matters, two more Brothers were sent from Mariawald: Jacob, the smith, and Benedict, the cook. But when checking their decrees he found that they were issued for Oelenberg, not Agram. So he sent them back to get themselves proper papers lest by their disobedience they jeopardize the new foundation. However, the two Brothers had no desire to go to Oelenberg where Abbot Ephrem might hold them back and never let them join the new foundation. Could Fr. Francis not let them go somewhere else? After due thought he sent them to Vienna to make themselves useful with the Capuchins and from there apply for fresh letters of obedience.
“Big Bang”
The first mandate of the pioneers had not yet expired when Prior Scheby extended their leave of absence by three more months. If this surprised them they were even more puzzled when another letter arrived on the heel of the first one. This one was not official but private and written by Abbot Ephrem, who ordered Br. Zacharias to come to Oelenberg and advised Fr. Francis to return to the world. This is what according to Abbot Francis’ Memoirs he wrote: “My dear Fr. Francis, you may not return to the monastery. I forbid you to return to either Mariawald or Oelenberg. Instead, go back to the world where you can still do a lot of good. I gladly provide you with a letter of reference to any bishop to whom you may wish to apply.”
Dumbstruck at this sudden turn of events, Fr. Francis did not know what to do. Years later he explained:
“The abbot’s order was tantamount to asking me to break my vow of stability. How could a superior, any superior, leave alone the highest superior of our Congregation, because that is what Ephrem was, act like that? I prayed and reflected, reflected and prayed. Finally, I put the case before the very best canonist of the day, none other than my former professor, Dr. Joseph Fessler. He had become vicar general of Feldkirch and then Bishop of St. Poelten in which capacity he was appointed secretary general to the Vatican Council. – The one thing about which I was certain was that I would never go back to the diocesan clergy. I had become a Trappist and a Trappist I wished to remain.”
Fessler replied at once. He could not deal with the case personally, he explained, but he would refer Fr. Francis to a competent authority in Rome. This was good advice. Fr. Francis and the Brothers Zachariah, Jacob and Benedict, who had meanwhile received proper papers, left for the Eternal City. They arrived on New Year’s Eve 1868 and reported to the Trappist procurator general who resided at the French National Church of St. Louis overlooking Piazza Navona. Abbot Francis Regis11 gave them accommodation, listened to their story and promised to do everything in his power to assist them. The Brothers might chop wood for him, but Fr. Francis would need to stay by himself to write an official letter of complaint – in Latin. He hired a room for him at the German College dell’Anima, where by God’s gracious Providence his host was Rector Msgr. Gassner, another Vorarlberger!
The story of four stranded Trappists soon made its round in the City. The German curial Cardinal August von Reisach heard of it and offered to mediate. Before long, Pope Pius IX sent them to Tre Fontane.12 The year was 1868, the 18th centenary of the Beheading of St. Paul in the very ruins of Tre Fontane. Flocks of pilgrims were expected to pour in for the occasion and someone had to be on hand to show them around. So on 18 February 1868, the would-be founders from Mariawald left Rome. For the next eight months they carted away the debris that had accumulated in the sacred places, cultivated a garden and in general got things ready for the centenary. With the Brothers working outside, Fr. Francis was porter and interpreter. Several times he sent Br. Zacharias to the cardinal to enquire about their case, but each time the answer was that this was Rome; things were done the Roman way and they should be patient. Abbot Francis tells us that once they went on an excursion to Subiaco, and it is not hard to guess what their purpose was. Surely they wanted to ask Saint Benedict, patriarch also of the Cistercians, to intercede for them in their difficult situation. But would it be too farfetched to suggest that they also needed to breathe fresher air than they got in the deadly Campagna? After all, malaria had already killed Br. Benedict, the cook.
Pfanners Memoirs recount a strange incident. One day while he was working in the garden during the time of siesta, a silver-haired man stood at the outer iron-gate.
“He kept looking at me but I took no notice of him. Annoyed, he shouted to me, ‘Why are you wasting your time here? Go to Turkey! There is more work there for you than here!’ – Now it was my turn to be annoyed. What business did that old man have to meddle with me? I turned around to shoo him away but did not see him anymore. Where was he? Gone, and not a trace of him! Strange, I thought, very strange! Only much later, when I was laying a road for our monastery in Bosnia (then part of Turkey), did I remember him again: the beggar of Tre Fontane.”
Finally, on 17 July (1868), Fr. Francis was summoned to the cardinal. The case had been adjudicated in their favour and they were free to continue with the foundation. He handed him a decree of authorization, this time issued by the competent Vatican office, and wished him well. The three Trappists were overjoyed and intoned the Te Deum! After slaving away for nearly eight months at Tre Fontane they could not wait to leave. They had drained the swampy ground and started to plant eucalyptus trees to suck up the stagnant water. The favour they thus did future generations was not forgotten. The monastery of Franciscan Conventual Friars Minor across the road from Tre Fontane installed a plaque in their grounds to the memory of “Francis Pfanner, Trappist”.
The three monks celebrated their last Mass in the ancient ruins and then called on Procurator Francis Regis. After all, this good man – “one of the kindest I have ever met” – had been instrumental in making their sojourn in Rome both possible and profitable.
Before they left the City for good, Fr. Francis submitted their plans to the Holy Father: they would continue to look for an estate, large enough to build a monastery for approx. two hundred monks! That number, he stated, was not unrealistic for they were already receiving applications from Bavaria, Prussia, Baden, Hungary, Croatia and other parts of Europe. Therefore they would begin to admit candidates as soon as they were settled. They had collected enough money and the cardinal of Agram had graciously bid them welcome.
They embarked at Trieste and returned to Agram where they were welcomed again by the Mercy Sisters. However, things did not turn out as they had hoped. National sentiment in the Austrian Crown land was even less favourable to a religious foundation than before. Its citizens were clamouring for independence and foreigners, especially Austrians, were hated. Accordingly, the parliament, newly constituted in May 1868, turned their application down in its first session. It was a hard blow and one that made them ask what the future had in store for them. Closing the door on them in Croatia, would God open another? Certain signs pointed in the direction of Bosnia.
V.
The Cross and the Crescent
The Beginnings of Mariastern in Turkish Bosnia
By the summer of the following year, 1868, the small band of Trappists at Agram was tired of living like restless wanderers. Fr. Francis made a last and desperate attempt to gain a foothold and the much desired stability near Banjaluka (Luke’s Bath) in Bosnia. There was reason to hope for success though negotiations were tedious and he needed all the diplomacy and caution he could muster.
Abbot Francis:
“In order not to draw undue attention from Turkish officials I covered my habit with a trench coat which reached down to my ankles … There was not a single hotel available in Banjaluka. The only room I could find was one which an old German Jew put at my disposal. I was eager to accept but the ceiling leaked so much that without an umbrella I would have got soaked. In the end, I had to avail myself of the hospitality of the Austrian vice consul.”
Endless maneuvers and the mediation of kind people, among them the Croatian consul, a Greek businessman and an interpreter, enabled the
