him to the Winkelman family, also from Westphalia, who offered to accommodate him. Once settled, he had all the time to get to know the country and the people. One Sunday he visited the Trappist Monastery Mount Saint Bernard at Whitwick, Leicester. A tour of the place opened his eyes to the astonishing progress the English Trappists had made. Why, they even generated their own gas from coal and burned the coke for fuel! He was hugely impressed:
“I could not believe my eyes when I saw all the appliances they had! I saw a turning lathe for timber and in the smithy, a drilling machine and iron bellows, all operating on steam. They also cook and launder with steam. Steam supplies the stables with water, lifts heavy sacks of corn and drives the chaff cutter. Beside these activities in and around the monastery, the Whitwick Trappists run an institution for boys, thirteen to seventeen years old, who serve probation sentences of up to six years for theft and other petty offences. The monastery provides the land which the youngsters cultivate, while the produce and income from various trade shops pay for their maintenance. – Mount Saint Bernard was founded forty years ago and has already brought many Protestants from the surroundings to the Faith. Over the years, six Catholic parishes have been established, each with its own church. – The ground presents a bit of a geological puzzle, as it is partly swampy or boggy and partly rocky. But the resourceful Trappists have come to terms with this unusual phenomenon by digging quarries, six feet deep and, filling them with stones, slowly turning the ground into arable land.”
The beggar from Bosnia made it a point to also see the Chrystal Palace, although he knew very well that the World Exhibition was long over. Anything new and progressive fascinated him. At Westminster Abbey, he met the former Prior of the Benedictine Abbey of Beuron (Germany) and one of his monks who, like many others, had escaped to England from the Kulturkampf. On the whole, Fr. Francis used his time profitably, but the response to his appeal for support was not exactly what he had hoped for. Many years later, when he had become a British citizen himself (in Natal, South Africa), the then Abbot Francis reflected on his English experience:
“One of the reasons for my meagre success may have been the fact that the more well-to-do English folk rarely spend the misty winter months in London or, for that matter, in England. Be that as it may, now it seems to me that God wanted me to become familiar with the English way of life.”
The Prior did not return to Bosnia altogether empty-handed: Lady (not Lord!) Rothschild gave him a handsome donation, which, though modest compared with the many financial obligations he had, helped to pay at least some bills. The experience only confirmed a truth he had known all along: that when it comes to generosity, the poor surpass the rich.
Political Unrest in Bosnia
The Turks continued to molest the Trappists at the slightest provocation particularly when the Prior was abroad. The Pasha closed down their saw mill and objected to their brickyard. Finally, he threatened them with the confiscation of their woods. But the monks, having become used to his continuous “yok yok”. (no, no), no longer felt threatened. They had a better chance of success if their differences with the Pasha were solved at a higher level: between the Grand Vizier in Constantinople and the foreign office in Vienna. Intrigues continued for a long time, until the Turkish officials in Banjaluka and Constantinople understood that they themselves must honour agreements – a hard lesson for autocratic rulers to learn! Meanwhile, the tedious wrangling, not to mention the host of other challenges the Prior faced, took their toll. He visited various health resorts in Tyrol to find relief for his old lung condition and recurring bouts of malaria.
His ingenuity and patience were put to the test when in 1876 the political situation escalated. Mariastern was no longer safe. So Prior Francis petitioned Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria to take the necessary precautions.
Orthodox Christians Revolt
Later, Abbot Francis reviewed the political situation:
“Time came when people could not tolerate Turkish oppression any longer. Peasants rose up in arms against the cruelty of tax collectors, who often demanded double the tithe or as much as half the produce and even the entire crop … I understood their anger very well because the Turkish villains had also made our life hard from the time we entered the country.”
The officer who was assigned to tithe Mariastern believed that he could cheat the monks just as he cheated the peasants. He came with a whole band of cutthroats and demanded tithe and accommodation. But he had not reckoned with the Prior. Fr. Franz confronted him: With what right did he treat landowners like peasants?
The appalling atrocities of the tithing system were the straw that broke the camel’s back. Simple peasant folk rose up in revolt against Turkish supremacy. But they did not have a chance.
Abbot Francis:
“The revolt was quelled in no time, as the peasants lacked both, arms and strategy. The aftermath in the affected areas was terrible: much blood was shed, the year’s harvest destroyed and hundreds of dwellings ransacked and burnt … Hostilities continued as the revolt was only scattered, not quelled. To aggravate matters, the approaching winter raised the specter of famine and disease, inciting whole hordes of robbers to loot and ruin. They came so dangerously close to the monastery that we took alarm and looked for assistance beyond the border.”
When the situation became critical, Prior Francis contacted the Vienna foreign office. It was time for Count Andrassy to dispatch the hussars as they had agreed when he visited Vienna, or Mariastern would fall prey to marauding rebels. At the same time, a Serbian paper reported that Christians under Turkish rule suffered oppression and persecution at the hands of fanatic Muslims and that their lot was anything but enviable. Vienna took note.
On 10 September 1878 the Prior wrote that on the Feast of the Nativity of Mary (8 September) the Greek Orthodox Church of Banjaluka was burned down and Greek inhabitants were disarmed. Would Andrassy make funds available to Mariastern so that the monks could treat the many Christian and Turkish casualties and dispense medicine to people suffering from malaria?
Prior Franzis Pfanner
In the eyes of an fellow monk
When at home Prior Francis was often seen performing the meanest and heaviest jobs. He gave a hand wherever he could: in the laundry, mill or farm and on the road. He usually ate coarse graham bread and vegetables boiled in salt water. His favourite dish was beans. He seemed to think that God made beans just for the Trappists. Someone heard him say that if there were no more beans, there would also not be any more Trappists.
BROTHER DOSITHEUS LEDERER OCR
X.
Years of Struggle
Defending the Monastery in Turbulent Times
Although relations with the Franciscans had much improved, Prior Francis had to remind the sons of Saint Francis time and again that he owed his appointment to Rome and not to their bishop. Peace was restored only when he agreed to a written declaration, stating that:
1 the Trappists will not make any foundation without the approval of the local ordinary (Franciscan);
2 the Trappists submit to episcopal regulations in all matters pertaining to the Sacrament of Confession;
3 the Trappists will not collect alms without the bishop’s approval;
4 the Prior will not publish anything that may prove detrimental to the Bosnian Church;
5 the Trappists will confine themselves to a life of contemplation, manual work and the cultivation of the spiritual life;
