OVERBERG, BERNHARD HEINRICH. – Catholic educator and catechist, b. near Voltlage (Westphalia) on 1 May 1754, d. in Münster on 9 November 1826. He pursued philosophical and theological studies at Münster, was ordained a priest in 1779, and then became an assistant priest in Everswinkel.
The vicar general Franz von Fürstenberg, director general of the schools of the principality, summoned O. in 1782 to direct the institute for the training of elementary-school teachers that he had founded. O. organized it and was its guiding spirit, exercising a great influence on the reorganization of elementary and catechetical instruction throughout the territory. Anticipating the persecution of religious teaching orders, he also greatly promoted the training of lay female teaching personnel inspired by apostolic principles. He played a very significant part in the preparation of the excellent school constitution promulgated for the Principality of Münster in 1801. From 1806, as rector of the Seminary of Münster, he devoted himself to the moral formation of the clergy, while continuing to exert his influence in educational circles under the new regimes as well.
O. remains of fundamental importance for the teaching of the catechism because of the wise norms he provided, 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; Biblische Geschichte des Alten und Neuen Testaments zur Belehrung und Ergänzung besonders für Lehrer, grössere Schüler und Hausväter (ibid. 1799); Christakatholisches Religionshandbuch, um sich und andere zu belehren (ibid. 1804); Katechismus der christakatholischen Lehre (ibid. 1804). They are included in Sämtliche Schriften für Schulen (6 vols., ibid. 1861–1868). A selection of O.’s writings in J. L. L. Gressler, Klassiker der Pädagogik, 1904.