Sieger koder biography of albert

(Image used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 license)

A much-admired and influential artist and Catholic priest died in Germany earlier this week.  Gemma Simmonds CJ pays tribute to Fr Sieger Köder, whose distinctive painting was an expression of his pastoral ministry and his commitment to the social gospel.

 

The German priest-painter Sieger Köder has died in Ellwangen, Germany, on 9 February 2015, shortly after his 90th birthday.  Born in Wasseralfingen in Swabia, Köder was a prisoner of war during World War II and also participated in the Catholic Neudeutschland movement.  He trained as a silversmith and painter and worked for some years as a secondary school art teacher.  At the age of 41 he went to study theology in Tübingen and was ordained a priest in 1971.  He combined his vocation as a parish priest with his work as an artist, producing numerous paintings, altarpieces and stained glass window