Kornelimünster Abbey (german: Benediktinerabtei Kornelimünster), also known as Abbey of the Abbot Saint Benedict of Aniane and Pope Cornelius, is 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 ...

monastery that has been integrated since 1972. The abbey is located in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

(in the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

of Kornelimünster/Walheim) in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

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 ...

History

The monastery was founded in 814 on the river

Inde Indian English (IE) is a group of English dialects spoken in the republic of India and among the Indian diaspora. English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Hindi, as enshrined in the Constitution of India ...

Benedict of Aniane Benedict of Aniane ( la, Benedictus Anianensis; german: Benedikt von Aniane; 747 – 12 February 821 AD), born Witiza and called the Second Benedict, was a Benedictine monk and monastic reformer, who left a large imprint on the religious prac ...

, an adviser to

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqui ...

(successor to

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

). The monastery was at first known as the "Monastery of the Redeemer on the Inde". In the mid-9th century, the monastery became an

Imperial abbey Princely abbeys (german: Fürstabtei, ''Fürststift'') and Imperial abbeys (german: Reichsabtei, ''Reichskloster'', ''Reichsstift'', ''Reichsgotthaus'') were religious establishments within the Holy Roman Empire which enjoyed the status of impe ...

("Reichsunmittelbar") and received large endowments of land, as well as Biblical or Saviour's

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

s: a loincloth, a

sudarium A ''sudarium'' (Latin) was a "sweat cloth", used for wiping the face clean. Small cloths of various sorts, for which ''sudarium'' is a general term, played a role in Ancient Roman formal manners and court ceremonial, and many such uses transferre ...

and two shroud-like cloths.Górny, Grzegorz. "The Aachen Relics", ''Witnesses to Mystery: Investigations into Christ's Relics'', Ignatius Press, 2013
In 875, one of the shrouds was exchanged for a relic of the head of the

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

Pope Cornelius Pope Cornelius was the bishop of Rome from 6th or 13th March 251 until his martyrdom in June 253. He was pope during and following a period of persecution of the church, while a schism occurred over how Lapsi (Christianity), repentant church membe ...

(died in 253), after which the abbey was known as ''Sancti Cornelii ad Indam'', and later as ''Kornelimünster''. (The full official title of the present monastery is the Abbey of the Abbot Saint Benedict of Aniane and Pope Cornelius). In the 12th century, a Priest of

composed the famous '' Tafelgüterverzeichnis'', a registry of royal estates and what they owed the king's court. It is one of the earliest pieces of evidence for the extent of the German royal

fisc Under the Merovingians and Carolingians, the fisc (from Latin ''fiscus,'' whence we derive "fiscal") applied to the royal demesne which paid taxes, entirely in kind, from which the royal household was meant to be supported, though it rarely was. ...

. Burg Reichenstein, also known as "Falkenburg", began as church property under the Imperial Abbey of Kornelimünster. It was part of the parish of Saint Clement" in

Trechtingshausen Trechtingshausen (formerly also ''Trechtlingshausen'') is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The winegro ...

. Because it was so far away, the monastery appointed knights (Vögte) as bailiffs and protectors. They had their seat at Reichenstein Castle. Over time, the bailiffs turned robber knights, getting rich off of boats traveling the River Rhine. In 1270, the monastery sold the whole parish of Saint Clement to the Cathedral Chapter at Mainz and St. Maria ad Gradus, also at Mainz. In 1500, the Imperial abbey (''Reichsabtei'') of Kornelimünster became part of the

Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle The Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle (german: Niederrheinisch-Westfälischer Reichskreis, nl, Nederrijns-Westfaalse Kreits) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised territories of the former Duchy of Lower Lorraine, Fr ...

. In 1802, the territory of Kornelimünster came under French rule, and the abbey was dissolved in the

secularisation In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

. The former abbey church of St Cornelius became the parish church, and the remaining abbey buildings became property of the '' Bundesland'' of

. Kornelimünster came under the

Mairie In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

system in the Kanton

Burtscheid Burtscheid ( la, Porcetum) is a district of the city of Aachen, part of the Aachen-Mitte Stadtbezirk. It is a health resort. History It was inhabited since ancient times by Celts and Romans, who were attracted by the presence of hot springs. Bu ...

. In 1815, Kornelimünster became part of the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

and of the district (''Landkreis'') of Aachen. The buildings of the former Kornelimünster Imperial Abbey are now a museum of modern art.

Second foundation

The monastery was re-founded by the Benedictines in 1906 about a kilometre away in the western part of Kornelimünster by monks from Merkelbeek Abbey in the Netherlands. At first the monks worked in parish ministry, before opening a boarding school in 1948. Since the school closed in 1988, they now focus on retreats and hospitality. Kornelimünster is on the

Way of St. James The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the Twelve Apostle ...

. Although not a hostel, the abbey can provide accommodations for pilgrims if booked in advance."Pilger", Abtei Kornelimünster
/ref> Kornelimünster is a member of the

Subiaco Cassinese Congregation The Subiaco Cassinese Congregation is an international union of Benedictine houses (abbeys and priories) within the Benedictine Confederation. It developed from the Subiaco Congregation, which was formed in 1867 through the initiative of Dom Piet ...

. It is an extra-provincial monastery, subject directly to the Abbot President of the Congregation. As of 2022, there were eight monks at Kornelimünster."Kornelimünster Abbey", The Subiaco-Cassinese Congregation
/ref>

References

External links

Kornelimünster Abbey official website

Monumente-Online:Aachen - Notes on the Benedictine Abbey of Kornelimünster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kornelimunster Abbey Benedictine monasteries in Germany Christian monasteries established in the 9th century Buildings and structures in Aachen Monasteries in North Rhine-Westphalia Imperial abbeys disestablished in 1802–03 Kornelimünster/Walheim

History

Second foundation

See also

References

Further reading

External links