Otmar Kessler (Librarian)

Otmar Kessler (born March 25, 1606 as Balthasar Kessler , † January 18, 1675 in Rorschach ) was the librarian of the St. Gallen monastery from 1640 to 1642 .

Live and act

Father Otmar was the son of Johannes Kessler, Landammann in Gams , and Anna Kesselin. On August 10, 1624, he made his profession in the monastery of St. Gallen . In 1629 he was ordained a sub-deacon and a priest on May 25, 1630. The primacy took place on June 9, 1630.

Even before his ordination, Kessler was in the monastic school service. On June 3, 1633 he was then appointed school prefect and philosophy professor at the St. Gallen monastery. In autumn 1635 he is attested as a teacher in Rorschach . After a brief activity in St. Johann , he became the abbey librarian in St. Gallen on October 4, 1640 . But in 1642 Abbot Bernhard Müller sent him to Schwarzenbach near Neu-Ravensburg as pastor , where he held the office of governor until 1646. From 1647 to 1650 he was prior and governor in Alt St. Johann . In 1653 he became master chef in St. Gallen, which was followed by appointments as deputy (Wil , 1654) and governor in Ehaben (1657), St. Gallen (1661) and Rorschach (1674). As is well known, he is the author of the writings Justitia virtus cardinalis ejusdemque partes subjectae in genere and Theses theologicae de voluntario et involuntario universim (1635).

literature

• Rudolf Henggeler : Profession book of the princely. Benedictine abbey of St. Gallus and Otmar in St. Gallen. Einsiedeln 1929, p. 296, no.261.
• Franz Weidmann : History of the library of St. Gallen from its foundation around the year 830 up to 1841. Edited from the sources on the millennial jubilee. St. Gallen 1841, p. 81.

predecessor	Office	successor
Aegidius Jonas von Buch	Librarian of St. Gallen 1640–1642	Bartholomäus Tschudi