Josef Lambichler. Pastor Hall in Tyrol

Josef Lambichler (born 9.3.1883, died 1956) was the son of a career officer in the imperial army, who died when Josef was four years old. His mother then moved with her three small children to Hall in Tyrol, where he first attended the Franciscan grammar school and then the Benedictine grammar school in Meran. After studying at the Jesuit Theological Convict in Innsbruck, he was ordained a priest in Brixen in 1908. After his first pastoral posts, he moved to Imst during the First World War and then to Hall in 1920, where he worked as a co-operator in the Jesuit church for more than 35 years.

The Roman Catholic priest Josef Lambichler was a pastor in Hall in Tirol for 35 years . Even 60 years after his death, he lives on in the grateful memories of many older people.

He began his work in Hall at a time of great poverty between the two world wars and was appointed by the parish to look after the boys. He found great supporters in the Pletzer family, who made the so-called "Pletzerwiese" available to Lambichler and his protégés. The summer camp on the Gufl am Tulferberg was also established during this time.

The Nazi dictatorship confiscated the Pletzerwiese and the Gufl and stopped Lambichler's official work for young people. He was no longer able to teach as a religious teacher at the boys' elementary school. The Marian Congregation, of which Lambichler was president, was also banned. He clearly rejected Nazi ideology and continued his activities in secret, which is why he was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo. The banned Marian Congregation held secret conventions in the parish church. Lambichler also continued to prepare children for First Communion and Confirmation underground. In particular, however, Lambichler looked after the poorest of the poor in Hall, the patients of what was then known as the "lunatic asylum". Since the institution's chaplain was not allowed to work in the asylum, Lambichler continued the pastoral care of the patients in secret with the help of the nuns employed there.

After the liberation of Tyrol in May 1945, Lambichler immediately began to re-establish his youth work. In cooperation with the American occupation forces, he took over the food aid deliveries for the Pletzerwiese. The vacation camp on the Gufl on the Tulferberg and the Mayr hut in the Voldertal started again in the summer of 1945. From this time onwards, Lambichler was responsible for the entire Hall youth - boys and girls were now looked after by him.

He led the Marian Congregation back to its former greatness and re-established the so-called "Partisan Guard", Hall's traditional sacrament guard . On March 14, 1956, Lambichler returned home to his Creator after a serious illness. Since 1978, his mortal body has rested in the Waldauf Chapel of the parish church of St. Nicholas in Hall in Tirol.

The Marian Congregation of the Men / Partisan Guard, in honor of the highly revered Coop. Josef Lambichler (President of the Men's MK 1933 - 1956) together with the circle of friends of the former Pletzerwiesen and Gufl children commissioned a bronze relief from the Hall sculptor Manuel Schmid. The monument is located in the old town park in Hall in Tirol.

Lambichler's grave is in the Waldaufkapelle chapel in the parish church of St. Nicholas in Hall.