2024-02-22 23:27:04
Archbishop Emeritus of Salzburg suffered a cerebral hemorrhage regarding two months ago – he died on Thursday evening at the age of 86 in his apartment in the seminary in Salzburg
Salzburg (KAP) – Archbishop Emeritus of Salzburg Alois Kothgasser is dead. He died on Thursday evening at the age of 86 in his apartment in the seminary in Salzburg, as the Archdiocese of Salzburg announced. Kothgasser passed away in the presence of his closest family members, the regent of the seminary Tobias Giglmayr, the seminarians and Archbishop Franz Lackner, who accompanied him in prayer on his departure. Alois Kothgasser was recently seriously ill following suffering a cerebral hemorrhage last November. On February 9th, the archbishop was able to take part in a service to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in the chapel of the Salzburg seminary.
“Archbishop emeritus Alois passed away when we began Compline, the church night prayer, and the confession of guilt at his side. His death affects me, but I also look at his work with great gratitude,” explained Archbishop Lackner in the archdiocese’s statement Salzburg on the death of Archbishop Kothgasser. Lackner continued: “Continuing on the path that he set out as bishop was not difficult. Tomorrow we will meet for the first mourning session to discuss and decide on further matters. Let us pray for our dear departed Emeritus, who was like this during his lifetime prayed a lot for us.”
“Example of gentleness”
“Archbishop Alois Kothgasser was a model of gentleness and a bishop close to people.” With these words, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn honored the work of the archbishop emeritus of Salzburg. Schönborn said in an interview with the Kathpress news agency that he “looks with gratitude to this brother, teacher of theology and faithful son of Saint Don Bosco and the Salesian Order.” “In the bishops’ conference we have gratefully learned to appreciate his gift of mediation and reconciliation,” said the Archbishop of Vienna and former long-time chairwoman of the Austrian episcopate.
“In the spirit of the founder of the order, he was a cheerful and unifying bishop,” the cardinal continued, referring to the deceased. “As a people-oriented and warm bishop of Innsbruck and then of Salzburg, Alois Kothgasser was a good shepherd in the best sense of the word.”
Alois Kothgasser belonged to the order of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He was Archbishop of Salzburg between 2003 and 2013 and previously Bishop of Innsbruck from 1997 to 2002. After his age-related retirement, he initially lived for several years in the spiritual center of the Don Bosco Sisters in Baumkirchen (Tyrol). Since his 85th birthday in 2022, Archbishop Kothgasser has lived in the seminary of the Archdiocese of Salzburg.
Born in 1937 in Lichtenegg in southeast Styria to a farming family, Kothgasser studied with the Salesians in Turin and Rome following joining the order. In 1964 he was ordained a priest. From 1982 to 1997 he was professor of dogmatics and twice rector at the Benediktbeuern Philosophical-Theological University in Bavaria. Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) appointed him bishop of Innsbruck in 1997. Almost ten years later, Kothgasser moved to Salzburg as archbishop.
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