Kirsch, Johan Peter

KIRSCH, JOHAN PETER. - Luxembourgish prelate, archaeologist and historian, b. at Dippach on 3 Nov. 1861, d. at Rome on 4 Feb. 1941. He studied at Luxembourg, where he was ordained a priest on 25 Aug. 1884; on 2 Nov. of the same year he came to Rome, to the Teutonic Cemetery, in order to specialize in Christian archaeology and ecclesiastical history. He enjoyed the friendship of G. B. De Rossi and of A. De Waal and attended the school of Paleography, diplomatics and archival science established in 1885 at the Vatican Archives, receiving from Card. G. Hergenröther, as the first, the diploma of archivist paleographer (1887).

He was the first director and organizer of the historical Institute founded in Rome by the Görres-Gesellschaft in 1888, and to his initiative is due the opening, in 1908, of the archaeological section of the same Society in Jerusalem. In the autumn of 1889, the Minister of Public Education of the Canton of Fribourg, G. Python, offered him the chair of patrology and Christian archaeology at the newly founded University of Fribourg, which K. then held brilliantly until 1932. In the academic year 1898-99 he also held the office of rector of the same University. He was the organizer, professor, first director (1925-41) and munificent benefactor of the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology (v.: ISTITUTI DI STUDI SUPERIORI, X) founded on 11 Dec. 1925 by Pius XI. As a scholar he took an active part in the First and Second International Congress of Christian Archaeology held in Split (1894) and in Rome (1900); as director of the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology he provided for the organization of the Third and Fourth held in Ravenna (1932) and in Rome (1938). He was consultor of first appointment of the historical section of the Sacred Congregation of Rites (1930) and apostolic protonotary (28 Apr. 1932).

He began his scholarly career with archival research on papal finance in the 13th and 15th centuries and on the revenues of the College of Cardinals in the 13th and 14th centuries. The fruit of his patient and learned investigations on this subject, especially in the Vatican Archives, is delivered in the following studies: Die päpstlichen Kollektorien in Deutschland während des XIV. Jahrhunderts (Paderborn 1894); Die Finanzverwaltung des Kardinalkollegiums im XIII. u. XIV. Jahrhundert (Münster in W. 1895); Die Rückkehr Urbans V. u. Gregors XI. von Avignon nach Rom (Paderborn 1898); L'administration des finances pontificales au XIVe siècle, in Revue d'hist. ecclés., 1 (1900), pp. 274-96; Die päpstlichen Annaten in Deutschland während des XIV. Jahrhunderts. I. Von Johann XXII. bis Innocenz VI. (Paderborn 1903, the second volume ready for the press was not published); La fiscalité pontificale dans les diocèses de Lausanne, Genève et Sion, à la fin du XIIIe et au XIVe siècle, in Revue d'histoire ecclés. suisse, 2 (1908), pp. 31-44, 102-13, 190-204; Die Annatenbulle Klemens V. für England, Schottland u. Irland vom 1. Feb. 1906, in Römische Quartalschrift, 27 (1913), pp. 202-207.

However interesting the results acquired with the above-mentioned research might be, K. felt drawn toward Christian antiquities, to which he dedicated his gifts as an archaeologist and historian for forty years. He turned his critical acumen to Roman hagiography and liturgy: he wrote on St. Cecilia (Die heilige Cecilia in der römischen Kirche des Altertums, Paderborn 1910); on the Sts. Four Crowned Martyrs (Die Passio der hl. « Vier Gebrünten » in Rom, in Historisches Jahrbuch der Görengesellschaft, 38 [1917], pp. 72-97); on the martyrs of the Via Labicana, Aurelia and Cornelia (Die Märtyrer der Katakombe « ad duas Lauras » an der Via Labicana in Rom, in Ehrengabe zum 50. Geburtstag S.K.H. des Prinzen Johann Georg. v. Sachsen, Fribourg in Br. 1920, pp. 577-602; Le memorie dei martiri sulla Via Aurelia e Cornelia, in Miscellanea Ehre, II, Rome 1924, pp. 63-100; Die Grabstätte der « Felices du postifices et martyrer » an der Via Aurelia, in Römische Quartalschrift, 33 [1925], pp. 1-24); on the feasts of Sts. Peter and Paul (Le feste degli apostoli s. Pietro e s. Paolo nel Martirologio geronimiano, in Riv. di arch. cristiana, 2 [1925], pp. 54-83; Die beiden Apostelfeste Petri Stuhlfeier u. Pauli Bekehrung im Januar, in Jahrbuch f. Liturgiewissenschaft, 5 [1925], pp. 48-68); on the Roman liturgical Stations (Origine e carattere primitivo delle Stazioni liturgiche di Roma, in Rendiconti Pont. Acc. rom. di archeol., 3 [1925], pp. 123-41; Die Stationskirchen des Missale Romanum, mit einer Untersuchung über Ursprung u. Entwicklung der liturgischen Stationsfeier, Fribourg in Br. 1926; L'origine des stations liturgiques du Missel Romain, in Ephemerides Lit., 41 [1927], pp. 137-50); on the legends and the cult of the Roman martyrs (Römische Märtyrerlegenden u. altchristliche Kirchen Roms, in Festschrift Georg v. Hertling, Kempten 1913, pp. 49-64); L'origine del culto dei martiri della Chiesa romana, in La scuola cattolica, 6th series, 9 [1927], pp. 161-74; Die Grabstätten der römischen Märtyrer u. ihre Stellung im liturgischen Märtyrerkultus, in Römische Quartalschrift, 38 [1930], pp. 107-31; The veneration of Martyrs in the ancient Church, in The Clerus review, 3 [1932], pp. 249-313.

However, the most valuable overall hagiographic-liturgical work on the Roman martyrs is Der stadtromische christliche Festkalender im Altertum (Münster in W. 1924), a hagiographic, archaeological and liturgical commentary on the Depositio martyrum, the Depositio episcoporum and the notices of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum relating to the Roman martyrs. This work has caused K. to be numbered among the most profound and reliable connoisseurs of the intricate Martyrologium Hieronymianum.

His activity as an archaeologist, after some minor essays, properly began with two articles on old St. Peter's (Beiträge zur Baugeschichte der alten Peterskirche, and Der Altar des heiligen Kreuzes in der alten Peterskirche, in Römische Quartalschrift, 4 [1890], pp. 110-24, 273-77). With 1893 he began to illustrate various ancient monuments of the Canton of Fribourg, among them the Burgundian cemetery of Fétigny (Le cimetière burgonde de Fétigny, Fribourg in Switzerland 1899), and to take an interest in the excavations that brought to light such precious monuments in Rome (the "Memoria Apostolorum", 1916-23), in Switzerland (1923-25), in the Rhineland: Bonn and Xanten (1932, 1934) and at Dura Europos (1933, 1937). His preferred subjects, however, were early Christian places of worship (Die christlichen Kultusgebäude im Altertum, Cologne 1893; Die christlichen Kultusgebäude in der vorkonstantinischen Zeit, in Festschrift des deutschen Campo santo in Rom, Rome 1897, pp. 6-20; Der Ursprung der altchristlichen Basilika, in Revue Luxembourgeoise, 1 [1906], pp. 397-411; Die vorkonstantinischen christlichen Kultusgebäude im Lichte der neuesten Entdeckungen im Osten, in Römische Quartalschrift, 41 [1933], pp. 15-28; Die Entwicklung des Bautypus der altchristlichen römischen Basilika, ibid., 43 [1935], pp. 1-22; Il trappetto nella basilica cristiana antica, in Scritti in onore di B. Nogara, Vatican City 1937, pp. 205-25; Gli edifici sacri cristiani nell'antichità, appendix to Fliche-Martin-Frutz, III, Turin 1939, pp. 537-63; Gli edifici sacri cristiani nei tre primi secoli della Chiesa, in Atti del IV Congresso internaz. di arch. crist., I, Vatican City 1940, pp. 113-26). Of particular interest are his contributions on ancient Christian iconography and the examination of a group of unpublished paintings of the cemetery of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus (Sull'origine dei motivi iconografici nella pittura cimiteriale di Roma, in Riv. di arch. crist., 4 [1927], pp. 259-88; Pitture inedite di un arcosolio dei SS. Pietro e Marcellino e Un gruppo di cripte dipinte inedite del cimitero dei SS. Pietro e Marcellino, ibid., 7 [1930], pp. 31-46, 903-34; Cubicoli dipinti nel cimitero dei SS. Pietro e Marcellino sulla Via Labicana, ibid., 9 [1932], pp. 17-36; Un cubicolo con pitture profane inedite nella catacombe dei SS. Pietro e Marcellino, ibid., 10 [1933], pp. 263-85).

To K. belongs the merit of having been the first to present a comprehensive critical study of the Roman Tituli. Even if his theory on their origin may be revised, the fact remains that his contribution is the best and most systematic that has been written on the subject (Die römischen Titelkirchen zur Zeit Konstantins des Grossen, in Konstantin der Grosse u. seine Zeit, supplement XX to the Römische Quartalschrift, 1913, pp. 315-39; Die römischen Titelkirchen im Altertum, Paderborn 1918; I santuari domestici di martiri nei Titoli romani ed altri simili santuari nelle Chiese cristiane e nelle case private di fedeli, in Rendiconti Pont. Accad. rom. di archeol., 2 [1924], pp. 27-43; Origine e carattere degli antichi Titoli cristiani di Roma, in Atti del III Congresso nazionale di Studi romani, I, Bologna [1935], pp. 39-47). His studies on ancient Christian epigraphy also deserve particular mention (Die Acclamationen und Gebete der altchristlichen Grabinschriften, Cologne 1897; Die christliche Epigraphik und ihre Bedeutung für die kirchengeschichtliche Forschung, Freiburg im Br. 1898; Les acclamations des épitaphes chrétiennes de l'antiquité et les prières liturgiques pour les défunts, in Compte rendu du VIe Congrès scientifique international des catholiques tenu à Fribourg (Suisse), Fribourg 1898, pp. 113-22). He treated the ancient Christian cemeteries of Rome in general in two limpid volumes of popularization (Aus den römischen Katakomben, Paderborn 1926, and Le catacombe romane, Rome 1933).

In the field of positive theology, mention must be made of the work Die Lehre von der Gemeinschaft der Heiligen im christlichen Altertum. Eine dogmengeschichtliche Studie (Mainz 1900). For scholars of Christian antiquities, from 1893 to 1940 K. periodically provided an exceedingly precious aid in the systematic bibliography on that subject, presented first in the Revue Hômit, 1 [1893], 2 [1894], 3 [1895], 4 [1896], then in the Römische Quartalschrift from 1900 to 1938 and above all in the Rivista di archeol. cristiana from 1929 to 1940.

K. loved to disseminate the results achieved by sound criticism and by the investigations of scholars relating to his field of study, as is evident from his enthusiastic and active collaboration on the great modern ecclesiastical encyclopedias (Realeucyklopädie der Christlichen Alterthümer of F. X. Kraus [4 arts.], 1886; DACL, 1907, 1908 [4 arts.]; DHG, 1909-24 [41 arts.]; Cath. Enc., 1907-12 [258 arts.]; LThK, 1930-38 [420 arts.]). His articles are constantly distinguished by clarity, precision and sound information. Moreover, he had occasion to employ his gifts as a historian in the reworking of the 4th, 5th and 6th editions of the Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchengeschichte, in 4 vols., by Cardinal G. Hergenröther, issued under his direction at Freiburg im Br. 1902-1909; 1911-16; 1924-25 (Italian version based on the 4th German edition by E. Rosa, 7 vols., Florence 1904-23), which has lent so much assistance to students of ecclesiastical history. After the 6th edition, K. deemed it opportune to present to the public a new Kirchengeschichte in collaboration with A. Bigelmair, J. Greven and A. Veit (5 vols. already published, 1930-50), reserving for himself the treatment of Christian antiquity (Die Kirche in der antiken griechisch-römischen Kulturwelt, Freiburg im Br. 1930).

A disciple and friend of the great historians and archaeologists of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Monsignor K., a most upright priest, endowed with truly exceptional qualities of mind and heart, brought a notable contribution to the renewal of advanced ecclesiastical studies, both through his scholarly output, listed above only in part, and by promoting numerous scholarly publications, especially at the Pontifical

Institute of Christian Archaeology, and above all through his teaching, in which he revealed himself a genuine and generous master, always most balanced in his judgments. To his disciples he gave his whole self with smiling kindness, encouraged them and rejoiced in their every success. Moving was the fatherly embrace he gave to a disciple after a brilliant defense of a thesis.

A. Pietro Frutaz