Beda Weber and the Frankfurt Parish

Supplement to the Catholic Papers from Tyrol 1849 No. 4.

Tyrol.

Innsbruck, 10 Jan. In a communication from Frankfurt dated the 3rd of this month, the "Deutsche Zeitung" presents the election of our distinguished Beda Weber as pastor of the local parish as imminent. The delay is reportedly caused solely by the settlement of a formal dispute between the city senate and the Bishop of Limburg.

As gratifying as this honorable expression of confidence shown to a countryman abroad is to us Tyroleans, the loss of Professor Beda Weber would be equally painful. Tyrol is in want of nothing so much as thoroughly educated men of science. Nor has it ever been so necessary as now for all the intellectual forces of the land to set aside every private consideration and unite patriotically in the most earnest cooperation. For years, Beda Weber has been a leading figure in the aspiring Tyrolean literature; he can least of all be spared now. Ever since the completion of our university has been under discussion, serious thought has been given to drawing this man, who is so brilliantly active in poetry and science and so well versed in patriotic history and ancient German literature, out of the narrow confines of the secondary-school teaching post — however honorable it may be — into a higher, farther-reaching, and certainly more appropriate sphere of activity.

Will Beda Weber thwart these plans and wishes of his friends? Will he leave Tyrol, which he has sung of so warmly and depicted so beautifully? Will he withdraw from us now?

He will not! He will remain with us. This is his will, this his resolve. I can assure you of this with certainty. Just as over the years he managed most politely to decline the urgent invitations of the Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and of the Archbishop of Freiburg, who joined with him, he has likewise repeatedly refused all offers concerning the parish of Frankfurt. The zeal of his admirers was not, however, so easily deterred. The most reverend Bishop of Limburg surprised our countryman with a personal visit and made the most urgent appeals. Beda continued to excuse himself. When he referred in particular to his monastic superior, to whom he was bound in obedience by sacred vows, it was decided to place the decision into the hands of the prelate of Mariaberg. We know in advance how it will turn out, and we therefore have no fear of losing our Beda. —

Beda earned such great trust among the wider Catholic public in Frankfurt through his sermons from the pulpit in the cathedral and in the Church of St. Leonhard. What is demanded of a pastor there above all is oratorical talent that attracts Catholics and inspires respect in non-Catholics. As a writer, Beda commands language as no one else in Tyrol does, and as few in all of Germany do. His spoken delivery, too, moves freely and skillfully, warmly and brilliantly, electrifying the soul with flashes of genius. Among the speakers at the Pius Association in Mainz, he unquestionably carried off the palm. But nowhere are his books read more eagerly or judged more favorably than on the Main and the Rhine. Beda Weber is a celebrated name among educated Catholics in Frankfurt, Mainz, Koblenz, Bonn, and Cologne, as well as in Westphalia and the Baden Oberland. While the academies of Vienna and Munich recognized and distinguished Beda's erudition, countless pious souls in western Germany pay homage especially to his warmth of feeling, his blossoming imagination, his ingenious mysticism, and his Christian romanticism: his "Giovanna della Croce" in particular is favorite reading among the noblest men and women. The prosaic philistinism of Old Vienna's censorship had, as is well known, refused this excellent book the autocratic admittitur.

In the Paulskirche, too, Beda's name was already well known in advance. Rigid eyes from the left side fixed upon him immediately. The newspapers had adequately provided for his celebrity. For the songs of Tyrol, the visions of the seeress of Rovereto, and the tales from the history of the Reformation were hardly taken into the hands of the late Robert Blum, the deputy "without a standpoint," the barking Wesendonck, or the lymphatic Simon of Trier. But from the Allgemeine Zeitung, the Deutsche Zeitung, and other papers, they drew ample proof that Beda was the chieftain of the Tyrolean obscurantists. When he mounted the speaker's rostrum for the first time, an unusual silence fell, signaling the tension of minds. His refined diction, noble moderation, brilliant content, and less contentious subject matter allowed no outlet for hostility at that time. But the convention-seeking democrat and religion-hating atheist of Giessen did not wait for an opportunity; he picked a quarrel unprovoked. "We must get rid of the Austrians: we must shake the black-and-yellows of Vienna and the priests of Tyrol off our necks"; so a furious voice screeched into Beda's ear from behind one morning. Beda turned sharply around, drew his tall, Dante-like figure up even higher above the toad-like bloated, stubby stature of Mr. Vogt, and with flashing eyes rolled thunder down upon the modern "Nebuchadnezzar," such that the latter slunk away merely "coughing," without a reply.

Beda was insulted several times on the street on 18 September, and had thus been marked out beforehand by the agitators, like Ketteler. The same befell him during later disturbances, and a couple of scoundrels blocked his path. Yet when the Tyrolean fist was raised, the wretches gave way.

Beda proves an unshakable, truly Tyrolean courage both inside and outside the Paulskirche. When the National Assembly rose for a declaration in favor and honor of Robert Blum, Beda remained seated and motionless alongside a few similarly determined men, later declaring that he might well surrender his blood, but not his conviction. — May God protect our capable, noble-minded countryman and guide him safely back to his fatherland.

If, moreover, some apathetic Tyrolean or some biased, resentful opponent should turn up his nose at these lines as an untimely panegyric, I merely note: gossip has often enough poured foul wash-water over Beda Weber, and may continue to do so; my joy lies in contemplating and praising the good and praiseworthy wherever I find it.