Princess Katharina Wilhelmine Maria Josepha of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (19 January 1817 – 15 February 1893) was a member of the House of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst by birth and a member of the

House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen () was a principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the junior House of Hohenzollern#Swabian branch, Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. The Swabian Hohenzollerns were elevated to princes in 162 ...

and Princess consort of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen by marriage.

Early life

Princess Katharina was the only daughter of Charles Albert III, Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (1776–1843) by his second marriage to Princess Leopoldine zu Fürstenberg (1791–1844). After the separation of her parents she lived with her mother in Donaueschingen.

Marriages

In 1838 she married Franz Erwin, Count von Ingelheim genannt Echter von und zu Mespelbrunn (1812-1845); the marriage was childless. After the death of her first husband, she married in 1848 Charles, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as his second wife. Charles was a widower of Princess Marie Antoinette Murat, niece of

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also ; ; ; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French Army officer and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the military titles of Marshal of the ...

, King of the Two Sicilies, by whom he already had four children. For Katharina, this second marriage was also childless.

Widowhood

After Charles' death Katharina entered the convent of

Sant'Ambrogio della Massima Sant'Ambrogio della Massima (also Sant'Ambrogio alla Massima) is an ancient Catholic church in rione Sant'Angelo, Rome, Italy. It is home to the General Curia of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict. Perhaps datin ...

in Rome as a novice. She made complaint where a cult of personality had developed regarding one of the sisters. She then became seriously ill. Convinced she was being poisoned, she managed to get word to her cousin, Gustav Adolf, Cardinal Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, who immediately removed her from the convent and brought her to his estate, the

Villa d'Este The Villa d'Este is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, Lazio, Tivoli, near Rome. It is a masterpiece of Italian architecture and garden design, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and the ingenuity of its architectural featu ...

in Tivoli, to recover. There she was introduced to the Benedictine monk Maurus Wolter. The princess confided in the monk, who instructed her to report it to the Holy Office. This set in motion an investigation, during which a number of irregularities at the convent came to light."Maurus (Rudolf) Wolter", Portal Rheinische Geschichte
/ref> In 1860 Von Hohenzollern asked the Maurus and his brother Ernst, also a Benedictine, to accompany her on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The princess became sympathetic to their views for the restoration of monastic life in Germany, and had the political and financial resources to assist. The following year, they received permission from their abbot at the Abbey of St. Paul Outside the Walls to found a daughter house in Germany.Dysinger, Luke. "The Benedictine Missionary Movement", St. Andrew's Abbey, Valyermo, CA. In 1863, the Wolters established an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

on the site of a former Augustinian monastery on Hohenzollern land in

Beuron Beuron ( Swabian: ''Beira'') is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Beuron is known for the Beuron Archabbey and the Beuron Art School for religious art. Geography Beuron is divided into subdistric ...

References

Bibliography

* Hubert Wolf: ''Die Nonnen von Sant’ Ambrogio. Eine wahre Geschichte''. München, 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Katharina of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfurst 1817 births 1893 deaths Nobility from Stuttgart House of Hohenlohe Princesses of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen