Wolfgang Schlumpf

Jacob Anton Schlumpf was born in the Canton of Zug, Switzerland, on January 30, 1831, the son of Franz Philipp Schlumpf and Klara Kristina Betz, farmers. After completing the classical course in high school, he entered Einsiedeln Abbey in 1850.[1]

He made his profession of vows with the Benedictines of Einsiedeln Abbey on September 25, 1853, receiving the name Wolfgang, and was ordained to the priesthood on September 13, 1957. He was appointed a teacher in the Abbey’s high school from December 22, 1858, until April 28, 1862. On October 12, 1862, Abbot Henry Schmid of Einsiedeln Abbey assigned him as a missionary to the United States for St. Meinrad Archabbey that Einsiedeln had founded in 1854 in Indiana.[2]

Upon his arrival in southern Indiana in November 1862, he was assigned to parish ministry until 1865, when he became manager of St. Meinrad Archabbey building and farming operations, and directed the construction of a new stone monastery building. Shortly after St. Meinrad Archabbey was raised to the status of an Abbey on September 30, 1870, he was appointed Subprior (second assistant to Abbot Martin Marty).[3]

In March 1878, Father Wolfgang was assigned by Abbot Marty to make a new monastic foundation in western Arkansas, in response to a request from Bishop Edward Fitzgerald of Little Rock. He and two monk companions, Brothers Hilarin Benetz and Caspar Hildesheim, arrived at the location of the new monastery, which would become St. Benedict’s Priory and later Subiaco Abbey, on March 15, 1878.[4][5] Father Wolfgang served as Prior until 1881, when he was recalled to St. Meinrad Archabbey by the new Abbot, Fintan Mundwiler, to serve again as Subprior and business manager. Father Wolfgang returned to Switzerland for health reasons in 1884, and in 1885 became Prior again in Arkansas, and would serve in this role as the new monastery became an independent priory in May 1886, and an Abbey with name of Subiaco Abbey in August 1891.[6][7]

In September 1894, Abbot Basil Oberholzer of Einsiedeln Abbey recalled Father Wolfgang to Switzerland and appointed him chaplain of the Benedictine nuns in Glattburg. In September 1902, he returned to Einsiedeln Abbey, where he died on August 1, 1904.[8]

While living a seemingly simple life of a Benedictine monk, Fr. Wolfgang nonetheless served as a major missionary for Roman Catholics in the state of Arkansas. Under his leadership, Catholic Churches would be founded in Arkansas in the following cities: Subiaco, Shoal Creek, Morrison Bluff, Paris, Ratcliff, Charleston, and Fort Smith. Furthermore, he would have the monastic community take over the pastoral care of other Catholic Churches in Arkansas: Altus, Coal Hill, Clarksville, and Hartman.[9]

• Assenmacher, Hugh. A Place Called Subiaco: A History of the Benedictine Monks in Arkansas (Little Rock: Rose Publishing Company, 1977).
• Duerr, Helen. The Benedictines in Logan County (The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 14, no. 4, 1955, pp. 398–403. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40027542. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020).
• Einsiedeln Abbey Archives. P. Wolfgang (Jakob Anton) Schlumpf von Steinhausen. (in German)
• Hess, Luke. New Subiaco Abbey: A Retrospect (Subiaco: Subiaco Abbey Press, 1917).
• Metrailer, Jamie. Subiaco Abbey and Academy (Encyclopedia of Arkansas: Central Arkansas Library System, Little Rock, Arkansas, 2018).
• Subiaco Abbey Archives. (Fr. Jerome Kodell, Archivist: October 11, 2020)
• Subiaco Abbey Necrology. Wolfgang Schlumpf.
• Subiaco Abbey Photographs. Wolfgang Schlumpf.

• Subiaco Abbey
• Einsiedeln Abbey (in German)