Matthew Quatember

Abbot Matthew Quatember

Matthäus Quatember OCist (born May 1, 1894 in Sacherles , South Bohemia , † February 10, 1953 in Rome ) was the 78th Abbot General of the Cistercian Order .

Born in Bohemia, Gregor Quatember entered the Cistercian monastery in Hohenfurth in 1914 and entered the novitiate on July 26, 1914 . He got the religious name Matthew. From 1915 to 1919 he studied philosophy and theology at the Canisianum in Innsbruck. After his solemn profession (4 August 1916) Quatember was on 22 June 1919 in Ceske Budejovice for ordained priests .

First he worked for four years in pastoral care until he was seconded to monastic offices and further studies. He was appointed novice master and sent to Prague for further studies , then to Rome to the Gregoriana , to San Anselmo and to the Angelicum , where he received his doctorate summa cum laude in canon law in 1929 .

In 1930 he became professor of ascetics at the Papal Athenaeum Urbaniana , where he also taught canon law for 11 years . He became a teacher of Christian piety for generations of overseas priests, as the university was particularly dedicated to missions. He gave up teaching only after 20 years when he was elected Abbot General; But even as Abbot General, the mission remained a matter of concern to him: I have the awareness, he wrote to a group of Cistercian women in Bolivia, that God requires me to be our St. Medals give direction to the missions. That is the great mission that I must fulfill as Abbot General of the Order.

Under the pontificate of Pope Pius XI. (1922–1939) he was already de facto appointed Bishop of Leitmeritz , but the indiscretion of a premature announcement took the then government in Prague not to confirm the election.

From 1934 he was General of the Order (express elected 1937), he was on 10 December 1945 Titularabt of Clairvaux appointed on March 25, 1946 benediziert and in 1950 to the Abbot General. His motto was: Servire Deo et Ordini - Serve God and the Order. The great achievement of his tenure was the construction of a representative house for the Curia Generalis Ordinis Cisterciensis in Rome on the Aventine (Piazza del Tempio di Diana, 14). He is buried in the Cistercian monastery of Poblet ( Catalonia ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Letter dated October 19, 1950, Ave Maria monastery archives, La Paz, Bolivia.

literature

• Canisius Noschitzka: D. Matthäus Quatember, the 78th Abbot General of the Order of the Cistercians , in: Cistercienser Chronik 60 (1953), pp. 136–151.
• Bruno Griesser : Dr. Matthäus Quatember, Abbot General of the Order of the Cistercians , in: Cistercienser Chronik 58 (1951), pp. 10-13.
• Sighardus Kleiner: D. Matthaeus Quatember, Abbas Generalis S. Ord. Cist. In: Analecta Cisterciensia 9 (1953), pp. 1-3.
• Gerhard B. Winkler: The Apostolic Visitation of the Austrian Monasteries by Prince Archbishop Andreas Rohracher from 1948 to 1953 , in: Austria and the Holy See, ed. Hans Paarhammer and Alfred Rinnerthaler, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2001, ISBN 3-631-37591-3 , pp. 337–399, 354–363, notes 86, 94, 85, 169.
• Gerhard B. Winkler: Matthäus Quatember (1894-1953), 78th Abbot General of the Cistercians , in: Monastikon. Contributions to the cultural and historical environment of the Cistercian order, to its theology and spirituality (Mainz 2012) ISBN 978-3-86417-002-7 , pp. 297–306.

Web links

• Dom Quatember before the Requiem, third from last picture
• Matthew Quatember in the Biographia Cisterciensis

predecessor	Office	successor
Edmondo Bernardini	Abbot General of the Cistercian Order 1950–1953	Sighard Kleiner