Kremsmünster Abbey

Kremsmünster Abbey () is a Benedictine monastery located in Kremsmünster, Upper Austria.

History

Founded in 777 AD by Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria, Kremsmünster Abbey is steeped in legend. It is said that Tassilo established the abbey on the spot where his son, Gunther, was fatally wounded by a wild boar during a hunt.

The first colony of monks came from Lower Bavaria, under Fateric, the first abbot. The new foundation received generous endowments from the founder as well as from Charlemagne and his successors.

The abbey soon gained enough position and reputation that its abbots exercised episcopal jurisdiction.

In the 10th century, the abbey was destroyed. It was later restored and recovered its property under the emperor Henry II, when Saint Gotthard became abbot.

Kremsmünster, in common with other religious houses, then fell into a decline, which was halted by the action of bishop Altmann of Passau, who brought a community from Gottesau and introduced the reformed observance of Cluny into the abbey. After this, it became known as one of the most flourishing houses in Germany, "excelling all other abbeys" stated an anonymous chronicler, "in observance and piety, also in respect to its lands, buildings, books, paintings, and other possessions, and in the number of its members prominent in learning and in art".

The monastic library was famous, and drew eminent scholars to Kremsmünster, where several important historical works were written, including histories of the bishops of Passau and of the dukes of Bavari and the chronicles of the abbey itself. Schrodl gives a list of writers connected with Kremsmünster from the eleventh to the 16th century and of their literary labours. One of the most distinguished abbots was Ulrich Schoppenzaun (1454–1484), to whom, and to his disciple and successor Johann Schreiner (1505–1524), credit is due for Kremsmünster's surviving the Reformation.

From the Reformation period onward, a succession of abbots kept the abbey on track. Abbot Gregor Lechner (1543–1558), towards the middle of the 16th century, made the monastic school, previously private, into a public school and did much to preserve Catholicism in the district, where the Protestant doctrines had become widely prevalent—to the extent that his successor, Abbot Weiner (1558–1565), favoured them and thus introduced dissension into the abbey that risked developing into serious disruption. This was prevented by succeeding abbots; Abbot Wolfradt especially (1613–1639) brought the monastery into so highly flourishing a condition that he was known as its third founder. Its reputation as a house of studies and learning was increased still further under his successor, Placid Buchauer (1644–1669).

Among the abbots of the 18th century, the most prominent and distinguished was Alexander Fixlmillner (1731–1759), who built the great observatory, constructed many roads on the monastic estate, and was a man of edifying life and great charity to the poor. His nephew Placidus Fixlmillner, the first astronomer to compute the orbit of Uranus, was later appointed the director of the observatory.

Towards the end of the 18th century, the policy of Emperor Joseph II with regard to the religious houses of his empire threatened to close Kremsmünster, like many others, but it was fortunate enough to escape.

The abbey suffered a great deal during the Napoleonic wars, and was slow in recovering its position. It was not until the abbacy of Thomas Mitterndorfer (1840–1860) that, having recovered its material security and re-established learning and discipline, Kremsmünster regained its former prestige. 19th-century abbot Cölestin Ganglbauer (died 1889), who celebrated in 1877 the 1100th anniversary of the foundation, became Archbishop of Vienna in 1881 and was raised to the cardinalate in 1884. In the 20th century, Leander Czerny, the entomologist, was abbot from 1905 to 1929.