Most Reverend Dr. Heinrich Mussinghoff (born 29 October 1940) was the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Bishop of the

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

, Germany, from 11 February 1995 until the acceptance of his resignation on 8 December 2015. Born in Osterwick (now Rosendahl) in northwestern

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

, he studied philosophy and theology in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

and

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

. In 1968 he was consecrated as priest in Münster by Bishop

Joseph Höffner Joseph Höffner (24 December 1906 – 16 October 1987) was a German Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Archbishop of Cologne from 1969 to 1987 and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1969. Biography ...

. He first worked as chaplain of

Herten Herten (; Westphalian: ''Hiätten'') is a town and a municipality in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated in the industrial Ruhr Area, some west of Recklinghausen. Geography Town area Herten cov ...

, then became secretary of Bishop Heinrich Tenhumberg. In December 1994 he was appointed bishop of Aachen, and was consecrated on 11 February 1995 by Cardinal

Joachim Meisner Joachim Meisner (25 December 1933 – 5 July 2017) was a German Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Cologne from 1989 to 2014. He previously served as Bishop of Berlin from 1980 to 1989, and was created a cardinal in 1983. He was wid ...

in the

Aachen Cathedral Aachen Cathedral () is a Catholic Church, Catholic church in Aachen, Germany and the cathedral of the Diocese of Aachen. One of the oldest cathedral buildings in Europe, it was constructed as the royal chapel of the Palace of Aachen of Holy Rom ...

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of Heinrich Mussinghoff is based on the coat of arms of the diocese of Aachen, a black cross on a golden shield. The inner shield is based on the coat of arms of the diocese of Münster, a red bar on golden ground. In the upper left corner of the inner shield is an eight-cornered star, resembling the Octagon of the Aachen Cathedral as well as the eight regions of the diocese. The star symbolizes the morning star, which never sets beneath the horizon as a symbol for Jesus Christ. On the red bar are the silver Greek letters Chi and

Rho Rho (; uppercase Ρ, lowercase ρ or ; or ) is the seventeenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 100. It is derived from Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician letter resh . Its uppercase form uses the same ...

as another symbol for Christ. The red rose in bottom both symbolizes the hometown Rosendahl of the bishop, but also

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of the cathedral, town and diocese of Aachen. The motto of Bishop Mussinghoff is ''Parate viam domini'' (prepare the way of the lord), taken from

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

(40:3). The coat of arms was designed by Ludwig Schaffrath.

Resources

Biography at the Diocese of Aachen
(German)

External links

20th-century German Roman Catholic bishops Roman Catholic bishops of Aachen 1940 births Living people Members of the Apostolic Signatura Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts 21st-century German Roman Catholic bishops 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests {{Germany-RC-bishop-stub