OVERBERG, BERNHARD HEINRICH. - Catholic pedagogue and catechist, born near Voltlage (Westphalia) on 10 May 1754, died at Münster on 9 November 1826. He pursued philosophical and theological studies at Münster, was ordained priest in 1779, and then became assistant priest at Everswinkel.
The vicar general Franz von Fürstenberg, general director of the schools of the principality, in 1782 called O. to direct the Institute for the training of elementary schoolteachers that he had founded. O. was its organizer and guiding spirit, exercising a great influence on the reorganization of elementary and catechetical instruction throughout the territory. Anticipating the persecutions against the religious teaching orders, he also greatly expanded the training of lay female teachers inspired by apostolic principles. He played a very notable part in the drafting of the excellent school constitution issued for the Principality of Münster in 1801. From 1806, as rector of the Münster Seminary, he devoted himself to the moral formation of the clergy, continuing to exert his influence in the educational sphere even under the new regimes.
For the teaching of catechism, O. remains of fundamental importance for the wise norms he formulated, the fruit of study and direct experience.
Principal works: *Anweisung zum zweckmässigen Schulunterricht für die Schullehrer im Hochstift Münster* (Münster 1793), which went through 6 editions during the author’s lifetime; *Bibliothek Geschichte des Alten und Neuen Testaments zur Belehrung und Ergänzung besonders für Lehrer, grössere Schüler und Hausväter* (ibid. 1799); *Christkatholisches Religionshandbuch, um sich und andere zu belehren* (ibid. 1804); *Katechismus der christkatholischen Lehre* (ibid. 1804). These are included in *Sämmtliche Schriften für Schulen* (6 vols., ibid. 186-1868). A selection of O.’s writings appears in J. L. Gressler, *Klassiker der Pädagogik*, 1904.
OVIEDO, DIOCESE OF. - Side of a reliquary casket in embossed silver with inscription in Arabic and Latin, gift of Alfonso VI (c. 1075) – Oviedo, Cathedral, “Cámara santa”.