Alexander Fixlmillner

Building inscription by Abbot Alexander at the Kremsmünster observatory

Alexander Fixlmillner (bourgeois Benedikt Franz Fixlmillner ; born September 24, 1686 in Pfarrkirchen near Bad Hall , † January 21, 1759 in Kremsmünster ) was a Benedictine and abbot of Kremsmünster Abbey .

Life

Benedikt Franz Fixlmillner was born in 1686 as the son of a respected carer at Hehenberg Castle in the parish of Pfarrkirchen. He attended grammar school in Linz and studied philosophy at the University of Salzburg before entering the monastery in Kremsmünster. In 1709 he was the first novice under Abbot Alexander II to take his religious vows , which, according to tradition, accepted the religious name Alexander. After completing his theology studies in Salzburg, he was a priest in Passau in 1714 and later a pastor in the Pucking parish . From 1721 he held the office of master chef and novice master in the monastery for the next few years and was then also sub prior .

On November 8, 1731, Fixlmillner won the election to abbot against the monastery conductor favored by his predecessor with a majority of votes.

He presided over the monastery for 28 years and died on January 21, 1759 at the age of 73 as a result of a fall. He was buried in the collegiate church at the altar of St. Agapitus, where an epitaph was erected for him in 1774 .

Act

Already appointed to the imperial council in May 1732, he was then transferred to the office of assessor for land rights, which he held for eight years.

For his services in supporting the army in defense of the country, he was honored by both Empress Maria Theresa and her husband Franz I, honored with a pectoral and appointed imperial privy councilor by decree.

In 1743 Abbot Alexander founded the imperial and royal academy connected with a knight school, which Empress Maria Theresia confirmed with a diploma on September 7, 1744.

Inextricably linked with Abbot Alexander Fixlmillner is the construction of the observatory, the so-called observatory , the plan of which he designed himself. It took ten years (from 1748 to 1758) to complete the building, which was huge for the time, and devoured more than 100,000 guilders.

In addition to many renovations in the monastery, he also had the streets expanded, built the Kalvarienbergkirche and renewed the parish church in Kirchberg . He restored the parsonage in Pettenbach that had been destroyed by fire , as well as the church in Ried, which was also destroyed by fire . In 1752 he enlarged the hospitals in Grünau and Viechtwang and built and renovated many school buildings.

swell

• P. Ulrich Hartenschneider OSB: Historical and topographical representation of the Kremsmünster Abbey , Vienna 1830
• P. Wolfgang Dannerbauer OSB: Briefly chamfered chronicle of the eleven-century Benedictine monastery Kremsmünster , 1877
• Alexander Fixlmillner in the Biographia Benedictina (Benediktinerlexikon.de)

predecessor	Office	successor
Alexander II Strasser	Abbot of Kremsmünster Abbey 1731–1759	Berthold III. Vogl