Pankraz Vorster (31 July 1753 – 9 September 1829) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

. He served as the last abbot of the

Abbey of Saint Gall The Abbey of Saint Gall () is a dissolved abbey (747–1805) in a Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Carolingian-era monastery existed from 719, founded by Saint Othmar on the spot where Saint Gall had er ...

, from 1796 to 1805.

Early life

Pankraz Vorster was born in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

to an old family from

Fürstenland Fürstenland or Alte Landschaft is the name of a historic territory of the Swiss canton of St. Gallen, corresponding to the modern districts of St. Gallen (without the city proper), Wil and Rorschach. It was a subject territory of the Abbey of ...

. He was the son of Captain Joseph Zacharias Vorster and Countess Anna Maria Rosa Berni. He was raised mainly by his uncle, who was a pastor in

Grub GNU GRUB (short for GNU GRand Unified Bootloader, commonly referred to as GRUB) is a boot loader package from the GNU Project. GRUB is the reference implementation of the Free Software Foundation's Multiboot Specification, which provides a use ...

and

Wittenbach Wittenbach is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of St. Gallen in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Wittenbach is first mentioned in 1297 as ''Witebach''. Geography Wittenbach has an area, , of . Of this area, 5 ...

. In 1771, he completed his studies in St. Gallen. He taught Philosophy, Science and Theology at a school.

Priest

On 13 July 1777, he was ordained as a priest. In 1784, he undertook a study trip with Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger to

Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...

and

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. In 1785, he led the opposition against Abbot Beda Angehrn. In the eyes of some monks he threatened the

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

's large investments and its autocratic administration. He was penalized and was moved in September 1788 as ''suboeconomus'' (vice governor) to

Ebringen Ebringen (Breisgau) is a municipality in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Geography Ebringen is located about 5 km (3 mi) south of Freiburg at the Schoenberg and belongs to the Freibur ...

, a St Gall domain under Austrian suzerainty south of

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

. In 1796, Vorster reconciled with Angehrn and returned to St. Gallen.

Abbot

On 4 June 1796, Vorster was elected abbot and supported the efforts for democracy in the monastery's dominions. In 1797, he conceded the region its own seal and ancient right of choice of a magistrate. On 3 February 1798, the chapter arbitrarily granted its subjects their independence, ending the monastery's secular rule. The previous

Vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

of the Abbey in the County of

Toggenburg Toggenburg is a region of Switzerland. It corresponds to the upper valley of the River Thur (Switzerland), Thur and that of the Necker (river), Necker, one of its afluents. Since 1 January 2003, Toggenburg has been a constituency (''Wahlkreis ...

, Karl von Müller-Friedberg, had arbitrarily dismissed the

Counts of Toggenburg The counts of Toggenburg (''Grafen von Toggenburg'') ruled the Toggenburg region of today's canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and adjacent areas during the 13th to 15th centuries. A baronial family of Toggenburg is mentioned in the 11th and 1 ...

to independence on 1 January. On 14 February in Gossau, the Constituent Landsgemeinde of the Republic of Free St. Gallen met. Vorster moved to Neu-Ravensburg, an exclave north of

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

, and formally raised a protest against his subjects' action on 3 March 1798.

Exile

After the

French invasion of Switzerland The French invasion of Switzerland () occurred from January to May 1798 as part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The independent Old Swiss Confederacy collapsed from the invasion and simultaneous internal revolts called the "Helvetic Revolution ...

, Vorster tried in vain to remove the Abbey from Switzerland with a proclamation on 9 June 1798, so as to rejoin the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. With the arrival of the troops of the coalition in St. Gallen, Vorster returned to the monastery on 26 May 1799, and began to rebuild the

Dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

. He had to flee again on 29 September to

Mehrerau Wettingen-Mehrerau Abbey is a Cistercian territorial abbey and cathedral located at Mehrerau on the outskirts of Bregenz in Vorarlberg, Austria. Wettingen-Mehrerau Abbey is directly subordinate to the Holy See and thus forms no part of the Catho ...

after the defeat of the coalition at the

Second Battle of Zurich The Second Battle of Zurich (25–26 September 1799) was a key victory by the Republican French army in Switzerland led by André Masséna over a Russian force commanded by Alexander Korsakov near Zürich. It broke the stalemate that had ...

. Vorster exiled himself to Ebringen, in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

's sphere of influence, which became the monastery's last ruled territory. From there, he worked continuously for the recovery of his monastery. He refused all offers to restore the monastery without sovereignty. In 1803, he sent an emissary to the

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...

and to the Consulta in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, to seek

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's support for the restoration. The

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, French Consulate, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 to abolish the Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion of Old Swiss Confederacy, Switzerland by F ...

decreed that all monasteries should be restored. However, Karl von Müller-Friedberg prevented restoration for St. Gallen because of Vorster's extensive demands and because the newly established

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

would have endangered St. Gallen. Instead, Vorster received St. Gallen from the bishop of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, Franz Xaver von Neveu, on 4 November 1804 in

Offenburg Offenburg (; "open borough" - coat of arms showing open gates; Low Alemmanic: ''Offäburg'') is a city in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in south-western Germany. With nearly 60,000 inhabitants (2019), it is the largest city and the administrat ...

. Months later, the Great Council of the Canton of St. Gallen on 8 May 1805 approved the monastery's liquidation. Vorster left Ebringen in September 1805 to Vienna. Vorster was called "the gravedigger of his monastery" because he prevented any compromise. In 1814–1815 Vorster personally asked the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

to recover his rule, but could only obtain a pension of 6000

florins The Florentine florin was a gold coin (in Italian ''Fiorino d'oro'') struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains () of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a pu ...

, while the canton retained control of St. Gallen. Vorster unsuccessfully attempted, with the support of the

pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, to get the affiliation of at least one Diocese of St. Gallen before the Federal Council at

Tagsatzung The Federal Diet of Switzerland (, ; ; ) was the legislative and executive council of the Old Swiss Confederacy and existed in various forms from the beginnings of Swiss independence until the formation of the Swiss federal state in 1848. T ...

on 16 July 1816. In the same year he moved to

Arth Arth is a village, a town, and a municipality in Schwyz District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The municipality consists of the villages Arth, Oberarth, and Goldau. The four settlements Rigi Kulm, Rigi First, Rigi Klösterli, and ...

Death

From 1819 he withdrew into the

Muri Abbey Muri Abbey () was a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It flourished for over eight centuries at Muri, in the Canton of Aargau, near Zürich, Switzerland. While the monastery is currently established as Muri-Gries in South ...

, where he died in 1829. Formally, he remained the abbot of St. Gallen until his death, because from the perspective of the Catholic Church the monastery was only abolished in 1845. In 1923 his body was interred in the St. Gallen

Cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

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