Leodegar Bürgisser

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Leodegar Bürgisser

Leodegar Bürgisser (baptized April 2, 1640 as Andreas in Lucerne ; † November 28, 1717 ) was abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St. Gallen from 1696 to 1717 .

Life

Abbot Leodegar was the son of Pfister Heinrich Bürgisser and Anna Maria Wey. He received his training from October 18, 1651 at the Lucerne Jesuit College and from October 15, 1653 at the St. Gallen School. He made his profession (vow) on May 27, 1657 and immediately received the minor orders; on December 17, 1661 he became sub-deacon , deacon on May 19, 1663, then priest on September 20, 1664. In the following year (1665) he worked as a teacher of syntax . On May 29 of the same year, he became a brother inspector. Between 1666 and 1672 he worked as a kitchen master . In 1667 he is attested as a pastor in Wildhaus ; on October 11, 1672 he became pastor in St. Peterzell, and in 1673 he is mentioned as pastor in Hemberg. On September 26th, 1673 he became an administrator in Ehaben. Abbot Gall appointed Leodegar as subprior on September 15, 1681, and finally as dean on June 14, 1683 . In 1682 he also worked as a confessor in Notkersegg and as a student prefect . Under the chairmanship of Cardinal Coelestin Sfondrati and the abbots Raphael von Einsiedeln and Plazidus von Muri, he was elected abbot on January 10, 1696. Pope Innocent XII. confirmed him on June 18, 1683. He received the benediction on November 4, 1696 from Auxiliary Bishop Franz Christoph Rinck von Baldenstein from Eichstätt, a brother of the St. Gallic State Court Master Wilhelm. Perhaps money should be saved this way, since the Bishop of Constance was bypassed.

Emperor Leopold I . confirmed him on August 13, 1697 regalia, Emperor Joseph I . on November 22, 1706, Emperor Karl VI. on March 24, 1713. As the new abbot, Leodegar began to pay homage on May 8, 1696 in the Alte Landschaft, in Toggenburg and in the Rhine Valley.

He was on the run when he died of heart failure in Neu-Ravensburg on November 28, 1717. He was buried in the Mehrerau next to Abbot Kilian .

Act

Werner Vogler judges that Abbot Leodegar's call would have sounded better if he had lived under more favorable time circumstances and had been confronted with opponents who were more willing to compromise. He would be called a very capable abbot, for in his time there was supposed to have been an impeccable discipline in the monastery; he himself led an exemplary monastic life and his housekeeping was good. In peacetime he also carried out a general mortgage, and he tried in vain to set up a higher school in Rorschach. Vogler locates the reasons for Leodegars bad reputation in the circumstances to be described below.

Conflicts

At first, the denominational conflicts in St. Gallen simmered again, because crosses had been carried in processions through the city, which provoked the Reformed population and led to the so-called "Cross War ". This proceeded without bloodshed and was settled at the Rorschach conference (May 20 to June 8, 1697). A year later, their result was supplemented by the daily statute so that the city had to pay the monastery 3800 fl. Satisfaction.

Presumably to protect himself better, Abbot Leodegar concluded with Emperor Leopold I in 1702 . a defensional contract, which in turn angered some confederates.

When he made large purchases (17,700 guilders) in Toggenburg to purchase goods, and the Wattwilers refused to help build Rickenstrasse, protracted arguments arose with the Toggenburgers, who belonged to the other denomination, and also otherwise with their legal status were not satisfied. They finally occupied three castles and in April 1712 also the monasteries Magdenau and Neu St. Johann . Zurich repeatedly supported these efforts for freedom of the Toggenburg, which in reality revolved around the internal constitution of the Toggenburg, which led to open war in 1712. The abbot town of Wil was taken on May 22nd by the allies of Zurich, Bern and Toggenburg, whereupon Abbot Leodegar von Rorschach - followed by his convent - fled into exile, first to the Mehrerau and then to the Neu-Ravensburg Castle, the administrative seat of one St. Gallen rule north of Lindau. He appointed an official "ad interim", the Rorschach pastor Johann Georg Schenkli (1712–1718). The people of Zurich and Bern, however, occupied the abbot territories and administered them together. There was a church robbery of the mobile monastery property, which has had consequences as a so-called " cultural property dispute " to this day .

As one of his last official acts, Abbot Leodegar rejected the peace negotiated at Rorschach on November 28, 1717 with Zurich and Bern; he saw the rights of the abbey too largely curtailed and the Catholic religion in Toggenburg in danger.

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predecessor Office successor
Celestine Sfondrati Abbot of St. Gallen
1696–1717 		Joseph of Rudolphi
personal data
SURNAME Burgisser, Leodegar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Andreas, Leodegar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St. Gallen (1696–1717)
DATE OF BIRTH baptized April 2, 1640
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1717