On June 30, 1926, after a long and severe battle with cancer, the Redemptorist Father Wilhelm Janauschek died in our hospital “Hartmannspital” (today Franziskusspital Margareten). His extraordinary patience and resignation to God’s will were universally admired and regarded by our sisters as “saintly.” The memory of Father Janauschek and his veneration have always been preserved in the community.

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the death of the Servant of God Father Wilhelm Janauschek, Vicar Bishop Father Lorenz Voith CSsR celebrated a service on July 1, 2026, in our monastery chapel with members of the St. Clement Hofbauer Committee, as well as with other guests and our sisters. Father Michael Lidy CSsR participated as concelebrant; Father Wolfgang Frühwirth OFM and a deacon were also present.

In her words of welcome, Superior General Sister M. Birgit Dorfmair referred, among other things, to the chronicle, which reports that Father Janauschek’s parents, as owners of a grocery store, were great benefactors of our sisters at the time of the founding of the congregation.

In his homily, Vicar Bishop Father Voith presented the life journey of Father Janauschek, his services in the apostolate, and his leadership responsibilities in the community. Father Janauschek played a significant role in the canonization of Clement Mary Hofbauer and was the founding chairman of the association “St. Clement Hofbauer Committee.” (Today Father Lorenz Voith is its chairman). Already after Father Janauschek’s death, a remarkable veneration began, so that in 1934 it was decided to transfer the mortal remains from the Central Cemetery to the Church of Maria am Gestade. This “procession” took the form of a triumphal procession in which thousands of people participated. (Our chronicle also reports that as an intermediate station, the coffin was placed in our chapter hall for three days, and people came continuously to honor the deceased).

In the same year, 1934, the beatification process for Father Janauschek was begun in Vienna and continued in Rome in 1955. In 2014, it reached its provisional conclusion when Pope Francis granted the Redemptorist, born in Vienna in 1859, the “heroic degree of virtue” and permitted the designation “Venerable Servant of God.” Although more than 10,000 answered prayers are documented, an officially recognized miraculous healing is required for beatification. Father Janauschek would thus be the first blessed born in Vienna. Because of his heroic attitude during his cancer illness, he is invoked as an intercessor especially by patients with such diseases.

After the memorial service, the way led to the “Janauschek Chapel” in our care area, where Father Janauschek’s sickroom was originally located. With a common prayer, we commemorated the Servant of God, who completed his earthly life here 100 years ago. All his life and suffering stood under the motto “As God wills, that is best.”

Due to an expansion of the hospital, Father Janauschek’s sickroom was established as a hospital chapel with an additional room and blessed on February 28, 1978, by the former Provincial Father Dr. Alois Kraxner. As part of the redesignation of the ward as a care area, the chapel, newly designed following water damage, was blessed on June 29, 2007, by Canon Father Lorenz Voith—at that time Provincial, today Vicar Bishop of the Diocese of Eisenstadt.

Text: Sister M. Hilda Daurer, Photos: Sister M. Birgit Dorfmair, Vicar Bishop Canon Father Lorenz Voith CSsR