Burkhard Ellegast

Burkhard Ellegast OSB (born November 6, 1931 in Melk , Austria ) is an Austrian Benedictine . From 1975 to 2001 he was the 66th abbot of Melk Abbey .

Life

Burkhard Ellegast was born as the son of a butcher employed by the monastery in the municipality of Melk. After attending the Stiftsgymnasium Melk , he joined the convent in 1951. After the novitiate he studied theology at the University of Salzburg until 1956 . In 1956 he was ordained a priest in the collegiate church of Melk . After a teaching degree for Latin and Greek, he was in 1962 at the University of Vienna to Dr. phil. PhD .

He was initially active as a high school professor and later as a novice master. On August 7, 1975 he was elected abbot of Melk Abbey to succeed Reginald Zupancic . First elected for a term of twelve years, he was confirmed as abbot in 1987 and 1999. Ellegast initiated a comprehensive restoration of the monastery that lasted twenty years.

According to the regulations of the Austrian Benedictine Congregation , he resigned from his office on November 6, 2001 on his 70th birthday. Georg Wilfinger was his successor . Since 2001 Ellegast has been chairman of the Monastic Commission of the Austrian Benedictine Congregation. He is the Provincial Advisory Board for Lower Austria in Wiener Städtische Versicherung.

He is a member of the Catholic student association KaV Norica Wien in the ÖCV and the student association K.Ö.St.V. Nibelungia Melk in the MKV .

honors and awards

• 1991: Great Silver Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
• Great Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Golden Commander's Cross of Honor for Services to the State of Lower Austria
• Grand Cross pro piis meritis of the Order of Merit Pro Merito Melitensi of the Sovereign Order of Malta

Fonts

• The Melker manuscripts for the Regula Benedicti . Volume 1–3, dissertation Vienna 1962
• The beginnings of a textual criticism of the Rule of St. Benedict in the circles of the Melk Reform (15th century). In: Melk Abbey in the past and present. Volume 3, 1983, pp. 8-91.
• Reform activity in the church in the 15th century. The Aggsbach Charterhouse and the Melk Reform Center (Vinzenz von Aggsbach - Johannes Schlitpacher) (lecture on the occasion of the Charterhouse congress in the Aggsbach Charterhouse on September 14, 1990). In: The Spread of Carthusian Life and Spirit in the Middle Ages. Volume II (Anal. Cart. 63). Salzburg 1991, pp. 108-117
• Peter Bishop. The frescoes in the Benedictus Chapel of Melk Abbey. Galerie Welz 1995, ISBN 3853492037
• Melk Abbey. Melk Abbey, self-published, 1998, together with Ernst Bruckmüller, Martin Rotheneder
• The way of the raven . Ecowin Verlag , Salzburg 2010.

literature

• Johann Reikerstorfer: On the salvation mission of the church. In: The time in which we live. Abbot Dr. Burkhard Ellegast OSB for his 60th birthday. ed. v. Convent of Melk Abbey, Melk 1991, pp. 245-256.

Web links

• Literature by and about Burkhard Ellegast in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fireside chat with VP Club Chairman Wilhelm Molterer ( Memento from September 10, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), Niederösterreichische Nachrichten , issue 18/2005. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
2. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)

predecessor	Office	successor
Reginald Zupancic	Abbot of Melk Abbey 1975-2001	Georg Wilfinger