V.D.M. / Diakon / Pfarrer / Bischof
Theology and organization of churches (of different denominations) is not my core competence - but I have done a bit of reading ;-). As I have found "V.D.M." in Swiss church records mainly in reformed parishes, the following may need some adaptation for other denominations.
V.D.M. stands for the Latin "verbi divini magister" = teacher or preacher of God's words. It means that a person after studying theology has been ordinated, the official recognition by the church, without a specific position in a parish. Check here for an example.
Pfarrer is the pastor / priest, responsible for a parish (will not be the only one for large parishes). V.D.M. is a requirement for this position.
Diacon (Diakon) is a position somewhat in between (and also requiring V.D.M.) - and this may have changed over the centuries. The Diacon is supporting the Pfarrer, nowadays mainly looking after social aspects, a sort of social worker with a strong theological basis (ordination) who may also hold masses.
The Bischof (bishop) is responsible for many parishes. In Switzerland the organization is different for the reformed and catholic church. The reformed church is organized in "Landeskirchen / Kantonalkirchen", i.e. following the cantonal organization of the Swiss Federation, whilst the "Bistum" (episcopat) in the catholic church is independent of the cantons, usually including parishes of several cantons. See http://kunden.eye.ch/swissgen/intro-e.htm#div for details.
Willkommen!
Kommentare
-
Your recent posts are very useful for Swiss researchers. But this is a community forum, where users with questions ask them and get answers.
If you have answers but not questions, then I suggest that instead you contribute to the FamilySearch Wiki, a free encyclopedia of genealogy. Anyone can contribute to the Wiki. Here for example is the page for Switzerland: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Switzerland_Genealogy You'll see on the sidebar on the right all the different pages for Switzerland, including one about Church Records. There are also pages for each Canton in Switzerland.
0 -
Well - the above post is an answer 😉 - the question was "What does V.D.M. mean?" - just giving the full Latin text (plus translation) had resulted in this question - for me an indication that a more detailed explanation was desired. As this abbreviation shows up in many church records or other genealogical sources, I assume it will also show up again with future questions. Instead of typing the information just as answer to this first occurence, and then typing the same text a second or third time, I can now just link to it.
Possibly we have different views, what a forum should be or offer. For me a forum is a place where members help each other by discussing things - not just a place to ask questions - with few people spending time to answer these questions. Consequently I would be pleased to see a discussion, e.g. on circumstances where V.D.M. was found in which context. Or, taking my posts on church records in different cantons as example, it would be nice if other members coming across other relevant online sources would post an "answer" with this additional information.
1 -
Of course, there is nothing wrong with what you are posting. Anyone can use the forum however they want provided it is within the rules. But this forum is intended to be the primary way that users seek support or help from FamilySearch staff. Most of the threads in this forum start with a question from a user who has a problem with or question about FamilySearch, for example whether or not certain records are available, help with genealogical research, questions about Latter Day Saint ordinances and questions about Family History Centers.
There used to be a "Support" desk and users would send private messages to FS, and a staff member would respond. Now users are directed to post their questions in this forum.
The FamilySearch Wiki has existed for over a decade and its pages come up near the top of Google searches (e.g. the first two results for the search "Switzerland genealogy" are both pages from the Wiki). It is read much more widely than this forum. It is very common for answers given in this forum to include links to the Wiki. You would be sharing your knowledge with a much wider range of people if you added the content you have been sharing on this forum over the last few days to the Wiki. But of course, it is your choice about how you share this information.
0 -
Great - we have a discussion ;-).
So this forum is supposed to replace a "support desk": users post a question - and within the forum someone responds and answers that question. How detailed is an answer allowed to be - and must the answer be restricted to (i.e. be given within) the response to a specific question?
I assume your first comment was triggered by the topic of the above discussion plus three discussions on the situation in three cantons. The first such post was on the situation in canton Bern. This might not be considered a "response", but was a reaction to the fact that many requests for transcriptions/translations were just quoting a link to familysearch, i.e. church records which for many Swiss cantons cannot be viewed from home by Swiss residents (like me). I might be wrong, but assume the chances that someone about to post a question to the forum will look at topics in the forum is higher than that this person checks the wiki, looks for the link to the canton - and reads what is written there. The discussion on Bern is also a good example, that it started a further discussion ("I have never seen this message"): I don't believe such a discussion would take place in the wiki.
You write "Anyone can use the forum however they want provided it is within the rules.". Is it the rule (let's call it "guideline" to be less strict) that in the forum we have 1) a question (usually asking for a transcription) with 2) a short answer (namely the transcription, without detailed explanations) ... or is detailed information (if considered useful) as separate topic (the way I have done it, where then a discussion could take place) within the "guideline"?
1 -
Again, there is nothing wrong with what you have been saying. I just think you would help more people if you shared you knowledge through the Wiki. The Wiki comes up first in many Google Searches and is well-known by genealogists. If someone in this forum asks about a question related to Switzerland genealogy, you can provide a link to a page in the Wiki in your answer.
0 -
@A van Helsdingen I'm responding to your comment "But this forum is intended to be the primary way that users seek support or help from FamilySearch staff. [...]" I don't think this is applicable anymore, I think this is one of the reasons the community platform was revamped earlier this year - to accommodate a larger community of participants. Everyone is invited to ask or answer questions, not just FamilySearch staff. This makes it possible to tap into a larger pool of resources. Also, the dropdown box provides other options besides asking a question, including starting a new discussion, taking a poll or announcing an event. I see this research group as a place to not only ask and answer questions, but a place to communicate and learn from one another in matters related to Swiss research.
Perhaps the term "this forum" needs to be defined or clarified. The FamilySearch community includes several different types of groups. This thread is a discussion in the Switzerland Genealogy Research group. Besides research groups there are other types of groups (see the Q&A or Ideas tabs to the left, or the main four groups shown on the Community Home page) were questions can be posted about FamilySearch-related issues that are not specifically related to Swiss research (like the ones you mentioned: whether or not certain records are available, questions about Latter Day Saint ordinances and questions about Family History Centers.
3 -
Thanks Gina,
Your explanation is accurate. We are trying to draw on the expertise of group members to get information about records and translation help. Using this pool of talent gets faster answers and helps us all in our research. Some of our group members are here for the sole purpose of helping others.
I appreciate your post.
L
0
