Between Two Cultures: Fr. Hermann Joseph Untraut (1854-1941) and his Pioneering Efforts in the Liturgical Movement in Wisconsin Miranda Gail Henry St. Joseph, Minnesota B.A., Rice University, 1997 M.A., University ofVirginia, 2002 A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Faculty ofthe University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department ofR~ligious Studies University of Virginia May2003 © Copyright by Miranda Gail Henry All Rights Reserved May 2003 11 Abstract In 1925, a German American Catholic parish priest from the Diocese ofLa Crosse, Wisconsin, the Rev. Hermann Joseph Untraut (1854-1941), published a book entitled Die liturgische Bewegung (The Liturgical Movement). Based on a series of articles for a German Catholic newspaper, the book described liturgical renewal efforts then underway among some European Catholics and called upon German Catholics in the United States to reform Catholic liturgical practices by encouraging greater lay participation in the public worship of the Church. Probably in large part because it appeared only in German at a time when the language was near extinction in the United States, Untraut's book received little notice in his own day, and scholars of American Catholicism and the liturgical movement have largely overlooked his pioneering efforts. This dissertation examines the life and legacy of this forgotten figure and places him and his work in the context of German American Catholic life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. After an overview of the movement for liturgical reform that emerged first in European monasteries in the 1830s and gradually came to influence parish life and spread to the United States in the 1920s, the dissertation looks at the situation of German American Catholics in the United States in the decades around the turn of the twentieth century. This account draws on the numerous essays Untraut contributed to his German- language diocesan weekly newspaper in the 1880s, commenting on such issues as parochial education, the preservation of the German language, and the importance of German Catholic social organizations. Ill The remaining sections of the dissertation focus directly on Hermann Untraut. Chapter 3 recounts his biography, from his birth and education in Germany to his experiences as a pastor, chaplain, and supporter of liturgical reform in the United States. Chapter 4 describes the influence three European liturgical pioneers-Joseph Kramp, Pius Parsch, and Valentin Thalhofer-had on Untraut's ideas for liturgical renewal. Finally, Chapter 5 provides a close analysis of the theological positions and practical recommendations Untraut advocated in Die liturgische Bewegung and includes the first English translations of excerpts from his book. r IV Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Overview of the Liturgical Movement 7 Chapter 2: German Catholics in the United States 38 Chapter 3: Life and Work ofFr. Hermann Joseph Untraut (1854-1941) 95 Chapter 4: Influences on the Work ofHermann Joseph Untraut 131 Chapter 5: Summary and Critique of Die liturgische Bewegung 160 Epilogue: The Liturgical Movement from 1941 to Vatican II 203 Bibliography 215 v For my parents, All four of them VI Acknowledgments Writing a dissertation is a largely solitary endeavor. Completing a dissertation, however, requires the assistance and goodwill of many other people. It is my privilege and pleasure to thank those without whom this dissertation would not exist. My dissertation committee was a source of inspiration, encouragement, and advice throughout the research and writing process. Professor Heather Warren was a tireless advocate for the project, and her time, energy, and dedication made this a much better dissertation than it could have been without her. Professor Gerald Fogarty, S.J., contributed his vast knowledge of American Catholic history and offered many valuable suggestions. Professor Augustine Thompson, O.P., willingly stepped outside ofhis academic field to critique both the substance and style of the dissertation, and Dr. Linda Maloney graciously agreed, on rather alarmingly short notice, to serve as outside reader and share her expertise in the liturgical movement and the German language. I also thank Professor Duane Osheim for his participation in the dissertation defense. Finally, special thanks to Linda Hunt, graduate secretary of the Religious Studies Department, who ably and efficiently came to my rescue on more than one occasion. In carrying out the original research for this dissertation, I received help from many people and institutions. I express my gratitude to Fr. Robert Altman of the Diocese of La Crosse Archives; Sylvia McElhannon of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother Archives; Br. David Klingeman, O.S.B., Fr. Vincent Tegeder, O.S.B., and Fr. Wilfred Theisen, O.S.B., of St. John's Abbey; and to all the monks of St. John's, who manifest Benedictine hospitality not only in their unhesitating willingness to assist curious scholars but also in Vll their uncommonly generous visitor parking policy and remarkably inexpensive photocopiers. Thank you to the staffs of Alderman Library at the University of Virginia; the microfilm department of the Hesburgh Library at the University ofNotre Dame; Eau Claire Public Library; Arcadia Public Library; and Alcuin Library at St. John's University. I am especially grateful to the librarian at Alcuin Library who mercifully forgave the jaw- dropping overdue fine I unwittingly accumulated on my brother's account while he was out of the country. Finally, I thank my wonderful family. My siblings-Juliet, Brendan, Stephan, Danita, Christina, David, Dave, Dana, Christie, and Chad-have helped me keep things in perspective. My grandparents-Dru Gillespie, Betha Schlauderaff, Manuel DeBusk, and the late Jean Henry DeBusk and Clarence Schlauderaff-have always inspired me. Last but in no way least, I can never fully express my gratitude to my parents: Patrick Henry, Patricia Gillespie, Pat Welter, and Paul Schlauderaff. They supported and encouraged, humored and consoled, fed and housed me throughout the months and years of dissertation production. Above all, however, their faith in me gave me faith in myself, and so I dedicate this dissertation to them. 1 Introduction In 1938, just days after his 84th birthday, Fr. Hermann Joseph Untraut wrote to his friend Alcuin Deutsch, abbot of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, "Jch sehe, die Zeiten haben sich geandert. Jch bin nicht nur alt, sondern auch 'veraltet"' ("I see that times have changed. I am not only old but also 'obsolete'").1 By the time he wrote these words, he had spent nearly six decades as witness to and participant in German Catholic life in the United States, and his observation that the times had changed was entirely accurate. When he arrived in America in 1882, an idealistic 27-year-old cleric, eager to take on the challenges of parish ministry among the rapidly expanding German immigrant population, immigration to the United States from Germany was at its peak. Recent immigrants retained strong ties to their homeland and proudly maintained their language and traditions in their homes, communities, and churches. Through his work as a pastor and his contributions to the local German Catholic press, Untraut, a fierce defender of the language and the faith, supported unwaveringly the efforts of his fellow German Catholics to preserve their distinctive identity. Despite his fervor for the cause, however, Untraut became, after the turn of the century, one of a dying breed. Following a dynamic and successful tenure as rector of Holy Trinity Church in La Crosse from 1893 to 1907, during which time he also wrote dozens of passionate essays for the diocesan German-language weekly newspaper, he was called to serve as pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Eau Claire. Weary from years of 1Untraut to Deutsch, 31 July 1938. St. John's University Archives. 2 exhausting pastoral duties, he experienced frustration and disappointment during his time at Sacred Heart, where he was plagued by dissent among the congregation, conflict with other local priests, and practical worries about finances and infrastructure. He also surely recognized that, as the flood tide of German immigration slowed and, later, as anti- German prejudice, fueled by the First World War, increased, German American Catholics and their descendants had less and less interest in holding onto the trappings of life in the Old World, especially those, such as language, that inhibited full participation in American life. In his clinging to the mother tongue, which he continued to use even in the last years of his life, and his undiminished devotion to all things German, Untraut was indeed "veraltet." Nevertheless, though he did not live long enough to recognize it fully, the times were also changing in his favor, and his progressive views on liturgical reform, laid out in his 1925 book Die liturgische Bewegung, were anything but obsolete. Despite his discouragement about the poor popular reception of his book, Untraut did witness the first stirrings of a Catholic liturgical movement in the United States and was delighted by the work ofFr. Virgil Michel, O.S.B., and other monks at St. John's Abbey, who, like Untraut, sought to awaken among American Catholics an interest in greater lay understanding of and participation in the public worship of the Church. Hermann Untraut was a man both ahead of and behind his time. Although he sensed the need within his church for lay people to become full participants in liturgical worship-a need the Catholic Church itself did not fully address until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s-he chose to argue this prescient position in the language of the past. 3 At a time when most German American Catholics were opting for English-the language necessary for social, political, and professional advancement in the United States-while at the same time seeking to maintain some semblance of their ethnic identity by practicing their faith in the time-honored ways of their German Catholic parents and grandparents, Untraut advocated, aufDeutsch, radical changes in these familiar ways of being Catholic.