William Jurgens

Template:Infobox Christian leader William A. Jurgens (July 3, 1928 — September 1, 1982) was an American Roman Catholic priest, composer, historian, musician, and translator of patristic and other works.

Early life

He was born July 3, 1928, in Akron, Ohio,<ref name="encyclo">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> to Charles B. and Ruth C. (Template:Nee Gardner) Jurgens. He had two brothers (Charles and James) and two sisters (Donna and Jeanne).<ref name="notice">Template:Cite news</ref>

Jurgens attended Immaculate Conception Elementary School<ref name="stoyer">Template:Cite news</ref> and then St. Vincent High School in Akron,<ref name="akronobit">Template:Cite news</ref> where he was president of the National Honor Society.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He graduated in 1946.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Jurgens then attended St. Joseph Minor Seminary in Westmont, Illinois, before completing his religious studies at St. Mary Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio.<ref name="obit">Template:Cite news</ref> A talented organist, he played the instrument at Our Lady of Victory Church in Tallmadge, Ohio, while attending seminary.<ref name=stoyer /> He was ordained on December 18, 1954, at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Cleveland, Ohio, by Archbishop Edward F. Hoban.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

At the time of his ordination, Macmillan published his translation of St. John ChrysostomTemplate:'s treatise On the Priesthood.<ref name=stoyer />Template:Efn

Religious career

Jurgens was assigned as assistant pastor at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Cleveland at the end of 1954.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Jurgens left Cleveland in 1956 and began studying sacred music at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and ecclesiastical history at Gregorian University, both in Rome, Italy.<ref name=encyclo /> He studied Gregorian chant at the Pontifical Institute,<ref name=encyclo />Template:Efn and earned a doctorate in ecclesiastical history from Gregorian.<ref name=akronobit />

Jurgens returned to Cleveland in April 1959, and was named assistant pastor at Blessed Sacrament Church on Fulton Road.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Less than two months later, he was assigned to the faculty of St. Mary's Seminary<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> where he was professor of patrology. He was given an additional assignment teaching at Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe in 1961. He was appointed instructor of chant at both seminaries in 1965.<ref name=obit />

Jurgens was appointed Diocesan Director of Sacred Music in April 1961 after Rev. John H. Archibald of Holy Family Church in Stow, Ohio, resigned due to the press of duties in his parish.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He served as director until 1968.<ref name=encyclo /> Jurgens was also appointed to the Diocesan Liturgical Commission in August 1962,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and was named the first chairman<ref name=encyclo /> of the Diocesan Commission on Sacred Music in May 1964.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn

Bishop Clarence Issenmann made Jurgens his secretary in 1974.<ref name=obit />

In 1977, Bishop James Hickey appointed Jurgens as Diocesan Research Historian, and tasked him with writing a detailed history of the diocese. The first volume in this work, A History of the Diocese of Cleveland: The Prehistory of the Diocese to Its Establishment in 1847, was published in 1980. Jurgens had written a draft of a second volume by 1982, but it was never finished.<ref name=akronobit /> Jurgens fell ill with cancer in December 1981, and died from complications of cancer and diabetes at Holy Family Cancer Center in Parma, Ohio, on September 1, 1982.<ref name=obit />

Jurgens was buried in Template:Ill in Brook Park, Ohio.<ref name=notice />

Works

Theological and historical texts

Jurgens translated a number of theological and musical works during his lifetime, and wrote books about early church theologians as well as the liturgy.<ref name=encyclo /> Among these are:

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• Template:Cite book (co-authored with Cipriano Vagaggini and Leonard J. Doyle)

The three-volume Faith of the Early Fathers is now considered a standard patrological work.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Catholic writer Karl Keating says it ranks with Joseph Tixeront's History of Dogmas and Johannes QuastenTemplate:'s Patrology as a fundamental collection of patrological works, the "premier work of its kind" and "prime reading for the apologist". Jurgens and Tixeront cover the same years, more so than Quasten. Jurgens' work is more inclusive and contains works from a greater variety of authors.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Reviewing The Faith of the Early Fathers, scholar Herbert T. Mayer applauded the work's inclusiveness, the inclusion of canons and decrees, the length of excerpts (longer than in most works), Jurgens' doctrinal analysis, and the index (missing in many other works). He called it "a good history of the Christian church" suitable for seminaries.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Musical works

Jurgens was considered a composer and musician of some skill.<ref name=encyclo /> He composed a number of musical works and published collections of existing works. These include:

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• Template:Cite book (traditional hymns fit to Gregorian chants by Jurgens; organ accompaniment composed by Eugène Lapierre)
• Template:Cite book (adaptation of the music of the then-newly approved Kyriale Simplex to the approved English text)
• Template:Cite work (lyrics and music by Jurgens)
• Template:Cite book (the unabridged official text set to music by Jurgens)