Altomünster Abbey (Kloster Altomünster) was a monastery in the small

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n market town of

Altomünster Altomünster is a municipality in the district of Dachau in Bavaria in Germany. Geography Geographical location The market is located northwest of Dachau and almost in the middle of the triangle formed by the cities of Munich, Augsburg and Ingo ...

History

A small monastery was founded here by and named after Saint Alto, a wandering monk, before 760. The ''vita'' of Alto, likely written by

Otloh of St. Emmeram Otloh of St Emmeram (also Othlo) (c. 1010 – c. 1072) was a Benedictine monk, composer, writer and music theorist of St Emmeram's in Regensburg. Life Otloh was born around 1010 in the bishopric of Freising. After studying at Tegernsee and Hersfe ...

after 1056 and ostensibly based on oral knowledge (written lore having been lost through plunder), reports that the monastery was visited by

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...

, who dedicated the church. Another 11th-century text notes that Boniface also dedicated the church in nearby

Benediktbeuern Abbey Benediktbeuern Abbey (Kloster Benediktbeuern) is an institute of the Salesians of Don Bosco, originally a monastery of the Benedictine Order, in Benediktbeuern in Bavaria, near the Kochelsee, 64 km south-south-west of Munich. It is the oldest ...

. Sometime before 1000 the

Welf Welf is a Germanic first name that may refer to: *Welf (father of Judith), 9th century Frankish count, father-in-law of Louis the Pious *Welf I, d. bef. 876, count of Alpgau and Linzgau *Welf II, Count of Swabia, died 1030, supposed descendant of W ...

s enlarged it and made it into a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

abbey.

Welf I, Duke of Bavaria Welf I (c. 1035/10406 November 1101) was Duke of Bavaria from 1070 to 1077 and from 1096 to his death. He was the first member of the Welf branch of the House of Este. In the genealogy of the Elder House of Welf, he is counted as Welf IV. Biog ...

resettled the monks in 1056 to the newly founded

Weingarten Abbey Weingarten Abbey or St. Martin's Abbey (german: Reichsabtei Weingarten until 1803, then merely ) is a Benedictine monastery on the Martinsberg (''St. Martin's Mount'') in Weingarten near Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). First founda ...

in Altdorf (now also called Weingarten), while the nuns formerly resident at Altdorf moved to Altomünster, where they lived until the monastery was dissolved in 1488 by Pope

Innocent VIII Pope Innocent VIII ( la, Innocentius VIII; it, Innocenzo VIII; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death in July 1492. Son of th ...

. In 1496 by grant of Duke George the Rich the

Bridgettines The Bridgettines, or Birgittines, formally known as the Order of the Most Holy Savior (; abbreviated OSsS), is a monastic religious order of the Catholic Church founded by Saint Birgitta or Bridget of Sweden in 1344, and approved by Pope Urban ...

of Maihingen were permitted to establish a Bridgettine monastery at Altomünster. The monastery was dissolved on 18 March 1803 during the secularisation of Bavaria, but was later revived. At the time of its closing, it was the last Bridgettine monastery in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Nearby is a museum of the history of the Bridgettine Order. In December 2015, it was announced that the monastery was closing for good and that both its property and library, which contains around 80 percent of all known Bridgettine books, would be transferred to the Munich diocese. It officially closed on January 19, 2017. Two

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

lectionary A lectionary ( la, lectionarium) is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity, Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evang ...

created for the abbey in the 12th century are held by the

Bavarian State Library The Bavarian State Library (german: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the bigg ...

References

External links

*
Altomünster Abbey website

Altomünster Museum Website

Bridgettine Order
* Photos of the interior of the Abbey Church, in th
''Warburg Institute Iconographic Database''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Altomunster Abbey Monasteries in Bavaria Benedictine nunneries in Germany Bridgettine monasteries in Germany Christian monasteries established in the 8th century Carolingian architecture Irish monastic foundations in continental Europe 8th-century establishments in Germany

History

See also

References

External links