Alexander Strasser

Alexander Strasser (born September 28, 1656 in Kremsmünster ; † September 24, 1731 there ) was Benedictine and abbot from 1709 to 1731 of the Kremsmünster Abbey .

Life

Strasser was born in 1656 as the son of a monastery official and was the first abbot in the long history of the monastery to come from Kremsmünster itself. He attended the Stiftsgymnasium Kremsmünster and completed a degree in philosophy at the University of Salzburg . He then entered the monastery and made his profession on November 13, 1679 and celebrated Primizil on January 1, 1684.

In the next few years he held several important collegiate offices, for example he was a professor at the grammar school (1683-1692), grammar school prefect (1686-1692), overseer of the collegiate vineyards and chef before he became prior in 1698 . From 1704 to 1709 he was pastor in Pettenbach.

While his ailing predecessor Abbot Martin was still alive , Strasser took over more and more official duties, so it was no surprise that he was able to get the majority of the votes in the abbot election. On September 16, 1709 he was finally elected abbot and on October 10, 1709 in Passau he was appointed Abbot Alexander II Strasser .

His long term in office was mainly characterized by brisk construction activity.

Suddenly and unexpectedly he had a seizure on April 9, 1729, so that he was given the sacraments of death . After two years of suffering, he died on September 24, 1731, at the age of 75.

Act

In 1715 Strasser was elected a member of the state estates, which prompted him to spend a year in Vienna at the imperial court with work. In doing so, he won the favor of Emperor Charles VI. who honored him with a valuable pectoral adorned with precious stones on a precious gold chain. Furthermore, in 1718 the papal legate Cardinal Spinola entrusted him with the post of apostolic commissioner, which he held for several years.

Strasser paid great attention to the beautification of the pen, which was reflected in the enormous construction activity. In the first years of his administration he employed the master builder Jakob Prandtauer from St. Pölten for 16 years . Among other things, Abbot Strasser had the abbey church baroque and built the new sacristy (1720). Despite many buildings and acquisitions, he left the pen in prosperity.

Spelling of the family name

According to the official documents of the Kremsmünster Abbey, such as the Abbot Erhard Voit's abbot (from 1588), the epitaph in the Abbey Church at the Candida Altar and the Kremsmünster Abbey Book of Professions , the correct spelling of the family name is Strasser . In later documents of the 19th century, such as those by Ulrich Hartenschneider and Constantin von Wurzbach , the name was incorrectly spelled with ß , which means that in some other literatures it is always Strasser instead of Strasser . In the literature from the 20th century onwards, the Strasser spelling became established.

literature

• LIX. Alexander II Strasser. In: P. Ulrich Hartenschneider OSB: Historical and topographical representation of the Kremsmünster monastery. Anton Doll, Vienna 1830, pp. 202-214 ( reader.digitale-sammlungen.de ).
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Strasser, Alexander . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 39th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1879, p. 276 ( digitized version ).
• Alexander II Strasser. In: Kremsmünster - 1200 years of the Benedictine monastery. Oberösterreichischer Landesverlag, Linz 1976, p. 90/91, p. 64, p. 356.
• Austrian art topography: the art monuments of the Benedictine monastery Kremsmünster. Part II: The collections and the library. Verlag Anton Schroll & Co, Vienna 1977, p. 112, 306.
• Alexander II Strasser. In: Altmann Kellner: Professbuch des Stift Kremsmünster. Kremsmünster 1968 (supplemented with supplements up to 1985), pp. 272–273.
• Alexander Strasser. In: Ambros Ebhardt (Ed.): Stift Kremsmünster, Monastic Life since 777.Brandstätter Verlag, Vienna 2017, p. 56, p. 62/63.

Web links

• Alexander Straßer in the Biographia Benedictina (Benediktinerlexikon.de)

predecessor	Office	successor
Martin III Resch	Abbot of Kremsmünster Abbey 1709–1731	Alexander III Fixlmillner