Münsterschwarzach Abbey (''Abtei Münsterschwarzach'', formerly often known as ''Kloster Schwarzach'' or ''Schwarzach Abbey''), is a monastery of

Benedictine monks The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, the ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The abbey belongs to the Congregation of Saint Ottilien and is located in Schwarzach am Main, a small market town at the confluence of the rivers Schwarzach and Main in north-western

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Carolingian nunnery

The abbey, dedicated to the Holy Saviour, the Virgin Mary and Saint Felicity, was founded before 788 as a

nunnery A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Comm ...

. It was a private foundation of the

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

ruling house: the

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...

es were daughters of the imperial family, for example Theodrada (d. 853), a daughter of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

. After the death of the last Carolingian abbess, Bertha, in 877, the nuns left the abbey and it was taken over by Benedictine monks from Megingaudshausen.

First Benedictine monastery

Münsterschwarzach became a centre of monastic reform during the 12th century, when Bishop Adalbero of Würzburg, who was in close contact with the reform movements of

Cluny Cluny () is a commune in the eastern French department of Saône-et-Loire, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is northwest of Mâcon. The town grew up around the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in ...

Gorze Gorze (; ) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Sites and monuments Gorze Abbey was confiscated as public property during the French Revolution; it has since been restored and utilised for a variety of ...

and Hirsau, appointed Egbert of Gorze as

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

. Egbert not only reformed and renewed the spiritual life of Münsterschwarzach but then, through the spread of the subsequent Münsterschwarzach reforms, exerted an influence far beyond it, from Harsefeld near

Stade Stade (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (, ) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the Stade (district), district () which bears its name. It is located roughly to the wes ...

in the north to

Melk Melk (; older spelling: ) is a city in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,257 (as of 2012). It is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery named ...

and Lambach in the south. The monastery faced several severe problems in the following centuries, such as economic ruin, fires, and robberies. In the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt () was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising befor ...

in 1525, the monastery got almost completely destroyed. The abbey was restored under Abbot Johannes Burckhart (1563-1598), who rebuilt the library and reorganized the monastery's possessions. Abbot Johannes was considered a fighter of the

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...

and tried to re-catholicize the monastic villages. After the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, Abbot Remigius Winckel (1646-1654) had the monastery villages resettled, rebuilt the destroyed monastery mill, stocked up on livestock, and, by recruiting young novices, ensured a revival of the spiritual life of the abbey. Although his successor Benedikt Weidenbusch (1654–1672) was elected abbot in 1654, he was only an administrator until 1656. When he was elected, the only 22-year-old was not yet an ordained priest. He received the title of an abbot in 1656 after his ordination and established a college in the abbey while he was abbot. In a fire in 1677, Abbot Placidus Büchs (1672–1691) risked his life to save most of the valuables from the outbuildings, which were destroyed entirely. He also worked to rebuild buildings that had been destroyed in the war. Towards the end of the 17th century, a baroque plan for the church began to be realized. The architects were Valentino Pezani, whose guest house built in 1696/97 is still partially preserved, and Josef Greising. In the 18th century a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

was commissioned from

Balthasar Neumann Johann Balthasar Neumann (; c. 27 January 1687 – 19 August 1753), usually known as Balthasar Neumann, was a German architect and military artillery engineer who developed a refined brand of Baroque architecture, fusing Austrian, Bohemian, Ita ...

, with frescoes in the cupolas by Holzer; it was dedicated in 1743 by Bishop Friedrich Karl von Schönborn. In 1803 the abbey was abandoned in the course of the secularisation of Bavaria. The monastic buildings were auctioned off. In 1805 the abbey church was sold and profaned. In 1810 the buildings were struck by lightning and severely damaged by the subsequent fire, and between 1821 and 1827 the remains of the church were entirely, and those of the monastic buildings largely demolished.

Second Benedictine monastery

In 1913 the remains of the old abbey were re-acquired by the Missionary Benedictines, along with the necessary land to support it. The first abbot after the restoration was Dom Placidus Vogel (1914-1937). He was followed by Dom Burkhard Utz (1937-1959) and Dom Bonifaz Vogel (1959-1982), a nephew of Abbot Placidus. The monumental abbey church with its four towers was built between 1935 and 1938, when it was dedicated. The architect was Albert Bosslet. Between 1941 and 1945 the abbey was confiscated by the

National Socialists Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

and used as a military hospital. Although the monastic community had been expelled, some monks were able to remain as workers in the hospital. The abbey was erected again after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. There are two dependent priories of the abbey: Christ the King Priory in Schuyler,

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, USA, established in 1935 and Damme Priory, Germany established in 1962. The present abbot is Abbot Michael Reepen OSB.

The abbey church

After the fire in 1810, the old abbey church was used as a quarry and thus left to decay. After the abbey was re-established in 1913, a new church was to be built under Abbot Placidus Vogel. It was built from 1935 to 1938 according to the plans of Prof. Albert Boßlet. The church was consecrated on September 11, 1938. The abbey church is about 289 feet long, 102 feet wide, and 85 feet high. The east towers are 171 feet high; the west towers are 125 feet. The interior of the church is characterized by the simplicity and clarity of the forms. While the monks' choir is kept dark, the sanctuary is filled with bright light. Above the altar, a statue of Jesus Christ stands in the center of the sanctuary. The medallion to the left of the cross shows the sacrifice of a lamb, a symbol of the

Old Covenant Abrahamic religions believe in the Mosaic covenant (named after Moses), also known as the Sinaitic covenant (after the biblical Mount Sinai), which refers to a covenant between the Israelite tribes and God, including their proselytes, not lim ...

. The medallion on the right represents two loaves and a cup, representing the bloodless sacrifice of the

New Covenant The New Covenant () is a biblical interpretation which was originally derived from a Book of Jeremiah#Sections of the Book, phrase which is contained in the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31–34), in the Hebrew Bible (or the Old Testament of the ...

. On the sides of the church, there are twelve side altars dedicated to certain saints who have a special connection to the Münsterschwarzach abbey. Except for the organ, the monastery created the entire interior on its own. The statue of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

on the right of the altar was created by Brother Franz Blaser († 1930). Abbot Placidus (†1943), the builder of the church, is buried in a high grave in front of the crypt.

References

*Muth, Erwin, 2004. ''P. Burkard Bausch OSB (1656-1721/1723), Benediktinermönch und Chronist'', in: ''Fränkische Lebensbilder (Veröffentlichungen der Gesellschaft für Fränkische Geschichte) 20, pp. 119 - 135 (account of the chronicler of Münsterschwarzach)

External links