User:Celasson/Josef Alois Kessler

Josef Alois Kessler



(* 12. August 1862,( Luis (Ostrogovka, Goverment Samara, Russia); † 10. December 1933,(Ornbau, Germany)

Alouis Kessler was born 12 of August in Luis (Ostrogovka) Government Samara. After he finished studies in the Saratov Priest Seminary, he was ordained in 1889. He graduated from Theological Academy in St.Petersburg with the degree of Master of Theology. In 1889 he became a vicar of a parish in Saratov, at the same time he taught in the Saratov Seminary. His life became very transitional after that. He took the following positions during the next 13 years: 1892 Simferopol parish vicar, 1895 Sulz parish priest, 1899 Chishenau (today Moldova) parish priest, 1903 Saratov Seminary inspector, and in 1904 canon lawyer. On 7 of April 1904, he was appointed Archbishop of Tiraspol and on 28 October 1904 he was ordained. While Dr Josef Kessler was Bishop of Tiraspol, the pastoral life of diocese became successful and vital. Bishop Kessler expanded the Seminary, founded a publishing house, supported work of male and female ordains, visited all parishes of the giant diocese, and conducted 75,000 confirmations.

On 14 of August 1918 before Bolsheviks entered the city of Saratov, Bishop Kessler left Saratov by foot and went to Odessa. When the new regiment entered the Seminary, they found a message from the Bishop, where he declared the power of Bolsheviks, a power of antichrist. The message warned people that if they cooperate with this power, they will be excommunicated. The Bolsheviks conducted a Russia wide manhunt on Bishop Kessler. The Bishop secretly left Russia for Bessarabia (today Moldova), where he was a priest in the village Krasna. In 1921 he visited Kansas. The rest of his life was spent in Zinnowitz, Germany on the Baltic coast. He died 10 December 1933 and was buried in Ornbau, Bavaria, next to other Bishop of Tiraspol Franz Zottmann, who was born in Ornbau.