Lothar Zenetti


Lothar Zenetti was a German Catholic theologian, priest, and author of books and poetry. In Frankfurt, he was both a minister for young people and a parish priest. He was also active on radio and television. His songs, for example the popular "Das Weizenkorn muss sterben" and "Segne dieses Kind", appear in both Protestant and Catholic hymnals.

Life and work

Zenetti was born in Frankfurt am Main. He attended there from 1931 the Bonifatius-Schule and from 1936 the Goethe-Gymnasium. He was drawn in 1943 first into the Luftwaffenhelfer, then into the Reichsarbeitsdienst. At the end of the War, he was a prisoner of war first of the Americans, then the French. During this time he began to study theology at the so-called ' of Chartres.
Back in Frankfurt, he completed his Abitur and studied at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology. He graduated in 1952 and was ordained a priest on 28 September 1952 by Wilhelm Kempf in Limburg an der Lahn. He worked as a Kaplan in Oberbrechen, Kölbingen, Königstein im Taunus and at St. Bonifatius in Wiesbaden. In 1962 he became Stadtjugendpfarrer in Frankfurt. He was a parish priest in St. Wendel in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen from 1962 to 1995.
Zenetti published several books and many poems. His song "Das Weizenkorn muss sterben", part of Catholic and Protestant hymnals, is popular. About 150 of his poems were set to music in the genre Neues Geistliches Lied, several were included in hymnals, others appeared in song collections and were recorded, for example the ballad "" by the singer-songwriter Konstantin Wecker. He translated hymns by the Dutch priest and lyricist Huub Oosterhuis into German, such as "Ik sta voor u" to "Ich steh vor dir mit leeren Händen, Herr" which is part of both Gotteslob and Evangelisches Gesangbuch. He also wrote texts and songs in Mundart. Zenetti worked for public television in a series ', and was the representative of the Catholic Church for the broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk.
In 1984 he was awarded the prize Humor in der Kirche by the Diocese of Limburg. He died in Frankfurt on 24 February 2019.

Works

Forty-eight publications by Zenetti are listed by the German National Library.

Books

Some of Zenetti's songs have been included in hymnals, such as Evangelisches Gesangbuch and the Catholic Gotteslob.