View All Photos

Advanced +

Hermann August Rockel

Photo courtesy of Brazilian White Center - UNASP. 

EnglishPortuguese

Rockel, Hermann August (1877–1941)

By The Brazilian White Center – UNASP

×

The Brazilian White Center – UNASP is a team of teachers and students at the Brazilian Ellen G. White Research Center – UNASP at the Brazilian Adventist University, Campus Engenheiro, Coelho, SP. The team was supervised by Drs. Adolfo Semo Suárez, Renato Stencel, and Carlos Flávio Teixeira. Bruno Sales Gomes Ferreira provided technical support. The following names are of team members: Adriane Ferrari Silva, Álan Gracioto Alexandre, Allen Jair Urcia Santa Cruz, Camila Chede Amaral Lucena, Camilla Rodrigues Seixas, Daniel Fernandes Teodoro, Danillo Alfredo Rios Junior, Danilo Fauster de Souza, Débora Arana Mayer, Elvis Eli Martins Filho, Felipe Cardoso do Nascimento, Fernanda Nascimento Oliveira, Gabriel Pilon Galvani, Giovana de Castro Vaz, Guilherme Cardoso Ricardo Martins, Gustavo Costa Vieira Novaes, Ingrid Sthéfane Santos Andrade, Isabela Pimenta Gravina, Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Jhoseyr Davison Voos dos Santos, João Lucas Moraes Pereira, Kalline Meira Rocha Santos, Larissa Menegazzo Nunes, Letícia Miola Figueiredo, Luan Alves Cota Mól, Lucas Almeida dos Santos, Lucas Arteaga Aquino, Lucas Dias de Melo, Matheus Brabo Peres, Mayla Magaieski Graepp, Milena Guimarães Silva, Natália Padilha Corrêa, Rafaela Lima Gouvêa, Rogel Maio Nogueira Tavares Filho, Ryan Matheus do Ouro Medeiros, Samara Souza Santos, Sergio Henrique Micael Santos, Suelen Alves de Almeida, Talita Paim Veloso de Castro, Thais Cristina Benedetti, Thaís Caroline de Almeida Lima, Vanessa Stehling Belgd, Victor Alves Pereira, Vinicios Fernandes Alencar, Vinícius Pereira Nascimento, Vitória Regina Boita da Silva, William Edward Timm, Julio Cesar Ribeiro, Ellen Deó Bortolotte, Maria Júlia dos Santos Galvani, Giovana Souto Pereira, Victor Hugo Vaz Storch, and Dinely Luana Pereira.

 

 

First Published: July 17, 2021

Audio

Hermann August Rockel, pastor and missionary, was born on August 23, 1877 in the city of Woydehnen, Shatrovo, Russia, son of Ludwig Rockel and Wilhelmine Schulz. August studied Theology at Friedensau Industrial School (now Friedensau Adventist University), in Germany, graduating in 1903. Before embracing the Adventist faith, he was an army sergeant and member of the Baptist church.1

He married Ida Rockel (1880-1971) in the city of Hamburg, on February 26, 1904. From this union eight children were born: Alfredo, Alice, Bruno, Erna, Hilda, Paulo, Roberto and Ruth. Ida was an able midwife for 47 years and shared her faith with many people over her career. She delivered more than 3,000 babies during her life.2

Rockel began his pastoral ministry in 1905, in the city of Bochum, western Germany, where he served for two years.3 In 1907, he accepted a call to work as pastor at the Prussian Conference4 and he was ordained to the ministry in January 1909, in the city of Loetzen, Giżycko, Poland.5 That same year, he was transferred to the Silesia Conference, where he served until 1910.6

The following year, Rockel accepted a call to be missionary pastor in Brazil, where at the time most Adventist members were of German origin or ascendance. The family arrived in the Santos harbor on August 19, 1911, aboard a ship named Cap. Verde, after a 30-day travel. In December, he was sent to the state of Paraná to work as assistant pastor of the Conference president, Pastor Kroeker, in which he preached in many cities throughout the state.7

In May 1912, at the second meeting of the Brazilian Union, Pastor Rockel was appointed to serve as evangelist in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Over a two-year period, he held a series of conferences in the city of Bom Retiro, as well as missionary efforts in many cities such as São João do Montenegro and Campestre, alongside Pastor Rodolpho Belz.8 He was involved in the foundation of a church in Porto Alegre, where he baptized eleven people in 1913.9

In 1914 Rockel was appointed as president of the Santa Catarina Conference,10 where he pioneered Adventism in the city of Florianópolis.11 In 1918, he held evangelistic conferences in the cities of Jaraguá do Sul and Benedito Novo, where dozens of people were baptized.12 Still in 1918, he participated in the leadership council of the Brazil College, (now UNASP-SP).13 The following year, he returned to the Rio Grande do Sul Conference, where he pastored the Ijuí church from 1919 to 1920 and the Porto Alegre Church from 1921 to 1923.14 In addition, he held the first baptismal ceremony of the church of Cruz Alta, when in 1919 fourteen people were baptized.15

After serving the church for almost twenty years, August Rockel concluded his pastoral activities. With the funds he received he bought a hydrotherapy clinic in Ijuí, where treatments using baths, sunlight and herbal extracts were applied. Soon after they constructed a small hospital, where Ida and Dr. Ulrich Kuhlmann received patients for childbirth. Rockel was the administrator of the clinic and hospital. Even retired, he continued to serve the Adventist Church in this city as an elder.16 Later, in 1939, a flood destroyed the material goods of the Rockel family. Not long after this, in 1941 August passed away in Ijuí, and his grave is found in this same city.17 Pastor Rockel is remembered for his pioneer contribution in the southern states of Brazil, where many people learned the Adventist message through his influence and dedication to the health message.

Sources

“A segunda Conferencia da União Brazileira.” Revista Adventista, vol. 07, no. 03. 04., March/April, 1912.

Augusto Rockel. “Santa Catharina.” Revista Adventista, vol. 13, no. 02, February, 1918.

Augusto Rockel. “Santa Catharina.” Revista Adventista, vol. 13, no. 10, October, 1918.

“Augusto Rockel.” National Center of Adventist History (Online), September 23, 2013. Accessed April 23, 2020, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Augusto_Rockel.

E. C. Ehlers. “Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul.” Revista Adventista, vol. 09, no. 04, April, 1913.

F. Spies. “Dedication of the Porto Alegre (Brazil) Chapel.” ARH, July 3, 1913.

Guy Dail. “In Eastern Prussia.” ARH, March 18, 1909.

“Ida Rockel.” National Center of Adventist History (Online), September 26, 2013. Accessed April 23, 2020, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Ida_Rockel.

“Igreja Adventista de Cruz Alta.” National Center of Adventist History (Online), January 19, 2015. Accessed April 23, 2020, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Igreja_Adventista_de_Cruz_Alta,_RS_(Centro).

Ida Rockel. “Memórias de Uma Pioneira Adventista.” Revista Adventista, year 64, no. 07, July, 1969.

Jorge M. Malty. “Florianópolis, mais uma Cidade com Igreja Adventista.” Revista Adventista, ano 49, no. 01, January 1954.

N. Neilsen. “Reuniões Geraes no Rio Grande do Sul.” Revista Adventista, vol. 24, no. 06, junho, 1929.

Rockel, Ida. Como Tia Cegonha em Viagem. Ijuí, RS: Michaelsen, Hass & Cia. Ltda., 1971.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, various years.

Notes

  1. Paulo Rockel, email message to Rafaela Gouvêa, October 30, 2018; Ida Rockel, Como Tia Cegonha em Viagem (Ijuí, RS: Michaelsen, Hass & Cia. Ltda., 1971), 7.; “Augusto Rockel,” National Center of Adventist History (Online), September 23, 2013, accessed April 23, 2020, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Augusto_Rockel.↩

  2. Paulo Rockel, email message to Rafaela Gouvêa, October 30, 2018; Ida Rockel, Como Tia Cegonha em Viagem (Ijuí, RS: Michaelsen, Hass & Cia. Ltda., 1971), 7, 60.; Rockel, Ida, “Memórias de Uma Pioneira Adventista,” Revista Adventista, year 64, no. 07, July, 1969, 24.↩

  3. “Ida Rockel,” National Center of Adventist History (Online), September 26, 2013, accessed April 23, 2020, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Ida_Rockel; “West German Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1906), 74; “West German Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1907), 82.↩

  4. “Prussian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1908), 105; “Prussian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1909), 107.↩

  5. Dail, Guy, “In Eastern Prussia,” ARH, March 18, 1909, 12.↩

  6. “Silesian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1910), 104; “Silesian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1911), 101.↩

  7. Paulo Rockel, email message to Rafaela Gouvêa, outubro 30, 2018; “Augusto Rockel,” National Center of Adventist History (Online), September 23, 2013, accessed April 23, 2020, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Augusto_Rockel.↩

  8. “Augusto Rockel,” National Center of Adventist History (Online), September 23, 2013, accessed April 23, 2020, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Augusto_Rockel; “A segunda Conferencia da União Brazileira,” Revista Adventista, vol. 07, no. 03. 04., March - April, 1912, 10.↩

  9. Ehlers, E. C., “Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul,” Revista Adventista, vol. 09, no. 04, April, 1913, 03.; Spies, F., “Dedication of the Porto Alegre (Brazil) Chapel,” ARH, July 3, 1913, 14.↩

  10. “Santa Catharina Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1915), 149. ↩

  11. Malty, Jorge M., “Florianópolis, mais uma Cidade com Igreja Adventista,” Revista Adventista, ano 49, no. 01, January, 1954, 11.↩

  12. Rockel, Augusto, “Santa Catharina,” Revista Adventista, vol. 13, no. 10, October, 1918, 09; Rockel, Augusto, “Santa Catharina,” Revista Adventista, vol. 13, no. 02, February, 1918, 12.↩

  13. “Brazilian Seminary,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1919), 194.↩

  14. “Rio Grande do Sul Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1920), 183; “Rio Grande do Sul Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1924), 152.; Ida Rockel, Como Tia Cegonha em Viagem (Ijuí, RS: Michaelsen, Hass & Cia. Ltda., 1971), 10.↩

  15. “Igreja Adventista de Cruz Alta,” National Center of Adventist History (Online), January 19, 2015, accessed April 23, 2020, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Igreja_Adventista_de_Cruz_Alta,_RS_(Centro).↩

  16. Ida Rockel, Como Tia Cegonha em Viagem (Ijuí, RS: Michaelsen, Hass & Cia. Ltda., 1971), 21; Neilsen, N., “Reuniões Geraes no Rio Grande do Sul,” Revista Adventista, vol. 24, no. 06, June, 1929, 13.↩

  17. Rockel, Ida, “Memórias de Uma Pioneira Adventista,” Revista Adventista, year 64, no. 07, July, 1969, 24; Paulo Rockel, mensagem por e-mail para Rafaela Gouvêa, October 30, 2018.; “Augusto Rockel,” National Center of Adventist History (Online), September 23, 2013, accessed April 23, 2020, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Augusto_Rockel.↩

×

UNASP, The Brazilian White Center –. "Rockel, Hermann August (1877–1941)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. July 17, 2021. Accessed March 25, 2025. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=AGNR.

Copy to clipboard Download Word File

UNASP, The Brazilian White Center –. "Rockel, Hermann August (1877–1941)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. July 17, 2021. Date of access March 25, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=AGNR.

Copy to clipboard Download Word File

UNASP, The Brazilian White Center – (2021, July 17). Rockel, Hermann August (1877–1941). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved March 25, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=AGNR.

Copy to clipboard Download Word File