Othmar Daniel Zinke

Othmar Zinke (born August 10, 1664 in Striegau , Duchy of Schweidnitz , † September 8, 1738 in Braunau , Königgrätzer Kreis , Bohemia ) was abbot of the Benedictine monasteries of Břevnov , Braunau , Politz and Wahlstatt .

Origin and career

His father David Zinke was a merchant in Striegau. After he died early, his widow Susanne moved with her children to Braunau in Bohemia. A few years later she married a Kaspar Sachs there.

Daniel Zinke attended the grammar school of the Braunau Benedictines. Under Abbot Thomas Sartorius, he entered the monastery in 1670. After completing the novitiate on March 25, 1671, he took the religious name Othmar . Since the monastery and the monastery church were damaged by fire in June of that year, the novices had to be temporarily housed in the Cistercian monastery Grüssau , with which a prayer fraternity had existed since 1663. On April 1, 1685, Othmar Zinke made his religious vows . He then studied philosophy at the monastery school and then theology and canon law in the archbishop's seminary in Prague. With the defense of 43 theses from the field of dogmatics and moral theology , he completed his studies in July 1689. Opponents were two Franciscans from Glatz and a Cistercian from Grüssau. He was ordained a priest on August 15th that year .

From 1690 zinc worked as a teacher at the Braunau monastery high school. He also held lectures in philosophy, canon law and moral theology for the fathers . He soon gained the trust of Abbot Thomas Sartorius (1663–1700). He sent him to the imperial court as the abbey representative and to the papal nuncio in Vienna. Together with another priest, he took part in the Benediction of the Grüssau abbot Dominicus Geyer as a representative of the Braunau abbey . On September 23, 1697 he was given the office of economic administrator ( provisional ).

Abbot of Břevnov-Braunau

After the death of Abbot Sartorius on October 13, 1700, Othmar Zinke was elected as his successor by the conventuals on November 17, 1700. He received 42 of the 51 votes. The abbey included the monasteries Břevnov, Politz and Braunau, which was the abbot's seat. Later, the newly founded Propstei Wahlstatt in Silesia was added by Zinke . In Břevnov, Politz and Wahlstatt the abbot was represented by priors . So that the choir prayers and chanting could be held in the priories, Zinke made sure that there were always twelve monks there.

In the exemption dispute with the Archbishop of Prague, Zinke insisted on the special position of Břevnov-Braunau, which was based on a papal privilege . According to this, the Bohemian Benedictine Congregation was not under the jurisdiction of the bishop concerned, but directly under the Holy See or the competent nuncio . That is why Othmar Zinke regularly held provincial chapters and monastery visitations. It was not until twenty years after his death that the Roman Curia to which the trial came ruled in favor of the archbishop.

During his tenure, Othmar Zinke reformed the monastery administration. He benefited from the knowledge he had acquired as an economic administrator. He issued written instructions for the Fathers and the employed ministers. In order to increase the income from the goods, he set up an agricultural school in Břevnov. After the peasant unrest under Abbot Sartorius, the aim was to improve the productivity of the subjects and their living conditions by promoting the Braunau linen weaving mill and the linen trade. By acquiring the lands of the Benedictine Provosty Wahlstatt, which was repealed during the Reformation , he expanded the monastery property, but at the same time committed himself to large investments that secured an income for numerous subjects.

Client

Othmar Daniel Zinke rendered great services to the buildings of the monasteries under his control. In doing so, he developed a great sense of art himself. He entrusted the planning and equipment to well-known architects and artists, most of whom came from Bohemia and Bavaria. There were among others the brothers Asam , Wenzel Lorenz Reiner , Karl Joseph Hiernle and Christoph Thomas Scheffler . According to plans and under the construction management of Christoph Dientzenhofer and his son Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer , major construction work was carried out during Zinc's tenure:

• Břevnov: The monastery building was completed and the monastery church was rebuilt.
• Braunau: The reconstruction of the monastery buildings and the monastery church started by Abbot Sartorius after the fire of 1684 was completed. In 1711 a new school building for the monastery high school was built in the monastery district, and a new convent building was erected in 1727–1735.
• New village churches were built in ten villages in the Braunauer Ländchen, which was part of the foundation property. No construction plan should be repeated.
• Wahlstatt: monastery building and church for the newly built provost house.
• Politz: Extension of the monastery building, redesign of the facade of the monastery church.

literature

• Rudolf Walter: Othmar Daniel Zinke (1664–1738). In: Schlesische Lebensbilder , Vol. 7, pp. 78–84, ISBN 3-7995-6198-6 .
• Beda Franz Menzel: Abbot Othmar Daniel Zinke. 1700-1738. A prelate of the baroque. Komm-Verlag Winfried-Werk, Ottobeuren 1978 (= studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches, vol. 89, volumes I-II).