 From 1814 to 1816 he acted as private tutor in a family in Steinbach, and whilst here he was so attracted by the life and work of the Benedictines of Kremsmunster that he finally entered their novitiate on 5 October 1816, taking the name Marian in place of his baptismal name of Wolfgang.He was ordained priest on 18 August 1821, and after three years of work in the parish of Sippachzell he was recalled to Kremsmunster to teach natural history and physics.In 1830 he was relieved of the professorship of natural history and appointed director of the astronomical observatory, a position he retained for the next seventeen years.