Obrecht, M. Edmond
OBRECHT, M. EDMOND
Fourth abbot of Gethsemani, Ky.; b. Stotzhein, Alsace, Nov. 13, 1852; d. Gethsemani, Jan. 4, 1935. He entered La Grande Trappe, La Trappe, France, at the age of 23, intending to live all his days there in cloistered silence and anonymity. Instead, he traveled all over the globe, was known to four successive popes and many bishops, and was loved by countless people. He was ordained at Seez in 1879 and sent immediately to Rome as secretary to the procurator general of the three Trappist observances. When these amalgamated into an order in 1892, he was commissioned to collect funds in the United States for the ancient Abbey of Tre Fontane, Rome, which had become the generalate of the restored order. After four years, he returned to Rome, was sent to a struggling abbey in the French Jura, and shortly after appointed provisional superior of Gethsemani. By strong measures he saved this monastery for the United States and his order, and was elected its abbot in 1898. Exceptional administrative abilities brought him appointments as visitor to monasteries in Europe, Canada, the United States, Asia, and Africa. Obrecht was named apostolic administrator of Mariann Hill Mission in South Africa; he determined the status of these monks as missioners and not Trappists.
Bibliography: m. amedeus, Dom Edmund M. Obrecht, OCSO (Gethsemani, Ky. 1937). m. raymond, Burnt Out Incense (New York 1949).
[r. flanagan]