Von Siebenthal, back in the Middle Ages, Invitation the 22 August 2009.

A journey back in time to the Middle Ages
A new themed walk and adventure trail in Zweisimmen will enable anyone interested in history to take a journey back in time to the Middle Ages from 22 August 2009. The castle trail will be opened ceremoniously at 2 p.m. on the same day. On a length of 7 km to 10 km, it demonstrates the importance of the municipality in that era.

A knight in shining armour will welcome visitors at Zweisimmen railway station.

Bilder Fritz Leuzinger Zweisimmen



Zeichnung Werner Suter

Burg Mannenberg

Über die Geschichte der unteren Burg Mannenberg ist kaum mehr bekannt als über jene der oberen Burg. Der ganze Hügel bildete das hochmittelalterliche Herrschaftszentrum des Obersimmentals, welches im 10. Jh. als ursprünglich burgundisches Krongut an Kaiser Otto III. kam. Ob die im 12. Jhdt. auftauchenden Herren von Siebental hier residierten, ist unklar. 1270 wird eine Burg «Mamerberg» erstmals erwähnt, als der aus dem Wallis stammende Ritter Peter von Raron das Reichslehen innehatte. Bald nach 1300 verkauften die Herren von Raron die Herrschaft Mannenberg an Heinrich IV. von Strättlingen. Ab 1336 treten indessen die Grafen von Greyerz als Inhaber des Lehens auf. Weil er sich im Laupenkrieg gegen Bern stellte, erhoben sich die Talleute gegen Graf Peter von Greyerz. Und 1350 gelang es bernischen Truppen, bei einem Vorstoss ins Obersimmental die Burgen auf dem Mannenberg zu zerstören.
Entgegen früheren Annahmen wurde die untere Burg nicht als Ersatz für die zerstörte Anlage erbaut. Sie scheint eher eine Ergänzung der oberen Burg gewesen zu sein. Während jene talabwärts gewandt war, konnte man von der unteren Burg talaufwärts blicken. Nach der Eroberung durch die Berner liessen die Greyerzer die beiden gebrochenen Burgen zerfallen und verkauften ihre Rechte 1356 an die Herren von Düdingen. Von diesen kam das alte Reichslehen 1378 an Freiburg, bis sich Bern 1386 im Sempacherkrieg endgültig des Tals bemächtigte und eine Landvogtei einrichtete. Als Herrschaftssitz wurde damals nicht mehr Mannenberg, sondern die Blankenburg gewählt.
Die Ruine wurde als Steinbruch ausgebeutet und befand sich allgemein in einem sehr schlechten Zustand, bis 2007 mit Hilfe des Archäologischen Dienstes des Kantons Bern die Stiftung Pro Mannenberg gegründet wurde. Diese Institution zur Erhaltung der Mannenberg-Burgen begann im Sommer 2008 mit der Sanierung der unteren Burg.
Während der Arbeiten konnten Indizien für zwei Bauetappen dieser Anlage entdeckt werden. In einer ersten, nicht datierten Phase entstand offenbar die Ringmauer mit einem Eingangsportal auf der Südwestseite. Die östliche Ecke der Wehranlage wurde von einem grösseren Gebäude mit polygonalem Grundriss dominiert – wohl ähnlich den beiden Hauptgebäuden auf der oberen Burg. In einer zweiten Bauphase, die möglicherweise nach einem Brandschaden begann, wurde auf den Grundmauern dieses Gebäudes ein starker Rundturm mit 8,6 Metern Durchmesser errichtet. Eventuell geschah dies um die Mitte des 13. Jhdts., als die Burg den Herren von Raron gehörte. Rundtürme breiteten sich damals von der Westschweiz her nach Osten aus.
 Daniel Rindlisbacher
Quellen: 
Fritz Hauswirth – Burgen und Schlösser der Schweiz, Bd. 10: Bern 1. Kreuzlingen, 1974
Rudolf von Fischer – Die Burgen und Schlösser des Kantons Bern: Basel, 1938
Erich Liechti – Burgen, Schlösser und Ruinen im Simmental. Wimmis, 2006
Thomas Bitterli – Schweizer Burgenführer. Basel / Berlin, 1995

Der Lindwurm im Seebergsee

In einem kleinen Bergsee oberhalb Mannried hauste einst ein Drache, den die Bewohner nicht zu vertreiben vermochten. Er hatte die Gestalt einer riesigen Schlange und stürzte sich auf Mensch oder Vieh, die sich in die Nähe des Ufers wagten. Aus dem See heraus getraute er sich freilich nicht. Einige sagen, er hätte sich vor dem Zorn der gutbewaffneten Bauern gefürchtet, andere wiederum meinen, ein frommer Spruch habe ihn in das Wasser gebannt.
Lange Zeit fürchtete man jedenfalls, der Lindwurm fresse sich unter Wasser in den Berg hinein und komme endlich auf der Talseite gegen Mannried wieder ans Tageslicht. Dann, so hiess es, werde das Untier seiner Zerstörungswut freien Lauf lassen, die freundliche Siedlung verwüsten und Mensch wie Tier verschlingen. Niemand wisse, wann Tag und Stunde dieses Unheils komme…….
Anmerkung: eine ähnliche Sage erzählt man sich auch von einem der Bergseen oberhalb der Lenk, ob es sich um den Iffigensee oder den Fluhsee handelt ist nichtbekannt. (J.P. Beuret)



http://www.burgenweg.ch/index.php/burg-mannenberg
The ruins of the castle of Vanel mark the border between the French and German languages, and between Rougemont and Saanen-Gstaad. Bilingual, most Valser’s family and Swiss families are from Burgund’s Origin ( The real Swiss roots ) (The Vanel and the valley of Rougemont, a detail from the work of François MULLER, 1795).


» more

vanel
en 1934

A environ 1 km et demi à l’est de Rougemont, le château du Vanel appartenait à la seigneurie des comtes de Gruyère, les châtelains du Vanel étaient presque toujours des parents du comte.

vanel
en 1838 d’après Wagner

Détruit en 1407, il avait laissé des ruines intéressantes, mais l’effondrement graduel était devenu un danger pour la route passant à ses pieds, les derniers vestiges furent abattus en 1907
vanel
Das Simmental besitzt eine sehr interessante und in gewissen Zeitepochen sogar eine bedeutende Vergangenheit. Auf alten Verbindungswegen durch die Alpen hatte das Simmental eine zentrale Lage und lag an einer bedeutenden Verkehrsachse der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung des Mittelalters. Die Verbindung von Ost nach West sowie die Verbindung von Süd nach Nord, führten durch das Tal. Als immer wieder umstrittenes Grenzgebiet zwischen Savoyen, Burgund und Zähringen und später Bern und später zwischen Wallis und Bern, gelangte das Simmental zu einer ereignisreichen Geschichte. Davon zeugen die alten Burgen entlang der Simme. Die Restaurierung der Burg und die damit verbundene Erlebbarkeit vergangener Zeiten, ist eine interessante Ergänzung von Freizeitangeboten mit Nachhaltigkeit für den Tourismus und für die Landschaft des Simmentals und Saanenland.


Burgen von Siebenthal im Mittelalter

In der Liste unter diesem Eintrag finden Sie weitere Beiträge. »zur Liste

nachstehende Texte und Bilder aus “Burgen, Schlösser und Ruinen im Simmental”
von Erich Liechti, Wimmis

Burg Laubegg
LK 1226, 595.56 / 159.75
sichtbar sind noch spärliche Mauerreste
Burg “Lubica” dürfte um 1350 diese Ausdehnung gehabt haben. Auf dem dreiseitig senkrecht abfallenden Turm (Bergfried), Hof mit Stallungen und Werkstätten (Holzbauten), Hauptburg mit Wohnturm und Bering. Rechts davor die Schildmauer über dem Halsgraben mit de Wingangspforte und Zugbrücke.
Ob die abgeschrotete Felskuppe rechts auf der Skize Oekonomiegebäude beherbergt haben, oder ob hier eine Vorburg gestanden hat kann nicht beurteilt werden.
Burg oberer Mannenberg
Weitläufige Mauerreste einer Burganlage bei Pt. 1017
LK 1246, 595.46 / 157.66
Freie Wiedergabe von Ober-Mannenberg, nach einer Darstellung von Diepold Schilling. Auf dem Bild fehlt das der Burg südöstlich vorgelagerte, bebaute Hofgelände.

Burg unterer Mannenberg
Teilweise gut erhaltene Ruine einer Burg.
LK 1246 595.65 / 157.80
unübliche Bauweise des runden Bergfrieds. bis auf eine Höhe von ca. sechs Metern weist der Turm gegen den Halsgraben hin eine äussere eckige Verstärkung auf. Gut erkennbar sind der Burgfried und die lange Mauer, welche das Burgareal gegen das östlich gelegene Wiesland abschliesst.

Turm zu Steinegg
Spärliche Reste eines Turmes mit Ringmauer und Graben.
LK 1246, 595.35 / 158.09
Turm zu Steinegg anhand der heute noch sichtbaren, kläglichen Reste.

Burg Terenstein
Burgstelle im oberen Reichenstein, oberhalb der Strasse nach Saanenmöser.
LK 1226, 591.86 / 152.92
Ungefährer Anblick der Ritterburg Terenstein.

Schloss Blankenburg
noch bis 2010 Sitz des Amtsbezirks Obersimmental
LK 1246, 596.08 / 154.20
Anlässlich der denkwürdigen Volksabstimmung vom 24.09.2006 hat der bernische Souverän beschlossen, fünf seiner Schlösser zu verkaufen, darunter auch Blankenburg. Als Ergebnis einer fehlgeschlagenen kantonalen Finanzpolitik kam dieser Entscheid insbesondere durch die befürwortende Stadtbevölkerung zustande.


28.07.2009|13:42 Burgen im Mittelalter mehr Informationen
28.07.2009|13:42 Geschichte von Zweisimmen mehr Informationen
28.07.2009|13:42 Zweisimmen im Mittelalter mehr Informationen



Renoviertes Beinhaus Kirche Zweisimmen

Burgen Obersimmental
Unterer Mannenberg
Oberer Mannenberg
Reichenstein
Blankenburg
Wehrturm Steinegg
Übersicht Burgen


Reichenstein, oberer Mannenberg, unterer Mannenberg, Laubegg, Steinegg (Wehrturm) und Blankenburg heissen unsere Burgen. Jede hat ihre eigene spannende Geschichte. Die Burgstandorte sind in der Karte mit den lachsfarbenen Kreisflächen gekennzeichent.
Bitte beachten, dass die Burgen nicht alle zugänglich sind und bei der einen oder anderen Burgstelle erhebliche Absturzgefahr besteht.
Mit den 6 Burgstandorten verfügt die Region Zweisimmen über eine grosse Anzahl mittelalterlicher Wehranlagen. Dies ist darauf zurückzuführen, dass sich die Region Zweisimmen vom 12. bis zum 14. Jahrhundert im Grenzbereich zwischen dem burgundisch-savoyischen und zähringisch-bernischen Gebiet befand.

Unterer Mannenberg

Es wird vermutet, dass die beiden Wehranlagen auf dem Mannenberg einst zu einer grossen Festung gehörten und miteinander vebunden waren. An die Burg Mannenberg waren zur besten Zeit grafgäuliche Rechte wie die hohe Gerichtsbarkeit, der Heeresbann und die Steuererhebung für das Reich gebunden. Die Herren der Burg Mannenberg hatten klingende Namen wie Graf Peter von Greyerz, Heinrich von Strättligen und Peter von Raron.

***
Die Geisterbannung auf Mannenberg
Quelle: Sagen aus dem Simmenthal von D. Gempeler – Schletti

Die beiden Burgen Mannenberg und Laubegg, welche 1349 von den Bernern zerstört wurden, sind lange, lange Jahre nach deren Untergang Schauplatz abergläubischer Schatzgräberei gewesen. Von den vielen Versuchen, in deren Ruinen mit beschworenen Geistern Schätze zu heben, entnehmen wir der Chronik folgende Sage:

Vor mehreren hundert Jahren lebte in Grubenwald neben dem Mannenberg ein Mann namens Christian Streun, der Schatzgräberei trieb und einen Versuch unternahm, auf Mannenberg den dort die Schätze hütenden Geist zu erlösen und die dort verborgenen Schätze zu heben. Er liess zu diesem Zwecke aus der Fremde einen Geisterbeschwörer kommen und begab sich mit diesem in der Mitternachtsstunde auf den Mannenberg. Der Geisterbeschwörer machte seine Zeremonien und redete den Geist an, der lange keine Antwort gab. Endlich aber entstand zwischen dem Beschwörer und dem Geist folgendes Gespräch:
Frage: „Wie heissest du?”
Antwort aus der Tiefe des Turmes: „Hannes von Schlenggwyl.”
Frage: „Hast du Geld unter deiner Verwahrung?”
Antwort: „Ja! Aber nicht für dich, es gehört jemand anders zu!”
Frage: „Wem gehört denn das Geld?”
Antwort: „Dem Hause Österreich. Nun frag` mich nicht weiter!”
Frage: „Was für ein Unterpfand ist eingesetzt worden?”
Antwort: „Frage mich nicht mehr, ich habe dir alles gesagt, was ich dir sagen will.
Nun lass mich Ruh.”
Der Beschwörer aber wollte es nicht aufgeben, den Geist zu beschwören und fing aufs neue an, ihn zu befragen, erhielt aber keine Antwort mehr. Dagegen drang aus der Tiefe ein schrecklicher Ton und ein unheimliches Gepolter kam herauf. Der Geisterbeschwörer wurde auf der Mitternachtsseite der Burg über die Felsen hinunter geschleudert, so, dass sein weisser Kittel als ein langer Streifen in der Luft erschien. Streun lief voller Schrecken nach Hause, vom Beschwörer aber war nie mehr etwas zu sehen.

Blankenburg

Auf kleinem bewaldetem Hügel. Urspr. im Besitz der Freiherren v. Weissenburg.

Seit 1386 bernischer Amtssitz. Die mittelalterl. Burg brannte 1767 vollständig ab; Neubau in Form einer Campagne 1768–70 durch Niklaus Hebler. Gesamtrest. und Umbau 1984–85. L-förmiger Baukörper aus zweigeschossigem Corps de Logis und eingeschossigem Seitenflügel, je unter Walmdach. Zum Schlosshof gedeckte doppelläufige Aussentreppe. Hauptfront gegen den terrassierten Garten.

www.de-siebenthal.com

Examples of very old Swiss familieshe original form of the DUBICH family name in Alsace is DUBACH. The first DUBICHs in Alsace went by the name DUBACH for a number of years after their arrival from Switzerland in 1670. In September 1686, the parish priest of Merxheim, Jean-Michel STIPPICH, even spelled it DUBACK for confirmations at one point, but a few months later, he made an error which has persisted in Merxheim from that day to this. On March 23, 1687, DUBACH became DUBICH, even though the founder of this lineage would continue to sign his name with the original “A” up to 1695.

The dou Bacs of Saanen-Gstaad in the Middle Ages

The first documentary evidence of DUBICH ancestors is found in the region of the Sarine (Saane) River, in the 13th century. We can estimate that the first documented members of the family were born around 1190, because “Cuno and Matti dou Bac de Sanona” (Saanen = Gessenay) were cited as witnesses in 1215. In 1312, property belonging to the Dou BAC family can also be documented, in the location now called Ebnit, between Saanen and Gstaad. The two villages are about 2 km apart, and Gstaad is part of the Saanen commune.
In the 13th century, this entire region belonged to the Count De GRUYÈRE, including the neighboring Pays-d’Enhaut 4 km to the west. Today, Gessenay (Saanen) is part of the Canton Berne, and Pays-d’Enhaut (including Rougemont, Château-d’Oex, and Rossinière) has been part of the Canton Vaud ever since the French Revolution.
These earliest Dou BAC families were headed by around ten men born between 1255 and 1280, with given names such as Rodulphus, Heyny, Thomi, Yanny, Borcardus and Petelly, all of them brothers or cousins or distant cousins. The family had existed for a long time, perhaps since the 12th century, and its name came from the family property still called “ou Bach” in a 1341 document, which means “am Bach” (at the brook) in German. The property was situated between two streams: the Erbserenbach to the northwest, and the Oberer Bach (Superior Brook) also called the Grubenbach nowadays, to the southeast.
In 1324, there were members of the family named Petellinus and Heyny, sons of Rodolphus and his wife Agnes; there were also Welty dou Bac and his wife Migna, and also Petrus and Heny . . . Their parental lines and the property they owned can be documented.
The family name Dou BAC, which became Dou BACH during the 14th century, means “the one who lives near the ‘Bach'”, or “du Ruisseau”, in modern translation (by the Stream in English). Some other Saanen families have the ancient particle “dou” meaning “du” in modern French (“of the” in English). These include Dou SAUCEWATER or Von SALZWASSER, Dou SAIS which later became ZUMSTEIN, Dou WILER, Dou PONTE (= DUPONT), Dou CHASTELLET (von GSTEIG, small village near Gstaad). . .
The Dou BACHs of Saanen-Gstaad in the 14th century were related to the old family De GISSINEY or Von SAANEN, and certainly to the Von REICHENBACHs (De RIEQUIBAC in 1312), their immediate neighbors, who probably came from the fortress of Reichenbach, a nearby village, at the end of the 13th century.
Even before 1312, Thomi Dou BAC had sold ten parcels of his land to Wylly De GISSINEY (Von SAANEN). By 1324, according to the documents of the time, Jacobus Dou BACH, nephew of Wouterius De GISSINEY, tax-collector (“gräflicher Pfänder”) for Count De GRUYÈRE, already had a remarkable inheritance of land.
In time the Dou BACH family gave rise to the Du BACH or DUBACH branch (on the decline in Saanen-Gstaad) and the BACH branch. The DUBACH branch grew more and more sparse, even at times extinct. Some of the DUBACHs left for other German-speaking lands. But this branch of the family grew more dramatically in the neighboring French-speaking village called Rougemont.
Today the DUBACHs are extinct at Saanen, but the BACH branch is still very well represented in the Saanenland. In particular, a BACH family still lives at Ebnit, at the border of Gstaad, at almost the exact spot where the property of the 13th century Dou BACs was located.
Over the past few centuries, the DUBACHs and the BACHs – two branches sprouted from the same trunk – have been united with practically all the families of Saanenland: HALDI, Von SIEBENTHAL, LEHMAN, JAGGI, HAUSWIRTH, SCHOPFER, ZWAHLEN, MEZENEN, (Von) REICHENBACH, BRAND, Von GRÜNIGEN (cf. the famous skier Michael von GRÜNIGEN), PERRETEN, WÜRSTEN, STEFFEN, RUFY, GANDER, etc. Most of these families have existed for an extremely long time at Saanen. More than one family goes back to the beginning of the 14th century. Some families can be traced even further back, like the PERRETENs, known near Château-d’Oex in 1276 and at Saanen in 1361. The Von GRÜNIGENs, knights of ÉVERDES (near Gruyères) have been documented as far back as 1136. One of them, Aymon D’ÉVERDES, built a chapel in the church of Rougemont in 1450. The Von SIEBENTHALs, barons known since 1175 among the associates of the Duke of ZÄHRINGEN, appeared at Saanen at the beginning of the 16th century.

1276: The dou Torrents of Rougemont

About four kilometers from Saanen and Gstaad, across either the narrow Vanel gorge or the Allamans gorge, at the linguistic frontier marked by the Fenils Stream (torrent des Fenils) or Grischbach, at the exact spot where the Burgundians and the Alamans of old met, one enters French-speaking territory near Rougemont. (“Allamans” is doubtless derived from the old French “alod” of which the German equivalent is “Allmend” = land free of taxes or tariffs.)
In Rougemont, the Dou BACHs are documented in 1340, but some documents as early as 1276 mention the family under a romanised form, “Dou TORRENT”, a literal translation of Dou BACH. Family names were at that time still very fluid and “translinguistic”, in particular between the written and spoken versions. The Von GRÜNIGEN family, for example, also saw its name fluctuate markedly, between D’ÉVERDES, De WERDES, De WERDI and the German version of this name (grün [German] = vert [French] = green [English]). Family names easily crossed from one language to another in this era, especially in this bilingual region (Château-d’Oex/Oesch, Gruyère/Greyerz, Rougemont/Rötschmund/Retschmund/Rotenberg/Rotberg, Gissiney/Gessenay/Sanon/Saanen, Dou BAC/Dou TORRENT).
Rougemont and its Cluniac priory spoke French. However, some families living on lands east of the village were partly German-speaking. The Dou BACHs (in Rougemont as in Saanen-Gstaad, they became Du BACHs or DUBACHs) were undoubtedly among these bilingual Rougemont families. Marriages with young women of Saanen, the return of a few Du BACHs to this German-speaking village, and the bilingual inscriptions on certain chalets (see below) all show that they kept alive the German language of their ancestors from the 13th and 14th centuries. The Du BACHs lived essentially at Allamans and at Vanel, to the east of Rougemont near the language border.
The castle of Vanel, today in ruins, was then the frontline fortress of the Counts De GRUYÈRE in Gessenay. Indeed, the county census reports from Vanel provide a good idea of the composition of the region’s population over the course of the early centuries, before the bankruptcy of the Count De GRUYÈRE’s family in 1555. Furthermore, it was the Cluniac priory, founded around 1080 by the Counts, that collected taxes in Rougemont.

The ruins of the castle of Vanel mark the border between the French and German languages, and between Rougemont and Saanen-Gstaad. Bilingual, the Du BACHs or DUBACHs, ancestors of the Alsacian DUBICHs, for the most part lived here (The Vanel and the valley of Rougemont, a detail from the work of François MULLER, 1795).

In Rougemont, the DUBACHs would have been related to practically all of the old families of that village, and to some of the families in Château-d’Oex, a neighboring village. Numerous marriages united them with families such as the COTTIERs, known there since 1276, the ROSSIERs (1388), and the YERSINs (1493) (cf. Dr. Alexandre YERSIN, who discovered the vaccine against Bubonic plague in the 19th century.) The DUBACHs were also related to the BOVAYs (1379), the BUENSOZs (1340), the HENCHOZs (1376, a family from Château-d’Oex), the LOUPs (1461) (cf. the cartographer of the 18th century, Samuel LOUP), the JAQUILLARDs (1461), the MANGEs (about 1520), the DESCOULLAYESs (1372, a family from Château-d’Oex), the ALLAMAN(D)s (1456), etc.

The external citizenship treaties of 1401 and 1403

In 1401, Saanen (Gessenay) signed a treaty of external citizenship [in German, “Ausbürger”] with Berne. In spite of Count De GRUYÈRE’s reticence, the Pays-d”Enhaut (Rougemont, Château-d’Oex, etc.) did the same in 1403. These treaties obliged the inhabitants to support Berne in its military efforts, and in return, Berne pledged to come to the aid of these inhabitants when needed. Berne also opened the gates of the cities to the mountain dwellers, to permit them to sell their produce at the market, for example. This treaty also allowed some members of the family to move to Berne, to the Simmental and to the Emmental, where the DUBACHs are still numerous today.
In 1436, in Château-d’Oex, records mention a family called Dou BATH (DUBATH = DUBACH), a name which also appeared in Rougemont in 1461. This record doesn’t necessarily mean that the DUBATHs lived in Château-d’Oex at that time. The family’s home was Rougemont, but the men of the two villages fought their battles together, and it is possible that the family owned land in Château-d’Oex. A new variant of the name appeared then, with an ending more adapted to this French-speaking region. Numerous other forms have come and gone, according to the times: all have oscillated among the pronunciations “Duba”, “Dubatt”, “Dubach” and “Duback”, whether Du BAST, DUBAT, DUBAS, Du BAS, Du BAT, Du BAZ, DUBATH, Du BACH, DUBACH, DUBAC? It has, however, always been a matter of the same family.

1476: Heynot du Bach in the battle at Morat

While the Duke of Bourgogne, Charles the Bold, made war against the Swiss allies of King Louis XI of France, at Morat in 1476, Heynot du BACH of the Pays-d’Enhaut fought alongside Count De GRUYÈRE. The Swiss army returned victorious. The Duke of Bourgogne fled and had to abandon treasures he had carried everywhere with him. This booty of war can still be seen at the château (castel) de Gruyères, which has become a museum.

15th and 16th centuries: numerous migrations

During these times, the DUBACHs did not all stay in Rougemont and Saanen-Gstaad. Some of them left to establish themselves in various other places more or less distant. In 1502, a Heyni DUBACH was known in Reichenstein near Zweisimmen, a dozen kilometers from Saanen. Claus TUBACH was cited in 1528 in the Amt (meaning “district”) Oberhasli, whose principal town was Meiringen (about 80 kilometers to the northeast). In 1530, a Peter THUBACH was mentioned at Amsoldingen (about 35 kilometers along the road leading to Berne, near Thoune); in 1531, in the same place, he was called Petter TUBACH. In 1548, it was at Grodey (St. Stephan, near Zweisimmen, about 12 kilometers away) that there was a mention of Annj THUBACH, the widow of Peter THUBACH. February 7, 1558, Barbara DUBACH married Jakob HALDI at Lützelflüh, a village situated between Berne and Willisau, in Emmental (the valley of the river Emme)! The two family names are typical of Saanen and had already been cited in 1558 in this region located about 80 kilometers to the northeast of their place of origin. However, it was only half a century later that male DUBACHs founded a family at Lützelflüh (c. 1608). We are now only a few kilometers from the canton of Lucerne where there were not yet any DUBACHs at that time (in the 16th century all the DUBACHs of our family were still only in the county de Gruyère and the Canton Berne).

In Saanen, Gstaad and Rougemont in the 15th and 16th centuries

In Saanen about 1550 Anthoni DUBACH, who was born around 1505, arranged for the marriage of his daughter Margreth to Ulrich WÜRSTEN. Several DUBACH families lived there, on the German-speaking side. Certain DUBACHs of Saanen were recorded as natives of Rougemont (like Hans, in 1571) in the parish registers beginning in 1557; others were said to be from Gstaad (the other Hans, in 1559, 1562, 1563, etc.). In 1585 we also meet an Andres DUBACH, a native of Galmiz (near Morat), apparently having returned to the lands of his ancestors in Saanenland. This André (Andrew) DUBACH must be in the family of Joannes DUBA, who married Anna WELCKER at Gundolsheim, in Haute-Alsace on February 6, 1606 (see below).
If the DUBACH family is less numerous in Saanen and Gstaad than other local families, we can nevertheless count about six households, on the “German” side, at that time. The spouses were Maria RUFI (marriage about 1556; Jakob RUFI was the “Kastlan” or “châtelain” (English: “governor”) of Saanen between 1557 and 1564), Anna STEFFEN (about 1570), Christen HAUSWIRTH (in 1591; Simon was governor in 1585 and Bendicht between 1591 and 1626), Dorothea REICHENBACH (in 1591), Anni PERRETEN (in 1597; Heinrich was “Landesvenner” (English: “district administrator”) in 1445, and another Heinrich would be governor in 1654), Barbli SCHWENTER (1600), Anthoni BLATTI (1604), Margreth MARTING (about 1607), Apollonia HALDI (1608), Steffan WÜRSTEN (about 1617), Apollonia GANDER (about 1622; Wilhelm was governor between 1474 and 1500, Peter between 1514 and 1522) . . . The De WERDIs or Von GRÜNIGEN were also regularly cited as godfathers or godmothers. Sometimes, at the time of baptisms, the maiden names of the mothers weren’t indicated, as in the case of Frantz DUBACH and his wife Gloda, in 1583 (probably a new couple having come from Rougemont: François and Claudaz).
At Rougemont, there were many more branches than at Saanen and Gstaad. Born about 1430, Aymond du BACH of La Condémine (part of Rougemont) was the ancestor of most of the family members, including Jean, born about 1450, then Pierre, born about 1470, for example.
About 1495 births included Nycod, Mermet and François du BACH, among others. In fact, their name was written Du BACT rather than du BACH around 1520; the form Du BACH or DUBACH came a little later. Nycod was the father of Loys, and Mermet the father of Claude du BACH, future husband of Perrisson. About 1550, Loys du BACH married Claudaz, daughter of Jehan YERSIN (family of notaries established near Vanel since 1493).
There was, by another route, Pierre du BACH, also born around 1495, father of another Nycod, and grandfather of Françoys, Pierre, Nycod and Loys. This Loys became the father of another Guillaume, notably (see the Lucerne section below). Pierre had several children himself, also (around 1550), including for example Anthoyne, who married Christine, daughter of Jacques JACQUILLARD; there were also Jacquette, Claudaz, Loyze and Claude du BACH, who married Jehannette du BACH, daughter of Mermet.
In the Du BACH family of another branch, still at Rougemont, were offspring named Jehan, Jacquette, Jennette . . . This Jehan du BACH, born around 1490, had a son also named Jehan, who had, with his wife Marye, children who were adults around 1570 with the first names of Loys, Jehan and Claude (See the illustration below.). Thus the family was very important in Rougemont in the middle of the 16th century. Between 1582 and 1592, for example, one counts more than thirty births in the different Du BACH families of the village.
Winter 1555 : the partitioning of the county – The Reformation in Pays-d’Enhaut
By the end of 1555, Michel, the last count De GRUYÈRE, was crippled with debts. His principal creditors, Berne and Fribourg, proceeded to divide up his lands. Fribourg received the northern parts (Gruyères, Enney, etc.), which remained Catholic, and Berne appropriated Saanenland and Pays-d’Enhaut, including Saanen, Gstaad, Rougemont, Château-d’Oex and Rossinière, which became Protestant.
It was difficult for the Reformation to establish itself in this new district known as Gessenay (the Saanen Barony). The population was hostile to Protestantism and to its new masters in Berne, and the friction led to a good deal of hardship and persecution. Certain families fled to Catholic lands, to Fribourg and also to Lucerne. Such was notably the case for one branch of the very ancient family COTTIER, which settled in Bellegarde (Jaunpass). Certain Du BACHs or Du BASTs reached Enney in the same manner, in Catholic and Fribourgese territory, where members of the family had already lived since about 1510. Pierre du BAST baptized his son François in 1560 in Gruyères. Thirty-three years later, Théodole du BAST would serve as an assistant to the governor, followed by several others. Their descendants still live in Canton Fribourg today, under the name DUBAS. Dr. Jean DUBAS, who was president of the Historical Society of Canton Fribourg and author of numerous historical and genealogical works, and who died recently (March 30, 2003), was a descendant of this line.

Rougemont, 1574: A dozen Du BACH families lived in the village. On this example of village records, one reads: “Jehan, Loys et Claude, enfans de feu Jehan, fils de feu Jehan du Bach, faicte par ledict Jehan du Bach”. (Jehan, Loys and Claude, children of the late Jehan, who was the son of the late Jehan du Bach, made by the aforementioned Jehan du Bach III.) This last Jehan was born about 1490.

Dubach Diaspora: The birth of a branch in Canton Lucerne

The members of the family who remained in Pays-d’Enhaut and in Saanen-Gstaad thus became Protestants, toward the end of the year 1555. In 1572, 1579, and 1595, three men of the family left to establish themselves in the Catholic county of Willisau (Canton Lucerne). These were Jacques, Guilliaume and Jehan DUBACH (the last, for example, was the son of Louys DUBACH and Berthe DES COULAYES of Rougemont), who founded the Lucerne branch of the family. In Willisau and above all in Luthern, they and their descendants married women of various families including DANNER (before 1585), GSEGNET (v.1595), RÄBER (1600), BERGER (1603), ROTH (avant 1606), WECHSLER (1606), GERING (1606), RUPP (1612), MÜLLER (1625), BIRCHER (1616, 1620, 1626), EGGERMANN (1627), MÜLLER (ca.1630), HAGMEISTER (1631), WOLFISBERG (ca.1632), RINDERKNECHT (ca.1640), HILTBRUNNER (1647), RIEDWEG (1649), STEFFEN (ca.1688), etc. From the earliest years, the DUBACHs appear in the records as godfathers, godmothers, and witnesses to marriages, and they established themselves in other villages of the district of Willisau like Zell, Hergiswil, Ufhusen, and Grossdietwil-Altbüron, from the 17th century onward. The variants of the name, DUBACK, TUBACH, TUBACK . . . would also flourish in this canton. The spelling of the name did not stabilize until the 19th century as DUBACH or DUBACK.

Dubach Diaspora: The Dubachs of the Emmental and the Simmental

Not far from there, the DUBACH family was represented at Signau in the Emmental (Canton Berne) in the 16th century, in the person of Elias DUBACH. At Lützelflüh, where the family had been present since about 1608, the Land writer [scribe] Niklaus DUBACH in 1653 facilitated the arrest of Niklaus LEUENBERGER, a peasant leader born about 1615. Tortured at the castle of Trachselwald, LEUENBERGER, who is today considered a hero, was condemned to death and executed like many other rebels. As for Niklaus DUBACH, he was awarded a Goblet of Silver . . .
In the Emmental and the Simmental, the DUBACHs married into numerous families: Von ALMEN, LEUENBERGER, WYSSMÜLLER, Von NIEDERHÄUSERN, Von GUNTEN, ROHRBACH, BALMER, FANKHAUSER, LÜTHI, SIEGENTHALER, NYFFENEGER, Von KÄNEL, STAUFFER, HESS, GUGGISBERG, NEUENSCHWANDER, SALZMANN, SCHAFROTH, RÜFENACHT, RENTSCH, HALDIMANN, MISCHLER, BADERTSCHER, ÄSCHBACHER, RAMSAYER, STEINER, BRECHBÜHL, LUGINBÜHL, BOSSHARD, DREYER, SCHEIDEGGER, BURKHALTER, BICHSEL, THEILKÄS, DELLENBACH, WYMANN, BERGER, BURGER, ZBINDEN, ZAUGG, BACHMANN, WIDMER, FLÜCKIGER, RÜEGSEGGER, WEHREN and dozens of others . . .
At present, the DUBACHs are quite numerous in Canton Berne. Over six centuries, the family has flourished and multiplied in the valleys of the Emme and the Simme, and in the Bernese Highlands . . .

Dubach Diaspora: The Dubachers of Canton Uri and the Dübachs of Thurgovie

Starting with a single family about 1646, the DUBACHERs of Canton Uri, south of Lucerne, in the heart of Switzerland, are well represented in the Parish Register of Erstfeld, near Wassen, Gurtnellen, Isenthal, Silenen, Altdorf, Göschenen, etc. This family also came from Rougemont (“von Retschmund”) – so it represents a new variant of the DUBACH name! Once they had been settled here for some time, Sebastian and Johannes DUBACHER became burghers of Canton Uri in 1651, and Peter in 1657. The family continued to provide Canton Uri with councilors and civil servants, and had a coat of arms very similar to those of a group of DUBACHs in Lucerne (see the description below).
The DUBACHERs were also represented in Alsace by at least two individuals from Lucerne. A Caspar DUBACHER, originally from Fischbach (in the parish of Grossdietwil, County Willisau, Canton Lucerne), died in Rouffach (Haut-Rhin) in 1659. In Cernay, also in Alsace, it was an Elisabeth DUBACHERin (actually DUBACHerin) who inherited property in 1729 from Simon KAST, whom she had married in 1710. This one may well have been a case of a DUBACH woman with a feminine suffix of the DUBACH name (both “in” and “erin” were used as feminizing suffixes in Alsace), but the two cases together suggest that the DUBACHER variant existed also for the DUBACHs of Canton Lucerne, whether by a natural change in the name over time, or perhaps because of the adoption of a partially feminized version of the name.
In Canton Thurgovie, right next to Lake Constance, one finds from the end of the 16th century a small family of DÜBACHs (note the umlaut over the U = Ü). This family lived in Arbon, Kesswil and Dozwil, but it died out before our time. Since one might have found in times past some isolated DÜBACHs in Canton Berne (probably with a French pronunciation and an origin in Rougemont), one can well imagine that one of these DÜBACHs founded the Thurgovie branch. But this is just a hypothesis. It should be noted in this context that there was a community named Tubach (Canton of St.-Gall) on Lake Constance, close to Arbon. The name of this village in 1291 was Tiuffenbach. Some DUBACHs live today in this part of Switzerland, as they do in the majority of cantons in the Confederation. The origin of this stock, like that of the DÜBACH stock itself, has not yet been fully determined.

Dubach Diaspora: A Duba in Alsace circa 1606

The very first member of the family known to have lived in Haute-Alsace was a Johannes DUBA “from Mord, in Switzerland” (“Mord” is probably a phonetic spelling of “Moret”, which would be Morat (Murten, about 60 miles south of Merxheim and Gundolsheim, in Canton Fribourg)). DUBA is one of the variants of DUBACH (“apocope”, or word-shortening, is also encountered in Rougemont. One example is the inscription on a chalet built in 1731 at Vanel for Esther DUBA and her husband Jehan BOVAY). It was Mr. Alain ECKES who discovered the name of Johannes DUBA, in the parish registers of Gundolsheim, using the Compilation of Parish Registers (a program in Haut-Rhin to foster the systematic examination and keyboarding of parish registers). On February 6, 1606, Johannes DUBA married Anna WELCKER in this village. Johann RICHT, Johannes MOGLIN (MOEGLEN) and Urban ZIPFEL were witnesses for this couple, who would not appear again in the registers of the village. But the DUBICHs, whose ancestors were still in Switzerland around 1670, did not descend from this Johannes DUBA . . .

Family Coats of Arms

Coat of arms of the Rougemont branch of the DUBACHs.

There are several coats of arms for the DUBACHs, varying among the branches of this family. Several of them are described here. [Translators’ note: The French originals are written in the highly stylized terms of French heraldry. Instead of attempting to substitute the equally stylized terms of English heraldry, we have made every effort to render them into ordinary English.] The branch that remains in Rougemont involves “A silver ibex on a backdrop of blue sky rearing up from a tricuspid green mountaintop” (from an Armorial – a book containing coat of arms and their description – from Canton Vaud). Furthermore, on a stained-glass window dating from 1656, the ibex has horns, hooves and sexual organs of gold, and a green beard (R. LOUP describes it that way in his armorial, and it is in that form that it is displayed in the Museum of the Pays-d’Enhaut in Château-d’Oex). This coat of arms belongs to the DUBATH and the DUBAS families.
The DUBACHs of Canton Berne, depending on the branch of the family, have several vivid variations on a single theme, generally representing a pigeon and a stream (Dub + Bach), and often also a star. According to members of the branch in Eggiwil (Canton Berne), their coat of arms bears “A black eagle against a golden backdrop, and a pattern of red and silver wedges below”.
The Lucerne branch of the family has two distinct coats of arms. The DUBACHs of Hellbühl, Hergiswil, Hüswil, Langnau, Zell, Luthern, Neuenkirch, Ohmstal, Pfaffnau, Romoos, Rothenburg, Ufhusen and Willisau-Land have “A green field with a silver ploughshare positioned with the sharp end pointing upward, with three 6-pointed red stars, two along the top and one near the point of the shield”. The DUBACH families of Lucerne, Oberkirch, Grosswangen have “A blue background, with a silver border between top and bottom inlaid with a strip of the same blue, a red fleur-de-lis above and a 6-pointed golden star below”.
These coats of arms are very close to those of the DUBACHERs of Canton Uri, originally of Rougemont in the 17th century, for which the description reads “A single red fleur-de-lis against a silver background above, a single star of gold on a blue background below, and a silver bar bound along the line between the silver and blue” (Historical Dictionary of Switzerland).
The DUBICH coat of arms bears “A golden background with a black wave undulating near the bottom, with a red 6-pointed star above on the right side. At the summit, a star, overlying the flight of a black crane. Twisted turban and valances of gold and black.” These arms bring to mind heraldic elements of Swiss family crests (the undulating band = stream = Bach; the star of the Bernese branches and of the branch of Willisau-Land). The flight of the crane at the summit recalls the well-known old Count Gruyere, whose symbol was this bird and whose holdings first established the family in the 13th century.

From Dubach to Dubich (Alsace only)

In Canton Lucerne, Hans Heinrich DUBACH is one of the DUBACH descendants who came from the Highlands (Pays-d’Enhaut, near Rougemont) between 1572 and 1595. In 1661, Heinrich DHUBACH is listed as a musketeer in a tally of the armed forces in the parish of Grossdietwil, a small village in County Willisau (Canton Lucerne), which includes also Fischbach and Altbüron, Heinrich’s village. Life was very difficult in Switzerland at this time, after the end of the Thirty Years War. In 1670, Heinrich TUBACH therefore sold his goods to emigrate to Alsace with his wife Anna Maria MEYER. Their son Jost or Jodocus (Joss), born while they still lived in Switzerland, would have an eventful life in Alsace . . .
In 1681, the son of Hans Heinrich, Jost TUBACH, married in Ungersheim (near Merxheim) a woman named Eva WEINZAEPFLEN. In 1683, the couple lived in Meyenheim, near Ungersheim: Jodocus DUBACKH is listed at that time as a godfather. The following year, in 1684, the DUBACKH-WIZAEPFLER couple baptized a small child Joannes, still in Meyenheim. Hans Heinrich DUBACH was clearly in nearby Issenheim at that time, in his first years at the seigneurial mill.
In 1686, Jost DUBACK is listed for the first time in Merxheim itself, on the occasion of the confirmation of Nicolaus SCHMIDT, his godson. This is the very first appearance of the DUBACH/DUBICH family in Merxheim, the village which would become definitively the Alsatian homestead of the family.

Register of confirmations in Merxheim in 1686: The parish priest listed Jost DUBACK.

On March 23, 1687, for some strange reason, Jean-Michel STIPPICH, the same parish priest who recorded the 1686 listing, inscribed the baptism of Nicolaus, son of Jost DUBICH and Eva WEINZAEPFLEN in the parish register of Merxheim. On that very day, DUBACH became DUBICH. Then, a new parish priest arrived in Merxheim, Jean Ulrich HIGELIN. This one would continue to write “DUBICH”, precisely the name he could see before his eyes, but also the name he must have believed he heard from the lips of members of the family (probably something like “Dub’ckh”). This form of the name would persist all the way to our own times.
In 1689, Eva WEINZAEPFLEN died, in Merxheim. Jost soon married a woman native to Merxheim, Anne Marie KIEFFER. Jost’s father signed the register on this occasion “Hans Heinrich DUBBAT” (cf. DUBAT and DUBATH in Rougemont). In 1691, when Hans Heinrich’s daughter Madeleine died at the age of 20, her father and her brother signed side by side: “Heinrich DUBBACHT” and “Jost DUBICH” in the Merxheim register of burials! In 1693, Heinrich signed, on one single occasion, DUBBICHT, and in 1695 he wrote yet another version, DUBACHT. Although the father thus continued writing his name more or less as he did in Switzerland, DUBACH or DUBATH, or indeed both in the coalesced version DUBACHT (see below) – the subsequent generation for their part passed definitively as DUBICHs.
In 1689, Heinrich DUBACK of Merxheim figured among the members of a Fraternity of St. Sebastian, founded in 1661 in Niederentzen by Jean Melchior TRUCHSESS DE RHEINFELDEN.

Parish records from 1695 in Merxheim. The common ancestor of all the DUBICHs still signs his name “Heinrich DUBACHT” long after his arrival in Alsace in 1670 and the transformation of the name into DUBICH in 1687.

We need to understand that other DUBACHs were also in Alsace after the Thirty Years War: In Ribeauvillé (a large family DUBACH-SCHÜRMANN from 1663 on), in Hirtzfelden (an Elisabeth TUBACH of Grossdietwil was married in 1684), in Uffholtz (Caspar DUBAC was recognized as a landed resident en 1685), in Berrwiller (Johann Caspar, 1693), in Sainte-Croix-en-Plaine (Caspar), and in Rustenhart (Caspar, 1714). In Mittelwihr, the name became DUWA about 1720. Here, the family came from Amt (“district”) Rothenburg (Canton Lucerne). Oftentimes, the Latin expression “Helveta ex ditione Lucernensis” appears in the registers, except for a Johannes DUBACH who is said to have come from Berne to Ribeauvillé. Whether the name is DUBACH, DUBACK, DUBAC, TUBACH, TUBAC, TABACK, THABACK, TUBACKH, DUPACH, DUBA or DUWA, it did not become DUBICH anywhere but in Merxheim, from which it has been exported over the years since 1690 in that form to other localities. It is this that allows us to distinguish the descendants of the couple Hans Heinrich DUBACH and Anna Maria MEYER, all called DUBICH, from other DUBACHs who turned up in Alsace, where the name still exists, notably in the forms TUBACH and DUWA.

An ancient dynasty of millers and builders

Even in the early days in Rougemont, there were DUBACH millers, but that’s not all. In addition to owning numerous plots of land, the family was also in the business of timber, sawmills, and the construction of houses. About 1580, Peter DUBACH was a builder of chalets. One of those attributed to him is still standing, the chalet Von GRÜNIGEN/BLUM (or ZAHLER/BLUM), built in 1583 in Saanen, and bearing an inscription of biblical verse from St. Paul: ” Christvs ist min Laeben und Staerben min Gwün. Philip. I. MDLXXXIII ” (Christ is my life and death will bring my gain), following the initials of the master builder: PD.
But above all, it was Claude (Glodo) DUBACH, originally of Rougemont and later established in Lauenen near Gstaad after his marriage to Apollonia HALDI in 1608, who built numerous chalets in the Sarine valley. The oldest, still standing, dates back to 1604 and is located south of Gstaad. Claude’s son (or nephew?), who came like Claude himself from Rougemont and who was also named Claude or Glodo, was married to another Apollonia, Apollonia GANDER. In 1622 they baptized their daughter Christina in Saanen, then other children in Lauenen where he established himself like the elder Claude. Claude the Younger pursued the same career as his father and left behind elegant chalets, the style of which struck a transitional balance between the earlier sober Gothic style and the baroque excess that flourished soon afterward in Saanenland.
The Valize-Haus of Rübeldorf (a part of Saanen), dated 1620, can still be seen and is also signed ” GLODO DV BACH WÄRCK MEISTER ” (master builder), engraved on the beam, followed by an inscription declaring that the brief sojourn on Earth is but naught, and only Heaven is our home: ” Im himel ist unser statt/ Dorum dis irdis(che) ein end hatt”. Moreover, the inscriptions are bilingual like the DUBACH family itself. For example, on the chalet built for the poet Gabriel KÜBLI en 1618 (Landschaftshaus) : « Was ich hie gmacht mit miner Kvnst hab ich von Gotes Gnad vnd Gvnst – Glodo Dvbach Wärck Meister – Av nom de Diev seoit dovt feit […] la paix du ciel cest le grand bien / cil lui ne la na du tovt rien », or in other words: ” What I have achieved here with my art is done by the grace and the favor of God unto my hands — Claude DUBACH master builder — In the name of God be all this done […] the peace of Heaven, that is the greatest gift / one who has it not has nothing at all” (the complete inscription is more than a hundred words). In Rougemont, ” CLAVDE DVBAC MAISTRE CHAPVIS ” (chapuis = carpenter) signed over a chalet in 1623 to the brothers Pierre et Jehan ROSSIER. The last of these DUBACH chalets dates from 1677 and was built between Saanen and Gstaad for Hans WEHREN. This chalet no longer exists now.
Detail of one of the chalets built by the DUBACHs between 1583 and 1677. This is the Valize-Haus, built in 1620 in Rübeldorf (Saanen). One can read: “GLODO DV BACH WÄRCK MEISTER”.

Detail from one of the chalets built by the DUBACHs between 1583 and 1677. This is the Valize-Haus built in 1620 at Rübeldorf (Saanen). It reads “GLODO DV BACH WÄRCK MEISTER” (Claude DUBACH, Master Builder).

There remain a dozen chalets between Rougemont, Saanen, Gstaad and Lauenen, signed Glodo DUBACH the Father or “der Jüngere” (the Younger) and built between 1604 and 1647. One was built in 1608 in Gstaad (in the Wispile locality) by another great master, Franz MURI, but the names of his companions are written as abbreviations in this case; among these appear the letters “GL DV” referring to Glodo DUBACH the Elder.

Alsace

Let’s return to Alsace. In Merxheim, following in the footsteps of earlier DUBACHs in Rougemont, Hans Heinrich DUBACH (alias Joannes Henricus DUBICH), acquired the village mill. Heinrich bequeathed this mill to his second son, Jean-Jacques, and his wife Madeleine GROSS, who were married in 1698. In March 1698, Heinrich died in Merxheim; his wife Anna Maria (maiden name MEYER) died in 1702. Jean-Jacques DUBICH and Madeleine GROSS (daughter of Marshal Jacques GROSS) are the progenitors of all the current DUBICHs.
After the 1689 death of Eve WEINZAEPFLEN, Jost, the eldest son of Heinrich, left for Issenheim in June 1690, with his second wife, a woman from Merxheim named Maria-Anna KIEFFER. There he signed his first lease on the village mill, leasing it from the Antonine monks. With his third wife Elisabeth VETTER (from a Merxheim family that came from Escholzmatt, in Canton Lucerne), he established himself in Cernay about 1705, where he had the opportunity to acquire the mill of the manor or “Herrenmühle”. In Issenheim, at the monastery of the Antonines, it was Michel DUBICH who would succeed Jost, then Jean DUBICH (the Joannes DUBACKH born in 1684 in Meyenheim), then Thibaut DUBICH (the first), son of Jean, in 1728 . . . Already four generations of millers in Alsace! Between the mills of Merxheim, Issenheim, Pfaffenheim, and Cernay, the men of the family moved often. Jost (the first) also had descendants in Cernay. His son Jost II would inherit the mill of the manor, which he passed on in turn to his son Stephan. But this branch of the family in Cernay ended with Stephan II. In a similar vein, a DUBICH of Merxheim started a new branch in Issenheim in the 19th century, only to have it end in 1983.
If the name is generally fixed as “DUBICH”, one finds here and there an occasional unusual version, especially in Issenheim around 1700-1710, such as TUPICH, DUPIC, TUBY, DUPICH and even DOBBICH. (In 1632 and 1636 in the parish register of Lauenen, near Gstaad, one finds “Glodo DOBACH”. And, on a chalet built in 1630, there appears the inscription “GLODV DOBACH IST WÄRCKMEISTER GEWÄSEN”.) In Cernay, one of the sons of Jost died under the name Theobaldus TUWICK, in 1719 (at the age of 11). In the 18th century, the Abbot of Merxheim, ROOST, often wrote the name as “DUBIG” in the records, but DUBICH prevailed. In the 19th century, Thomas DUBICH was mayor of Merxheim and the sponsor of one of the clocks of the parish church under the name of (remarkably enough) Thomas DUBIQUE! (The donation was dated 1817.) The orthographic flights of fancy never end!
It was definitely in Merxheim, the Alsatian stronghold of the family, that the DUBICHs would flourish. Jean-Jacques DUBICH (second son of Heinrich) and Madeleine GROSS, married in 1698, would have seven children, of which one, Jean, the husband of Apollonia KRAFFT of Raedersheim, would be crushed to death by a mill in 1744. His name, though, was passed on to the third generation by another son of Jean-Jacques and Madeleine GROSS. This was Jean Michel DUBICH (brother of the deceased Jean) and his wife Madeleine HOLDER (daughter of Marshal Georges HOLDER and sister of Abbot Pierre-Paul HOLDER).
The DUBICHs were joined by marriage with families of various names, including WEINZAEPFLEN, KIEFFER, GROSS, HOLDER, KIMPFLIN, SCHMIDT, LIDOLFF, SCHERMESSER, SCHILLING, VETTER, WILD, NIEMERICH, RIEDWEG, MARTINKEN, TORRES, HESS, HORN, RUBRECHT, MULLER, ORY, BOEHRER, DESGRANGES, HANNAUER, ALTHAUS, BRAUN, DIENGER, GALLIATH, SCHNEIDER, SCHEBACHER and a good many other families as well.
There followed in Merxheim several generations of millers, respected in town and rather well-off, as well as landowners and high-ranking officials. In Issenheim, François-Xavier DUBICH, son of Merxheim native étienne DUBICH and Marie-Thérèse MARTIN of Issenheim, and husband of Marie-Anne Ève SCHERMESSER, owned a hotel on Imperial Route 83, around 1850.
The various assessments and inheritances after death throw light on the ownership of numerous lands, vineyards, and other goods, from the first Alsatian generations. Certain DUBICHs were also military men in the royal regiment before the French Revolution, then also under the Empire. Two DUBICHs of Merxheim were decorated with the Medal of Saint Helen by Napoléon III for having fought by the side of Napoléon I in Germany. A third soldier, Jean-Georges DUBICH, gave his life before he could reach such distinction.

Several Dubich chapels in Merxheim

Merxheim has several DUBICH chapels, among them one beside the Way of Rouffach (17th century). Mass used to be celebrated there, and the chapel holds an Altar of the Virgin, of Saint Anthony of Padua, and of Saint Francis of Assisi. But the doors have been closed, by order of the Sub-Bishop of Bâle (Basel) SCHNORPFF, because beggars and cattle were taking refuge in the chapel.
The DUBICH chapel on Guebwiller Road, an integral part of the DUBICH house built in 1681 by the Prince-Abbots of Murbach, a house that remained in the family for more than two centuries, is still a part of the landscape. This chapel is consecrated to the Grieving Virgin and enshrines a Baroque Pieta in a colorful wooden frame, from the 18th century. The little card above it bears the inscription G. DUBICH (Georges DUBICH, married to Marie-Anne GROSS in 1837 and Mayor of Merxheim), owner of the house, as well as the date 1853, which is undoubtedly the date of restoration of the painting.

In our own days

In 2003, there are no more DUBACHs in Rougemont. The name went extinct long ago in about 1692, replaced by other spellings. The family is still represented at the present time in Château-d’Oex and in the nearby Manche valley, above Rougemont, but in the form of DUBATH. The DUBAS families of Switzerland are also originally from Rougemont, and today in Rougemont there are three BACH families originally from the neighboring village of Gessenay (Saanen). About fifteen BACH families live in Saanen and Gstaad, several of them in exactly the same Ebnit locality as in the 13th and 14th centuries!

In Europe and in the world

The DUBACHs are common in Switzerland (but perhaps some are unrelated to the stock we are discussing), and in other European countries, and in the United States (about 180 families, with several varieties of the name like TUBACH or DUBACK, families who migrated from Switzerland, Germany, Lorraine. . . ). There are families in Germany (the marquis of DUBACH or THUBACH, for example, came to Delémont with Protestant troops in 1637), in Great Britain, in Bohemia, one family in South Africa, and one in Mongolia, recently arrived from Switzerland.
Some DUBACH and TUBACH families live in the Bas-Rhin, and in Lorraine several DUBACH families have been around since the end of the 17th century. One of these families operate a large mill. Some DUBACH families also live elsewhere in France — in Marne (near Paris), Aisne (in northern France), and other places as well. Some DUBATHs originally from Canton Neuchâtel have lived in France in the 20th century, along with some DUBAS families who came from Canton Fribourg at the end of the 17th century.
The Dutch branch of the DUBACHs, also commonly known as TOEBACKs or TOEBACHs, originated essentially from Trub (east of Berne near Langnau) and from Niederstocken (Canton Berne, just west of Lake Thun). DUBACH military contingents departed for the Netherlands, and gave rise to descendants beginning in 1725. Their daughters had children in the town of Grave (Netherlands) with the Swiss officers Von RODT (1771) and Franz Von WATTENWYL (1769).
The DUBICHs for their part have long flourished in Alsace, especially in Merxheim, where they have been established for around 330 years. One branch originated in Gundolsheim in the 19th century, others in Guebwiller and Mulhouse, and also in the Bas-Rhin, in Scherwiller and Weyersheim, as well as in Doubs, at Sainte-Suzanne, in the 20th century. Few DUBICHs live outside Alsace.
In the United States one can find about 35 “DUBICH” families, most of which, however, are of Slavic origin. In Eastern Europe, the “DUBICH” name has a homonym (pronounced “Doubitch” or “Doubick”) without any family connection to the DUBICHs of Merxheim (say “Dubish”). There, the name does not mean “by the brook” or “by the stream” but “by the oak tree”! This family name also exists in Alsace, especially in the form “DUBYK”; the family was originally Polish.
On March 16, 1986, the Dubich family celebrated its first “cousinade”, which reunited almost 200 people. The patrilineal descendents of Hans Heinrich DUBACH (alias Jean Henri DUBICH) and Anne Marie MEYER, as well as their spouses, met in Alsace, and furthermore, Josef DUBACH of Willisau (Canton Lucerne) also made the trip, representing the original name of the DUBICHs. This family reunion was an opportunity for many cousins to get acquainted with each other, all descended from a single couple who came from Switzerland eleven generations ago. Now the twelfth Alsatian generation prospers in the shade of the old millstone displayed near the Town Hall of Merxheim, the last remaining talisman of the mill that was handed down for more than a century from father to son in the Dubich family.
This article is drawn from a more thorough history of the Dubich family I am writing, a sample of which is available from CDHF.

Written by Denis DUBICH
Translated by Jenny DUBACH DUSKEY and Mark DUBACH

Deuxième guerre mondiale…l’historien nous révèle le rôle capital joué
par le Pays-d’Enhaut suisse dans le maintien des
échanges économiques avec l’héberge-
ment, dans l’ancien château baillival de
Rougemont
, de la banque des règlements
internationaux qui avait quitté son siège de
Bâle trop exposé. Cachés dans ce mor-
ceau de réduit alpin, «les délégués de la
Banque d’Angleterre et de la Reichsbank
menaient leurs transactions quotidiennes
sous la houlette américaine»


Le Château de Vanel, I O A nel

A environ 1 km et demi à l’est de Rougemont, le château du Vanel .
en 1838 d’après Wagner
Détruit en 1407, il avait laissé des ruines intéressantes, mais l’effondrement graduel était devenu un danger pour la route passant à ses pieds, les derniers vestiges furent abattus en 1907. Détruit à cause de Louis de Joinville
Joinville, Louis de
1409 . Seigneur de Divonne, plusieurs fois bailli de Vaud entre 1395 et 1409. Nommé (avec Jean de Blonay) tuteur d’Antoine de Gruyère, successeur encore mineur de Rodolphe IV (1403), par Amédée VIII de Savoie, suzerain des comtes de Gruyère, J. réprima violemment les gens de Château-d’OEx et de Saanen pour avoir conclu une combourgeoisie avec la ville de Berne. Celle-ci ordonna alors aux troupes de Thoune, de Frutigen et du Simmental de marcher sur le comté de Gruyère (1407); les places fortes de Château-d’OEx, du Vanel et de Bellegarde furent prises. L’arbitrage de Morat (1408), qui mit fin au conflit, confirma la combourgeoisie de Château d’OEx et Saanen avec Berne.
Bibliographie
-SDS BE, II/3, 30-37

Auteur: Ansgar Wildermann / PM
Bibliographie

Das Gebiet des Pays-d’Enhaut wurde im 10. Jahrhundert von den Grafen von Greyerz erobert. Diese schenkten einen Teil ihres Gebietes der Abtei Cluny, welche in der Zeit zwischen 1073 und 1085 bei Rougemont ein Priorat gründete. Rougemont wurde damit zum geistlichen Zentrum des Pays-d’Enhaut. Es stand unter der Oberhoheit der Grafen von Greyerz, die durch einen Burgvogt vertreten wurden. Die Burg befand sich seit dem 12. Jahrhundert bei der Engstelle Vanel, wurde jedoch 1407 zerstört.
Als der letzte Graf von Greyerz 1554 Konkurs machte, teilten seine Gläubiger, die Stände Bern und Freiburg, die Hinterlassenschaft unter sich auf. Dadurch kam es zur Teilung des oberen Saanetals: das Pays-d’Enhaut und das Saanenland gelangten an Bern, während Freiburg die Herrschaft über das Greyerzerland übernahm.
Befreiungsurkunde von 1312
Unter vielen anderen Pflichten waren die Saaner der Tallia unterworfen. Diese verpflichtete sie einerseits zu einer Abgabe von Geld, Getreide und Milchprodukten, andererseits – und das war für die Saaner schlimmer – band sie die Tallia an ihre Scholleass zum Beispiel ein Bauernsohn aus dem Saanenland nicht das Recht besass, wieder auszuwandern.
Peter von Vanel befreite die Saaner 1312 von der Tallia. Dafür führte er einen festen Bodenzins, “certus census” genannt, ein. Dies kam dem Herrschaftsherren ganz gelegen: am Anfang war er auf die Tallia angewiesen, durch dieses Gesetz wurde zwangsläufig viel Land urbar gemacht, wollten die Bauernsöhne ein Auskommen haben. Nun aber war die Bevölkerung gross genug, die Tallia erfüllte für den Grafen keinen wirtschaftlichen Zweck mehr. Für die Freigabe wurde er von den Saanern bezahlt. Für diese unsere Vorfahren war es zwar ein kleiner, aber doch erster wesentlicher Schritt in ihrer persönlichen Freiheit und Unabhängigkeit.
Die Standeseinheit
Neben den achzig im Oktober 1312 befreiten Saanern gab es schon damals etwa achtzig, die bereits losgekaufte Freie, “homines liberi” waren. Auch 1324 wird noch unterschieden zwischen homines liberi (vor 1312 frei) und homines affranchesati (1312 befreit). Alle sind aber noch der Mainmorte unterworfen (s. weiter unten).Vom Jahre 1312 an bildeten die Saaner, bestehend aus den Orten Saanen, Gstaad, Gsteig, Lauenen und Abländschen eine politische Gemeinde. Das Zusammenhalten war ihre Stärke. Sie wurden dadurch zu grossen Geldleistungen fähig. Bald würde sich erweisen, von welcher Bedeutung das sein würde.
Die Geldnot im Hause Greyerz
Greyerz beteiligte sich am Laupenkrieg und erlitt dabei grossen finanziellen Schaden.
Peter III von Vanel musste sich an die Saaner wenden.Diese bezahlten für ihn während acht Jahren den Freiburger Gläubigern 250 Pfund zurück. Bedingung war allerdings, dass Graf Peter den Freiburgern die Zinsen und Rechte seiner Herrschaft nicht verkaufte. Die Saaner hatten also ein Interesse daran, Peter als Zinsherrn zu behalten.Während dieser Zeit kauften sie der Herrschaft das Pfund- und Zollrecht ab.
Graf Peter IV sah sich durch die grosse Geldnot dennoch gezwungen, die Rechte und Zinsen von 42 Saanern an Freiburg auszulehnen.
Im Jahre 1413 musste Graf Anton von Greyerz noch einmal sämtliche Rechte und Einnahmen von den Saanern an Freiburger Bürger abtreten um eine Schuld zurückzuzahlen.
Mit Schenkungen und Belehnungen erwarben sich die Saaner einerseits die Gunst ihrer Herrschaftsherren, andererseits konnten sie immer mehr Pflichten loswerden und sich so allmaählich von der Grundherrschaft befreien.
Diese Abgaben und Pflichten waren folgende:
Vogteiabgaben oder “usages” Sie umfassten:
Spanndienste: Es bestand die Pflicht, mit den eigenen Tieren das Feld ihres Herrn zu pflügen. Wenn dies nicht möglich war (man denke an einen Bauern aus dem Lauenental) konnte als Ersatz auch ein Geldbetrag entrichtet werden.
Handdienste: Üblich war das sogenannte “Mädertauwen”, ein Tagwerk mit der Sense musste auf herrschaftlichem Gut ausgeübt werden. Auch hier war eine Geldentschädigung möglich.
Wachtdienst: Jeder Inhaber einer Feurstelle, also jeder Hausbesitzer, hatte während einer bestimmten Zeit auf der Burg Vanel Wachtdienst zu leistn oder musste er auch hier bezahlen.
Feuerstatthühner: Von jeder Feuerstelle wurde jährlich ein Huhn eingezogen.
Weitere Verpflichtungen der “usages” waren Getreideabgaben und gelegentlich die “chevauchée”, d.h. Kriegsdienst oder Entschädigung dafür.

Die Mainmorte
Die Mainmorte galt zu der Zeit als deutliches Merkmal der Unfreiheit. Sie schränkte die Testierfreiheit ein, die Saaner konnten also nicht über ihr Vermögen verfügen bevor sie starben. Wo bestimmte Erben nicht vorhanden waren, fiel der Besitz des Verstorbenen der Herrschaft zu.
Die Mainmorte war vor allem in der Welschschweiz und in Frankreich üblich. Sie unterschied sich von der Leibeigenschaft dadurch, dass sie die allgemeine persönliche Freiheit wie auch die Heiratsfreiheit nicht einschränkte.
Graf Rudolf IV fand die Mainmorte unwürdig und schaffte sie 1398 in den Kastlaneien Greyerz und Saanen auf ewig ab, natürlich nicht ohne dafür bezahlt zu werden….
Die “erbetten”, (frz. “onciège)
Dies war eine Abgabe der Landwirtschaft und bestand aus dem verarbeiteten Milchertrag (Butter, Käse etc.) von 2-3 Tagen.
Das Lod (lob, laudenium)
Abgabe, die bei Kauf oder Verkauf als Anerkennung des Obereigentümerrechtes an die Herrschaft bezahlt werden musste.
Als die Mainmorte aufgehoben war, wurde das Lod als Siegelgeld eingezogen. Schriftliche Kaufverträge mussten mit dem herrschaftlichen Siegel versehen sein, damit sie ihre Rechtsgültigkeit hatten.
Gewerbliche Bodenzinsen
Auf Getreidemühlen, Sägewerken und Stampfmühlen sowie auf Backöfen lasteten zusätzliche besondere Zinsabgaben.

Loskauf von allen herrschaftlichen Bodenzinsen, Steuern, Rechten und Abgaben 1448
Die grosse Geldnot im Jahre 1448 zwang Graf Franz I, seine gesammten grundherrlichen Bezüge an die Saaner zu verkaufen. Diese wurden in die Kirche zusammengerufen, wo sie darüber abzustimmen hatten, ob sie dazu bereit seien, die hohe Summe, die dafür verlangt wurde, zu bezahlen.
Obschon den beherzten Saanern zuerst vor dem hohen Betrag graute, brachten sie den Kauf zustande. Niclas Baumer der jüngere, der damals Kastellan war, wurde als Unterhändler eingesetzt. Es wurde eine Kommission gebildet, die das Auftreiben des vielen Geldes ermöglichen sollte. Diese Kommission wurde vom ehemaligen Kastellan, Niclas Baumer dem älteren angeführt. Unter anderem darum, weil dieser eine sehr angesehene Persönlichkeit war, konnte das Geld zum Kauf aufgebracht werden.
Mit dem Loskauf von ihren Abgaben und Pflichten erhielten die Saaner ein eigenes Siegel, die bisher grösste Errungenschaft auf dem Weg zur Freiheit. Sie waren nun nicht mehr auf das herr-schaftliche Siegel, das sie ständig an ihre Unreiheit erinnert hatte, angewiesen.

Die Verwaltung
Der Kastellan
Der Kastellan vertrat die Herrschaft in der Verwaltung der Landschaft. Er war erster:
– Gerichtsbeamter
– Polizeibeamter
– Finanzbeamter
– Wirtschaftsbeamter

Der Kastellan wurde von der Herrschaft eingesetzt. Zuerst war es kein Einheimischer. Doch bereits 1439 hatten die Saaner einen eigenen Kastellan durchgesetzt, 1500 wurde ein Saaner als Kastellan im Gesetz verankert. Der erste Saaner Kastellan war Niclas Boumer d. ältere.
Die Amtsdauer betrug 3 Jahre. Der Kastellan konnte von der Herrschaft abgesetzt werden, falls diese mit ihm nicht zufrieden war.
Der Landesvenner
Er war von Anfang an ein Einheimscher und war für die Angelegenheiten im innern der Landschaft Saanen verantwortlich. Der Venner war es, der in Kriegszügen als Heerführer das Banner zu tragen hatte. Er vertrat die Interessen der Landleute gegenüber der Herrschaft und war somit eigentlich eine Ergänzung zum Kastellan.
Neben diesen beiden wichtigsten Beamten in der Verwaltung gab es weitere weniger wichtige wie den Landschreiber, den Landseckelmeister und verschiedene Vögte.
Die Landsgemeinde
Sie war die gesetzgebende Behörde in der Selbstverwaltung Saanens. Beamtenwahlen (ausser Kas-tellan), Gerichtssachen, kriegerische Abmachungen und vieles mehr unterlag der Landsgemeinde. Zugelassen wurden alle Männer ab dem 14. (!) Altersjahr.
Die Gesetzgebung
Das Landrecht (von der Landsgemeinde bestimmt) bildete die gültigen Rechtsordnungen. Dabei gab es ein geschriebenes und ein ungeschriebenes Recht. Bei Entscheiden wurden oft die Räte der Ältes-ten beigezogen, die sich auf überlieferten ungeschriebenen Abmachungen beriefen. Das Landrecht war selbsterworbenes Gewohnheitsrecht. Daneben besass aber auch die Herrschaft das Recht, Ordnungen und Bestimmungen zu erlassen. Mit der zunehmenden Befreiung jedoch wurde die herrschaftliche Gewalt nur noch dazu verwendet, die von den Saanern selbst bestimmten Gesetze zu bestätigen.
Graf Rudolf (1397) war ziemlich mild zu den Saanern, er mischte sich wenig in ihre Angelegenheiten und liess ihnen freie Hand. Mit Graf Anton (1429) jedoch gab es verschiedentlich Reibereien. Oft musste ein Schiedsgericht beigezogen werden, das aus Räten von Bern und Freiburg bestand.
Als dann ab 1439 der Kastellan ein Einheimischer war, gelangten die Saaner zur wirklichen Selbständigkeit: die Geschäfte Saanens wurden an der Landsgemeinde erörtert. Der Kastellan, der die Herrschaft vertrat war zwar anwesend und leitete die Landsgemeinde. Doch da er aus eigenen Reihen stammte, war die “Vertretung der Herrschaft” eine reine Formsache.
Das Gerichtswesen
Die ganze Landschaft Saanen bildete einen einzigen Gerichtsbezirk. Es gab drei verschiedene Gerichte, denen allen der Kastellan im Namen der Herrschaft vorstand.
1. Das Untergericht
Es behandelte kleinere Zivilsachen und versammelte sich in Gstaad. Es wurde durch den Kastellan alle drei Jahre neu zusammengesetzt.
2. Das “gricht”
Es bestand immer aus denselben, besonders vereidigten Männern, die von der Landsgemeinde dafür bestimmt wurden. Ihm unterstanden grössere Zivilsachen und kleinere Strafsachen. Daneben hatte es noch allerlei andere Geschäfte der Landsgemeinde zu besorgen; vor allem führte es dringende Angelegenheiten, mit denen man nicht bis zur Landsgemeinde warten konnte, aus.
3. Das “gmein landgricht”
Dieses Gericht war das oberste Gericht der Landschaft Saanen. Es behandelte schwere Kriminalsachen, entschied über Leben und Tod , erteilte Freiheitsstrafen und peinliche Strafen, Strafen also, die ans Blut gingen. Man könnte es also auch als Blutsgericht bezeichnen.
Bei Mord und Totschlag herrschte das Gesetz der Blutrache: der Täter wurde vom “gmein landgricht”, der Landsgemeinde, dreimal hintereinander öffentlich aufgerufen. Damit wurde er den Verwandten überlassen, die mit ihm tun konnten, was sie wollten. Sein Hab und Gut verfiel der Herrschaft.

Gstaad
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INDEX NEWS FROM GSTAAD August 2009
Glamour and a bit of Alpine authenticity

Running up to the glacier

A journey back in time to the Middle Ages

The various different activities surrounding Swiss National Day mark the atmospheric launch of the August highlights on offer in the holiday destination of Gstaad. They are characterised by Alpine authenticity and sporting challenges. From 22 August, it will also be possible to travel back in time to the Middle Ages.

Enjoy your holidays!

Your


Kerstin Sonnekalb, Manager Public Relations
» more
Glamour and a bit of Alpine authenticity
The month of August presents the holiday region of Gstaad with a fantastic weekend: the Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad, which sees the best polo players competing for world ranking points, takes place at the same time as strong men fighting it out in sawdust on the Rellerli for the championship title in wrestling, Switzerland’s national sport. This provides visitors with a special opportunity to combine elegance and glamour with an authentic Alpine experience. Cultural highlights are provided by the concerts performed at the Menuhin Festival.
» more

» more
Running up to the glacier
Following the inaugural event last year, the second Glacier 3000 Run starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday, 8 August 2009 in Gstaad. A top-notch mountain running race: on the 26 kilometre route, the competitors have to overcome a difference in altitude of 1,900 metres. It is the only mountain running race that leads over a glacier. The Organising Committee expects around 700 runners to compete this year.
» more

» more
A journey back in time to the Middle Ages
A new themed walk and adventure trail in Zweisimmen will enable anyone interested in history to take a journey back in time to the Middle Ages from 22 August 2009. The castle trail will be opened ceremoniously at 2 p.m. on the same day. On a length of 7 km to 10 km, it demonstrates the importance of the municipality in that era. A knight in shining armour will welcome visitors at Zweisimmen railway station.
» more

© 2009 BY GSTAAD SAANENLAND TOURISM

Money an addictive drug ?

Summary:
We make the intriguing suggestion that, instead of setting huge bailouts, we should set goals for urgent real projects, and should release money to the real needs of the poorer, with a money creation without any interest, for the common good.

http://www.michaeljournal.org/images/017--Compound-Interest.gif

IMF, World Bank and most banks are an addictive drug for the world’s economy. With each new injection, the Governments see financial crisis apparently averted, and abandons any attempt at serious reform. 

The money issued by the Government would be no more inflationary than the money created by the banks: it would be the same figures, based on the same production of each country. The only difference is that the Government would not have to get into debt, or to pay interest, in order to obtain these investments.
If every Government issued its own money for the needs of society, it would be automatically able to pay for all that can be produced in the country, and would no longer be obliged to borrow from foreign or domestic financial institutions. The only taxes people would pay would be for the services they consume. One would no longer have to pay three or four times the actual price of public developments because of the interest charges. ( ten times on 50 years with a ten percent interest )

So, when the Government would discuss a new project, it would not ask: “Do we have the money?”, but: “Do we have the materials and the workers to realize it?”. If it is so, new money would be automatically issued to finance this new production. Then the people could really live in accordance with their real means, the physical means, the possibilities of production. In other words, all that is physically possible would be made financially possible. There would be no more financial problems. The only limit would be that of the producing capacity of the nation. The Government would be able to finance all the developments and social programs demanded by the population that are physically feasible.
Under the present debt-money system, if the debt were to be paid off to the bankers, there would be no money left in circulation, creating a depression infinitely worse than any of the past. Let us quote again the exchange between Messrs. Patman and Eccles before the House Banking and Currency Committee, on September 30, 1941:
Mr. Patman: “You have made the statement that people should get out of debt instead of spending their money. You recall the statement, I presume?”
Mr. Eccles: “That was in connection with installment credit.”
Mr. Patman: “Do you believe that people should pay their debts generally when they can?”
Mr. Eccles: “I think it depends a good deal upon the individual; but of course, if there were no debt in our money system…”
Mr. Patman: “That is the point I wanted to ask you about.”
Mr. Eccles: “There wouldn’t be any money.”
Mr. Patman: “Suppose everybody paid their debts, would we have any money to do business on?”
Mr. Eccles: “That is correct.”
Mr. Patman: “In other words, our system is based entirely on debt.”
How can we ever hope to get out of debt when all the money to pay off the debt is created by creating a debt? Balancing the budget is an absurd straight jacket. What must be balanced is the capacity to pay, in accordance with the capacity to produce, and not in accordance with the capacity to tax. Since it is the capacity to produce that is the reality, it is the capacity to pay that must be modeled on the capacity to produce, to make financially possible what is physically feasible.

Repayment of the debt

Paying off one’s debt is simple justice if this debt is just. But if it is not the case, paying this debt would be an act of weakness. As regards the public debt, justice is making no debts at all, while developing the country. First, let us stop building new debts. For the existing debt, the only bonds to be acknowledged would be those of the savers; they who do not have the power to create money. The debt would thus be reduced year after year, as bonds come to maturity.

The Government would honour in full only the debts which, at their origins, represented a real expense on the part of the creditor: the bonds purchased by individuals, and not the bonds purchased with the money created by the banker, which are fictitious debts, created by the stroke of a pen. As regards Third-World countries’ debts, they are essentially owed to banks, which created all the money loaned to these countries. These same countries would therefore have no interest charges to pay back, and their debts would be, virtually, written off. Banks would lose nothing, since it is they that had created this money, which did not exist before.

http://desiebenthal.blogspot.com/2009/03/north-dakotas-banking-system-role-model.html

Plus bête, tu meurs, la France dans toute son horreur.

La France sous influence…qui veut augmenter les factures EDF de 30 % et empêcher d'économiser…(sic)

Au nom du nucléaire
Et bien faut bien payer les erreurs de l'engagement français dans le nucléaire !! Le modèle économique d'EDF est basé sur la gaspillage énergétique et le pillage des consommateurs (on ne dit plus des usagés, c'est trop soviétique).Une décision « injuste et partiale ». Voilà comment Pierre Bivas, PDG de Voltalis, opérateur énergétique spécialisé dans la de l’énergie pour les entreprises et les particuliers, qualifie la décision de la Commission de régulation de l’énergie (CRE). Selon nos informations, celle-ci vient de donner raison à qui réclamait une « taxe » pour compenser le manque à gagner résultant des économies d’énergie réalisées par les clients de Voltalis.

Cette entreprise, créée en 2007, a en effet mis au point un boîtier qui se fixe entre le compteur EDF et le tableau électrique et permet de réaliser des économies d’énergie, déclenchées en temps réel par Internet, en stoppant par exemple le chauffage ou la climatisation. Des économies d’énergie qui allègent la facture des clients, au détriment d’EDF.
Le fournisseur d’électricité demandait ainsi « une rémunération de l’énergie effacée » par Voltalis. « Ceci signifie que, si un ensemble de clients d’EDF acceptent de réduire leur consommation, EDF exige d’être payé comme s’ils avaient consommé ! » précise Pierre Bivas. Cette taxe serait de l’ordre de 70 à 80 % des revenus de Voltalis, autant dire une ponction qui pourrait se révéler fatale pour l’entreprise. Les autres fournisseurs d’énergie (Poweo, Direct Energie…) se sont joints à EDF tout en réclamant une taxe d’un montant bien inférieur.

Une décision surprenante

Pierre Bivas estime qu’EDF cherche à freiner la généralisation de ce système car elle ne possède pas encore la technologie pour la développer elle-même. S’il ne s’étonne pas du lobbying effectué par l’opérateur historique, il regrette que la CRE s’en soit fait l’intermédiaire. « C’est une décision contraire à la mission de la CRE de servir les intérêts du consommateur, contraire au Grenelle de l’environnement et contraire aux lois du car elle constitue une entrave à la concurrence », s’indigne Pierre Bivas.
Une décision d’autant plus surprenante que le 18 juin, la Ferc, l’équivalent américain de la CRE, encourageait au développement d’un système analogue qui permettrait d’économiser 20 % de l’énergie électrique consommée aux heures de pointe. Pierre Bivas ne compte toutefois pas en rester là : « Voltalis se réserve la possibilité de recourir à toutes les voies de droit pour faire rétablir la prééminence des consommateurs sur l’intérêt des fournisseurs, et au-delà de l’intérêt général comme de la protection de notre planète, tous menacés par cette décision. » Contactée hier, EDF n’a pas souhaité faire de commentaire.

Quand EDF combat les économies d’énergie – Economie – 18/07/2009 – leParisien.fr

Et là que fait l'Etat ? Le ministère de l'écologie?
Le gouvernement participe aux Grenelles de l'environnement, Il incite à réduire la consommation, Il impose les ampoules à basse consommation,… Je verrai donc d'un oeil suspect, témoin d'une complicité qui ne dit pas son nom avec EDF, le fait qu'il ne réagisse pas avec force contre cette ABERRATION qui vise pour un groupe comme EDF à conserver son chiffre d'affaires, et qu'importe l'écologie et la planète !
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Monetary Reformer


How dreadful are most IMF’s and World Bank’s debt finance projects. All citizens must use their financial-economic bill of rights, a dividend for everyone. We mobilize you to form a strong public opinion against most debts and all interest which are odious as the major causes of poverty. Social credit provides better solutions for all. The life-soul-killing effects of these evils pressure the Government(s) to implement now urgents reforms. The most important is the money system creation from being debt-based to a debt-free economy without any interest, with mechanisms to provide financial-economic security to every citizen from conception to the grave, at a very low cost without discrimination, and with less taxes for everybody, and thus we can invest in more efficient projects for the welfare, security and survival of the citizen.
Caritas in Veritate and Vix pervenit in action.
So urgent, it is now,,,VIX means immediately, faster than asap.

IMF kills, World Bank kills, THE SAVAGE CRUELTY OF DEBT by Eric Encina

THE SAVAGE CRUELTY OF DEBT

by Eric Encina

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How dreadful are most IMF's and World Bank's debt finance projects. All citizens must use their financial-economic bill of rights, a dividend for everyone. We mobilize you to form a strong public opinion against most debts and all interest which are odious as the major causes of poverty. Social credit provides better solutions for all. The life-soul-killing effects of these evils pressure the Government(s) to implement now urgents reforms. The most important is the money system creation from being debt-based to a debt-free economy without any interest, with mechanisms to provide financial-economic security to every citizen from conception to the grave, at a very low cost without discrimination, and with less taxes for everybody, and thus we can invest in more efficient projects for the welfare, security and survival of the citizen.
Caritas in Veritate and Vix pervenit in action.
So urgent, it is now,,,VIX means immediately, faster than asap.

and NSSM 200

and Kissinger…

ISBN: 978-0-03-242786-0
Publisher: Lulu
Copyright: © 2009 Eric V. Encina 
Language: English
Country: United States
Edition: Fifth Edition

THE SAVAGE CRUELTY OF DEBT

We can demonstrates how dreadful are most IMF’s and World Bank’s debt finance projects, and educates all citizens in the countryside of their financial-economic bill of rights. We mobilize them to form a strong public opinion against the odious debts, and all debts and interest from debt finance, and diagnose the major causes of monetary poverty and thus provide best solutions for everyone. Knowing all the life-soul-killing effects of these evils of debt finance,we pressure the Government(s) to implement now the most necessary change through urgent reforms. The most important reform is the money system creation from being debt-based to debt-free financial-economy, and propose the schemes and mechanisms to provide financial-economic security to every citizen from conception to the grave, at a very low cost without discrimination, and with less taxes for everybody, and thus we can invest in more efficient projects for the welfare, security and survival of the citizens.

Some VIP’s are saying important truths, as you are.

Maurice Allais, Professor of Economics at the National School of Mining Engineering in Paris, France and the 1988 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics, had this to say, in his book “Les conditions monétaires d’une économie de marché” (The Monetary Conditions of a Market Economy p. 2): “In essence, the present creation of money, out of nothing, by the banking system is, I do not hesitate to say it in order to make people clearly realize what is at stake here, similar to the creation of money by counterfeiters, so rightly condemned by law. In concrete terms, it leads to the same results.”

And let us quote Mackenzie King too, while he was campaigning, in 1935, to become Prime Minister of Canada: “Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of Parliament and of democracy is idle and futile.”

Doctor Jan Wilk reflected:

“This defective financial system reminds me of a circulatory system with a defective heart. It’s as if the heart sucked more blood from the system than it puts back, therefore, the heart takes more, and keeps it for itself; and gives only some back to the system.

To camouflage a little this strategy, they try to add new credits from time to time to the financial system, but its only virtual money, it is as if we put a substitute for blood in the system. Consequently, this state of affairs is like having less and less good blood, and more tainted and defective blood. That will lead us towards catastrophe; it is only a question time.

We are Christians. Therefore we are obliged to have an open heart, and also to be vigilant. And our love should also include our enemies, those who make this bad system work, and we should love also those who suffer from the consequences of it.”

The report of the National Security Council

prepared in 1974 under the direction of Henry Kissinger, offers

some disturbing

insights on this point and proves how true is your book.  http://www.population-security.org/28-APP2.html

 Kept secret until 1989,

this report estimates that it is indispensable to the security

of the United States to establish a rude policy of demographic control in the

countries of the Third World. Alongside the pill and sterilization, mention is

also made of abortion.

We put the finger exactly where it hurts and need urgent medication.

Julian Simon said in his book ” the ultimate Resource 1″ that he was paid by those people to prove that Earth was overpopulated, but he wrote books and articles proving exactly the opposite.

The Ultimate Resource (now The Ultimate Resource 2) and Population Matters discuss trends in the United States and the world with respect to resources, environment, and population and the interactions between them. Simon concludes that there is no reason why material life on earth should not continue to improve, and that increasing population contributes to that improvement in the long run. Those popularly-written books develop ideas positive and foresaw the falling natural resource prices, increased world oil supply, and decline in farmland prices. His view of population economics is unique and persuasive. Discussion covers resources, environment, population growth and his analytical methods.

To read this book, see this link.

http://www.juliansimon.com/writings/Ultimate_Resource/

New York connections

Coup de filet à New York.

Élus et rabbins arrêtés.

Ramifications en Suisse et en Israël…

Plusieurs dizaines d'élus et au moins cinq rabbins arrêtés notamment à New York.
Une corruption ayant des ramifications jusqu'en Israël et en Suisse a été démantelée.
Corruption,extorsion de fonds, blanchiment d'argent et notamment trafic d'organes.

To be done now, before the collapse

The Matrix idea is simply to ask that people agree on the use of interest-free loans for public capital projects because it is such a fertile concept and one that people can find in common. After that  people can happily propose this or that (e.g.traditional Binary Economics) but somebody, somewhere, has to make the move to find some agreement and engender co-operation because, at the rate things are going (particularly in the USA), the likelihood alternative is fascism. 
 
In 2002 Bernad Lietaer (Future of Money) told Peter Challen and I that he thought the global economy was moving to destruction, that the present system would not/could not be altered and so complementary currencies were the necessary fallback solution.  About nine months ago he said the same thing to Peter but with increased urgency and the added remark that, after a collapse, there would only be a six week period in which to get out new ideas before fascism clamped on. 
 
Well,  six weeks is impossible — so, if anything positive is to be done, it has to be done now, before the collapse.
 
Rodney Shakespeare

The swiss secret

Saint Nicholas of Flue, father of ten children.

Patron of Switzerland and of the world peace thanks to economical Justice.

God favored him with numerous visions and the gift of prophecy.

Swiss Hermit and Peacemaker, Holy Patron of the world peace through economical Justice.

During the second world war, the German tanks massed on the Swiss border. Many Swiss started to request the rosary and holy Nicholas de Flue (national patron saint), and even the General Commander of all swiss armies, named Guisan, which was Protestant, admitted having requested the rosary and holy Nicholas.

Conclusion: the German armoured tanks made half-turn. Explanation given by German testimonys: they saw a hand in the sky which beckoned to them not to advance. They were afraid and made half-turn. And it was far to be the only example. God stops the wars if it is asked to him.

You can ask Fritz Gemperle living now in the Philippines to give his testimony.

Saint Nicholas of Flue main economical vision is about how bad can money be and how to resist to this evil.

Vision:

The penny and the fountain of life

THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE.

The public place.

The brother rises in the night to meditate on the Passion and the martyrdom of God.

At the time to fall asleep again, he sees in spirit a place: a crowd of people; deliver to hard work, but he is astonished to find them so poor.

The basin where the Fountain flows. –

Then, at his right hand, he saw a beautiful house whose door was large open.

He entered and was in a kitchen, pertaining to a whole commune.

On the right, a staircase of four steps “or about” some rare men went up there.

Their clothing seemed sprinkled of white.

He saw a Fountain leaving the steps and filling a large basin in the kitchen.

It brought three things: wine, oil, honey.

 It ran as quickly as a flash, and so high that the palate resounded about it like a horn. He was astonished that people, however so poor, did not come to the Fountain, open to everyone.

The source of the Fountain. –

Then, it assembled the steps to see from where came the Fountain, He arrived in a big room.

In the medium, was a tank. He approached at the risk of his life.

With the four angles, he noticed four powerful iron stays. The Source was so transparent we could have seen at the bottom least any hair; and she sang marvelously in the tank and in caned where she ran out. She was inexhaustible and full to the edges, full to the brim.

The world perishes of misery just besides the Fountain of Life. –

Then, he wanted to go down again to see what retained the men to come to draw the Fountain.

One had drawn up a barrier through the place and he did not let pass anybody without claiming the penny.

Another made whirl its club, to require the penny.

Another played music of the fifre, to have the penny.

Tailors, shoe-makers, craftsmen claimed the penny to him.

And before they have finished, they were already become again so poor that they did not even succeed  to enrich temporally.

But nobody came to draw from the Fountain.

Conclusion. – Then the scene changed, the man saw wild slopes similar to those which surround the vault and hermitage of Nicolas, and he understood that the palate was himself, Nicolas, Nike, from nikê, in greek victory and  laos, People, Victory for the people.

The solution is in the communal house, only four steps to climb ( Fights against the Love of money, against pride, against selfishness and against violence ), a small effort, Love to each other, the people living in your village is the solution, small is beautiful, at the lowest level, the village united to protect the weakest.

This simply  leads to peace and justice worldwide.

My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you.
My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you.
My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.
Prayer of Saint Nicholas of Flue
patron of Switzerland and of the world peace thanks to economical Justice.

His favorite meditations

https://ssl24.webland.ch/www48/imag/medibild_gr.jpg

St. Nicholas of Flue, March 21  and September 25




Biographical selection:

Nicholas was born on March 21, 1417 and died on the same day 70 years later in 1487. He was from the canton of Unterwalden in Switzerland. His parents were simple peasants who tried to provide Nicholas with a better education, given his uncommon intelligence and piety. He had an inclination for the contemplative life and practiced severe mortifications. He married and had ten children, some of whom came to hold high positions in the country. He used to wake every night to pray and read a psalter in honor of Our Lady.

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Picture of St. Nicholas of Flue
from the parish church in Sachseln


At age 23 he was called to take arms in a campaign against the canton of Zurich, which rebelled against the Swiss Confederation. Fourteen years later he was still engaged in military service and had achieved the post of captain, having 100 men under his command. In battles Nicolas always fought with the sword in one hand and the rosary in the other. His courage earned him the highest military decorations.

Returning home, he was asked to be mayor of his city, but declined the honor, alleging his humble origin made him unsuitable for that post. However, he accepted the position of judge in the local court, a position that he carried out with rare ability for nine years. Then he retired from this position to his farm to have more time to dedicate himself to matters of the soul.

He had received symbolic visions since childhood. After his retirement, he was watching his flock when he mystically saw a marvelous lily growing from his mouth and rising up to the clouds; suddenly it fell to the ground and was eaten by a horse. He understood that his contemplation of heavenly things was often disturbed and consumed by earthly concerns. He realized he should abandon the world and devote himself exclusively to matters of soul as a hermit.

Although she had just borne his tenth child, his wife heroically consented. He settled at Ranft, a few miles from his home. From the outset of his life as a hermit, he was miraculously nourished only by the Holy Eucharist, which he received once a month.

He was loved and venerated by the people, and pilgrims came from distant parts to consult him. He was often called on by dignitaries to make peace between the cantons in their continuous disputes. He always achieved success in those missions.

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Many pilgrims came to consult St. Nicholas,
known as Brother Klaus

Woodgraving from the Chronicle of Johann Stumpff, Zurich, 1548

Shortly before his death he was assailed by strong pains. “O, how terrible is death!” he used to say. But he delivered his last breath in peace. His body was preserved in the Church of Sachseln, a village close to his birthplace.

Even today the visitor can venerate there the bones of Brother Klaus (Nicholas in German), his mortal remains richly ornamented with gold and precious stones, and around his neck countless military decorations of honor.

Note: After Vatican II, the richly adorned reliquary, which also served as an altarplace, was replaced with a table and simple modern contemporary tomb without the jewels or military decorations.


ST. NICHOLAS von (of) FLUE 1417-1487
Feast: March 22nd

Had Nicholas not been a saint, or had he eaten and drunk like other saints, Switzerland with all it has meant for peace and humanity would probably not exist today. For Nicholas’s entire life was ordained in view of his vocation to save his country.Nicholas von Flue was born on March 21st, 1417 in the Canton of Unterwalden on the lake of Lucerne, a citizen of a peasant democracy and a farmer’s son. As he grew up he proved himself a capable farmer, and the ability he displayed in the local parliament, of which every male citizen was a member, led to his election at an early age as councillor and judge. He also proved himself a capable commander of troops. In the war against the duke of Tirol he persuaded his compatriots to respect a convent of nuns. Though willing to perform his military service, Nicholas condemned as immoral, wars of aggression and the slaughter of non-combatants inevitable in any major modern war. About the age of thirty he married a farmer’s daughter, Dorothy Wiss, and built a farmhouse to receive her. The couple had ten children and descendants survive to this day.
Nicholas had thus approved himself to his countrymen as a thoroughly capable man, as farmer, military leader, member of the assembly, councillor, judge and father of a family—also a man of complete moral integrity. All the while, however, he led a life of contemplative prayer and rigorous fasting. He was the subject of symbolic visions and a diabolic assault.
After some twenty years of married life, in 1467 Nicholas received a compelling call to abandon his home and the world and become a hermit. Though she had just borne his tenth child his wife heroically consented. His neighbors, however, even his older children, regarded his action as indefensible, unbalanced, immoral and irresponsible. He set out for Alsace, where he intended to live. Had he carried out his intention his vocation would have been missed. A storm, however, symbolically interpreted, and friendly advice not to settle where the Swiss were detested made him turn back from the border. At the same time he became incapable of eating or drinking—a condition which continued for the rest of his life. As an act of obedience to a bishop he once ate with acute agony a piece of soaked bread. (The problem of prolonged fasting is more fully discussed in the account of St. Lidwina of Schiedam.)
He resumed to his native canton, passing the first night undiscovered in the cow-shed of his farm and settled in a hermitage at Ranft within a few miles of his home. It was no temptation to return home, as he never felt the least desire for his former life. Symbolic visions continued to be a feature of his contemplation, and when, after a month’s strict surveillance, his countrymen were convinced that his fast was genuine, they recognised his sanctity and vocation, and he became a spiritual guide whose advice was widely sought and followed. Pilgrims came from distant parts to consult him. He acquired influence with Duke Sigismund of the Tirol, whom he confirmed in his neutrality when the Swiss confederacy met and defeated Charles of Burgundy. Everything was ready for the climax of Nicholas’s life: the accomplishment of his unique vocation.
The victorious cantons were at loggerheads. The rural cantons opposed inflexibly the demand of Zurich and Lucerne that Freiburg and Soleure be admitted to the confederacy. A conference held at Stans, December 1481, failed to reach agreement. Next day the delegates would disperse and a civil war ensue which would presumably have destroyed the confederacy. The parish priest, once Nicholas’s confessor, hurried to Ranft and laid the matter before the hermit. During the night Nicholas dictated suggested terms of agreement. The priest resumed in time to persuade the delegates to give a hearing to the proposals of a man so widely respected for his well tried practical abilities and so widely venerated for his holiness. The terms suggested—the conditional admittance of Freiburg and Soleure—were unanimously accepted and embodied in the agreement of Stans. Switzerland had been saved.
Nicholas survived his achievement almost six years, universally revered, visited and consulted. On March 21st 1487, his seventieth birthday, he died, apparently of his first illness. One is glad to know that his wife and children attended his deathbed. After all, she had never lost her husband completely. Honored by Swiss Protestants, venerated by Swiss Catholics, Nicholas’s cult, uninterrupted since his death, was officially sanctioned by Clement IX (1667-9). In 1947 he was canonized by Pope Pius XII.

Taken from “The Saints: A concise Biographical Dictionary”, edited by John Coulson, published by Hawthorn Books, Inc. 1960.

Provided Courtesy of:
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Comments of Prof. Plinio:

To better admire the life of St. Nicholas of Flue, let me propose several presuppositions and make some observations.

First, at that time, like today, Switzerland was divided into cantons, which are small provinces. Each canton had an almost complete independence, subordinate only to a Swiss Confederation that exerted a vague authority over them all. They frequently were engaged in disputes and fights, because the neighboring countries exerted different influences over the various cantons. For example, in one canton, they spoke French, in another, German; in another, Italian, etc., and each canton was normally influenced by the neighboring country to which it had culturally closer ties. This generated intense political disputes often followed by military engagements.

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15th-century Switzerland produced many special military units like the Swiss Guards

You should consider also that the 15th century in Switzerland was a military epoch. It was in that period that the Swiss people revealed themselves to be great warriors, providing troops and special guard units for all of Europe. The Swiss Guard that until today serves the Popes is a remnant of that tradition. In such a scenario St. Nicolas of Flue was called to take up arms against the canton of Zurich.

Second, you can imagine this valorous man in the battlefield, carrying his sword in one hand, and his shield and rosary in the other. It is a beautiful battle scene! Today you can see how the connotations that surround objects of piety have changed because of sentimentalism. Today, who would say that a rosary reminds one of a warrior? On the contrary, more often it calls to mind a man incapable of fighting. This religious sentimentalism worked an almost complete change. This is a grave injustice to the rosary.

Third, it is interesting to see how St. Nicholas showed a profound spirit of hierarchy when he declined an important public post that was offered to him. He said, “No, I am from a humble condition, and I don’t want to exert authority over persons who are higher than me by birth.” Such a thing no longer exists in our century. Today egalitarianism has invaded everything, and we have the opposite: the rejection of someone because he has a higher condition and the preference for the lower. That is, the scale of values has been completely inverted.

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Above, a scene from the Swiss Alps, where St. Nicholas
herded his cattle. Below, the Parish Church of Sachseln where his relics are preserved


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Fourth, he had visions all along his life, which was a fairly common life. So you should consider Nicholas of Flue the warrior, the judge and the shepherd having visions as he carried out these different occupations.

You can imagine the scene of the judge Nicholas of Flue seated in the small tribunal of his canton and listening to the different sides of a suit. As the persons are presenting the case, suddenly someone notices that the judge has a distant gaze that reveals he is in ecstasy. He becomes illuminated, seeing a heavenly scene. The talking ceases in the tribunal; the hatred and differences dissolve; when the vision ends the opposed parties are reconciled; the case is resolved. Do you know some judge like this? How everything has changed in our days!

You can also imagine the shepherd in the poetic Swiss landscape. In the background are the Alps covered with snow, which at sunset take on pink or light blue hues. St. Nicholas of Flue is there blowing a horn to assemble his dispersed cattle. He stops and prays the Angelus by himself, and then heads toward the stables with the cattle. At this moment he receives the visit of an Angel who shows him Heaven and reveals this or that marvel to him. When he returns, the cattle are all in the stable, quiet and bedded down for the night, led there by another Angel who took care of them. The Angels, the innocence of the Swiss landscape and the soul of St. Nicholas of Flue fit together perfectly. It is something truly superior!

Fifth, the vision of the lily that fell and was eaten by an animal showed him that his high contemplation was often destroyed by earthly concerns. If some of us have an analogous problem – and I think that many of us do – we should take St. Nicholas of Flue as our patron saint. We should ask him for the grace to not demean the graces we receive and to sustain our good thoughts. It is encouraging for us to see that saints have the same problem we have.

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The cell from the hermitage of St. Nicholas in Ranft

Sixth, the last thing you can consider is how richly the faithful decorated his remains. It reveals their veneration for sanctity. It is curious also to see the many military decorations around his neck. These were not just the ones he earned during his lifetime. The descendents of St. Nicholas of Flue began to place the military decorations they received there also. With this excellent tradition, they show that it is more honorable for them to be descendents of the saint than to wear the decorations they receive. It is an action full of meaning.

These are the points I offer for your meditation in admiration of St. Nicolas of Flue, asking him to give us the courage to always have the sword in one hand and the rosary in the other in the difficult fight we are engaged in today.

Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_of_Fl%C3%BCe

Saint Nicholas de Flue – a saint for peace in Burundi

Students’ Pilgrimage to the Shrine in Mount Sion Gikungu, Burundi

Bujumbura, Mont Sion Gikungu: 11. Gründungstag des Chors Niklaus von der Flüe, und Schülerwallfahrt
Bujumbura, Monte Sion Gikungu: 11° aniversario del coro San Nicolás de Flue y peregrinación de estudiantes
Bujumbura, Mount Sion Gikungu: 11th anniversary of the Choir St. Nicolas of Flue, and students’ pilgrimage
Bujumbura, Mont Sion Gikungu: 11. Gründungstag des Chors Niklaus von der Flüe, und Schülerwallfahrt
Die Statue des Heiligen wird zum Heiligtum getragen
Entrega de la estatua del santo
Offering of the statue of the saint
Die Statue des Heiligen wird zum Heiligtum getragen
Das Heiligtum von Mont Sion Gikungu
El Santuario de Monte Sion Gikungu
The Shrine of Mount Sion Gikungu
Das Heiligtum von Mont Sion Gikungu
Fotos: Marahukiro © 2007

BURUNDI, Fr. Deogratias Marahukiro.  Sunday, 30 September was a special day on Mount Zion Gikungu. Not only was it the last Sunday of September and therefore, normally Pilgrimage Sunday, but the Saint Nicholas de Flue choir celebrated its eleventh anniversary. Furthermore, the Schoenstatt pupils invited students from other schools join them on a pilgrimage to open the new school year.
As a result, the liturgy on this Sunday was as beautiful as it was rich, above all symbolically rich.

An offering of a book and a pen to the Queen of Peace:

The symbols were interesting and unique, but above all, these symbols were richly charged with meaning. The Schoenstatt pupils, who were accompanied by children belonging to other Catholic movements, wanted to start the school year with a pilgrimage in which they would entrust the academic year to the Virgin Mary. This was a very touching initiative, which should be encouraged as this could begin a powerful tradition for the students, who will think of entrusting themselves to the Virgin Mary at the beginning of every school year. If it is encouraged, it will also allow the Schoenstatt pupils to help other school children to find the Virgin Mary in the Shrine. The pupils did not just make a pilgrimage, they knew that they were giving themselves to the royal heart (Ku kirimba), and anyone who goes to the heart never comes back empty-handed. He returns with a gift. This is why they came offering gifts to the Queen. They presented, in their own words “a hoe that they use to tend their science garden at school.” They also presented a book and pen. Through these symbols, they presented all the work that they will do this year. And they know that they won’t be alone: the Mother of God will be with them throughout the year.

Eleven and a crown of roses offered by the Saint Nicholas de Flue Choir

The Saint Nicholas de Flue Choir celebrated their eleventh anniversary. For this reason they included an offering of eleven candles carried by some of the dancers in the choir. In addition to the candles, the choir also wanted to give a special present:
A crown of roses. Why such a crown ? Because the choir also wanted to contribute to the crowning of the Holy Virgin as the Queen of Peace. They knew that in crowning the Virgin Mary, they are also committing themselves to promoting peace in Burundi. They understand that the life of this crowning is at the heart of St. Nicholas de Flue’s mission. St. Nicholas de Flue had a special mission in this tiny country, once known as Africa’s Switzerland. This is also why St. Nicholas de Flue was at the heart of the liturgical celebration.
A statue of St. Nicholas de Flue led the procession at the beginning of Mass. A large man was asked to carry the statue as high as possible. The procession began moving in time with the music. Joy seemed to glow from the face of St. Nicholas’ statue. The almost disfigured face of the statue appeared to have been transfigured and took on a new expression as the sun’s rays shone from it. The opening hymn was magnificently directed by Mount Zion’s “famous choir master,” Mr. Matthias, and this set the tone so that the entire Eucharistic celebration could as beautiful as possible.
The most touching moment was the thanksgiving, after the presentation of the symbols during the offertory. It was beautiful to watch the entire people of God lifting up their hands to dance and praise the Lord. This gave the idea and image of what heaven must be, a place of praise and worship before the true God. In fact, if our liturgy is spoken with sincerity, it becomes a participation and foretaste of heaven.
At the end of Mass, we processed, or rather, we “pilgrimaged” to the Shrine accompanied by St. Nicholas de Flue, the saint of peace and took the crown of roses with us to offer it to Mary. The Saint Nicholas de Flue Choir wanted to place this symbolic and meaning full gift in the most important place, there where Mary has placed her royal throne, in the Shrine. We could also say that St. Nicholas accompanied us to ask Mary, the Queen of Peace for peace. The crown of flowers was a small gesture and may seem insignificant in the eyes of many, but it was loaded with meaning and symbolism. It means that we believe that Mary is truly the Queen of peace and is able to intercede for us, asking for peace in our hearts and in our country. It means that we are not alone, we walk with St. Nicholas de Flue, the saint of peace. It also means each one of us, particularly the Saint Nicholas de Flue Choir, are committed to promoting peace and making this gesture fruitful. Finally, it also calls all of us to be missionaries and apostles of a new culture that is being born: a culture of peace.
In conclusion, we thank all those who made this beautiful day possible, we thank those who prayed that everything would go well and above all, for those who prayed for rain, as we felt the very first drops beginning to fall. We also thank all those in the International Schoenstatt Family who were present with us in prayer.
Original: French
Translation: Sarah-Leah Pimentel, Johannesburg, South Africa

Had Nicholas not been a saint, or had he eaten and drunk like other saints, Switzerland with all it has meant for peace and humanity would probably not exist today. For Nicholas’s entire life was ordained in view of his vocation to save his country.
Nicholas von Flue was born on March 21st, 1417 in the Canton of Unterwalden on the lake of Lucerne, a citizen of a peasant democracy and a farmer’s son. As he grew up he proved himself a capable farmer, and the ability he displayed in the local parliament, of which every male citizen was a member, led to his election at an early age as councillor and judge. He also proved himself a capable commander of troops. In the war against the duke of Tirol he persuaded his compatriots to respect a convent of nuns. Though willing to perform his military service, Nicholas condemned as immoral, wars of aggression and the slaughter of non-combatants inevitable in any major modern war. About the age of thirty he married a farmer’s daughter, Dorothy Wiss, and built a farmhouse to receive her. The couple had ten children and descendants survive to this day.
Nicholas had thus approved himself to his countrymen as a thoroughly capable man, as farmer, military leader, member of the assembly, councillor, judge and father of a family—also a man of complete moral integrity. All the while, however, he led a life of contemplative prayer and rigorous fasting. He was the subject of symbolic visions and a diabolic assault.
After some twenty years of married life, in 1467 Nicholas received a compelling call to abandon his home and the world and become a hermit. Though she had just borne his tenth child his wife heroically consented. His neighbors, however, even his older children, regarded his action as indefensible, unbalanced, immoral and irresponsible. He set out for Alsace, where he intended to live. Had he carried out his intention his vocation would have been missed. A storm, however, symbolically interpreted, and friendly advice not to settle where the Swiss were detested made him turn back from the border. At the same time he became incapable of eating or drinking—a condition which continued for the rest of his life. As an act of obedience to a bishop he once ate with acute agony a piece of soaked bread. (The problem of prolonged fasting is more fully discussed in the account of St. Lidwina of Schiedam.)
He resumed to his native canton, passing the first night undiscovered in the cow-shed of his farm and settled in a hermitage at Ranft within a few miles of his home. It was no temptation to return home, as he never felt the least desire for his former life. Symbolic visions continued to be a feature of his contemplation, and when, after a month’s strict surveillance, his countrymen were convinced that his fast was genuine, they recognised his sanctity and vocation, and he became a spiritual guide whose advice was widely sought and followed. Pilgrims came from distant parts to consult him. He acquired influence with Duke Sigismund of the Tirol, whom he confirmed in his neutrality when the Swiss confederacy met and defeated Charles of Burgundy. Everything was ready for the climax of Nicholas’s life: the accomplishment of his unique vocation.
The victorious cantons were at loggerheads. The rural cantons opposed inflexibly the demand of Zurich and Lucerne that Freiburg and Soleure be admitted to the confederacy. A conference held at Stans, December 1481, failed to reach agreement. Next day the delegates would disperse and a civil war ensue which would presumably have destroyed the confederacy. The parish priest, once Nicholas’s confessor, hurried to Ranft and laid the matter before the hermit. During the night Nicholas dictated suggested terms of agreement. The priest resumed in time to persuade the delegates to give a hearing to the proposals of a man so widely respected for his well tried practical abilities and so widely venerated for his holiness. The terms suggested—the conditional admittance of Freiburg and Soleure—were unanimously accepted and embodied in the agreement of Stans. Switzerland had been saved.
Nicholas survived his achievement almost six years, universally revered, visited and consulted. On March 21st 1487, his seventieth birthday, he died, apparently of his first illness. One is glad to know that his wife and children attended his deathbed. After all, she had never lost her husband completely. Honored by Swiss Protestants, venerated by Swiss Catholics, Nicholas’s cult, uninterrupted since his death, was officially sanctioned by Clement IX (1667-9). In 1947 he was canonized by Pope Pius XII.

Taken from “The Saints: A concise Biographical Dictionary”, edited by John Coulson, published by Hawthorn Books, Inc. 1960.

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Conjugal love gives a sacrament and God is there, present with every good human and complete act of Love between spouses, this is really an eucharistic adoration, basis for the social peace.

  1. Hogan, Richard M. (February 25, 2003). “An Introduction to John Paul II’s Theology of the Body”. Natural Family Planning Outreach. http://www.nfpoutreach.org/Hogan_Theology_%20Body1.htm. Retrieved on 2006-07-14. 
  2. ^ West, Christopher (2004). Theology of the Body for Beginners. Ascension Press. p. 5. ISBN 1-932645-34-9. 
  3. ^ a b Weigel, George (October 1999). Witness to Hope (First edition ed.). Harper Perennial. pp. 336, 343, 853. ISBN 0-06-018793-X. 

Nicolas de Flue (1417 – 1487), originaire de Obwald (Suisse), est connu pour avoir eu une influence pacificatrice sur la politique suisse. C’est en particulier grâce à lui que les cantons primitifs parvinrent au XVe siècle à un compromis historique qui dura plusieurs siècles. Les principales caractéristiques de la pensée de Nicolas de Flue – esprit de paix, non-intervention dans les affaires étrangères, modération – ont aujourd’hui encore des répercussions sur la manière dont certains Suisses perçoivent leur pays et entendent faire de la politique.

O
Nicolas de Flue a été canonisé le 15 mai 1947.
Nicolas et les banques suisses…
Le sou et la fontaine de vie
LA FONTAINE DE VIE.
La place publique- Le frère se lève la nuit pour méditer sur la Passion et sur le martyre de Dieu. Au moment de se rendormir, il aperçoit en esprit une place: une foule de gens s’y livrent à de durs travaux, mais il s’étonne de les trouver si pauvres.
La vasque où se déverse la Fontaine. – Alors, à main droite, il vit une belle maison dont la porte était grande ouverte. Il entra et se trouva dans une cuisine, appartenant à toute une commune.
A droite, un escalier de quatre marches « ou à peu près »
Quelques rares hommes y montaient. Leur vêtement semblait aspergé de blanc.
Il vit une Fontaine sortir des marches et remplir une grande vasque dans la cuisine. Elle apportait trois choses: vin, huile, miel. Elle coulait aussi vite que l’éclair, et si haut que le palais en résonnait comme un cor. Il s’étonna que les gens, pourtant si pauvres, ne vinssent pas à la Fontaine, ouverte à tout le monde.
La source de la Fontaine. – Alors, il monta les marches pour voir d’où venait la Fontaine, Il parvint dans une grande salle. Au milieu, était un réservoir . Il s’en approcha au risque de s’enliser. Aux quatre angles, il remarqua quatre puissants étais de fer. La Source était si transparente qu’on aurait pu y apercevoir au fond le moindre cheveu’; et elle chantait merveilleusement dans le réservoir et dans le canai où elle s’écoulait. Elle était inépuisable et pleine jusqu’aux bords, bien qu’elle sortît par toutes les fentes.
Le monde périt de misère à c6té de la Fontaine de Vie. – Alors, il voulut redescendre pour voir ce qui retenait les hommes de venir puiser à la Fontaine. L’un avait dressé une barrière au travers de la place et il ne laissait passer personne sans réclamer le sou. Un autre faisait tournoyer son gourdin, pour exiger le sou. Un autre jouait du fifre, pour avoir le sou. Des tailleurs, des cordonniers, des artisans lui réclamèrent le sou. Et avant d’avoir fini, ils étaient déjà redevenus si pauvres qu’ils ne réussissaient même pas à s’enrichir temporellement. Mais personne ne venait puiser à la Fontaine.
Conclusion. – Alors la scène changea, l’homme vit des pentes sauvages semblables à celles qui entourent la chapelle et l’ermitage de frère Nicolas, et il comprit que le palais était frère Nicolas.
On ne peut servir Dieu et l’argent. La Fontaine, c’est la vie divine accessible largement, la vie trinitaire , capable de rénover la vie sociale, comme l’indiquent les appropriations :
mémoire, intelligence, volonté
autorité, obéissance, amour
puissance, sagesse,bonté
éternité, beauté, jouissance
unité, égalité, union.
Nicolas de Flue et la Trinité.
D’après le livre Saint Nicolas de Flue de Charles Journet (Fribourg 1966), le saint ermite eut des visions faisant mention de la Sainte Trinité:
I …Une autre fois, occupé à quelque travail domestique, il aperçut trois hommes d’une étrange noblesse, qu’il ne reconnut pas tout de suite. Le premier lui dit: «Nicolas, veux-tu te livrer tout entier, esprit et corps, en notre pouvoir ? » Il répondit sur-le-champ ces fières paroles: « je ne me livre à personne, sauf au Dieu tout-puissant, dont je désire depuis longtemps être serviteur, corps et âme ». Alors les trois personnes éclatèrent d’un rire joyeux. Et la première lui annonça qu’à soixante-dix ans il serait délivré des afflictions, et recevrait comme trophée la patte d’ours et l’étendard de la puissante armée. «Mais c’est la croix que je te laisse maintenant, pour la porter en mémoire de nous » .
Vie, de Wölflin, Durrer, p. 537. Durrer note qu’on clouait aux portes des granges la patte des bêtes dangereuses, en guise de trophée.
On peut remarquer ici que Nicolas est favorisé d’une vision directe des trois Trois Personnes de la Trinité, tout comme Abraham (Gen. 18, 1-5), et que le Ciel n’est pas triste.
II … Le Pèlerin et la Trinité. – Il lui parut en esprit qu’un Pèlerin arrivait, venant de l’Orient. Il tenait son bâton à la main, son chapeau était attaché et pendait par derrière, comme lorsqu’on est en route. Il était caché par son manteau. Alors il chanta l’Alléluia. Sa voix était soutenue par les petites orgues de l’univers. Et les trois noms parfaits des personnes divines sortirent et rentrèrent dans le sein de l’unique AIléluia.
Dieu nous demande l’aumône. – Alors le Pèlerin demanda l’aumône. Et voici que l’homme trouva un sou dans sa main, sans savoir comment il lui était venu. Le Pèlerin tendit son chapeau pour y recevoir le sou. Et l’homme fut émerveillé qu’il pût y avoir un si grand honneur à tendre ainsi son chapeau pour y recevoir un sou. Il voulut savoir qui était le Pèlerin et d’où il venait. Mais il n’obtint que cette réponse: « je viens de là-bas ».
La vision du Dieu incarné et de son corps mystique. – L’homme tient ses yeux attachés sur le Pèlerin. Et soudain le manteau qui le cachait tombe, laissant apparaîÎtre le mystère du Verbe fait chair revêtu de la robe couleur de cendre de notre humanité, descendu jusque dans les affres de la douleur, qui lui confèrent une nouvelle noblesse (nigra sum sed formosa), et entouré de ses membres qui lui sont une singulière parure. Mais suivons le texte de la vision: ” Et voici que le Pèlerin s’était transformé. Sa tête était nue. Il avait une tunique gris bleu. Il n’avait plus son manteau. Et c’était un homme tellement noble, si bien fait, qu’on ne pouvait faire autre chose que de le regarder avec joie et avec complaisance. Son visage brun ajoutait à sa noblesse. Ses yeux étaient noirs comme la pierre d’aimant et ses membres si bien faits qu’il lui en revenait une étrange beauté. Et bien qu’il fût vêtu, son vêtement n’empêchait pas de voir ses membres . »
Le monde est déjà jugé. – Et le Pèlerin posa ses yeux sur l’homme. Alors se produisirent plusieurs grands prodiges. La montagne du Pilate s’aplatit, le monde entier se découvrit, et tout le péché qui était en lui se manifesta. Une grande masse d’hommes parurent. La Vérité était derrière eux, et leurs visages étaient détournés d’elle. Chacun avait un abcès au cœur, gros comme deux poings réunis. C’était l’intérêt propre, qui égare les gens au point qu’ils ne peuvent pas plus supporter la face de l’Homme qu’on ne peut supporter le feu. Ils rôdaient anxieux, furieux, et on les voyait finalement disparaître au loin, couverts de honte et d’ignominie. Et la Vérité, à qui ils tournaient le dos, demeurait là.
La Passion du Sauveur. – Alors le visage du Pèlerin devint pareil à un voile de Véronique, et l’homme éprouvait un grand désir de le contempler davantage.

La victoire du Christ ressuscité. – Et il le vit de nouveau comme auparavant. Mais ses vêtements étaient changés. Il était vêtu d’une peau d’ours, chausses et tunique. Elle était aspergée d’or. Elle lui allait si bien qu’elle lui ajoutait une beauté particulière .
La gloire qui élève le Christ au ciel Pourra illuminer ceux qui l’entoureront. – Et l’homme sentit que le Pèlerin voulait prendre congé de lui. Il lui demanda : « Où veux-tu aller ? » Et la réponse fut: « je veux monter dans le pays. » L’homme le suivit des yeux. La peau d’ours resplendissait plus ou moins: comme il arrive lorsqu’on marche avec une armure reluisante, dont la clarté se reflète au mur. L’homme comprit qu’il y avait en cela quelque chose qui lui restait voilé. Quand le Pèlerin se fut éloigné de quatre pas, ou à peu près, il se retourna. Il avait alors son chapeau sur la tête, il l’enleva et il s’inclina vers l’homme.
L’amour du Pèlerin pour les hommes. – Alors l’homme comprit l’amour que lui portait le Pèlerin, et il en fut bouleversé, voyant qu’il en était indigne. Il connut en esprit que le visage du Pèlerin, ses yeux, tout son corps étaient pleins d’une humilité empreinte d’amour, comme un vase si rempli de miel qu’on ne pourrait y ajouter une goutte. A ce moment, il n’aperçut plus le Pèlerin. Mais il était si rassasié qu’il n’attendait plus rien. Il.lui semblait qu’on lui avait découvert tout ce qu’il y avait au ciel et sur la terre.
… Et les trois noms parfaits des personnes divines sortirent et rentrèrent dans le sein de l’unique AIléluia.

Attardons-nous sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité, dont les représentations sont très variées. Par exemple, on voit Dieu le Père sous les traits d’un homme majestueux, avec une barbe splendide, et le Fils sous l’apparence d’un homme jeune, conformément à ce que dit l’Ecriture : Celui qui m’a vu a vu le Père (Joh. 14, 9).. Le Saint-Esprit devient ici comme une colombe. Parfois Dieu le Père serre son Fils sur son coeur. Les artistes se sont souvent évertués à donner d’autres images, évoquant en général l’Incarnation rédemptrice : le Père, Créateur ; le Fils Rédempteur et le Saint-Esprit, Consolateur. Les musulmans ont beau jeu d’accuser les chrétiens d’adorer trois dieux …
Or on oublie souvent que la Trinité préexiste à la Création et à toute l’histoire humaine, à la Chute, et à la Rédemption. Considérons donc la Sainte Trinité en dehors du temps, en dehors de la Création. Il y a Dieu, l’Unique, le Vivant, dont la Vie s’exprime en trois Personnes : Dieu engendrant n’est autre que la Personne du Père; Dieu engendré est une Personne : le Fils, et l’Acte même de génération est la Personne du Saint-Esprit, procédant donc du Père et du Fils. Charles Journet développe en somme cela et présente des schémas explicatifs, que je vais essayer de vous commenter.
Le premier schéma représente les trois Personnes centrées en Dieu l’Unique, la parfaite égalité des Trois étant mise en évidence. (Figure 1).

Un second schéma explique la distinction des personnes : le Père n’est pas le Fils, etc, mais chaque personne étant Dieu (Figure 2).

Le symbole de Saint Athanase détaille cela d’une manière grandiose :

Symbole de St Athanase
Quiconque veut faire son salut Doit avant tout conserver la foi catholique; Car, s’il ne la garde pas pure et sans tache, il court sans aucun doute à la mort éternelle.
Cette foi catholique consiste en ceci: “Adorer un Dieu unique en Trois personnes, et Trois Personnes ne formant qu’un seul Dieu, Sans confondre les Personnes, Mais sans diviser la substance.
Autre, en effet, est la Personne du Père, autre celle du Fils, Autre celle du Saint-Esprit, Mais le Père, le Fils et le Saint Esprit Ont une seule nature divine, Une égale gloire, une même éternelle majesté.
Tel le Père, tel le Fils, Et tel le Saint-Esprit. Le Père est incréé, le Fils est incréé, Le Saint-Esprit est incréé. Le Père est infini, le Fils est infini, Le Saint-Esprit est infini. Le Père est éternel, le Fils est éternel, Le Saint-Esprit est éternel.
Et cependant il n’y a pas trois éternels, Mais un seul Eternel, Ni trois incréés, ni trois infinis, Mais un seul Incréé, un seul Infini.
De même, le Père est tout-puissant, le Fils est tout-puissant, Le Saint-Esprit est tout-Puissant
Et cependant il n’y a pas trois tout-puissants,
Mais un seul Tout-Puissant.
C’est ainsi que le Père est Dieu, le Fils est Dieu,
Le Saint-Esprit est Dieu,
Et cependant il n’y a pas trois dieux,
Mais un seul Dieu.
C’est ainsi que le Père est Seigneur, le Fils est Seigneur,
Le Saint-Esprit est Seigneur,
Et cependant il n’y a pas trois seigneurs,
Mais un seul Seigneur.
Car de même que la vérité chrétienne nous oblige à reconnaître Que chaque Personne, prise en soi, est Dieu et Seigneur, De même la religion catholique nous interdit de penser Qu’il y a trois dieux ou trois seigneurs.
Le Père n’a pas été fait, ni créé ni engendré.
Le Fils est du Père seul, non fait ni créé, mais engendré par Lui.
L’Esprit-Saint est du Père et du Fils,
Non qu’Il ait été fait, ni créé, ni engendré par eux,
Mais Il en procède.
Il y a donc un Père, et non trois, un Fils, et non trois,
Un Saint-Esprit, et non trois.
Et dans cette Trinité, il n’v a ni avant, ni après, ni plus, ni moins, Mais en tout les trois Personnes sont coéternelles et égales, Si bien qu’en tout, comme on l’a déjà proclamé, On doit adorer l’Unité dans la Trinité Et la Trinité dans l’Unité. Telle est, si l’on veut faire son salut, La doctrine que l’on doit tenir au sujet de la Trinité.
Mais il faut de plus, pour gagner le salut éternel, Avoir une foi ferme en l’Incarnation de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ. La rectitude de cette foi Veut que l’on reconnaisse et proclame Que Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ, le Fils de Dieu, Est Dieu et homme.
Comme Dieu, il est engendré de la substance du Père de toute éternité Comme homme, il est né dans le temps du corps d’une mère. Dieu complet, il est aussi homme complet, Composé d’une âme raisonnable et d’un corps humain. Egal au Père en tant que Dieu, Il est inférieur au Père en tant qu’homme.
Et bien qu’il soit Dieu et homme, Il n’y a cependant pas deux Christs, mais un seul. Unique, non parce que Dieu se serait changé en être charnel, Mais parce que Dieu a assumé la nature humaine. Parfaitement unique, non par la confusion des deux natures, -Mais dans l’unité d’une seule Personne. En effet, de même qu’un homme unique Est à la fois âme raisonnable et corps, De même le Christ unique est à la fois Dieu et homme.
Il a subi le supplice pour nous sauver, Est descendu chez les morts; Le troisième jour, Il en est ressuscité; Il est monté aux cieux; Il siège à la droite de Dieu le Père Tout-Puissant; Il en reviendra, pour juger les vivants et les morts.
A son retour, tous les hommes doivent ressusciter avec leur corps Et rendre compte de leurs actes, Et ceux qui auront fait le bien iront à la vie éternelle, Tandis que ceux qui auront fait le mal iront au feu éternel.
Telle est la foi catholique, Qu’il faut garder sans défaut ni faiblesse, Faute de quoi on ne peut faire son salut.
« Maintenant, je vais aussi te parler de la pure servante Marie, qui est une reine du ciel et de la terre. Elle a été prévue par la divine Sagesse. Elle fut investie par cette divine Sagesse dès l’instant où Dieu décida de la créer. Elle a d’abord été conçue dans la pensée du Dieu très haut, avant de l’être dans le sein de sa propre mère. Et toute la grâce qui lui était destinée d’avance est entrée en elle comme un puissant secours au moment où elle fut conçue. C’est pourquoi elle est pure, délicate et immaculée. Ainsi la vertu du Très-Haut est sortie, elle l’a enveloppée, elle l’a remplie avec Puissance de l’Esprit saint. Vois, dans la roue, le rayon qui part du cercle intérieur: il est large à sa base, et il se termine en fine pointe; or, selon la signification et selon la forme des rayons, représente-toi le Dieu tout-puissant: il couvre et il embrasse tous les cieux; pourtant, comme un tout petit enfant, voici qu’il entre dans la très haute Vierge et qu’il naît d’elle sans briser sa virginité » . Voilà la première merveille, c’est un petit enfant.
La seconde merveille, c’est la petite hostie. « Et voici que son corps délicat, il nous l’a donné en nourriture, joint à la divinité qui en est inséparable. Vois cet autre rayon qui lui aussi est large près du cercle intérieur et petit contre le cercle extérieur, vers le dehors: ainsi la grande puissance du Dieu tout-puissant est contenue sous les apparences de la petite hostie » .
La troisième merveille, c’est que la fragilité de la vie puisse être ordonnée à une récompense éternelle. En cela tient toute la raison d’être de la création. «Et maintenant remarque un autre rayon de la roue, qui lui aussi est large près du cercle intérieur et petit vers l’extérieur: c’est le symbole de notre vie, tout à fait courte et passagère. Dans ce temps bref, puissions-nous par l’amour divin mériter une joie indicible qui jamais ne prendra fin » .

«Voilà la signification de ma roue. » Ici le pèlerin, ému par le son de la voix de Permite, ajoute: « Cette parole me réjouit le cœur » 1.
Telle est, réduite à l’essentiel, et dégageant ses lignes maîtresses qui se sont gravées profondément dans la mémoire du pèlerin bavarois, la vue grandiose du pieux ermite, enivré par le contraste ineffable qu’il découvre entre, d’une part, la splendeur tranquille et inimaginable de la vie trinitaire et, d’autre part, la suscitation fragile et merveilleuse d’un univers où trois mystères brillent à ses yeux comme trois étoiles: le mystère d’un petit enfant né d’une vierge, le mystère d’une petite hostie, et le mystère de la petite durée de notre vie et de notre épreuve.
La figure suivante (Figure 4) illustre laTrinité et le monde, dessin de la première édition du traité du Pélerin, à Augsburg vers 1480.

Nous pouvons maintenant reprendre, au point où nous l’avons laissé, le récit du Traité du Pèlerin: « Vois-tu cette figure ? Au centre c’est l’essence divine, la Divinité indivisée en qui se réjouissent tous les saints. Les trois pointes qui vont vers le cercle intérieur, ce sont les trois Personnes: elles sortent de l’unique divinité, elles embrassent le ciel et encore le monde entier, qui relèvent de leur puissance. Et comme elles sortent avec une force divine, ainsi elles rentrent; et elles sont unies, et inséparables en éternelle puissance. Voilà le sens de ce dessin » .
En regard de cette figure, encore incomplète, dont Nicolas révèle le sens au pieux pèlerin bavarois, essayons de placer, pour un instant, un schéma trinitaire très apparenté, qui se retrouve fréquemment au xve siècle, soit en miniature dans les livres d’heures, soit en sculpture au portail des églises et sur les dalles tumulaires, et destiné à rappeler les processions des personnes divines, leur mutuelle distinction, leur identité avec l’être divin; c’est-à-dire tout l’essentiel du mystère de la Trinité, où nous croyons que les trois Personnes, dont chacune s’identifie réellement à l’essence divine, sont néanmoins réellement distinctes entre elles.

Nicolas de Flue et la Trinité (25.3.01)

D’après le livre Saint Nicolas de Flue de Charles Journet (Fribourg 1966), le saint ermite eut des visions faisant mention de la Sainte Trinité:
I …Une autre fois, occupé à quelque travail domestique, il aperçut trois hommes d’une étrange noblesse, qu’il ne reconnut pas tout de suite. Le premier lui dit: «Nicolas, veux-tu te livrer tout entier, esprit et corps, en notre pouvoir ? » Il répondit sur-le-champ ces fières paroles: « je ne me livre à personne, sauf au Dieu tout-puissant, dont je désire depuis longtemps être serviteur, corps et âme ». Alors les trois personnes éclatèrent d’un rire joyeux. Et la première lui annonça qu’à soixante-dix ans il serait délivré des afflictions, et recevrait comme trophée la patte d’ours et l’étendard de la puissante armée. «Mais c’est la croix que je te laisse maintenant, pour la porter en mémoire de nous » .
Vie, de Wölflin, Durrer, p. 537. Durrer note qu’on clouait aux portes des granges la patte des bêtes dangereuses, en guise de trophée.
On peut remarquer ici que Nicolas est favorisé d’une vision directe des trois Trois Personnes de la Trinité, tout comme Abraham (Gen. 18, 1-5), et que le Ciel n’est pas triste.
II … Le Pèlerin et la Trinité. – Il lui parut en esprit qu’un Pèlerin arrivait, venant de l’Orient. Il tenait son bâton à la main, son chapeau était attaché et pendait par derrière, comme lorsqu’on est en route. Il était caché par son manteau. Alors il chanta l’Alléluia. Sa voix était soutenue par les petites orgues de l’univers. Et les trois noms parfaits des personnes divines sortirent et rentrèrent dans le sein de l’unique AIléluia.
Dieu nous demande l’aumône. – Alors le Pèlerin demanda l’aumône. Et voici que l’homme trouva un sou dans sa main, sans savoir comment il lui était venu. Le Pèlerin tendit son chapeau pour y recevoir le sou. Et l’homme fut émerveillé qu’il pût y avoir un si grand honneur à tendre ainsi son chapeau pour y recevoir un sou. Il voulut savoir qui était le Pèlerin et d’où il venait. Mais il n’obtint que cette réponse: « je viens de là-bas ».
La vision du Dieu incarné et de son corps mystique. – L’homme tient ses yeux attachés sur le Pèlerin. Et soudain le manteau qui le cachait tombe, laissant apparaîÎtre le mystère du Verbe fait chair revêtu de la robe couleur de cendre de notre humanité, descendu jusque dans les affres de la douleur, qui lui confèrent une nouvelle noblesse (nigra sum sed formosa), et entouré de ses membres qui lui sont une singulière parure. Mais suivons le texte de la vision: ” Et voici que le Pèlerin s’était transformé. Sa tête était nue. Il avait une tunique gris bleu. Il n’avait plus son manteau. Et c’était un homme tellement noble, si bien fait, qu’on ne pouvait faire autre chose que de le regarder avec joie et avec complaisance. Son visage brun ajoutait à sa noblesse. Ses yeux étaient noirs comme la pierre d’aimant et ses membres si bien faits qu’il lui en revenait une étrange beauté. Et bien qu’il fût vêtu, son vêtement n’empêchait pas de voir ses membres . »
Le monde est déjà jugé. – Et le Pèlerin posa ses yeux sur l’homme. Alors se produisirent plusieurs grands prodiges. La montagne du Pilate s’aplatit, le monde entier se découvrit, et tout le péché qui était en lui se manifesta. Une grande masse d’hommes parurent. La Vérité était derrière eux, et leurs visages étaient détournés d’elle. Chacun avait un abcès au cœur, gros comme deux poings réunis. C’était l’intérêt propre, qui égare les gens au point qu’ils ne peuvent pas plus supporter la face de l’Homme qu’on ne peut supporter le feu. Ils rôdaient anxieux, furieux, et on les voyait finalement disparaître au loin, couverts de honte et d’ignominie. Et la Vérité, à qui ils tournaient le dos, demeurait là.
La Passion du Sauveur. – Alors le visage du Pèlerin devint pareil à un voile de Véronique, et l’homme éprouvait un grand désir de le contempler davantage.

La victoire du Christ ressuscité. – Et il le vit de nouveau comme auparavant. Mais ses vêtements étaient changés. Il était vêtu d’une peau d’ours, chausses et tunique. Elle était aspergée d’or. Elle lui allait si bien qu’elle lui ajoutait une beauté particulière .
La gloire qui élève le Christ au ciel Pourra illuminer ceux qui l’entoureront. – Et l’homme sentit que le Pèlerin voulait prendre congé de lui. Il lui demanda : « Où veux-tu aller ? » Et la réponse fut: « je veux monter dans le pays. » L’homme le suivit des yeux. La peau d’ours resplendissait plus ou moins: comme il arrive lorsqu’on marche avec une armure reluisante, dont la clarté se reflète au mur. L’homme comprit qu’il y avait en cela quelque chose qui lui restait voilé. Quand le Pèlerin se fut éloigné de quatre pas, ou à peu près, il se retourna. Il avait alors son chapeau sur la tête, il l’enleva et il s’inclina vers l’homme.
L’amour du Pèlerin pour les hommes. – Alors l’homme comprit l’amour que lui portait le Pèlerin, et il en fut bouleversé, voyant qu’il en était indigne. Il connut en esprit que le visage du Pèlerin, ses yeux, tout son corps étaient pleins d’une humilité empreinte d’amour, comme un vase si rempli de miel qu’on ne pourrait y ajouter une goutte. A ce moment, il n’aperçut plus le Pèlerin. Mais il était si rassasié qu’il n’attendait plus rien. Il.lui semblait qu’on lui avait découvert tout ce qu’il y avait au ciel et sur la terre.
… Et les trois noms parfaits des personnes divines sortirent et rentrèrent dans le sein de l’unique AIléluia.

Attardons-nous sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité, dont les représentations sont très variées. Par exemple, on voit Dieu le Père sous les traits d’un homme majestueux, avec une barbe splendide, et le Fils sous l’apparence d’un homme jeune, conformément à ce que dit l’Ecriture : Celui qui m’a vu a vu le Père (Joh. 14, 9).. Le Saint-Esprit devient ici comme une colombe. Parfois Dieu le Père serre son Fils sur son coeur. Les artistes se sont souvent évertués à donner d’autres images, évoquant en général l’Incarnation rédemptrice : le Père, Créateur ; le Fils Rédempteur et le Saint-Esprit, Consolateur. Les musulmans ont beau jeu d’accuser les chrétiens d’adorer trois dieux …
Or on oublie souvent que la Trinité préexiste à la Création et à toute l’histoire humaine, à la Chute, et à la Rédemption. Considérons donc la Sainte Trinité en dehors du temps, en dehors de la Création. Il y a Dieu, l’Unique, le Vivant, dont la Vie s’exprime en trois Personnes : Dieu engendrant n’est autre que la Personne du Père; Dieu engendré est une Personne : le Fils, et l’Acte même de génération est la Personne du Saint-Esprit, procédant donc du Père et du Fils. Charles Journet développe en somme cela et présente des schémas explicatifs, que je vais essayer de vous commenter.
Le premier schéma représente les trois Personnes centrées en Dieu l’Unique, la parfaite égalité des Trois étant mise en évidence. (Figure 1).



Un second schéma explique la distinction des personnes : le Père n’est pas le Fils, etc, mais chaque personne étant Dieu (Figure 2).


Le symbole de Saint Athanase détaille cela d’une manière grandiose :

Symbole de St Athanase
Quiconque veut faire son salut Doit avant tout conserver la foi catholique; Car, s’il ne la garde pas pure et sans tache, il court sans aucun doute à la mort éternelle.
Cette foi catholique consiste en ceci: “Adorer un Dieu unique en Trois personnes, et Trois Personnes ne formant qu’un seul Dieu, Sans confondre les Personnes, Mais sans diviser la substance.
Autre, en effet, est la Personne du Père, autre celle du Fils, Autre celle du Saint-Esprit, Mais le Père, le Fils et le Saint Esprit Ont une seule nature divine, Une égale gloire, une même éternelle majesté.
Tel le Père, tel le Fils, Et tel le Saint-Esprit. Le Père est incréé, le Fils est incréé, Le Saint-Esprit est incréé. Le Père est infini, le Fils est infini, Le Saint-Esprit est infini. Le Père est éternel, le Fils est éternel, Le Saint-Esprit est éternel.
Et cependant il n’y a pas trois éternels, Mais un seul Eternel, Ni trois incréés, ni trois infinis, Mais un seul Incréé, un seul Infini.
De même, le Père est tout-puissant, le Fils est tout-puissant, Le Saint-Esprit est tout-Puissant
Et cependant il n’y a pas trois tout-puissants,
Mais un seul Tout-Puissant.
C’est ainsi que le Père est Dieu, le Fils est Dieu,
Le Saint-Esprit est Dieu,
Et cependant il n’y a pas trois dieux,
Mais un seul Dieu.
C’est ainsi que le Père est Seigneur, le Fils est Seigneur,
Le Saint-Esprit est Seigneur,
Et cependant il n’y a pas trois seigneurs,
Mais un seul Seigneur.
Car de même que la vérité chrétienne nous oblige à reconnaître Que chaque Personne, prise en soi, est Dieu et Seigneur, De même la religion catholique nous interdit de penser Qu’il y a trois dieux ou trois seigneurs.
Le Père n’a pas été fait, ni créé ni engendré.
Le Fils est du Père seul, non fait ni créé, mais engendré par Lui.
L’Esprit-Saint est du Père et du Fils,
Non qu’Il ait été fait, ni créé, ni engendré par eux,
Mais Il en procède.
Il y a donc un Père, et non trois, un Fils, et non trois,
Un Saint-Esprit, et non trois.
Et dans cette Trinité, il n’v a ni avant, ni après, ni plus, ni moins, Mais en tout les trois Personnes sont coéternelles et égales, Si bien qu’en tout, comme on l’a déjà proclamé, On doit adorer l’Unité dans la Trinité Et la Trinité dans l’Unité. Telle est, si l’on veut faire son salut, La doctrine que l’on doit tenir au sujet de la Trinité.
Mais il faut de plus, pour gagner le salut éternel, Avoir une foi ferme en l’Incarnation de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ. La rectitude de cette foi Veut que l’on reconnaisse et proclame Que Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ, le Fils de Dieu, Est Dieu et homme.
Comme Dieu, il est engendré de la substance du Père de toute éternité Comme homme, il est né dans le temps du corps d’une mère. Dieu complet, il est aussi homme complet, Composé d’une âme raisonnable et d’un corps humain. Egal au Père en tant que Dieu, Il est inférieur au Père en tant qu’homme.
Et bien qu’il soit Dieu et homme, Il n’y a cependant pas deux Christs, mais un seul. Unique, non parce que Dieu se serait changé en être charnel, Mais parce que Dieu a assumé la nature humaine. Parfaitement unique, non par la confusion des deux natures, -Mais dans l’unité d’une seule Personne. En effet, de même qu’un homme unique Est à la fois âme raisonnable et corps, De même le Christ unique est à la fois Dieu et homme.
Il a subi le supplice pour nous sauver, Est descendu chez les morts; Le troisième jour, Il en est ressuscité; Il est monté aux cieux; Il siège à la droite de Dieu le Père Tout-Puissant; Il en reviendra, pour juger les vivants et les morts.
A son retour, tous les hommes doivent ressusciter avec leur corps Et rendre compte de leurs actes, Et ceux qui auront fait le bien iront à la vie éternelle, Tandis que ceux qui auront fait le mal iront au feu éternel.
Telle est la foi catholique, Qu’il faut garder sans défaut ni faiblesse, Faute de quoi on ne peut faire son salut.
Mais le schéma circulaire ci-dessus peut être enrichi par association de mystères adjacents (Figure 3).


« Maintenant, je vais aussi te parler de la pure servante Marie, qui est une reine du ciel et de la terre. Elle a été prévue par la divine Sagesse. Elle fut investie par cette divine Sagesse dès l’instant où Dieu décida de la créer. Elle a d’abord été conçue dans la pensée du Dieu très haut, avant de l’être dans le sein de sa propre mère. Et toute la grâce qui lui était destinée d’avance est entrée en elle comme un puissant secours au moment où elle fut conçue. C’est pourquoi elle est pure, délicate et immaculée. Ainsi la vertu du Très-Haut est sortie, elle l’a enveloppée, elle l’a remplie avec Puissance de l’Esprit saint. Vois, dans la roue, le rayon qui part du cercle intérieur: il est large à sa base, et il se termine en fine pointe; or, selon la signification et selon la forme des rayons, représente-toi le Dieu tout-puissant: il couvre et il embrasse tous les cieux; pourtant, comme un tout petit enfant, voici qu’il entre dans la très haute Vierge et qu’il naît d’elle sans briser sa virginité » . Voilà la première merveille, c’est un petit enfant.
La seconde merveille, c’est la petite hostie. « Et voici que son corps délicat, il nous l’a donné en nourriture, joint à la divinité qui en est inséparable. Vois cet autre rayon qui lui aussi est large près du cercle intérieur et petit contre le cercle extérieur, vers le dehors: ainsi la grande puissance du Dieu tout-puissant est contenue sous les apparences de la petite hostie » .
La troisième merveille, c’est que la fragilité de la vie puisse être ordonnée à une récompense éternelle. En cela tient toute la raison d’être de la création. «Et maintenant remarque un autre rayon de la roue, qui lui aussi est large près du cercle intérieur et petit vers l’extérieur: c’est le symbole de notre vie, tout à fait courte et passagère. Dans ce temps bref, puissions-nous par l’amour divin mériter une joie indicible qui jamais ne prendra fin » .

«Voilà la signification de ma roue. » Ici le pèlerin, ému par le son de la voix de Permite, ajoute: « Cette parole me réjouit le cœur » 1.
Telle est, réduite à l’essentiel, et dégageant ses lignes maîtresses qui se sont gravées profondément dans la mémoire du pèlerin bavarois, la vue grandiose du pieux ermite, enivré par le contraste ineffable qu’il découvre entre, d’une part, la splendeur tranquille et inimaginable de la vie trinitaire et, d’autre part, la suscitation fragile et merveilleuse d’un univers où trois mystères brillent à ses yeux comme trois étoiles: le mystère d’un petit enfant né d’une vierge, le mystère d’une petite hostie, et le mystère de la petite durée de notre vie et de notre épreuve.
La figure suivante (Figure 4) illustre laTrinité et le monde, dessin de la première édition du traité du Pélerin, à Augsburg vers 1480.


Nous pouvons maintenant reprendre, au point où nous l’avons laissé, le récit du Traité du Pèlerin: « Vois-tu cette figure ? Au centre c’est l’essence divine, la Divinité indivisée en qui se réjouissent tous les saints. Les trois pointes qui vont vers le cercle intérieur, ce sont les trois Personnes: elles sortent de l’unique divinité, elles embrassent le ciel et encore le monde entier, qui relèvent de leur puissance. Et comme elles sortent avec une force divine, ainsi elles rentrent; et elles sont unies, et inséparables en éternelle puissance. Voilà le sens de ce dessin » .
En regard de cette figure, encore incomplète, dont Nicolas révèle le sens au pieux pèlerin bavarois, essayons de placer, pour un instant, un schéma trinitaire très apparenté, qui se retrouve fréquemment au xve siècle, soit en miniature dans les livres d’heures, soit en sculpture au portail des églises et sur les dalles tumulaires, et destiné à rappeler les processions des personnes divines, leur mutuelle distinction, leur identité avec l’être divin; c’est-à-dire tout l’essentiel du mystère de la Trinité, où nous croyons que les trois Personnes, dont chacune s’identifie réellement à l’essence divine, sont néanmoins réellement distinctes entre elles.


Note : cette figure est reproduite dans chaque exemplaire de notre revue, en page de couverture.

Ci- après apparaissent deux figures qui concrétisent ce qui précède


Le sou et la fontaine de vie

LA FONTAINE DE VIE.
La place publique- Le frère se lève la nuit pour méditer sur la Passion et sur le martyre de Dieu. Au moment de se rendormir, il aperçoit en esprit une place: une foule de gens s’y livrent à de durs travaux, mais il s’étonne de les trouver si pauvres.
La vasque où se déverse la Fontaine. – Alors, à main droite, il vit une belle maison dont la porte était grande ouverte. Il entra et se trouva dans une cuisine, appartenant à toute une commune.
A droite, un escalier de quatre marches « ou à peu près »
Quelques rares hommes y montaient. Leur vêtement semblait aspergé de blanc.
Il vit une Fontaine sortir des marches et remplir une grande vasque dans la cuisine. Elle apportait trois choses: vin, huile, miel. Elle coulait aussi vite que l’éclair, et si haut que le palais en résonnait comme un cor. Il s’étonna que les gens, pourtant si pauvres, ne vinssent pas à la Fontaine, ouverte à tout le monde.
La source de la Fontaine. – Alors, il monta les marches pour voir d’où venait la Fontaine, Il parvint dans une grande salle. Au milieu, était un réservoir . Il s’en approcha au risque de s’enliser. Aux quatre angles, il remarqua quatre puissants étais de fer. La Source était si transparente qu’on aurait pu y apercevoir au fond le moindre cheveu’; et elle chantait merveilleusement dans le réservoir et dans le canai où elle s’écoulait. Elle était inépuisable et pleine jusqu’aux bords, bien qu’elle sortît par toutes les fentes.
Le monde périt de misère à c6té de la Fontaine de Vie. – Alors, il voulut redescendre pour voir ce qui retenait les hommes de venir puiser à la Fontaine. L’un avait dressé une barrière au travers de la place et il ne laissait passer personne sans réclamer le sou. Un autre faisait tournoyer son gourdin, pour exiger le sou. Un autre jouait du fifre, pour avoir le sou. Des tailleurs, des cordonniers, des artisans lui réclamèrent le sou. Et avant d’avoir fini, ils étaient déjà redevenus si pauvres qu’ils ne réussissaient même pas à s’enrichir temporellement. Mais personne ne venait puiser à la Fontaine.
Conclusion. – Alors la scène changea, l’homme vit des pentes sauvages semblables à celles qui entourent la chapelle et l’ermitage de frère Nicolas, et il comprit que le palais était frère Nicolas.
On ne peut servir Dieu et l’argent. La Fontaine, c’est la vie divine accessible largement, la vie trinitaire , capable de rénover la vie sociale, comme l’indiquent les appropriations :
mémoire, intelligence, volonté
autorité, obéissance, amour
puissance, sagesse,bonté
éternité, beauté, jouissance
unité, égalité, union.
Le manuel de la cellule trinitaire de votre serviteur détaille cela dans les pages 16 à 44. La recherche effrénér du sou ne peut conduire qu’à la ruine, à l’abattage, aux tremblements.
Le monde présentement se détourne des vraies réalités, et adore de fausses divinités : l’Etat, la Terre, le Peuple, etc et pousse en fait à la recherche du chaos.
Jean de Siebenthal
retour début

Suisse : Ondes, zones refuges à 0,3 V/m

Certaines ondes sont toxiques. prudence et précautions.

–  Parlement Fédéral Suisse : Initiative parlementaire de 54 Députés :
"Réduire le niveau d'exposition aux rayonnements non ionisants"
– Demandes de création de zones refuges à 0,3 V/m pour EHS,
d'interdiction d'antennes relais à proximité d'écoles et lieux sensibles, . . .
– Toutes les Next-up News / All Next-up News: www.next-up.org/Newsoftheworld/2009.php
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