Bishop Kothgasser has been a role model for many in his commitment to unity and communion. "Doing the truth in charity" was not his episcopal motto by chance, one which he always lived with deep faith and tireless commitment to people.
Alois Kothgasser was born on 29 May 1937 in Sankt Stefan, in the district of Feldbach, Styria. He attended primary and lower secondary school in his parish of origin and then, at the age of 18, joined the Congregation of the Salesians of Don Bosco, professing his first vows on 16 August, 1955 and his perpetual vows exactly three years later. After graduating from the Don Bosco Institute in Unterwaltersdorf, he did three years of practical training as an educator in Unterwaltersdorf and Klagenfurt. He completed his studies in Philosophy and Theology in Turin, being ordained a priest on 9 February 1964 in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin.
Further studies followed in Rome, at the then Pontifical Salesian University (PAS). After obtaining his Doctorate in Theology, with a thesis on the development of dogma from a Catholic perspective, Fr Kothgasser then worked at the PAS as Associate Professor of Dogmatics and Head of the Institute of Salesian Spirituality. The focus of his many years of academic activity was Benediktbeuern, in Bavaria, near the Austrian border, where he taught Dogmatics and was Rector of the centre for several years (from 1982 to 1988 and from 1994 to 1997).
The current Superior of the AUS Province, Fr Siegfried M. Kettner, a former student of the late Salesian prelate, today recalls: "Fr Kothgasser formed countless young priests - Austrians and others - and has been a model for us not only for his faith, but above all for his modesty. Already then, as a student, I said to myself: ‘If there is anyone who has what it takes to become a bishop, it is Kothgasser’."
Appointed Bishop of Innsbruck by Pope John Paul II in October 1997, he was pastor of that diocese for 5 years, until November 2002.
On 23 November 2002 the chapter of canons of Salzburg Cathedral selected him as the new Archbishop of Salzburg. On the 27th of the same month, Pope John Paul II officially appointed him and he took possession of the archdiocese on the following 19 January. As archbishop he also held the titles of primate of Germany and legatus natus in Salzburg.
In his pastoral style, he considered it important to bring the spirit of Don Bosco. It was particularly important for him to “reach out to young people, especially those living in poverty in various ways, especially in the poverty of relationships,” as he pointed out in an interview. This was the way he wanted to bring Don Bosco's spirituality to life.
Within the Austrian Episcopal Conference he was responsible for the liturgy, seminaries, theological faculties and colleges and lay theologians, and in all these areas he showed himself to be a bishop attentive to his people.
A bishop emeritus since 2013, he spent almost nine years at the Spiritual Centre of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in Baumkirchen, where he continued to work for the Church and celebrate religious services, baptisms, first communions, ordinations and much more, until, in 2022, he moved to the seminary of the Archdiocese of Salzburg.
When hearing of his death, the Bishop of Bolzano-Bressanone, Bishop Ivo Muser, commented: "Archbishop Alois Kothgasser was for me an episcopal model and an episcopal friend. He was characterized by his balanced, paternal and unifying way, by his closeness to people, by his ability to listen, by his Salesian spirituality and also by his theological clarity."
