Alberich (Ludger) Gerards OCist

Ludger Gerards was born the son of a merchant and baptized Ludger. In 1914, he entered the episcopal convent in Neuß and graduated from grammar school there in 1918. He then entered the Cistercian abbey of Marienstatt in the Eifel region (Rhineland-Palatinate) - against his father's opposition - and took the name Alberich (after Alberich of Cîteaux, French Aubry, Latin Albericus, one of the first Cistercians). He had to enlist in the last months of the First World War and did not return until early 1919.

After this, Alberich Gerards studied theology at the Marienstatt religious college, made his simple profession in 1920 and was ordained a priest in 1924. He was soon appointed by the abbot to manage the economic affairs of the monastery (cellerarer), which also included a large farm. He also studied at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hanover.

In order to escape the Nazi regime, Alberich Gerards went to the Cistercian Abbey of Stams (Tyrol) in Austria at the beginning of 1938. After the Anschluss, he was arrested in August 1938 after the abbey was dissolved and taken to Innsbruck. After his release at the beginning of 1939, he was only allowed to work in pastoral care and was parish vicar in Obsteig (Imst district, Tyrol) from 1940 to 1948. As the US Army approached on May 2, a German commando attempted to jump a bridge near Obsteig. Gerards and others are able to remove the explosive charge at the risk of their lives, so that Obsteig can be taken by the US Army without a fight on 3 May.

After the end of the war, the Tyrolean provincial government appoints Alberich Gerards as temporary administrator of Stams Abbey, as no contact is possible with the abbot, who is in Rome. During this time, he was also actively involved in setting up the student fraternity Alpinia Innsbruck, which was founded underground in 1940.

From 1955, he was abbot of Seligenporten.