Austria: Jesuit dies in hiking accident

Fr Severin Leitner SJ

Tributes have been paid to a senior member of the Jesuit Curia in Rome who died on Sunday (7 June) following a mountaineering accident in Italy. Fr Severin Leitner SJ, the Regional Assistant and council member of Fr General for Central and Eastern Europe, died tragically after slipping on a snowfield and falling over a cliff, while trekking on the Gran Sasso mountains in Aquila, Italy.

On receiving this news, Fr John Dardis SJ, President of the Conference of Jesuit Provincials in Europe, wrote: "The death of Severin Leitner came as a great shock. I offer my condolences to his family, to the Austrian province, to his community in Rome and to the East Central Assistancy Jesuits. Severin was a man who combined great human warmth and capacity for friendship with leadership and organisational skills. At European level, he served as Formation Delegate for the Conference of Provincials. As Assistant for ECO, he worked tirelessly on the issue of province re-configuration. Known for his smile and for his gentleness, he will be missed by many European Jesuits. May he rest in peace."

Father Leitner was born in Pfunders, Bolzano (Italy) on 29 March 1945 and, having entered the Society of Jesus on 16 September 1965, was preparing to celebrate his 50th anniversary as a Jesuit. He was ordained a priest on 6 July 1974 in Innsbruck, where he also made his final vows in 1982. During his time as a Jesuit, he devoted himself mainly to the pastoral care of young people, the training of candidates to the priesthood and the formation of Jesuits. He was a Master of Novices and also Rector of the Canisianum Seminary at Innsbruck. He served as the Provincial of Austria from 2001-2008 and in 2011 was appointed the Rector of the Jesuit college in Innsbruck. He was assigned in 2012 to work in the Jesuit Curia in Rome, as Regional Assistant for Central and Eastern Europe, and to serve as the Delegate of Father General for the Collegio Germanic-Hungárico and the Russicum in Rome.

Writing from the General Curia, Fr Ignacio Echarte SJ, the Secretary of the Society of Jesus, said they were deeply affected by Fr Leitner's sudden death. "Severin has left us the memory of a person who was kind, available, cheerful, and always smiling. A lover of nature, he easily raised his heart in thanksgiving to God when (he) found himself among 'his' mountains. From these very mountains, the Lord called him."

Source: Jesuit Communications