The voice of a popular German Capuchin preacher: The Weeg-Weiser gen Himmel (1668-1679) of Geminianus von Mainz

This essay wants to provide a preliminary introduction to, and initial contextualization of the sermons of the seventeenth-century Capuchin preacher Geminianus von Mainz (Geminianus Monacensis, ca. 1606-1672). To my knowledge, his literary production has never been a subject of exhaustive scholarship, even though it has been portrayed by some as a typical example of Bavarian baroque preaching from the later seventeenth century.¹ More recently, his metaphorical approach to marriage has been commented upon in passing by Ulrike Strasser and Merry Wiesner-Hanks,² whereas several culinary remarks in his sermons drew the attention of the late German gastrosopher Christoph Wagner, as can be read in the chapter on 'Barocke Lebensfreude im Spiegel österreichischer Barockpredigten' in his Universität der Genüsse, a modern encyclopedia of culinary taste.³ Beyond that, the sermons of Geminianus do not seem to have drawn much attention from specialists in Capuchin preaching. His works were probably overshadowed by the massive homiletic and poetic output of his near exact contemporary and fellow Capuchin friar, Prokopius Templinus. The latter's conversion to Catholicism, as well as his literary talents and his relatively well-documented preaching career made him from the outset a much more enticing figure.⁴

Geminianus von Mainz was a member of the Capuchin Bavaria province. In between stints as guardian and provincial definitor, he was for a long time active as a preacher, both in various urban centers, in the Bavarian and Austrian countryside, and also at the court of Salzburg. Late in life, Geminianus published at least three volumes of Sun- and Feastday sermons, presented as the [Geistlicher] Weeg-Weiser gen Himmel ([Spiritual] road guide to Heaven). These volumes might be interpreted as the written harvest of his preaching career. The sermons they contain illustrate the type of rhetorical embellishment and shape of homiletic argument used by an experienced Capuchin friar from Southern Germany who tried to maintain a balance between Capuchin simplicity and 'baroque' embellishment: while he incorporated elements of what we have come to see as 'baroque preaching', he saw himself as standing in the Capuchin preaching tradition, adopting a preaching style that might have been less elaborate and more down to earth than that of some of his more famous German Capuchin contemporaries. The sermon on beer provided in a transcription and a draft translation at the end of this article offers a perfect example. Before discussing Germinianus' sermons, it is important, however, to understand how the Capuchins conceived preaching, pulled between their quest for simplicity and poverty on one hand, and the tendencies towards more intricate homiletic fashions from the later sixteenth century onwards on the other.

Baroque preaching and the Capuchin homiletic tradition

Seventeenth-century preaching is often associated with Baroque magnificence and the display of extravagant rhetorical prowess.⁵ It is also the period in which Capuchin preaching might have reached its peak, both in the number of preachers active on the ground, quite a few of whom became very renowned homiletic practitioners, and in the production of model sermon collections and other preaching aids.⁶ Yet the Capuchin order from the outset had been keen to emphasize the importance of simple, evangelical preaching, in line with chapter nine of the Franciscan rule from 1223; Francis of Assisi and his early companions in that regard would have been the ultimate imitators of Christ and the Apostles. Hence, Capuchin legislation always stressed the importance of homiletic simplicity, sincerity, and brevity, suggesting that the promulgation of Christian truth should be imbued with the spirit of prayer and evangelical poverty, and that preaching should be the outward expression of the evangelical religious disposition of the preacher himself. Capuchin friars should preach as much through their example as through their words, and these words should reflect their life of evangelical poverty, humility and simplicity.

These concerns are voiced in the oldest Capuchin Albacina ordinations from 1529,⁷ and they are more or less repeated with some variations in all subsequent Capuchin constitutions all the way up to 1643, when constitutions...