Wester manages the abbey for three years transitionally until a new abbot is elected to succeed Maximilian Heim, who resigned in September.
"In humility, I take on my new task and thank my brothers for the trust. As a trained church musician, I know that the strength of an orchestra lies in good cooperation," the monk said, according to the monastery's message. So far, Wester was Prior of Neuzelle in Brandenburg.
The resignation of Heim was explained with health reasons and took place after a visitation of the pen, which was terminated in April.
The Order of Directors had stipulated that the Community would not initially choose a new abbot, but for three years an administrator, since more than a third of the 84 eligible monks had never participated in an abbot's election. Heim has been at the top of the abbey since 2011.
The election was led by the Cistercian Abbot Pius Maurer. Wester takes over a vibrant, young community that operates beyond the borders of Lower Austria.
In the choice of an administrator instead of an abbot, he sees an opportunity: "The new administrator has the chance to focus on the consolidation of the rapidly growing community and on only three years. The Community was given the right to re-elect after three years."
Church musician and founding prior of Neuzelle
The new administrator Wester was born in 1965 in Unkel am Rhein and initially studied choral conducting, singing education and church music.
After many years of work as a church musician, he joined the Heiligenkreuz Abbey in 2001, where he gave up his solemn profession in 2005. In 2008 he was ordained a priest.
In the monastery he was a cantor and organist. He also taught church music and Gregorian studies at the religious college.
He was musically responsible for the hit album "Chant – Music for Paradise", with which the monks of Heiligenkreuz became known worldwide. In the administration of the abbey, he worked as a subprior, novice master and prior. In 2018, he built up the Cistercian Priory Neuzelle as a founding prior.
In 2025, the Religious Dicastery ordered an Apostolic Visitation of Stift Heiligenkreuz, which was completed in 2026. The results are not known in detail. The Order was given a reflection of theological and spiritual orientation by Rome.
"The abbey has created great internal structural challenges through its rapid growth, in which the Holy See wants to support the Abbey of Heiligenkreuz through its instructions," the monastery's statement on the end of the visitation said.
Abbot Heim resigned a few weeks after the announcement of the visitation as the abbot of the Austrian Cistercian congregation. Health reasons were claimed for this and a necessary greater focus on the situation in the monastery.
Previously, it had become known that Heim had to go into medical treatment for heart problems.
The almost 900-year-old Stift Heiligenkreuz is the second oldest still existing Cistercian monastery.
It was founded in 1133 southwest of Vienna.
In Germany, Heiligenkreuz has two priories.
Before the founding of Neuzelle, the monks had been represented in Bochum-Stiepel since 1988.