Markus Besch

Markus Besch OSB (* in Augsburg ; † April 18, 1592 in Metten ) was a German Benedictine, administrator of Mallersdorf Abbey and abbot of Metten Abbey .

Life

Markus Besch was a monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Sankt Ulrich and Afra in his native Augsburg . The gifted and learned monk held the office of prior here . In 1580 he was appointed administrator for the Mallersdorf monastery. In the following year he was postulated as abbot of the Metten monastery. As abbot of Metten he kept the administration of the Mallersdorf monastery until 1587. Markus Besch owed his appointment as administrator of Mallersdorf and abbot of Metten to his friendly relationship with Felizian Ninguarda , Bishop of Scala, who administered the diocese of Regensburg from 1579 to 1582 for the Duke's son Philip of Bavaria, who was appointed Prince-Bishop of Regensburg at the age of three both monasteries. Markus Besch also became friends with Zbynko Berka von Duba and Leipa , who succeeded Felizian Ninguarda as administrator of the diocese of Regensburg in 1582 and was appointed Archbishop of Prague in 1593. Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria, however, was suspicious of the Abbot von Metten.

The task of the new abbot of Metten was the personal, intellectual and economic consolidation of the Metten monastery, which was still marked by the turmoil of the Reformation . In Metten, Abbot Markus Besch endeavored to renew the monastic life in the sense of the church renewal demanded by the Council of Trent ( counter-reformation ). According to the instructions of the Duke of Bavaria, he sent the clerics of his monastery to study theology at the Bavarian State University of Ingolstadt . The expenses required for this put a heavy burden on the finances of the Metten Monastery and prevented an improvement in the economic situation of the monastery. The advancement of the discipline of the conventuals also evidently made difficult progress. Attempts to improve conditions in Mallersdorf Abbey, for which Markus Besch was still responsible as administrator, turned out to be just as difficult. This brought Abbot Markus Besch the suspicion of poor economic management and increased the resentment of the Duke in Munich, who was already hostile to him. Finally, in 1587, he was deprived of the administration of the Mallersdorf monastery and it was intended to depose him as Abbot of Metten, but this did not happen. The actual spiritual renewal and economic rehabilitation of the Metten Monastery was only achieved by his successor, Abbot Johannes Nablas .

Despite all the difficulties and only moderate successes in the renewal of monastic life, Abbot Markus Besch earned merits in the cultural field. He went down in the history of the Metten Monastery as the author of the monastery annals, which were continued by his successors until the secularization of 1803. He also sponsored the monastery singing and music school, which at that time achieved great prestige. He also seems to have improved teaching in the monastery school.

literature

• Wilhelm Fink : History of the development of the Benedictine abbey Metten. Volume 1: The profession book of the abbey (studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches. Supplementary booklet 1,1), Munich 1927, p. 33.
• Maurus Gandershofer : Merits of the Benedictines of Metten in the care of the sciences and the arts. A remembrance dedicated to the former residents of this monastery. Landshut 1841, p. 13f.
• Rupert Mittermüller : The Metten Monastery and its Aebte. Straubing 1856, pp. 138-146.

predecessor	Office	successor
Sebastian Kastner	Abbot of Metten Monastery 1582–1592	Aegid Hiebl