- Bartholomew Holzhauser
Infobox Saint
name=Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser
birth_date=birth date|1613|8|24|mf=y
death_date=death date and age|1658|5|20|1613|8|24|mf=y
feast_day=May 20
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church
imagesize=200px
caption="Bartholomew Holzhauser in the Hall of Fame, Munich"
birth_place=Laugna ,Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg ,Holy Roman Empire (nowBavaria ,Germany )
death_place=Bingen,Electorate of Mainz ,Holy Roman Empire (nowRhineland-Palatinate ,Germany )
titles=Confessor
beatified_date=
beatified_place=
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canonized_date=
canonized_place=
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attributes=
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issues=Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (
Laugna ,August 24 ,1613 - Bingen,May 20 ,1658 ) was a Germanpriest , a founder of a religious community, and a visionary and writer of prophecies.Early life
Bartholomew Holzhauser was born into the family of Leonard and Catherine Holzhauser, who were poor, pious, and honest people. Leonard and Catherine had eleven children, including Bartholomew. Leonard Holzhauser practiced as a
shoemaker . Young Bartholomew developed a great love forbook s and an earnest desire to enter the sacred ministry.At
Augsburg , he was admitted to a free school for poor boys, earning his living by sing door to door andbeg ging. He fell sick of anepidemic raging at that time. After his recovery, Bartholomew went home and for a time helped his father at work.Education
He then continued his studies at
Neuburg andIngolstadt , with the aid of kind friends and theJesuit s in particular. His teachers were unanimous in praising his talents, his piety, and his modesty, and entertained great hopes of his usefulness in the service of the Church.On
July 9 ,1636 , he received the degree ofDoctor of Philosophy , and then studiedtheology , in which he merited thebaccalaureate onMay 11 ,1639 . He was ordained into the priesthood by the Bishop ofEichstätt , and said his first Holy Mass onPentecost Sunday, June 12, 1639 in the Church of Our Lady of Victory, at Ingolstadt.Priestly life
He exercised his priestly functions at this place for some time, and was soon much sought after as a
confessor . In the meantime he attended lectures at the university and was declaredlicentiate oftheology onJune 14 ,1640 . On August 1 of the same year, he came into theArchdiocese of Salzburg , and was made dean andpastor ofTittmoning .On
February 2 ,1642 , he became pastor of St John's at Leoggenthal, in theTyrol , at the behest of theBishop of Chiemsee .In the spring of 1655, at the invitation of Archbishop
Johann Philipp von Schönborn , he went toMainz where he was soon appointed pastor atBingen on the Rhine, and in 1657 dean of the district ofAlgesheim .He died at Bingen, in the spring of 1658, at the age of only forty-five. Many wonderful things are related of him, extraordinary cures and the like. On the occasion of the second centenary of his death, a great celebration was held at Bingen in the presence of the
Bishop of Mainz . The location of his remains was again found, and in 1880 a new monument was erected over his grave at the parish church. He was declaredVenerable by theRoman Catholic Church .Founder of the Bartholomites
Bartholomew Holzhauser founded the "
Bartholomites ", called "United Brethren" or officially "Institutum clericorum sæcularium in communi viventium", also receiving the designation "Communists " in the aftermath of theThirty Years War inEurope . BecauseFaith had become lukewarm among the faithful, and morals and discipline had relaxed not only in the laity but also in the clergy, he decided to establish a new religious society as a remedy.This would become a congregation of secular priests, who would lead an apostolic life in the community, and become models of priestly perfection and zealous leaders of the people. Their principle task was to educate in the seminaries. The members of the secular congregation were expected to live in the seminaries, or in groups of two or three in the parishes, and to follow a set routine of daily prayers and exercises. Funds were to be in common, and all female servants were to be dismissed. No vows were to be taken, but a simple promise of obedience to the superior was to be made, confirmed by an oath.
Father Holzhauser first tried to establish such a community in the
diocese of Eichstätt , but did not succeed. AtTittmoning , encouraged byJohn Christopher von Lichtenstein ,Bishop of Chiemsee , suffragan and principal adviser of theArchbishop of Salzburg , he made a good beginning. Priests joined from the diocese of Chiemsee and from other dioceses.Holzhauser was a visionary, and made his visions public by presenting them in 1646 to Emperor
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and to DukeMaximilian I, Elector of Bavaria .Ludwig Clarus published these visions, along with a commentary showing their partial fulfillment, in German, in 1849.One of the prophetic visions concerned
England . Holzhauser foresaw the execution ofCharles I of England and the complete ruin of the Church in that kingdom. He also foresaw that after the Holy Sacrifice had ceased for 120 years, England would be converted and do more for religion than it had done after its first conversion. This seems to have been fulfilled, for prohibition of Mass under penalty of capital punishment was enacted in 1658, and partially recalled in 1778.He also wrote a remarkable work on the last book of the
New Testament , theRevelation or theApocalypse , which today is still held in high regard by Roman Catholics. He interpreted the book of the Apocalypse as follows: The seven stars and the seven candlesticks seen by St John signify seven periods of the history of the Church, from its foundation to its consummation at the final judgment. To these periods correspond the seven churches ofAsia Minor , the seven days of the Mosaic record of creation, the seven ages before Christ, and the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. Since, he claimed, all life is developed in seven stages, so God has fixed seven periods for regeneration.The central features of this apocalyptic commentary, concerned the strong ruler, or
Grand Monarch , and theHoly Pope , a favorite subject of medieval prophecy, as well as the division of church history into seven periods.At the death of Holzhauser, the community had members at Chiemsee, Salzburg,
Freising , Eichstätt,Würzburg , and Mainz. The institute, however, made many enemies. At the end of the eighteenth century it became extinct, after having had 1595 members.Bibliography
Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser wrote the following religious works:
* Constitutiones et exercitia spiritualia Clericorum sæcularium in communi viventium, Cologne, 1662; Würzburg, 1669, Rome, 1680, Mainz, 1782. These constitutions, used in many seminaries during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were of value also for the spread of primary education among the people.
* Epistola fundamentalis, 1644. It was written for the consolation and encouragement of his disciples in their heavy trials, when enemies tried to destroy the community.
* De humilitate.
* Tractatus de discretione spiritum.
* Documenta pro iis qui conversioni hæreticorum et infidelium se impendunt.
* Visiones: This work contains the ten visions of Holzhauser:
** De septem animalibus
** De unâ monarchiâ et duabus sedibus
** De s. Michaele archangelo et sedibus
** De ecclesiâ sponsâ Dei
** De propriâ personâ Jesu
** De egressione Danubii
** De verme grandi
** De conversione Germaniæ
** Exprobratio vitiorum, exprobratio impœnitentiæ, quomodo revertatur?
** De duabus personis
* Interpretatio Apocalypsis usque ad cap. XV, v. 5, 1784, Bamberg. It includes the seven ages of the Church:
** the status seminativus or the first age of the Church, from Christ and the Apostles to Pope Linus and Emperor Nero,
** the status irrigativus or the second age of the Church, the days of persecution,
** the status illuminativus or the third age of the Church, from Pope Sylvester to Leo III,
** the status pacifitcus or the fourth age of the Church from Leo III to Leo X,
** the status afflictionis et purgativus or the fifth age of the Church, from Leo X to a strong ruler or grand monarch and a holy pope,
** the status consolationis of the sixth age of the Church, from that holy pope to the birth of Antichrist,
** the status desolationis are the seventh and last age of the Church, from the Antichrist to the end of the world.Literature
*Arneth, Michael, "Seelsorge am Seelsorger: Bartholomäus Holzhauser, 1613-1658, Leben und Werk," Trier: Burghard, 1993. ISBN 3-930161-01-X (German)
External links
*PND|118774824
*1913CE|Bartholomew HolzhauserReferences
*Catholic
Persondata
NAME= Holzhauser, Bartholomew
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Germanpriest , founder of a religious community and visionary and writer of prophecies
DATE OF BIRTH=24 August ,1613
PLACE OF BIRTH=Laugna
DATE OF DEATH=20 May ,1658
PLACE OF DEATH=Bingen
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