Pastor Aloys Henhöfer once wrote: With a great portion of our people all moral conceptions have been lost or so weakened that they have become void of all influence upon their lives. They believe black to be white and white black...The bottom cause is told briefly with one word: The falling away from God and His Anointed; from Christ and His Word-unbelief.... (History of the Evangelical Association: 1850-1875, By Reuben Yeakel)
Henhöfer was the fourth child of a Catholic farming family in the Margraviate of Baden. He attended the grammar school in Rastatt from 1802 and studied at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau from 1811. In 1814 he came to the seminary in Meersburg, where he was ordained a Catholic priest in 1815. As a tutor, he came to Reichsfreiherr Julius von Gemmingen-Steinegg (1774-1842) at Steinegg Castle near Mühlhausen an der Würm, where he also received the parish post in 1818 after the death of the local priest.
In poor Mühlhausen, smuggling and hunting were the order of the day, and the youth also showed signs of neglect. Henhöfer preached the "pure gospel" beyond the confessional boundaries and attracted both Catholic and Protestant believers to his sermons. In 1819 he established contact with the pietistic Brüdergemeinde Korntal, but in the same year he had to answer to the episcopal vicariate in Bruchsal for the first time because of the content of his sermons. He increasingly broke away from the Catholic Church, so that in 1822 he was finally suspended from office, arrested in Bruchsal and faced with 80 charges. After he had presented the Vicariate with a document containing his views on Holy Scripture, he was expelled from the Catholic Church as late as 1822.
In 1823 Henhöfer finally converted to Protestantism. He was followed by 44 families with a total of 220 people from his former parish in Mühlhausen, including the barons of Gemmingen-Steinegg. In 1830 Julius von Gemmingen-Steinegg had a Protestant church built in Mühlhausen and a Protestant school with teachers' and pastors' quarters established. However, at the request of the Catholic church management, Henhöfer was denied a position as a Protestant pastor in Mühlhausen. Instead he was transferred to Graben near Karlsruhe.
After a sermon in the Schlosskirche in Karlsruhe in 1827, he was transferred to the parish of Spöck and Staffort, where he worked until his death in 1862. From 1830 he fought there for the Augsburg Confession and against the introduction of a rationalist catechism.
Gravemarker:
Here rests / Aloys Henhöfer / Doctor of Theology, / Pastor zu Spöck und Staffort / for 35 years. / born in Völkersbach on 11 July 1789, / died here on 5 December 1862.
From 1848 onwards, Henhöfer helped to build several orphanages and rescue centres, including the Hardt Foundation, as well as two deaconesses' houses in Karlsruhe and Nonnenweier. In 1849 the Evangelical Association for the Inner Mission of the Augsburg Confession ("AB Association") was founded. In 1856 Henhöfer received an honorary doctorate from the University of Heidelberg.
He died in 1862 of pneumonia and was buried in Spöck. (Wikipedia)
Aloys Henhöfer, German Theologian born at Vøolkerback (Near Carlsruhe) July 11 1789, died at Spöck Dec 5, 1862. He was born of Roman Catholic parents and in 1811 entered the University of Freiburg, later attending the seminary at Meersburg, where he was ordained priest. After acting fo three years as a private tutor, he was appointed to the parish of Mühlhausen in 1818. His sermons soon began to show a marked Evangelical tendency, deepened by his reading of Boo's pamphlet Christus Für uns und in uns. Henhöfer made many enemies, however and the episcopal vicar at Bruchal requested him to vindicate himself. In reply he published his Christliches Glaubensbekenntnis des Pfarrers Henhöfer von Mühlhausen (Heidelberg 1823) which caused his excommunication from the roman Catholic Church. Together with many members of his former congregation, he joined the Evangelical Church, and was installed as pastor of Graben (near Carlsruhe) in 1823. Four years later he was appointed to the pastorate of Spöck, where he officiated for thirty-five years. Together with several young theologians, whom he had converted, he published a signed protest against a new catechism which had been introduced by the church authorities, which was characteristic of their lukewarm spirit. This pamphlet, published in 1830 and entitled Der neue Landeskatechismus der evangelischen Kirche des Grossherzogtums Baden, geprütf nach der heilgen Schrift und den symbolischen Büchern, became immensely popular, and gave rise to a lively controversy, in which even a Catholic clergyman took part, only to be refuted by Henhöfer in his Biblische Lehre vom Heilswege und von der Kirche (Speyer, 1832) while only the Christliche Mittelungen, of which he was one of the founders, aided his Evangelical propaganda.
The French Revolution of 1830, and the inner disturbances which agitated Germany in 1848 and 1849, caused a religious upheaval in in Baden in favor of liberalism, and Henhöfer was compelled to flee to Stuttgart. During the latter years of his life he published Baden und seine Revolution. Ursache und Heilung (anonymously); Die wahre katholische Kirch und ihr Oberhaupt (Heidelberg, 1845 and others. (Sources: Bibliography: E. Frommel, Aus den Leben des Dr. Aloys Henhöfer, Carlsruhe, 1865 and F. von Weech, Badische Biographien, 2 vol. Darmstadt, 1875, from The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge ..., Volume 5 edited by Albert Hauck)
Documents related to Aloys Henhoëfer:
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| Philipp Scholl birth 1825 film 102078348 page 983 |
Translation by Marion Wolfert
Born
on the 12 February 1825 at noon and christened at one in the afternoon
on the 15 Feb 1825 was Philipp. He was the illegitimate son of Christina
SCHOLL(in), who was the legitimate daughter of the deceased Wendel
SCHOLL and wife Katharina nee NUCHTER, (in).
Witnesses are:
1. The citizen Wilhelm KRAUSS,
2. His wife Katharina nee Nagel,
3. The citizen Philipp KRAUSS,
4. His wife Margaretha nee SCHOLL
Translation of birth document:
Illegitimate (on left), The 12 Feb at night towards 12 o'clock was born
and the 15th of Feb baptized at 1:00 o'clock, Philip the mother of this
child is Christina Scholl, legitimate daughter of the deceased Wendel
Scholl and his wife Catharina geboren Neutcher.
Witnesses: Willhelm Krauss, and his wife Katharina geboren (maiden name) Nagel, Philipp Krauss a Bürger (citizen) and his wife Margaretha geboren (maiden name) Scholl. (signed) Herhöfer Pfr.
Notes: Pfarrer or Pastor - höfer means a farmer from a specific farm (Hof), such names are often used in Austria.
Notes: Margaretha
is Christina's next older sister b 1784. She married Philip Krauss in
Graben 15 Feb 1825. (Note: while Phillip's grandfather Wendel Scholl
died 8 years before in 1817. Catharina is very much alive. She will
enjoy seeing baby Philipp for exactly 9 months and on the 12the of
November 1828 see passes. Catharina lived 68 years 7 months 26 days.)
Wilhelm Krauss (MQB2-LH1) was born 13 Sep 1782. He married Eva Katharina Nagel 17 Feb 1818 in Graben. Katharina was born 27 May 1793 and died 20 Dec 1862 at 69 years. Wilhelm died 17 Jun 1838. Wilhelm Krauss was a citizen and farmer according to Eva Katharina Nagel's death record.
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| Philipp Scholl bap 15 Feb 1825 film 102550955 page 551 |
Translation by Marion Wolfert:
On the 12 February, 1825 born around noon and christened on the 15 February at 1 o’clock was Philipp SCHOLL. He was the illegitimate child of Christina SCHOLL(in), who was the daughter of the deceased Wendel SCHOLL and wife Katharina NUCHTER,(in)?
Witnesses are:
1. The citizen Wilhelm KRAUß,
2. His wife Katharina nee Nagel,
3. The citizen Philipp KRAUß,
4. His wife Margaretha nee SCHOLL
dated 15 Feb 1825
On the 12 February, 1825 born around noon and christened on the 15 February at 1 o’clock was Philipp SCHOLL. He was the illegitimate child of Christina SCHOLL(in), who was the daughter of the deceased Wendel SCHOLL and wife Katharina NUCHTER,(in)?
Witnesses are:
1. The citizen Wilhelm KRAUß,
2. His wife Katharina nee Nagel,
3. The citizen Philipp KRAUß,
4. His wife Margaretha nee SCHOLL
dated 15 Feb 1825
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| / Aloys Henhöfer / Doctor of Theology / Pastor of Spöck and Staffort / rests here for 35 years. / give to Völkersbach on July 11th, 1789, / die there on December 5th, 1862. |
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Translation: Henhöfer Pfarrer (The word "Pfarrer" is abbreviated
from Graben birth/baptismal records)
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