Norbert Maria Schachinger

Norbert Maria Schachinger (born February 9, 1897 in Bad Hall , † November 9, 1974 in Kremsmünster ) was a Roman Catholic clergyman, Benedictine and founder of an order .

life and work

Youth and Military Service

Josef Schachinger, son of a master shoemaker and a mother who also claimed the priesthood for women, attended the Kremsmünster Abbey High School from 1909 (at the instigation and with the support of the local pastor) . In 1915 he volunteered for military service, graduated from high school in 1917, was unfit for military service due to injuries and left the army as a first lieutenant in January 1918.

Benedictine and member of the White Cross

At the same time he became aware of Max Josef Metzger's Mission Society of the White Cross , which emphasized the lay apostolate , and joined it. In June 1918 he entered the Benedictine monastery of Kremsmünster Abbey with two war comrades . There he was dressed as a Benedictine on December 10, 1918. He took the religious name Norbert (after Norbert von Xanten ), later also Norbert Maria , in contrast to the Premonstratensian Abbot of Schlägl Monastery Norbert Schachinger (1842–1922). At the same time he was temporarily named Brother Eberhard in the White Cross . In December 1919 he made his temporary profession as a Benedictine (solemn profession in 1922), studied theology at St. Florian Monastery until 1923 and was ordained a priest in Linz in June 1923 .

Discovery of the oblateness

During a convalescent stay in Merano (from 1923 to 1925) he learned of the existence of the order of "being consecrated to God in the middle of the world" . In the conflict between his Benedictine vocation and the White Cross rejected by his Benedictine monastery, a solution emerged here, namely the Benedictine oblateism as the bearer of the apostolic idea of ​​the White Cross. In addition, on the one hand, Pope Pius XI. emphasized the lay apostolate since 1922 and, on the other hand, that Schachinger's Bishop of Linz, Johannes Maria Gföllner , demanded his resignation from the White Cross.

Foundation of the Caritas wafer

Therefore, together with Father Erenbert Schächer (1900–1974), he founded the Caritas Oblates of Saints in 1926 in Kremsmünster . Benedict (in truth only Oblates) with the aim of "awakening and anchoring the Caritas idea in the believing people as well as the provision of voluntary professional assistants for the works of serving love, in particular for the recruitment of distant and apostate" (statutes, § 2). From now on 12 women, especially in the suburbs of Linz, fought against the hardships of the times. The Oblates were quickly divided into three groups: professional sisters (also: parish sisters), non-professional sisters and supporters. At the end of 1930 there were 12 professional, 22 non-professional and 200 supporter wafers. In 1930 the Bishop of Linz raised the Caritas Oblates to a spiritual cooperative, but they were considered a “maids' association” because they were founded for ordinary people (workers).

The Subiaco retreat home

In order to be able to realize the plan for a retreat home , Schachinger traveled from May 1929 to August 1931 on a begging tour to the United States (represented at home by Pankraz Stollenmayer ). The home was built in Kremsmünster in a very short time and consecrated in October 1932 in the name Subiaco (after the hermit cave in which Benedikt von Nursia spent three years). In 2016 it had to be given up and passed to a new Benedictine community.

The way to the Steinkirchener order community

From 1938 to 1940, as a result of an autocratic initiative by Schachinger, the Oblate Sisters were integrated into the Caritas Socialis community and dressed accordingly (after they had previously worn civilian clothes). Then, due to the lack of a harmonious connection, there was another separation. Seven Oblate Sisters remained in Caritas Socialis, 13 Sisters of Caritas Socialis joined the Oblate Sisters, who were converted into a religious community based on the model of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing . There were also the (single) Sisters of the Lonely Path (later: Sisters of Pastoral Care) and the Oblate Community of the World Oblates. In 1944 the monastic family consisted of 147 oblates, 46 of them in the sisterhood (29 professed, 12 novices and 5 postulants). This was first called "Sisters of Subiaco", from 1947 "Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Subiaco" (with already 80 sisters), from 1949 (established with the permission of Rome) "Congregation of the Benedictines of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Subiaco". Since the Subiaco house was not enough for the many newcomers, the community moved in 1950 to the converted rectory in Steinerkirchen an der Traun (15 km west of Kremsmünster), where Schachinger was appointed pastor. The newly built chapel was consecrated in 1957.

Rector of the Benedictines of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Death

From 1950 to 1963 Schachinger was involved in the Marienlegion (most recently head of the Curie Wels), then in Riccardo Lombardi's movement for a better world . Schachinger was clergyman from 1946 and consistorial councilor from 1953 . In 1960 he became an honorary citizen of Steinerkirchen. In 1963 his 40th anniversary as a priest was solemnly celebrated. When his congregation was accepted into the Austrian Benedictine Confederation in 1968, he gave up his office as spiritual and rector of the community to Richard Weberberger due to illness and returned to the Kremsmünster monastery as a simple monk. He died there in 1974 as a result of a stroke he had suffered the year before. His grave is in the Steinerkirchen monastery cemetery.

Works

• The lay apostle in the school of St. Benedict . Paulus Publishing House, Graz 1925.
• Benedictine Apostolate Subiaco, Kremsmünster. Becoming and creating . Kremsmünster 1933.
• The apostolic hour. Handbook for praying and singing together at the Apostolic Hour . Kremsmünster 1934, Linz 1936.
• Day of god. Community prayers for the days of contemplation. For family and home . Press Association, Linz 1935.
• Spiritual cooperative of the Oblates of Charity from St. Benedict . Kremsmünster 1937.
• Pray in spirit and in truth. Christmas blessings . Kremsmünster 1938.
• Day of God at the beginning of the fast . Kremsmünster 1939.
• The bread of life. Blessings from Subiaco . Kremsmünster 1939.
• St. Benedict's consecration to Mary. Blessings from Subiaco . Lichtner, Vienna 1940.
• The Holy Spirit in St. Benedict. Blessings from Subiaco . Kremsmünster 1940.
• Marriage in the divine world plan . Reisinger, Wels 1948. Hacker, Munich 1948.
• Lisi from Gosau. A seldom pardoned atonement from our day . Reisinger, Wels 1948, 1950.
• Victory and salvation. Family consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary . Catholic Scripture Mission, Linz 1949.
• Under the spell of Mary. Kremsmünster Abbey in the service of Catholic Action for a quarter of a century. Report and appeal . Ober-Österreichischer Landesverlag 1950.
• The Legion of Mary in a lively parish. An intervention by the “great woman” in contemporary world history . Veritas, Linz 1957, 1959.
• Maria Monika. Youthful arrogance and martyrdom of love. Life picture of a world oblate from St. Benedict of the Kremsmünster Abbey , ed. from the Benedictines of the Immaculate Heart Mariae. Veritas, Linz 1959 (biography of his mother).
• Mail readings in the light of the events in Fatima . Veritas, Vienna / Linz / Passau 1967.

literature

• Stefana Falkenrich: P. Norbert Schachinger OSB 1897–1974. Life picture for the 100th birthday of the founder of the Benedictine Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary . Steinerkirchen 1997.

Web links

• Website of the Benedictine Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
• Article about the end and new beginning 2016 in Subiaco