The Benedictine monks of Mariastein Abbey have elected Father Ludwig Rudolf Ziegerer OSB as their new abbot. The election, held on 18 June 2025 under the leadership of Abbot Vigeli Monn OSB of Disentis, was conducted according to the statutes of the Swiss Benedictine Congregation. Fr. Ludwig will serve a six-year term, beginning immediately.

Born in 1956 in Maienfeld, Fr. Ludwig trained as a teacher in Chur and worked in education for several years before entering Mariastein Abbey in 1985. He completed theological studies in Chur and Jerusalem, was ordained a priest in 1992, and has since held several leadership roles in the community, including prior, novice master and director of pilgrimage. Beyond the abbey, he has been active in teaching and pastoral care and completed studies in logotherapy inspired by Viktor E. Frankl.

He succeeds Abbot Peter von Sury OSB, who retired in January 2025 at the age of seventy-five. Fr. Ludwig has been leading the community in the interim as prior.

Following the canonical election and profession of faith, the next step will be the abbatial blessing. Bishop Felix Gmür of Basel is scheduled to confer this on 20 September 2025 in the abbey’s basilica.

Mariastein Abbey, located in the canton of Solothurn near the French border, is a Benedictine monastery founded in the seventeenth century following the expansion of an earlier pilgrimage site. Its origins are tied to the legend of a child miraculously saved after falling from a cliff, inspiring the building of a chapel and later a monastery. After Einsiedeln, it remains the second most significant pilgrimage destination in Switzerland. Today, the Mariastein community numbers twelve monks.