KATERKAMP, JOHANN THEODOR HERMANN

Catholic theologian and church historian; b. Ochtrup, Westphalia, Jan. 17, 1764; d. Münster, Westphalia, June 9, 1834. After his ordination as priest in 1787, Katerkamp was recommended by his university professor Clemens Becker as private tutor for the family of the imperial princes of Droste-Vischering in Münster. He thus became one of the youngest members of the Münster circle of scholars around the Princess Amalia gallitzin, a circle that included such men as Franz von fÜrstenberg, B. overberg, and Von Stolberg. From 1797 until the princess's death in 1806 Katerkamp lived in her home. He began his public work only in 1809 when he was named provisional professor of church history at the University of Münster. Then in 1819 he was appointed ordinary professor of church history, canon law, and patrology at Münster. Katerkamp was the author of the first major Catholic Church history of modern times. This was his principal work; it was influenced by and followed entirely the spirit of F. L. von Stolberg's 15-volume Geschichte der Religion Jesu (1806–18).

See Also: historiography, ecclesiastical.

Bibliography: Works. Kirchengeschichte, Intro. and 5 v. (Münster 1819–34), to 1153; Über den Primat des Apostels Petrus and seiner Nachfolger (Münster 1820), also under the title Friedrich Leopolds Grafen zu Stolberg historische Glaubwürdigkeit im Gegensatz zu Herrn Dr. Paulus' kritischer Beurteilung seiner Geschichte; Denkwürdigkeiten aus dem Leben der Fürstin A. von Gallitzin, mit besonderer Rücksicht auf ihre nächsten Verbindungen, Hemsterhuys Fürstenberg, Overberg und Stolberg (Münster 1828; 2d ed. 1839). Literature. h. brockman, "Trauerrede" in Zeitschrift für Philosophie und katholische Theologie 3 (1834) 113–132. a. b. lutterbeck, Allgemeine deutsche Biographie 15:452–453. Realenzyklopädie für protestantische Theologie 10:179–180. p. brachin, Le Cercle de Münster (1779–1806) et la pensée religieuse de F. L. Stolberg (Lyons 1951). e. reinhard, Die Münsterische "Familia sacra" (Münster 1953). e. hegel, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 6:57–58.

[h. rumpler]