Johannes Braun (28 October 1919 – 17 July 2004) was a

Roman Catholic Bishop In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an Holy Orders, ordained Minister (Catholic Church), minister who holds the fullness of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, sacrament of Holy orders in the Catholic Church, holy orders and is responsible ...

and an

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

Life

Early years

Braun studied

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

. His education was interrupted when he was called up for military service.

War War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

ended in May 1945 and he was ordained at Paderborn on 8 August 1948 by Archbishop Lorenz Jaeger, celebrating his First Mass a week later at St. Lambert's, the main church in

Ascheberg Ascheberg () is a municipality in the district of Coesfeld in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The neighbouring cities, towns and municipalities of Ascheberg are (clockwise, starting in the North) the city Münster, the town Drenste ...

The priest

Between 1948 and 1952 he served as a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

in St. Sebastian's parish at

. During this time he devoted energy to building up the Norbertinum Training Centre for men coming to a priestly vocation only after obtaining their secular professional qualifications. He headed up this project till 1970, providing an entire generation of priests for the "Mid-Germany Diaspora". On 26 September 1963 Pope Paul conferred on him the (by now honorary) title of a

Papal chamberlain A Papal Gentleman, also called a Gentleman of His Holiness, is a lay attendant of the pope and his papal household in Vatican City. Papal gentlemen serve in the Apostolic Palace near St. Peter's Basilica in ceremonial positions, such as escorting d ...

Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

.''

Annuario Pontificio The ''Annuario Pontificio'' (Italian for ''Pontifical Yearbook'') is the annual directory of the Holy See of the Catholic Church. It lists the popes in chronological order and all officials of the Holy See's departments. It also provides names ...

(1964)'',

Vatican Publishing House The Vatican Publishing House ( it, Libreria Editrice Vaticana; la, Officina libraria editoria Vaticana; LEV) is a publisher established by the Holy See in 1926. It is responsible for publishing official documents of the Roman Catholic Church, ...

, p. 1239

The bishop

On 3 March 1970 Pope Paul appointed Johannes Braun as

Titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Putia in Byzacena, and also, on 18 April 1970, as an Auxiliary bishop in

. Putia in Byzacena was a diocese corresponding to an administrative region in a province created by the

Emperor Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles t ...

in the third century, and now represented by a large desert in the central part of modern-day

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. It had not needed or supported a bishop for more than a thousand years. The need from Braun's appointments was part of a complex practical set of challenges confronting The Church that had arisen closer to home and much more recently. Magdeburg, where Braun was based, had for three centuries been an overwhelmingly

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

city. However, secular frontier changes mandated by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and supported by her wartime allies, coupled with ethnic cleansing on an industrial scale, meant that even this most Protestant of German cities now contained a large

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

population, made of political refugees from

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

and other traditionally German Catholic regions. From the perspective of the Roman Catholic Church, there had not been an

Archbishopric of Magdeburg The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic archdiocese (969–1552) and Prince-Archbishopric (1180–1680) of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River. Planned since 955 and established in 968, the Roma ...

since 1680:

was included in the

Archdiocese of Paderborn The Archdiocese of Paderborn is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany; its seat is Paderborn.Allied zones of occupation had been transformed into two separate Ger man states. Initially the

frontier A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts o ...

dividing the two Germanys was entirely permeable, but after 1951, and more particularly after

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, as the secular authorities struggled to prevent a mass-exodus of working age citizens, it became impossible to cross between the two halves of Germany. For the church authorities it also became impossible to administer the church in Magdeburg, which was in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, from

, which was in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. Along with his more exotic titles, therefore, Johannes Braun also became, in 1973, the church's

. The consecration on 18 April 1970 involved three new Auxiliary bishops for the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: in addition to Johannes Braun, they were

Hugo Aufderbeck Hugo Aufderbeck (23 March 1909 – 17 January 1981) was a Roman Catholic theologian. He served as Bishop and Apostolic Administrator in the Episcopal Office of Erfurt-Meiningen. Life Early years Aufderbeck was born in Hellefeld, a small vill ...

from

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

and Gerhard Schaffran from

Görlitz Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, :de:Ostlausitzer Mundart, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and ...

. Braun was also a patron between 1973 and 1990 of the episcopal "Not in der Welt" (''"Global Destitution"'') relief organisation. Braun's period of episcopal office, which lasted for nearly two decades, started in a period of heightened social tension, with a popular mood affected by the backwash from the

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...

in the east and a period of well publicised student and worker unrest across much of western Europe. There were practical problems resulting from the

division of Germany Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics * Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military * Division (military), a formation typically consistin ...

, and there were constant tensions with the secular authorities, even if government in East Germany was for most of the time less confrontational in its approach than in neighbouring Poland where the perceived political threat to the regime from the church was much greater. Braun's approach was traditionalist. He had a pastoral concern for the re-evangelization of the "Mid-Germany Diaspora", but was not an overtly political bishop. Braun was involved in controversy within the priestly community in 1988 when a group of priests triggered a Papal visitation to investigate aspects of his ministry. The formal grounds for the visitation were stated to be "Mängeln in der bischöflichen Amtsführung" (''"Shortcomings in episcopal administration"''). The Visitors concluded that around 95% of the priests under his administration supported "their" bishop. 1989 was a year of growing street protests which would turn out to be the trigger for a terminal crisis of confidence and legitimacy for the

political establishment ''The Establishment'' is a term used to describe a dominant group or elite that controls a polity or an organization. It may comprise a closed social group that selects its own members, or entrenched elite structures in specific institutions. ...

in the

. On 20 September 1989 it was Johannes Braun who was the only

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

to sign a

Pastoral letter A pastoral letter, often simply called a pastoral, is an open letter addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of a diocese or to both, containing general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumst ...

questioning the monopoly of power enjoyed by the country's ruling Socialist Unity Party. Johannes Braun celebrated his 71st birthday a little more than three weeks after

Reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governmen ...

. 1990 was also the year of his retirement. He was succeeded as

by Leo Nowak who later, in 1994, became Magdeburg's bishop when the

Roman Catholic Diocese As of October 5, 2021, the Catholic Church in its entirety comprises 3,171 ecclesiastical jurisdictions, including over 652 archdioceses and 2,248 dioceses, as well as apostolic vicariates, apostolic exarchates, apostolic administrations, ap ...

was reinstated after a lapse of more than three centuries. On retirement, Braun relocated to

where he remained for the rest of his life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Johannes 1919 births 2004 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops 20th-century German Roman Catholic bishops Papal chamberlains 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests