Alberich Rabensteiner

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Rabensteiner in 1918
Rabensteiner and a confrere as students in Heiligenkreuz

P. Alberich Rabensteiner OCist (born January 28, 1875 in Villanders in South Tyrol ; † April 2, 1945 in Wiener Neustadt ) was a Cistercian of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey and prior and administrator in the Neukloster Priory , Lower Austria .

Alois Rabensteiner entered the Cistercian order in Heiligenkreuz in 1898 and was given the name Alberich . He made solemn profession on June 1, 1903 and was ordained a priest on July 25, 1903 .

The other stations of his career were in the monastery parish St. Valentin and from 1905 the monastery parish Neukloster in Wiener Neustadt (both times chaplain ). In Neukloster he founded the Marian Congregation with the later Father Eberhard Steinbauer . From 1910 to 1915 Father Alberich Rabensteiner was pastor in Sulz in the Vienna Woods and then pastor in Gaaden until September 1916 , after being drafted for military service he worked as a field curate in Wels and later on the South Tyrolean front and in Bukowina, and was honored for his services . On June 10, 1918 he was appointed prior, administrator and pastor of the new monastery. From 1922 Rabensteiner was dean of the dean's office in Wiener Neustadt and from December 1934 also of the dean's office in Weigelsdorf .

Rabensteiner is described in the Martyrologium Sancrucense as a "religious fire spirit", "who lived out of a deep Eucharistic and Marian piety". The entry amo nesciri et pro nihil reputari (I love to be unknown and for nothing) can be found in his desk calendar, in which he noted down events and thoughts every day . In the spring of 1945 Wiener Neustadt was exposed to several violent bomb attacks, in which many residents died. Although many others left the city, Rabensteiner stayed in Neukloster and worked as a pastor until the end. When the Red Army approached Wiener Neustadt more and more during Holy Week, Rabensteiner celebrated the liturgy in the basement and in the sacristy of the already badly damaged monastery with a few remaining monks in the new monastery. On Easter Monday, April 2, 1945, the Red Army took the city after heavy bombing and fighting. With the help of believers, Rabensteiner recovered the bodies of fallen German soldiers from the road next to the monastery to prevent them from being overrun by the approaching tanks. There is no clarity about the further course and the exact circumstances of his death. A chronicler, who relied on a report from an intermediary, wrote that a Russian officer, furious at Rabensteiner's recovery of the bodies, rushed into the church and shouted for the priest. A young woman who had prayed in the church ran to the altar screaming, and Rabensteiner, who had been in the cloister, had rushed into the church. The other version (testimony of the Merciful Sister M. Burgharda) says that Rabensteiner hid a young woman who was being persecuted by a Russian soldier in the kitchen and then negotiated with the soldier in the cloister, who then followed him into the church .

Rabensteiner was found shot in front of the Benedict Altar. He was buried in the cloister of the new monastery with the permission of the Russian city commander. P. Alberich Rabensteiner was accepted into the martyrology of the 20th century .

literature

  • Extract from the chronicle of the Wiener Neustädter Studentenkongregation; Curriculum vitae of the founder P. Alberich Rabensteiner. In: Sancta Crux 32 (1970) 72-79.
  • Johann Mandak: 50th anniversary of Father Prior Alberich Rabensteiner's death. In: Sancta Crux 56 (1995) 164-173
  • Adolf Höggerl: This is how Father Prior Alberich Rabensteiner died. In: Sancta Crux (2000) 202-206.
  • P. Alberich (Alois) Rabensteiner OCist, Prior and Administrator in Wr. Neustadt-Neukloster. In: Jan Mikrut (ed.): Martyrs of faith. Martyrology of the 20th Century, Vol. 1 Vienna ²1999 197–205.
  • Martyrologium Sancrucense, p. 121.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A. Höggerl, Sancta Crux, 61 (2000), No. 117, pp. 202-206.
  2. ↑ J. Mandak, Sancta Crux, 56 (1995), No. 113, pp. 164-173.
  3. ^ A. Höggerl, Cistercienser-Chronik, January 1967, pp. 18-20.
  4. ↑ Jan Mikrut (ed.): Martyrs of Faith. Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhundert, Vol. 1 Vienna 1999, pp. 197–205.
personal data
SURNAME Rabensteiner, Alberich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rabensteiner, Alois
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cistercian and Prior
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Villandro
DATE OF DEATH April 2, 1945
Place of death Wiener Neustadt