Josef Zeininger

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Memorial plaque for Father Josef Zeininger

Father Josef Zeininger OSFS (born February 5, 1916 in Eferding , † February 26, 1995 in Vienna ) was Episcopal Vicar for the city of Vienna and founder of the Catholic Youth Workers in Austria. During the Third Reich he was arrested by the National Socialists and sentenced to death, but escaped execution at the end of the war.

Childhood, youth, studies

Josef Zeininger spent his childhood as the son of a family of farm workers who worked on an estate. Since he himself came from a poor background, he had a lifelong feeling for people who lived in material poverty.

After primary school, he attended the Oblate High School of St. Franz von Sales in Ried im Innkreis (Upper Austria). After graduating from high school, he joined the Sales Oblates and studied theology in Freiburg in Üechtland . In 1939 he was ordained a priest and appointed chaplain of the Crimean parish in Vienna.

Persecution by the National Socialists

In Friborg Zeininger got to know the ideas of the founder of the Christian Workers Youth , Joseph Cardijn . Not least for this reason he felt particularly close to the workers and during the war had many contacts with the forced laborers from France who worked in the armaments factories in the district of the Crimean parish. The intensity of the contacts with these workers, some of whom belonged to resistance groups, went far beyond what the National Socialists allowed. This was one of the reasons why Zeininger was suspicious of the Nazis. In addition, there was the collaboration with the young German theologian Otto Fuchs, who had formed a Catholic cell in Vienna, and on the occasion of a celebration declared that the Catholic lay people had the task of founding Catholic cells in an environment hostile to God. Zeininger was arrested on February 17, 1943, primarily because of his collaboration with Otto Fuchs.

Zeininger was sentenced to death, but due to the end of the war and the invasion of the Russian army, there was no execution. Zeininger was liberated on April 6, 1945.

Development of the KAJ in Austria

After the war, Zeininger established the Catholic Workers' Youth (KAJ) in Austria in his parish in Vienna-Krim. January 12, 1946 is the official date on which KAJ was founded. Very soon the youth movement spread all over Austria. Zeininger was appointed central pastor of the Catholic youth workers in Austria (1948–1958) and diocesan pastor of the KAJ in the Archdiocese of Vienna (1948–1953). From 1954 to 1964 he worked as a federal chaplain for young workers in Austria.

Pastoral director and episcopal vicar in Vienna

In 1964 Zeininger was appointed pastoral director of the Diocese of Vienna. He carried out this task until 1975. He was then appointed Episcopal Vicar for Vienna City under Cardinal Franz König . Zeininger held this office until 1992 and then had to retire for health reasons. On this occasion a Viennese daily newspaper wrote: “A father figure from Vienna resigned”. Josef Zeininger died on February 26, 1995 and was buried at Sieveringer Friedhof (group 19, row 11, number 10).

In 1997 the Pater-Zeininger-Platz in Vienna- Döbling (19th district) was named after him.

literature

  • Franz Wehrl OSFS: Fr. Josef Zeininger, City Pastor and Episcopal Vicar, published by the Provincialate of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales 1997

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zeininger, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH February 5, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Eferding
DATE OF DEATH February 26, 1995
Place of death Vienna