Fr Bede Carl Lackner

Fr. Bede was born Károly (Karl) János Lackner in Vaskút, in southern Hungary, on December 19, 1927, to Stefan Lackner and Elisabeth Rutscher. He entered the Cistercian Order in 1947, at the age of 20, and persevered in monastic life for 73 years, until his death on November 10, 2020.

Fr. Bede knew the Cistercians early on: at the age of 12, he enrolled at the Cistercian school in the nearby city of Baja, and remained there through the Second World War, until 1946. He then went to the monastery of Zirc, where, just short of 20 years old, he commenced his novitiate on August 29, 1947, making his first vows a year later. He studied philosophy and theology in Zirc in the years immediately before its dissolution by the Communist regime. At that time a large group of monks were planning an illegal escape through the Iron Curtain into Austria, but Fr. Bede had a different, safer way out. His family was of German heritage and so they fell subject to the post-war population exchange program by which those of German ancestry were forced out of Hungary. Thus, after many complex preparations material and spiritual, he left Hungary on November 17, 1950. He arrived with his parents and sister to Schweinfurt, in Bavaria, where his family took up permanent residence.

Fr. Bede, however, was destined for a further journey. A month later he left for Rome. He pursued his studies in Theology there for just over two years, until January 1953, when he was called to join his monastic brothers in the United States. During his time in Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood in Feldkirch, in far western Austria.

Fr. Bede arrived in the United States on January 20, 1953, coming to the monastery of Spring Bank in Wisconsin not long before dramatic meetings after which many Hungarians chose to leave Wisconsin to join the new foundation in Dallas. Fr. Bede, along with a small part of the Hungarians, chose initially to remain in Spring Bank, perhaps in his case because he would be pursuing a Master’s degree in History at nearby Marquette University. Fr. Bede finished his M.A. in 1959. At that point a complex dynamic developed between Fr. Bede’s calling to more advanced study and the community’s need for Middle School teachers in the new Cistercian Preparatory School. When the school opened in 1962, Fr. Bede was the Form Master of Form I, teaching them also History, Geography, and Music. But the year before, in 1961, Fr. Bede had begun doctoral studies in History at Fordham University in New York, where he rejoiced to spend the whole day in various libraries, often skipping lunch. He had so impressed his professors that the dean wrote to Abbot Anselm urging him to free Fr. Bede for doctoral studies and make him a college professor.

In the end Fr. Melchior took over as Form Master from Fr. Bede, who finished his doctorate a few years later, in 1968. This bore fruit in his 1972 book, The Eleventh-Century Background of Cîteaux.

Fr. Bede’s academic career moved quickly. Along with lecturing at the University of Dallas in those years and assisting in some ways at the Prep School, in 1967 he began teaching Church History at Holy Trinity Seminary. He taught there for fifteen years, an admired teacher, spiritual director, confessor, and friend for many alumni. In 1969 he took a position at the University of Texas at Arlington. He earned tenure in 1972, and taught there full-time for 32 years until his retirement in 2001; then he was named an emeritus professor and continued to teach for almost a decade more, into his early 80’s. He wrote, contributed to, or edited a dozen books, and produced a steady stream of essays, translations, book reviews, and conference papers.

In the twenty years after he retired from full-time teaching, he rejoiced to witness the arrival of many young monks in the monastery of Dallas. His quaint mannerisms, quiet presence, simple life, his hidden attentiveness that would suddenly spark out in a curious question—by these means he left a subtle and beautiful impression on many monks. Although he thought early on that he did not have the practical, “vivacious,” extroverted spirit to teach children, in the monastery, as in his university work, his humble, reserved presence slowly formed many minds, molded many characters, and charmed many friends to whom he remained very devoted.

Fr. Bede remained engaged in his scholarly work and correspondence until the last year of his life. In the night of November 20, 2019 he suffered a sudden major stroke. Although he recovered remarkably and came home able both to walk and to converse, he remained largely confined to his room with very little energy, relying on the monks and the two wonderful nurses to help him. Almost a year after the stroke, an infection led to kidney failure and sepsis. He died peacefully on November 10, 2020, after only a few days in the hospital. He is survived by his sister and her daughter in Germany and by his monastic brothers. A Rosary will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, 2020 in the Cistercian Abbey Church. The Funeral Mass and entombment will take place in the Abbey Church at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020. Both services will be open to the public and livestreamed on the Cistercian YouTube channel. Memorials may be sent to the Monastic Fund at the Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey @ www.cistercian.org