Caspar Erich Schieler

Caspar Erasmus Schieler (July 14, 1851 – January 13, 1934)^[1] was a German-American theologian, former Roman Catholic priest, professor, author, and minister in the Reformed Church in the United States. He taught moral theology and homiletics at the Episcopal Seminary of Mainz before emigrating to the United States following controversy surrounding his theological manual on confession.

Schieler is best known for his work Theory and Practice of the Confessional (1905), adapted from his 1894 German volume Die Verwaltung des Bußsakramentes. Translated into English by Herman Joseph Heuser and introduced by Archbishop Sebastian Gebhard Messmer, it became a landmark work as the first manual on penance and confession for priests published in English rather than Latin.^[2]

In English-language catalogs, Schieler has frequently been cited as **Caspar Erich Schieler**. Modern scholarship notes this as a century-old cataloging mistake that misread his middle initial "E." for "Erich", whereas primary documents and Schieler's own signatures confirm his name as "Erasmus".^[3][4]

Early life and education

Schieler was born in Ober-Erlenbach, Grand Duchy of Hesse, on July 14, 1851, the son of Ludwig Joseph Schieler, a mason and building supervisor, and Margarete Krug. After attending the Gymnasium in Mainz, he studied Catholic theology at the Episcopal Seminary of Mainz. He was ordained a Catholic priest in Mainz Cathedral in 1876 by Bishop Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler.^[5]

While serving in pastoral care, Schieler continued higher theological studies at the University of Würzburg, where he earned a doctorate in theology (Dr. theol.) in 1886. His dissertation on the 15th-century Dominican theologian Johannes Nider was published in 1885 under the title Magister Johannes Nider aus dem Orden der Prediger-Brüder.^[6]

Academic career and departure from the Catholic Church

In 1887, following the reopening of the Episcopal Seminary of Mainz after the Kulturkampf, Schieler was appointed professor of liturgy. By grand-ducal decree, he was granted an exemption from the three-year state university requirement (*Triennium*) imposed by the May Laws.^[7] In 1890, he succeeded his mentor Christoph Moufang as professor of moral theology and homiletics, as well as director of the seminary library (now the Martinus-Bibliothek).^[5]

In 1894, Schieler published Die Verwaltung des Bußsakramentes ("The Administration of the Sacrament of Penance"), a comprehensive guide for priest confessors.^[8] The text generated intense controversy within ecclesiastical hierarchies. Shortly after its publication, Schieler resigned his professorship, left the priesthood, and emigrated to the United States, where he converted to Protestantism and joined the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS).^[3]

Return to Germany and the Free Religious Movement

While in New York City, Schieler married Mary Louise Bernard in 1898. Around 1900, he returned to Germany, where he became involved in the Freireligiöse Bewegung (Free Religious Movement). He served as a preacher for the Free Religious Congregation in Königsberg in 1901 (founded by Julius Rupp) and in Danzig and Tilsit in 1902. He was also an active speaker and writer for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and joined the executive board of the Federation of Free Religious Congregations of Germany in 1907.^[3]

Following the death from his first wife, Schieler married Lisette Dorothee Friederike Tschirschwitz in Magdeburg in 1905. In 1911, he accepted a ministry post in Düsseldorf; however, due to local opposition from Rhenish Catholic clerical circles, he was legally prohibited from giving religious instruction to youth.^[9]

Return to the United States and later ministry

In autumn 1912, Schieler returned permanently to the United States with his wife and young son, Egon. He initially took charge of an RCUS mission congregation in Holyoke, Massachusetts.^[10]

Schieler subsequently returned to academia in the U.S., teaching at Mission House (now Lakeland University) in Wisconsin and later at Redfield College in Redfield, South Dakota, until the latter institution closed due to financial strain.^[11]

He served as pastor for several Midwestern German-American congregations, including parishes in:

• Hartsburg, Missouri
• Hamel, Illinois
• Johannisburg Township, Washington County, Illinois
• Marion, Waupaca County, Wisconsin

In 1933, Schieler was called to serve St. John's Church in Cappeln, Missouri. Shortly after taking the post, he underwent surgery at St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Charles, Missouri, where he died on January 13, 1934, at the age of 82.

Personal life and legacy

Schieler had two sons who both became ordained ministers in the Reformed Church in the United States: Alfred Louis Schieler (1897–1988, from his first marriage) and Egon E. Schieler (1908–1978, from his second marriage). His grandson, Robert Schieler, also served as a minister in the church (which later merged into the United Church of Christ).

Despite his break with the Catholic Church, Schieler's primary contribution to Catholic pastoral literature remained widely utilized. In 1905, Benziger Brothers published Theory and Practice of the Confessional, translated by Herman Joseph Heuser. It filled a critical gap for early 20th-century English-speaking clergy who lacked a vernacular guide for sacramental administration.^[12]

Selected publications

• Magister Johannes Nider aus dem Orden der Prediger-Brüder: Ein Beitrag zur Kirchengeschichte des 15. Jahrhunderts (Mainz, 1885)
• St. Rochus-Büchlein (Mainz, 1885)
• Die Verwaltung des Bußsakramentes: Eine theoretisch-praktische Unterweisung für die Beichtväter (Paderborn, 1894)
• Bedenk es wohl! Ein Betrachtungsbüchlein für Christen (Dülmen, 1897)
• Mein Austritt aus der katholischen Kirche: Worte zur Aufklärung und Mahnung (Frankfurt am Main, 1901)
• Giordano Bruno, der Dichter-Philosoph und Märtyrer der Geistesfreiheit (Frankfurt am Main, 1901)
• Die Babel- und Bibelfrage in einem Vortrag beleuchtet (Danzig, 1903)
• Ein zweiter Vortrag über die Babel- und Bibelfrage (Danzig, 1903)
• Dr. Julius Rupp ehem. Privatdozent, Oberlehrer und Divisionsprediger zu Königsberg i. Pr. (Dresden, 1903)
• Theory and Practice of the Confessional: A Guide in the Administration of the Sacrament of Penance (New York, 1905; translated by Herman Joseph Heuser)
• Der kirchliche Liberalismus und die freien religiösen Gemeinden (Berlin-Schöneberg, 1910)
• Der Odd-Fellow-Orden ein notwendiger Kulturfaktor unserer Zeit (Kiel, 1910)
• Der Religionsunterricht: Reform oder Neugestaltung? (Bamberg, 1912)