Dr. Mag. Herbert Watschinger

Herbert Watschinger was born the son of grammar school professor Michael Watschinger and attended grammar school in Linz, where he was a member of the Marian Congregation of the Jesuits together with Josef Ratzenböck, who later became governor of Upper Austria. After graduating from high school in 1940, he began studying at the Medical Faculty of the German Karl Ferdinand University in Prague in what was then the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia, but soon transferred to the Karl Franzens University in Graz. However, he was subsequently drafted into the German Wehrmacht and was able to continue his medical studies as part of a medical company at the Leopold Franzens University in Innsbruck. There he came into contact with the "illegal" and underground student fraternity Alpinia Innsbruck, which he joined in December 1944.

Towards the end of the war, Herbert Watschinger was taken prisoner of war in England. After returning from there, he completed his medical studies in Innsbruck (Dr. med. 1947). He then completed his so-called rotation at the Hospital of the Sisters of Mercy in Linz. During this time, he made the decision to become a priest. In 1952, as a candidate for the priesthood of the Diocese of Linz, he began his studies at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Innsbruck (abs. theol. 1956) and was ordained a priest in 1956. He then became chaplain in Schwanenstadt (Vöcklabruck district) and then in Schärding.