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A Capable Man Grows Wings

When in the spring of 1871 warmer weather returned to Bosnia, most of Mariastern’s fugitives returned – remorsefully. Each had a story to tell. Fr. Gallus was the first. He had fallen prey to robbers who left him half naked by the roadside. Fr. Bernard wrote from the Monastery of St. Maria du Mont in France where his blood brother had entered. He asked for re-admission to Mariastern but fell ill before he could realize his wish and died. A third, Br. Jacob, the smith, had wandered high and low, until he found employment as a menial at the Austrian Hospice in Jerusalem. One day, someone found him half dead on the road. He returned to Mariastern. Even Fr. Robert, instigator and ringleader, came back after trying his luck in various monasteries, only to discover that none was as good as his own in Bosnia.

With the snow melting, work on the new monastery was resumed. The stable was completed and so was the threshing floor. Stones were quarried in a rocky gorge and a road built with them to enable more stones to be transported to other sites. Bosnian labourers worked under Fr. Franz’s supervision. He had to show them everything, for they had never seen, leave alone handled even a simple tool such as a pick ax or shovel:

“We blasted away rocks that were in the way and built bridges across the gorges. To do so we had to uproot giant oak trees, make them fall in position across the brooks and use their roots and faggots to fill in the spaces between them.”

Then there was the bell affair. Mariastern needed a bell to call the monks together for the various exercises of the day, but the Pasha would not allow it. What to do? Never short of an idea, Fr. Franz asked Austrian benefactors to donate a bell. They did and more than one. These were shipped to the border and received by a Brother who drove up with a beer cask on his cart, big enough to hold a bell. Once he had the bell fitted in the cask he filled it with beer and put the lid back on.

At Mariastern the bell was hung on a primitive belfry and rung. The Pasha was infuriated but had to realize that he was no match for the man from Vorarlberg. Franz silenced the bells until feelings had calmed down and then had them rung again. People living in the vicinity got used to them, complaints stopped and the Pasha had to find another bone to pick.

Mariastern’s flour and saw mill was powered by electricity from a nearby waterfall. This caused additional trouble. The mill had been built by a “specialist”, hired for the purpose. But it did not work and so Fr. Franz refused to pay the last instalment on the contract. The builder fumed and swore and was completely deaf to reasoning. In the end, the Prior had to call a few Brothers to evict him.

The monastery chronicler:

“Though the saw mill had been completed in the spring of 1872 it could not be operated until December. The fault was quite obviously the builder’s, who had no idea how to make three millstones work in unison. The agreed price, including a circular saw, was 6000 guilders. … Later, a well was dug to supply not only the mill with water but also the monastery and a projected brewery. – About the same time, a dairy was built, consisting of a kitchen and various cellars for storing milk and cheese. When finally the saw mill did go into operation the Pasha hurried up again to protest. He made it his habit to raise a hue and cry every time he thought there was something to cry about – probably hoping for a bribe. But he achieved nothing, for armed with a title deed from Constantinople Fr. Franz could afford to turn a deaf ear to him.”

Monastery Affairs

Fr. Francis and Fr. Robert jointly petitioned the general administration of the Congregation of Rancé to incorporate Mariastern. If neither Oelenberg nor Mariawald were willing to assume patronage, they would accept a French abbot as pater immediatus. Mariastern fulfilled the conditions for autonomy as laid down by the Trappist rule: its size was “90 yoke under the plow”18 and an additional yoke of standing timber and brushwood. The necessary income was generated by the sale of grain and dairy products. It also owned 14 head of cattle which produced enough milk to make butter and cheese, including Swiss cheese.

„Our products are a stable source of income and so is our Kunstmuehle,19 which does not have its equal in Bosnia. Why, we even expect to make profit with our brickyard because it is the only one of its kind far and wide. Moreover, Mariastern has a terraced vineyard and there are plans to acquire a machine [fruit drier] for making prunes. Ongoing development enables us to feed and maintain upwards from three hundred members … At present, we are five choir monks and six Brothers. – So much about us. But for the uninformed we add that Mariastern was founded by decree of Pope Pius IX himself.”

The reader will recall the animosity of both Oelenberg and Mariawald towards Fr. Francis and his monks. However, this had not prevented a friendly Trappist procurator in Rome, a cardinal and even the pope from giving him the go-ahead. Though the charges against him had been judged groundless and unjustified, the Roman Rota was powerless to stop the rumours circulated against him by fellow Trappists. The Oelenberg chronicler refers to Fr. Francis as a “rebellious” monk, to whom Prior Scheby – “later removed from office” – gave too much confidence. He had allegedly failed to keep the Trappist silence, criticized the Prior openly and denounced him in letters to the archbishop of Cologne. But in the end even this chronicler conceded that Fr. Francis might have been the victim of intrigue. “Certain superiors seem to have recognized him as a capable man feared him. But to give the devil his due, Francis was an extraordinary monk and a man of iron will and tireless work whom Divine Providence used to establish two monasteries [Mariastern and Mariannhill].”

On 15 December, 1872, Fr. Francis pronounced his solemn vows in Port-du-Salut, a Trappist abbey of the Congregation of de Rancé in western France. The following is his handwritten formula of profession:

“I, Fr. Francis, priest and monk in simple vows, Titular Prior of the Monastery of Mariastern, profess solemn vows by the dispensation granted the Trappists by the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office on 5 February 1868. I promise stability, the conversion of morals and obedience according to the Rule of the holy Abbot Benedict, before God and the saints whose relics are preserved here. I do so for the monastery of Mariastern, a member of the Cistercian Congregation of Our Lady of La Trappe and established in honour of the Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin, in the presence of Rev. Henri, Abbot of Port du Salut, my pater immediatus. – Fr. Franziskus Pfanner.”

Cowls do not make Monks Stones do not make Monasteries

The same Fr. Franz who did not hesitate to call on ministers and [later] millionaires for support made it a point all his life to stay in touch with his native Vorarlberg. He might be a celebrated figure, but he always remained simple and devout – a man of the people, of prayer and work. Naturally, he wished to see this attitude reflected in his Brothers. So he taught them to observe the rule, pray and work and observe the perpetual silence of the Trappists. Giving the best of examples as a monk and pioneer, he did not lack followers as long as he was in charge.

Vocations poured into Mariastern from everywhere. In 1872, three blood brothers asked for admission – John, Matthew and Martin Zimmer from Willenz in Moravia (modern Czech Republic). Their brother, Francis, followed them a year later as an oblate. After him came John Berger, a blacksmith from Hirsching, and Joseph Gatterlehner from Puerach, both places in Upper Austria. In 1873, a fifty-four year-old diocesan priest, John Hofer from St. Leonhard in the Passeier Valley, entered. He was descended from the family of the freedom fighter Andreas Hofer of South Tyrol and as a Trappist received the name Zosimus, but he died less than three years later. In the same year, a master brewer, Wendelin Walter from Upper Silesia, received the habit. Under his capable direction, a small brewery and dairy were established. At almost the same time, Thomas Damm, a bookbinder from Metten near Cologne, joined the community.

The number of monks, recruited for the most part by either Fr. Franz himself or his tireless travelling Brother Zacharias, increased steadily. After ten years, Mariastern counted seventy priests and Brothers!

Mariastern was known for its charity towards the poor.

Abbot Francis:

“I organized a collection of second-hand liturgical vestments in Austria and made sure that they were repaired before they were distributed to the poorest churches in Bosnia. However, what are a few vestments for so many? – In the sacristies of Rome many old vestments are eaten by moths. Many things are discarded simply because they are old and worn. If I could have these as a donation, I would be as content as poor Lazarus was with the crumbs falling from the rich man’s table. A committee of generous helpers could be organized to save these things from complete decay. I am not asking for nice things but will be more than content with old chasubles and other vestments of little value.

I offer to pay for repair and transport. I would be very glad if my suggestion was taken up and I could make my poor Bosnians happy. God will abundantly reward anyone who contributes to this work of mercy.”

Another charity Fr. Franz undertook was a Christian school at Banjaluka. He won the Mercy Sisters of Agram to run it by assuring them of all possible assistance. He would not only obtain a suitable site for them but also provide furniture and teaching aids. When later he helped the Sisters to clear their debts, he did so as usual: by approaching his German friends and benefactors to make a contribution to a worthy cause. One of his biographers wrote of him:

“Fr. Franz must be credited with selflessly and disinterestedly having established the first Catholic School in Banjaluka. He wanted poor people to come in touch with the rest of the world and also give them a better understanding of the Christian faith.”. (Timotheus Kempf CMM)

Bosnian Customs and Traditions

When in 1874 Mariastern’s pater immediatus, Abbot Henri of Port du Salut came on visitation, he marveled at what Fr. Francis, who had meanwhile become Prior, and his monks had achieved. He also had high praise for the good work of the Sisters in predominantly Muslim surroundings. Still more surprised he was about the customs and usages of the Bosnian people. As he spoke only French, he was accompanied by an interpreter, Fr. Bonaventure Bayer who was fluent in German and French. In order to give his French visitors a taste of the real Bosnia, Fr. Franz decided to put them through a few experiences. He began by rowing them across the River Sava which at that time formed the border between Slovenia and Bosnia. Once Old Gradiska was behind them, he invited them to make themselves comfortable on a bed of hay, laid out for them on a rack waggon. Their eyes grew bigger by the hour, but they did not say a thing.

Abbot Francis:

“We traveled for about two hours over the rough and the smooth until we came to a coffee house. The innkeeper, barefoot, in an old pair of pants and a tatty shirt which was open all the way to his belly button, thus exposing his sweaty chest, extended a rare welcome to my two visitors, addressing me as Gospodin (Sir). When he brought in the coffee I asked him if perchance he also had cups. He did. Reaching into his shirt, he conjured up an array of dirty tin mugs, put them on the table in front of my visitors and muttered the courteous Isvolite! (s’il vous plait). Next he produced two lumps of sugar from his pocket and, placing the smaller one into my cup, bit the other in two on his foul teeth, to place one half into each of the remaining cups. It was all my pater immediatus could take, crying: ‘Mon Dieu! It’s enough’!”

But he had only had a small glimpse of Bosnia. Abbot Francis adds that the innkeeper was actually “one of the finer specimens of a Greek”, and with regard to courtesy and etiquette certainly superior to most Bosnian and Turkish landlords.

After rumbling along on the rack waggon for two more hours across country the party stopped at another wayside inn to rest and feed the horses. This time, Fr. Franz ordered a Lenten meal consisting of flour, milk and eggs. It was served on a flat dish together with bread but without a knife or fork, table cloth or serviette. Thus he “had the honour” of showing his bewildered visitors how to eat without the cultural accessories they were used to, by demonstrating how the bread could be broken into convenient pieces, dipped one piece at a time into the dish, picked up with some of the egg mix and brought safely to the mouth.

The following illustrations are title covers of two brochures which the Founder published in Bosnia.

The first two unique publications by Fr. Franz.1874 and 1875

The first title reads:

“Are you a Chimney Sweep? – A Redundant Question, annoying to some and comforting to others and answered here by Fr. Francis. – All proceeds towards the establishment of a boys’ orphanage in Banjaluka.

Price: 10 crowns in Austrian or South German currency. –

2nd Enlarged Edition, Graz 1874.

The first two unique publications by Fr. Franz.1874 and 1875

The second title reads: “Something for Unbelievers”. Experienced and narrated by Fr. Francis, Prior of the Trappists of Mariastern near Banjaluka in Bosnia.

Signa non fidelibus, sed infidelibus: “Signs are intended, not for believers but unbelievers”. (St. Paul)

Graz. Author’s Edition.

When the party finally reached the monastery, it was the Prior’s turn to learn a new custom. He could not trust his eyes. Most evidently, “there were Trappists who ate meat while they were not sick”. He found out that a private physician had prescribed meat to his visitors. He was shocked. But hardly had he recovered from the first surprise when he was in for another.

Abbot Francis, in jovial mood:

“I discovered the French cure for obesity. Abbot Henri suffered from this condition but he had found a ‘cure’. His ‘physician’ used to cut a deep hole in his upper arm, place a pea or bean in the wound, bandage it and allow the blood to turn septic. I saw with my own eyes how Fr. Bonaventure, the ‘physician’, took a bean out of such a wound, put in another one and bandaged the arm again. He did so three times a day. Imagine: Instead of prescribing a diet low in blood-builders, he tried to cure his abbot with meat and beans!”

The visitation as such was uneventful. Abbot Henri issued a few general admonitions concerning the novitiate and general cleanliness. He was apparently not able to cope with his responsibilities as abbot. A few years later he was retired and lived out his days on a small pension at a Roman convent: “a way of losing weight without beans”. (Abbot Francis) His companion and interpreter, Fr. Bonaventura Bayer, on the other hand, was transferred to Mariastern, mainly “to foster the good monastic spirit”. The chronicler concludes that the visitation was a benefit for Mariastern: “It strengthened the spirit of harmony and charity between superiors and subjects. Afterwards, Prior Francis was able to turn to his higher superiors for counsel and support whenever he faced internal or external difficulties. He did not need to legitimize himself anymore to those who doubted his monastic loyalty. As a result, he enjoyed greater recognition and honor in church circles, something that is not to be underestimated if a monastery is expected to prosper.”