Bruno Spitzl

Bruno Spitzl memorial mosaic in Vienna, Dornbacher Str. 41

P. Bruno Spitzl OSB (* 12. April 1887 in Tepl ; † 7. February 1962 in Maria Plain ), Civic was Rudolf Engelbert Spitzl, Benedictine, military chaplain in the First World War , priest in Vienna and pilgrimage priest in Maria Plain.

Life

Bruno Spitzl was born on April 12, 1887 in Tepl as the son of Teresia (née Hubl) and Anton Spitzl and was christened Rudolf Engelbert one day later. From 1897 to 1905 he attended the Archbishop's Boys' College Borromäum in Salzburg and entered the Benedictine order on September 3, 1905, immediately after graduating from high school. In doing so, he took the name Bruno . After he had started his theology studies at the theological faculty in Salzburg in the same year , he made the simple profession on November 17, 1906 and the solemn profession on June 6, 1909 in St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg. Father Bruno was ordained a priest on August 29, 1909 and celebrated his Primary on September 5, 1909 .

From 1910 to 1914, i.e. in the years before the outbreak of World War I, the young priest worked as a cooperator in Abtenau and then prefect of the Konvikt until the outbreak of war. After he was appointed field curate in the reserve on September 3, 1914 , from November 1914 to June 1918 he accompanied the Salzburg house regiment, the kuk infantry regiment "Archduke Rainer" No. 59, as a field chaplain . This activity led him first to Galicia and Russia , later also to Northern Italy and the Dolomites - and Isonzo front .

After his return from the war and recovery from a serious illness, he was the chamberlain of his Salzburg monastery from 1918 to 1930 and from 1924 also secretary of the Confederation of German-speaking Benedictine Abbeys. After a year as a pastor in Rußbach , he came to Vienna, where he worked as a pastor in Dornbach , in the 17th district of Vienna, from 1931 to 1954 . During this time he was given further responsibilities, such as the inspectorate of Catholic religious education.

For health reasons, Father Bruno Spitzl withdrew from these activities in the Archdiocese of Vienna in September 1954. He spent the following years as a pilgrimage priest in the Benedictine priory Maria Plain near Bergheim, where he died on February 7, 1962 at the age of 75.

Activity in the First World War

After his appointment as field curate in the reserve , Fr Bruno Spitzl could hardly wait to get to the front. At the beginning of November 1914 he finally came to the 59th Infantry Regiment as a replacement for a field curate who had been captured by the enemy.

It did not take long before everyday warfare caught up with the enthusiastic pastor and a deep longing for peace awoke in him. The many deaths, the physical deprivations, the lack of the materials necessary for pastoral care and the permanent dangers made him very troubled, especially in the first few months. He did not celebrate a single time from December 2 to 21, 1914, and the New Year's Eve celebration, which he had elaborately prepared a few days later, fell into the water due to a hasty withdrawal. Only in times of trench warfare, such as the fighting on San 1915 or Monte Cimone in 1917, was he able to introduce a regular and long-term service order in the regiment.

As a field curate, Father Bruno Spitzl was basically active in two areas: the spiritual tasks comprised the celebration of church services, the acceptance of confessions, mistakes with the seriously injured. As a chaplain, he was also responsible for ensuring that the deceased Christian soldiers were buried with dignity. In practice, Spitzl also took care of many soldiers of other denominations or religions, especially since the corresponding field chaplains were often not available. Second, Spitzl also had to carry out administrative activities, such as recording deaths in the large register books or correspondence with relatives.

From 1915 a kind of general-profane troop support was created. Feldkurat Spitzl procured reading material, was involved in the censorship of the same and ran the soldiers' home of his regiment. Awards and many letters of thanks are testimony to the appreciation he enjoyed among his soldiers and superiors.

In 1917 he wrote about his work as a field curate in one of his many letters: It was often very tough; but it was certainly a school for me from a purely professional point of view. I hope that I will emerge from it as a better priest and religious. (Archives St. Peter, act 233/1)

After 1918 Father Bruno Spitzl worked in veteran circles. In 1924 he was made an honorary member of the “Rainerbund”, which he joined shortly after the end of the war. A very important experience for Spitzl was the journey his former regiment undertook in 1952 to the former front sections in northern Italy. With 170 veterans, he also visited Monte Cimone, where the fierce fighting had taken place and at the foot of which 800 kuk soldiers were buried. Many participants later remembered his heroes' mass held there as part of this trip .

The book he wrote after the war, Die Rainer - Als Feldkurat with IR59 in the World War , which he wrote on the basis of his diary entries and letters, was published in 1938 and 1953. In it he reports on episodes that were of particular importance to him as a former field chaplain. There are also two short contributions by Bruno Spitzl in Lipusch's work “Austria-Hungary's Catholic Military Pastoral Care in the World War”, which was officially commissioned and published in 1938.

Publications

• The Rainer - As field curate with IR59 in World War I (Innsbruck ¹ 1938, Salzburg ² 1953).

literature

• Benedikt Peintner: The Catholic kuk field chaplains - their activities in the First World War and their commitment in the period afterwards. With a methodological and didactic suggestion for history lessons, Dipl.-Arbeit, Innsbruck, 2018, pp. 17–18; 23-24; 39-40; 47-50; 74-75; 76-78.

Web links

• Pictures and profile of Spitzl on the Rainer Regiment website