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First abbot of Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Meienhofer (September 18, 1865 – September 6, 1936) was the first abbot of Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon, USA,
Thomas Aquinas Meienhofer, baptized as Franz, was born in Wuppenau in the canton of Thurgau. He attended the school at Engelberg Abbey, entered the abbey and became a priest. After moving to the daughter monastery Mount Angel in the US, he taught Latin, biology and astronomy at the college.[1]
On July 11, 1901, he was elected prior of Mount Angel and on February 3, 1904, after the priory was elevated to an abbey, he was elected the first abbot. Both elections took place under the presidency of Abbot Frowin Conrad of Conception Abbey. Abbot Meienhofer received the abbatial benediction on June 29, 1904, through Abbot Frowin Conrad (Archbishop Christie of Portland was ill). His assistants were Abbots Athanasius Schmitt of St. Meinrad's Abbey, Indiana, and Vincent Wehrle of St. Mary's Abbey, North Dakota.[2]
Abbot Meienhofer served as abbot 1904–1910. He resigned unexpectedly on May 25, 1910. He had been absent from the monastery for many months and had been seen in the company of Belle Gerlinger, the divorced wife of the railroad magnate Louis Gerlinger.[3] He later married Belle and moved to New York City. During his last years as a monk and for the rest of his life, Meienhofer suffered from bad eyesight. He never returned to Mount Angel, although he corresponded with some of the monks, and died in Virginia.
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