Anastáz Opasek
Anastáz Opasek OSB , maiden name Jan Opasek , (born April 20, 1913 in Vienna , † August 24, 1999 in Rohr in Lower Bavaria ) was the 60th abbot and first archabbot of the Břevnov monastery .
Life
Jan Opasek, his birth name, entered the Břevnov Abbey in 1932. After studying Catholic theology in Prague and at the Benedictine University of Sant'Anselmo in Rome , he was ordained a priest in 1938. In 1939 he was appointed prior . During the Second World War, the Czech helped those who were politically persecuted by the Nazi regime .
In 1947 Anastáz Opasek was elected the 60th abbot of the now independent Břevnov monastery. After the February coup in Czechoslovakia , he was arrested in 1949 and sentenced to life imprisonment in a show trial for alleged high treason and espionage the following year . In 1960 he was released on parole; but the communist government banned him from practicing his profession. Since then he has worked as a bricklayer and warehouse worker. During the Prague Spring 1968 he was able to return to his monastery for a short time. After the violent suppression of the Prague Spring, Abbot Anastáz went into exile in Germany in 1969 and has since lived in the Rohr Benedictine Abbey , which was maintained by the expelled German confreres. Since the 1970s he has published collections of poetry that have also been translated into German.
After the political change , Anastáz Opasek returned to his home monastery in 1990. As abbot, he participated in the reconstruction of the building and the revitalization of the Benedictine community in Břevnov. In 1993, on the occasion of its 1000th anniversary, the monastery was elevated to an archabbey by Pope John Paul II, making Anastáz the first archabbot .
Opasek supported the Charter 77 civil rights movement . He made particular contributions to the reconciliation of Czechs and Germans.
He died in 1999 after a 52-year term as abbot during a visit to the Rohr monastery and was buried on September 3rd in the presence of the Czech President Václav Havel in the monastery cemetery in Břevnov.
Web links
- Anastáz Opasek on orden-online.de (copied from here)
Individual evidence
- ^ Maria Rottler: P. Anastáz Opasek (1913-1999), Archabbot of Břevnov . ordensgeschichte.hypotheses.org. 2013-04-2019. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Dominik Prokop |
Abbot of the Břevnov Monastery from 1947–1999 |
Prokop Siostrzonek |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Opasek, Anastáz |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Opasek, Jan (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Czech abbot of the Břevnov monastery |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 20, 1913 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 24, 1999 |
| Place of death | Rohr in Lower Bavaria |