Friedrich Oser

OSER, Friedrich. b. Basel, 29 February 1820; d. Biel-Benken, near Basel, 15 December 1891. He was educated at school and university at Basel, where he also studied theology. He was ordained to a pastorate at Waldenburg in 1845. For a large part of his active life he was prison chaplain at Basel (1867-1884), followed by a pastorate at Biel-Benken from 1884 until his death. The tragic loss of his wife and daughter caused Oser to write Sechzig Kreuz- und Trostlieder mit einem Anhang von Liedern auf des Kindes Tod. Weihnachtsgabe für die Trauernden in der Vaterstadt (‘Sixty cross and comfort hymns with an appendix of hymns on the death of a child. A Christmas offering for the sorrowing in his...