Br. Anthony Eckstaller (1885-1946)

Anton Eckstaller entered St. Benedict’s Abbey, April 13, 1913.  As Brother Anthony he made his profession May 14, 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I.  He held many jobs in the community.  With a special permit necessary during Prohibition, he purchased the Mass wine for the abbey and dispensed it.  Four times a day he hauled firewood by horse and wagon from the south (College) farm to the bakery east of the present Fink Hall.  Later Brother Tony took care of the horses that were once kept in what many knew as “the green barn” once near the abbey shops.  Brother Robert Heiman dismantled that barn in 1989.

The late Abbot Brendan Downey wrote the following about Brother Anthony in the November 1941 issue of the Abbey News:  “A quick stocky little man with bright blue eyes looking out over a great forked beard, Brother Tony is almost as agile as the day he came to the monastery some twenty-eight years ago.  He is forever making hay or preparing the round or the horses for a future harvest…”

Brother Anthony died of Cancer at St. Margaret’s Hospital, Kansas City, KS on Jan. 9, 1946.