— Google translated from the German and lightly edited
“With God is my salvation, my honor;
God is my protective rock
my refuge ”
(Psalm 62)
After a fulfilling life as a religious and priest
the good God has called home
the Venerable
Fr. Berthold Rosenegger OSB
Benedictine of Admont Abbey
Our brother was born Robert Rosenegger on July 13, 1937 in Molln, Upper Austria. After compulsory school and employment at the road maintenance department, he graduated in Lambach. In 1962 he was accepted into the novitiate of the Benedictine Abbey of Admont by Abbot Koloman Holzinger with the religious name Berthold. He studied theology at the University of Salzburg and completed a teaching degree in German and religion. Father Berthold made his solemn profession in 1966 and in 1967 he was ordained a priest in our Abbey church. From 1971 to 2002 he taught at the Admont Abbey High School, an activity that gave him great pleasure. The years as a religious teacher at the HBLA Raumberg near Irdning, from 1985 to 1989 were also formative for Fr. Berthold. From 1989 he looked after the parishes Altenmarkt an der Enns and Unterlaussa, which belong to the Abbey before he retired in 2005 and due to his ailing health returned to our cloister.
Fr. Berthold was a kind, sometimes idiosyncratic brother, characterized by a love for his home in Upper Austria, which he visited as often as possible. During his retirement, he took over the pastoral care in the parish of Frauenstein (Diocese Linz) for a few years, with great joy and motivation. In our monastic community, he had a great loyalty to our Liturgy of the Hours. Fr. Berthold was known as an eloquent preacher, but his emotional and sometimes energetic nature was also expressed in many other passions: his love for the guinea pigs in the vicarage in Altenmarkt, beautiful cars, pocket watches, cigars, books and above all classical music. Our late brother could often identify very well with the dramatic compositions of Richard Wagner.
Friendship was always important to Father Berthold, or at least to live with the certainty that someone was interested in him and his subjects. His last weeks of life were marked by the suffering that his years of diabetes had caused. At his own request, he was cared for in the Frauenberg nursing home. Unfortunately, after a leg amputation, Fr. Berthold lost his will to live on and he longed for redemption.
On Thursday, February 20, 2020, God, the Lord of Life and Death, finally spoke his amen to the fulfilling life of our brother.
With the request for prayer for our deceased brother,
Abbot and Brothers of Admont Abbey