Religion
Former Bishop of Linz, Maximilian Aichern, was laid to rest Monday at St. Lambrecht Abbey in Austria. The religious leader died in late January at the age of 93.
Though Bishop Aichern spent much of his life leading the Diocese of Linz in Upper Austria, he maintained deep roots at St. Lambrecht Abbey in Styria. The trained butcher entered the Benedictine monastery in St. Lambrecht as a 22-year-old from Vienna 72 years ago.
Now, after a long and fulfilling life, he has returned for excellent. Family, friends, colleagues, and both religious and secular dignitaries gathered to pay their final respects.
Burial in the Abbot’s Crypt
“We take leave with great gratitude from the oldest member of our community, who was ordained as a novice almost 72 years ago,” said current St. Lambrecht Abbot Alfred Eichmann and the monastery’s community. Bishop Maximilian was buried in the abbot’s crypt, as per his wishes, where his predecessor as abbot, Wilhelm Blaindorfer, was laid to rest in 1977.
Bishop of Graz Wilhelm Krautwaschl honored Aichern, who passed away in his 94th year in late January, stating, “I believe that one of the things Maximilian Aichern always emphasized is that the incredibly concrete person is interesting. And that will remain.”
Social Pastoral Letter Was His ‘Life’s Work’
In 1990, the bishops published the Social Pastoral Letter under his leadership – an important document of Catholic social teaching and, according to Bishop Krautwaschl, likely Aichern’s life’s work: “I simply believe that in our society we need people and words and deeds that bring us together. And Maximilian was certainly one who lived that. And we need that again today.”
