Benedict Reiner

He loved to retire to his study and read greek and latin for pleasure. He had a mane of white hair and his granddaugher Stasi says she always was afraid of him because he looked as she imagined our lord in heaven looks.

The family story is that he got a girl pregnant while attending seminary (studying to be a catholic priest) so had to run away to Munich where became a construction worker and later a contractor. The girl was the daughter of an alehouse owner and had the child,a son. Recent research indicates that he was not at seminary but rather in prison! see below

Another family story is that his father was really the village priest because his mother spent so much time studying with him. His birth record says he was illegitimate and his father was an itinerant cowherder. According to family lore, his mother was heiress to a horse farm and did marry his presumed father who became the farm foreman.

Later research has indicated that his daughter Fanny might well have enhanced her family background to her daughters. The marriage document filed in Griesbach (see sources) shows his profession as "maurer" which is a bricklayer or construction worker.

from the Passau archivist

The Benedikt Reiner whom you have been looking for was never in a Youth or Priests' course of study in the diocese of Passau. The relevant enrollment rosters do not list his name. However, in our collection I have found the following title on records in the file “APB Parish Archive, Wuerding,” with the signature “37”:“APB Parish Archive, Wuerding, 37. Testimonials Regarding Religion and Morality, e.g. Reports from Work Houses, Prisons, and Halfway Houses for Recently Released Prisoners, Who Had Residence Permits for the Parish from 1863 to 1897."On page 67 in that record there is a Certificate of Release from Lauren Prison dated October 29, 1883 for a Benedikt Reiner of Safferstetten:

“Benedikt Reiner, a farm laborer from Safferstetten, is careless and rash, has a mid-level education, and will be on probation for quite some time.” It appears that the identity of the institution with which Benedikt was affiliated has changed over time because of oral transmission! (A farm laborer with a mid-level education can not possibly of attended Seminary for the Priesthood, which is why we don’t find him there.) A look at the matriculation records is not possible because they are sealed by privacy regulations. This is the information we can give you about your ancestor.

Der von Ihnen gesuchte Benedikt Reiner war nie in einem Knaben- oder Priesterseminar der Diözese Passau; unsere einschlägigen Verzeichnisse nennen den Namen nicht. Wohl aber finde ich in unserem Bestand „ABP, Pfarrarchiv Würding“ einen Akt mit der Signatur „37“ und folgendem Aktentitel: ABP, Pfarrarchiv Würding, 37: Religions- und Sittenzeugnisse bzw. Berichte über aus Arbeitshäusern, Gefangenenanstalten, Zuchthäusern zu entlassende Sträflinge, die in der Pfarrei Heimatrecht besitzen. 1863-1897. Darin findet sich u. a. (p. 67) das Entlassungszeugnis aus der Strafanstalt Laufen vom 29.10.1883 für Reiner Benedikt, Safferstetten. Dort heißt es: „Reiner Benedikt, lediger Dienstknecht Safferstetten, ist leichtsinnig und unüberlegt, besitzt mittelmäßige Schulbildung und wird für einige Zeit gewarnt sein.“.

Die „besuchte“ „Anstalt“ hat sich da wohl im Lauf der Zeit in der mündlichen Überlieferung etwas „verändert“.

Ein „Dienstknecht“ „mittelmäßiger Schulbildung“ kann kein Priesterseminar besucht haben (Weshalb wir ihn auch dort nicht finden). Einblick in aus Datenschutzgründen gesperrten Matrikeln ist nicht möglich; zu Ihren Vorfahren können wir Ihnen Auskunft erteilen.