Friedrich Dörr
Friedrich Dörr,c. 1958
Born	(1908-03-07)7 March 1908 Obereschenbach,German Empire
Died	13 May 1993(1993-05-13) (aged 85) Eichstätt, Germany
Education	Collegium Germanicum Pontifical Gregorian University
Occupations	Theologian Hymnwriter Academic teacher
Organization	Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule in Eichstätt
Awards	Order of Philip the Magnanimous

Friedrich Dörr (7 March 1908 – 13 May 1993) was a German Catholic priest and professor of theology, who is known as ahymnwriter. He shaped the first common German Catholic hymnal,Gotteslob, published in 1975.

Friedrich Dörr was born inObereschenbach^[1][2] to a family of bakers, the son of Georg Dörr, who was mayor of his hometown until 1933. Friedrich was a member of theCollegium Willibaldinum [de] of the humanistGymnasium Eichstätt [de] from age 11. After hisAbitur in 1927, he studied philosophy and Catholic theology at theCollegium Germanicum in Rome, graduating in 1930 from thePontifical Gregorian University.^[1] He was ordained aspriest by CardinalFrancesco Marchetti Selvaggiani on 29 October 1933. He wrote his dissertation in 1935, entitledDiadochus von Photike und die Messaliner.^[1][2]

Dörr returned to theDiocese of Eichstätt in 1935, and worked as a parish priest^[1] inErkertshofen,Fünfstetten,Wemding,Dietfurt, and at St. Walburg und Eichstätt and theEichstätt Cathedral. In April 1940 he was drafted into theWehrmacht to serve as aSanitätssoldat, then from 1942 asKriegspfarrer [de].^[1] He worked in this function in southern France,Leningrad, theCaucasus, and inCroatia. In March 1944, he was responsible for Denmark andWest Prussia. After World War II ended, Dörr was appointed professor ofSystematische Philosophie und Pädagogik at thePhilosophisch-Theologische Hochschule in Eichstätt (later calledCatholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt) from 1 November 1945.^[1][2] He served as Rector of the institution from 1964 to 1968, and was professor until 1976.^[1] He was also president of theStudentenhilfe in Eichstätt.

From 1966 to 1975, Dörr was a member of the commission working towards the first common Catholic hymnal in German,Gotteslob.^[2] He wrote several hymns.^[1][3] The Book of Hours of 1978 contained 30 of his hymns.^[3]

He died in Eichstätt.^[1][2]

For theGotteslob of 1975, Dörr contributed several songs, especially translations of Latin hymns, including "Komm, Heilger Geist, der Leben schafft" fromVeni Creator Spiritus,^[1] "Sakrament der Liebe Gottes" fromTantum ergo,^[4] "O lieber Jesu, denk ich dein" from ofJesu dulcis memoria,^[5] "Du Licht des Himmels, großer Gott" from Deus qui coeli lumen es^[6] and the evening hymns "Christus, du bist der helle Tag" from "Christe, qui lux es et dies"^[7] and "Bevor des Tages Licht vergeht" fromTe lucis ante terminum.^[1] He created a new hymn, retaining only the first line of "Maria, dich lieben ist allzeit mein Sinn".

The following list has the numbers of the 2013Gotteslob, and the numbers in the first edition in brackets:^[8]

• "Bevor des Tages Licht vergeht" (Te lucis ante terminum), GL 663 (before 696)^[1]
• "Christus, du bist der helle Tag" ("Christe, qui lux es et dies"), GL 90^[7] (before 704)
• "Du Licht des Himmels, großer Gott" (Deus qui coeli lumen es), GL 615^[6]
• "Ein Haus voll Glorie schauet", pseudonym: Hans W. Marx, GL 478 (before 639)^[9]
• "Gott ruft sein Volk zusammen", GL 477^[10] (before 640)
• "Ich bin getauft und Gott geweiht", GL 491^[11] (before 635)
• "Komm, Heilger Geist, der Leben schafft" (Veni Creator Spiritus), GL 342 (before 241)^[1]
• "Kündet allen in der Not", GL 221 (before 106)^[1]
• "Maria, dich lieben ist allzeit mein Sinn", GL 521^[12] (before 594)
• "O Gott, dein Wille schuf die Welt" (Deus creator omnium), GL 628^[13]
• "O lieber Jesu, denk ich dein" (Jesu dulcis memoria), GL 368^[5] (before 550)
• "Sakrament der Liebe Gottes" (Tantum ergo), GL 495^[4] (before 542)
• "Was uns die Erde Gutes spendet", GL 186^[14] (before 490)
• "Wir sind getauft auf Christi Tod", third and fourth stanza of "Das ist der Tag, den Gott gemacht", GL 329,^[15] (before 220)

• Marco Benini (ed.):Gott preisen in Hymnen und Gesängen. Friedrich Dörr – Dichter für Gotteslob und Stundenbuch St. Ottilien 2018,ISBN 978-3-8306-7888-5.
• Veit Neumann:Professor Friedrich Dörr, in: Florian Trenner (ed.):Diener im Weinberg des Herrn. Priesterpersönlichkeiten aus zwölf Diözesen, Klerusblatt-Verlag, München 2008
• Theodor Wohnhaas[in German] (2000). "DÖRR, Friedrich". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.).Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 17. Herzberg: Bautz. col. 279–280.ISBN 3-88309-080-8.

• Literature by and about Friedrich Dörr in theGerman National Library catalogue
• Wandlungen / Das Eichstätter Seminar (1564–2014) in den letzten fünfzig Jahren (in German) priesterseminar-eichstaett.de

• German Roman Catholic hymnwriters
• Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum alumni
• Pontifical Gregorian University alumni
• People from Ansbach (district)
• 20th-century German Catholic theologians
• 1908 births
• 1993 deaths
• Academic staff of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
• 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests
• German Army soldiers of World War II

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