Christoph Schäffer

Christoph Schäffer (* approx. 1578 in Olmütz ; † August 10, 1637 in Vienna ) was an Austrian Cistercian and 50th abbot of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey .

Christoph Schäffer, depicted as the client in Georg Strobl's Abbatia Sanctae Crucis Austriaca.

Life

He was born into a noble family and studied at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, made the novitiate in Cîteaux and made his profession in Heiligenkreuz in 1604 . Soon afterwards he was ordained a priest and received his doctorate in theology from the University of Vienna .

Because he had to endure some adversity in the monastery under Abbot Paulus Schönebner, he sought refuge in 1609 with Abbot Matthias Gülger in Rein , by whom he appointed the Prefect of the Reiner Juniores studying in the monastery court in Graz. He also mediated the affairs of the Austrian Order Province with the Abbot General in Cîteaux.

Christoph Schäffer stayed in Rein until the death of Abbot Paulus. After his death on October 15, 1613 he was appointed administrator of his heavily indebted home monastery Heiligenkreuz and, after he had strengthened the monastery economically, was elected abbot on January 18, 1615. During his reign, the neglected convent building of the monastery was significantly expanded. In 1633 work began on the new refectory ; In 1634 new single rooms were built for the monks. The square residential district planned and built by Christoph Schäffer largely forms the current residential area of ​​the convent.

In 1623 he became the first religious rector magnificus of the University of Vienna against the Albertine deed of foundation and died after a serious illness on August 10, 1637. His body was buried in the collegiate church.

literature

• Florian Watzl: The Cistercians of Heiligenkreuz . Graz 1898, p. 63.
• Rudolf Lewandowski: The Cistercian Monastery of Heiligenkreuz 1500–1650 (Dissertation Vienna 1941), pp. 177–202.

predecessor	Office	successor
Paulus Schönebner	Abbot of Heiligenkreuz Abbey 1615–1637	Michael Schnabel