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Johann Martin Schleyer

German Catholic priest (1831–1912)

Summary

German Catholic priest (1831–1912)

Field	Value
name	Johann Martin Schleyer
image	Johann Martin Schleyer 1908.jpg
caption	Schleyer in 1908
birth_name	Martin Schleyer
birth_date
birth_place	Oberlauda, Grand Duchy of Baden
death_date
death_place	Konstanz, German Empire
occupation	Catholic priest
known_for	Volapük

Johann Martin Schleyer (; 18 July 183116 August 1912) was a German Catholic priest who invented the constructed language Volapük. His official name was "Martin Schleyer"; he added the name "Johann" (in honor of his godfather) unofficially.

Life and work

Schleyer was born in Oberlauda (Baden). According to his own report, the idea of an international language arose out of a conversation he had with one of his parishioners, a semi-literate German peasant whose son had emigrated to America and could no longer be reached by mail because the United States Postal Service could not read the father's handwriting.

He was ordained in 1856. From 1867 to 1875, Schleyer served as pastor at Krumbach near Meßkirch. At the end of this time he was jailed for four months for preaching against socialism during the Kulturkampf.

From 1875 to 1885 he was pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul parish in Litzelstetten. He later wrote that the first seven years in Litzelstetten were among the happiest of his life.

SionsharfeAt this time he was editor of the magazine Sionsharfe, devoted mainly to Catholic poetry. In May 1879 he published an article on Volapük in this magazine. This sketch was followed by a full-length book in 1880. The language spread widely and new clubs sprung all over Europe. After 1885 Schleyer had to retire from his pastoral duties due to ill health, though he was still involved in the Volapük movement until it fell apart a few years later.

In 1894 Pope Leo XIII made him a papal prelate.

Schleyer died in Konstanz in 1912.

Remembrance

A campaign to beatify him was started in June 2001, based in his home parish of Litzelstetten. The high school Martin-Schleyer-Gymnasium Lauda-Königshofen in Lauda is named for him. |File:JM Schleyer Grabstein.jpg|Grave of Johann Martin Schleyer, Main cemetery of Konstanz, Germany |File:Konstanz-hauptfriedhof-grab-von-johann-martin-schleyer-detail.JPG|Hauptfriedhof Konstanz, Germany (main cemetery), Riesenbergweg. Grave of Johann Martin Schleyer, inscription. Area 12, Row 11 in the north eastern part of the cemetery.

References

Garvía, Roberto. (2015). "Esperanto and Its Rivals: The Struggle for an International Language". University of Pennsylvania Press.
LaFarge, Paul. (2000-08-01). "Pük, Memory".
"Johann Martin Schleyer".
Olsen, Neil. (2003-03-31). "Marketing an International Auxiliary Language: Challenges to a New Artificial Language". Journal of Universal Language.
(February 2002). "Ĉu Okazos Beatigo de Prelato J. M. Schleyer?". Dio Benu.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1831-births 1912-deaths people-from-lauda-königshofen 19th-century-german-roman-catholic-priests constructed-language-creators people-from-the-grand-duchy-of-baden speakers-of-international-auxiliary-languages volapük volapükologists 20th-century-german-roman-catholic-priests creators-of-writing-systems

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