagar, Agartala, a locality in Agartala, Tripura, India.* Krishna Nagar, Hyderabad, a neighbourhood of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.* Krishnanagar, Nadia, a town in Nadia district, West Bengal, India.....
in the Bengal Presidency); had been given the Padroado
Padroado
The Padroado , was an arrangement between the Holy See and the kingdom of Portugal, affirmed by a series of treaties, by which the Vatican delegated to the kings of Spain and Portugal the administration of the local Churches...
parish of Mount Poinsur
Mount Poinsur
Mount Poinsur is located in the suburbs of Bombay, and the site of St. Francis of Assisi Church, Mt. Poinsur...
on the island of Salsette next to Bombay, by the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Padroado Bishop of Damaõ, and had expanded to Maslianico
Maslianico
Maslianico is a comune in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about north of Milan and about northwest of Como, on the border with Switzerland. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,469 and an area of 1.3 km².Maslianico borders the following...
in north Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
At the outbreak of World War I, the British India government interned the German brothers of the congregation, including Moritz. Towards the close of the war, while most of the brothers were deported, Moritz and three of his companions were permitted to stay back. The future of the congregation hanged on the thread of uncertainty.
By 1921, the first of the deportees began to return to India and the congregation began to reclaim its lost ground.
In the first-ever General Chapter of the congregation, held in 1930 under the auspices of the Pontifical Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide), Moritz was elected Superior-General. In the 2nd. General Chapter of the congregation, he was re-elected.
At the outbreak of World War II, the British briefly detained him, but owing to his ill health and advanced age, he was set free.
On November 19, 1941, he resigned office and exactly one year later, on November 19, 1942, he died at Mount Poinsur
Mount Poinsur
Mount Poinsur is located in the suburbs of Bombay, and the site of St. Francis of Assisi Church, Mt. Poinsur...
. His mortal remains are laid to rest in the Monastorial Cemetery at Mount Poinsur.
The Generalate of Paulus Moritz's Congregation is located in the vicinity of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church, Mt. Poinsur
Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church, Mt. Poinsur
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church, Mount Poinsur, Borivali has been a Catholic Parish from 1547 to 1739 and again from 1912 onwards. It is presently operated by the clergy Fr. Franklyn Mathias , Fr. Suren Abreu,...
, Mount Poinsur
Mount Poinsur
Mount Poinsur is located in the suburbs of Bombay, and the site of St. Francis of Assisi Church, Mt. Poinsur...
, at the Monastery of St. Francis of Assisi, Mount Poinsur, Bombay 400 103, at a short distance east from the Borivali Railway station.
Today, the C.M.S.F. friars operate not only the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception parish and their friary, but also the St. Francis of Assisi Technical Institute nearby, which provides vocational training in the technical arts to students.
Sources
- 1982 Directory of the Archdiocese of Bombay, by Frs. Leslie J. Ratus & Errol Rosario, Seminary of Pope St. Pius XSt. Pius X SeminaryThe Seminary of St. Pius X , or St. Pius X Seminary, is a Filipino Roman Catholic secondary school and seminary in the Lawaan hills, Roxas City, Capiz in the Philippines run by the Catholic priests of the Archdiocese of Capiz. The seminary and its surrounding areas comprise some three hectares of...
, Bombay. No copyright mentioned.
- School Diary. 2003 edition, St. Francis of Assisi School, Mount Poinsur. No copyright mentioned.