Roman Sebastian Zängerle (January 20, 1771, Ober-Kirchberg near

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

– April 17, 1848 at

Seckau Seckau ( sl, Sekava ) is a Marktgemeinde in the state of Styria, Austria. It is situated near Knittelfeld. It is known for the Benedictine Seckau Abbey, once the seat of the bishopric Graz-Seckau. See also *Diocese of Graz-Seckau References Dio ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) was Prince-Bishop of Seckau.

Biography

After studying with the Benedictines at

Wiblingen Abbey Wiblingen Abbey was a former Benedictine abbey which was later used as barracks. Today its buildings house several departments of the medical faculty of the University of Ulm. The former abbey is located south of the confluence of the rive ...

, Zängerle became a novice there in 1788, took his vows on February 5, 1792, and was ordained priest on December 21, 1793. From 1794–95 he studied Oriental languages at the monastery of Zwiefalten, and then taught

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual pra ...

at Wiblingen 1796–99, at

Mehrerau Wettingen-Mehrerau Abbey is a Cistercian territorial abbey and cathedral located at Mehrerau on the outskirts of Bregenz in Vorarlberg, Austria. Wettingen-Mehrerau Abbey is directly subordinate to the Holy See and thus forms no part of the Cath ...

1799-1801, again at Wiblingen 1801–03, at the Benedictine University of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

1803–07, at the University of Cracow 1807–09, at the University of Prague 1811–13, and at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

1813–24. In 1824, fifteen years after the suppression of his monastery, when there was no further hope of its restoration, he obtained dispensation from his religious vows in order to accept a canonry at

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. On April 24, 1824, he became Prince-Bishop of Seckau and administrator of the

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

Leoben Leoben () is a Styrian city in central Austria, located on the Mur river. With a population of about 25,000 it is a local industrial centre and hosts the University of Leoben, which specialises in mining. The Peace of Leoben, an armistice bet ...

. These two dioceses, with a population of 800,000, had been without a bishop for twelve years, during which time the government had free scope to infuse Josephinistic ideas into the clergy and laity. The monasteries, almost without exception, had relaxed in discipline; the clergy, both

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

and regular, were for the most part worldly-minded and exceedingly lax as pastors of the faithful. Despite governmental opposition, Zängerle inaugurated a thorough religious renovation in both dioceses, reformed the existing monasteries, introduced the

Redemptorist The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer ( la, links=no, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris), abbreviated CSsR,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brother ...

s, Jesuits, Carmelites and Vincentian Sisters, founded the School Sisters of the Third Order (1843), erected a boys' seminary for both dioceses at

, thoroughly renovated the diocesan seminary religiously and educationally, introduced annual retreats for the clergy, and in many other ways provided for the welfare of both dioceses. He died in Seckau in 1848.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zangerle, Roman Sebastian 1771 births 1848 deaths Bishops of Graz-Seckau Roman Catholic bishops in the Austrian Empire Austrian Benedictines Benedictine bishops