Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias
Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias, aerial photo (2016)
Main portal
Nave and choir
Statue above the tomb of the apostles
Forecourt and facade at night
Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias (back)
Sarcophagus of the Apostle Matthias

The St. Matthias Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Trier .

The church of the abbey, a Romanesque basilica, is an important pilgrimage site for the Matthias Brotherhoods . The tomb of the apostle Matthias , after whom the abbey is named today, has been venerated here since the 12th century . It was originally named after St. Eucharius , the first Bishop of Trier, whose grave is in the crypt. The abbey houses the only grave of the apostles on German soil and north of the Alps. The church has had the title of a minor basilica since 1920 .

history

From the beginning to the end

The sarcophagi of Eucharius and Valerius in the Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias

Bishop Cyrillus von Trier had a burial place built for the founding bishops of the Trier church, Eucharius and Valerius , in the 5th century . The St. Matthias Abbey emerged from this. Around 977 the monastery adopted the Benedictine rule.

The bones of the founders of the Archdiocese of Trier , the bishops Eucharius and Valerius , have been kept here since the 10th century .

In 1127, during the demolition of the previous building of the abbey, human remains were found, which were regarded as the relics of St. Matthias. According to legend, the bones of the apostle Matthias, who died in an unknown location around 63 AD , were found in Palestine more than 250 years after his death on behalf of Empress Helena , mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine I , and transferred to Trier have been. The new as yet unfinished abbey church was built in 1148 by Pope Eugene III.  consecrated in the presence of Bernhard von Clairvaux and numerous cardinals. Thereupon large streams of pilgrims began to come to the abbey. A house for lepers has been documented since 1283, which was subordinate to the abbey and co-financed by it.

Reform efforts as a result of the Council of Basle led under the local bishop as Abbot used Carthusian John Rode for spiritual and economic renewal. St. Matthias proved to be a model for other monasteries, but the establishment of a congregation around the abbey failed. So by 1458 it joined the Bursfeld congregation founded in 1446 .

Image of St. Matthias on the Trier court picture from 1589
Church bells

The Reformation hardly left any traces. Wars and looting, but also conflicts with the bishop or abbot, repeatedly impaired the development of the abbey. The last abbot was removed from his office in 1783, even before the abbey was actually abolished. From then on the management was with a prior . In the turmoil of the French Revolution, which also encroached on the German Empire, the convent temporarily left the abbey. From 1794 to 1802 the brothers lived in the Mattheiser rectory. In 1802 the monastery was finally "placed under the hand of the nation" and secularized . The merchant Christoph Philipp Nell acquired the cloister and the adjoining buildings and used them as a house and for agricultural purposes. The complex could thus be preserved; the abbey was spared the fate of many other monasteries, the demolition.

Away from the monastery complex - especially in villages on the Moselle - there were still many courtyard houses and farm buildings that formed the economic basis of the monastery before secularization. They were often called "Mattheiser Hof" or another name referring to the abbey. A particularly large estate of this type was the Roscheider Hof , located above the village of Merglich (today Konz-Karthaus) , which was preserved alongside the current part of the exhibition building with the rear courtyard of the folklore and open-air museum Roscheider Hof in Konz.

New foundation and present

After several attempts in the 19th century to revitalize the monastery, after the First World War monks from the Seckau Abbey , which belonged to the Beuron congregation, moved to the Mattheiser rectory. On October 22, 1922, the building complex was consecrated again as an abbey and the first Benedictine monks were able to move in again. They joined the Beuron congregation . In 1941 the National Socialist government abolished the convent and the monks went to Maria Laach . After her return in 1945, conflicts arose over the parish of St. Matthias, which was now independent from the order; For the order, pastoral care always meant an economic basis through the associated secure income. Some monks followed the recommended move to the Abbey in Tholey in the Saarland , while others resisted. So the Convention divided. The brothers who remained in St. Matthias became free of congregations, which was to remain so into the 1980s. Since 1981 they belong to the " Congregation of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Congregatio Annuntiationis BMV)".

The abbey has been connected to the Huysburg Monastery Priory (in Saxony-Anhalt), which was re-established in 1972 . In September 2004 the two convents merged into a community. In 2007, five brothers from Trier belonged to the convent on the Huysburg.

Today the community in St. Matthias is also devoted to pastoral care. In 2007 there were around 10,000 Catholics in the parish. Further tasks are hospital pastoral care and pilgrimage pastoral care. The community welcomes guests and holds ecumenical discussions. Individual brothers work secularly, for example as judges, town planners or teachers. Another commitment of the community applies to the neighboring Schammatdorf.

From 1981 to 2005 Ansgar Schmidt was the abbot at the head of the community. After being elected Abbot President of the Congregation, he decided not to run again. In September the community elected Ignatius Maass as his successor. The new abbot appointed Matthias Vogt as the new prior. The abbot's benediction took place on October 22, 2005 by Bishop Reinhard Marx von Trier.

In spring 2011 Abbot Ignatius Maaß went public with the announcement that a father of the abbey had been guilty of abusing children and young people since the 1970s. Abbot Ignatius Maaß himself spoke in an interview of "serious cases", the victims were all "under fourteen years old".

The convent currently has 19 monks, eleven of whom live in Trier and six on the Huysburg.

"Schammatdorf"

“Against the background of numerous problems with urban living, the idea of ​​building a residential area with social objectives developed in Trier in the 1970s. In cooperation with the social department of the city of Trier, the St. Matthias Abbey and Housing and Treuhand AG (gbt) planned the Schammatdorf, which was ready for occupancy at the end of 1979. "

- schammatdorf.de: About us (April 14, 2013)

This is where intergenerational (cross- generational ) and inclusive living is realized. Among other things, the Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer and her husband, the former Mayor of Trier, Klaus Jensen, live here in the “village in the city” .

Buildings and cultural assets

basilica

Wilhelm von der Eifel: Cross window, early 16th century.
"Mattheiser Image of Grace" (around 1700)
Basilica with cemetery, view from the north-west ( Fritz Quant , 1916)

The Basilica of St. Matthias, consecrated on January 13, 1148, combines four functions. It is the parish church of the parish of the same name, monastic church of the Benedictine community, pilgrim church with the grave of the apostle Matthias and grave church of the first Trier bishops Eucharius and Valerius.

Pope Benedict XV On March 20, 1920, the church raised the rank of Basilica minor with the apostolic letter Exstat in civitate Trevirorum .

The construction of a church stands in the area of ​​tension between the preservation and care of the monument on the one hand and adaptation to current usage requirements on the other. In the course of lengthy renovation and renovation work, the basilica was subjected to a fundamental redesign. The crypt was extended by two bays to its original size and provided with new entrances. The place of worship of the apostle Matthias and the chancel were adapted to today's requirements and upgraded with new places of preaching and celebration. Fixed choir stalls were installed for the monks' choir. An elevator was installed to make the various levels easier to reach. On December 10, 2007, the shrine with the bones of the apostle Matthias was transferred to its final place in the crypt as part of a solemn pontifical mass with Bishop Reinhard Marx . The solemn consecration of the altar is planned for the Matthias Festival on February 24, 2008. A final completion of the construction work with electrics and interior painting is currently not possible due to a lack of financial means.

  • Watercolor of the abbey from 1783

  • Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias from the Marian column seen from

  • The central nave of the basilica

  • 1910 view

window

From the cycle of choir windows created by Wilhelm von der Eifel in the years 1510–14, only the crucifixion group in the upper half of the middle window has survived. The restoration of these holdings took place in the years 1990–93 in the Trier workshops for glass design in Binsfeld in cooperation with the glass workshops of the Cologne cathedral builder and Ivo Rauch.

In 1995 the new, non-figurative glass painting fields in the three choir windows were completed. As a result of a selection process, the drafts of the glass designer Günter Grohs from Wernigerode were selected for execution by the building and art commission of the Trier diocese. The glass paintings were made by the Trier glass art workshop Kaschenbach and installed from the inside in front of the existing protective glazing.

After the renovation of the crypt, Grohs was commissioned to design the two windows there, which in turn could be produced by Kaschenbach with the assistance of the artist and installed in 2014.

organ

Organ of the abbey church

An organ in the Basilica of St. Matthias has been handed down as early as the 16th century ; it was replaced by a larger work by the Dutch master Florentius Hocque , who also built an organ for Trier Cathedral in 1590 . This organ was moved to the newly built gallery in 1699; a choir organ is also attested to at this time. The large organ, damaged during the secularization , was replaced in 1868 by an instrument made by the Trier organ builder Heinrich Wilhelm Breidenfeld . This organ comprised 34 registers on 3 manuals and pedal and continued to sound until 1960, when it was canceled.

The present organ of the basilica was built in 1977 by the Karl Schuke Berlin organ building workshop and consecrated on September 10th of this year; it stands on the front wall of the south transept of the church and has 39 sounding registers on 3 manuals and pedal. The breast positive is equipped with a door sill.

I breast positive C – g 3
1. Wooden dacked 8th'
2. Wooden principal 4 ′
3. Principal 2 ′
4th Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
5. Overtone III 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
6th Scharff IV 2 ⁄ 3 ′
7th Vox humana 8th'
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
8th. Pommer 16 ′
9. Principal 8th'
10. Playing flute 8th'
11. Octave 4 ′
12. recorder 4 ′
13. Octave 2 ′
14th Cornet III-V 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
15th Mixture VI 2 ′
16. bassoon 16 ′
17th Field trumpet 8th'
III Swell C – g 3
18th Reed flute 8th'
19th Gemshorn 8th'
20th Gemshorn beat (from c) 8th'
21st Principal 4 ′
22nd Double flute 4 ′
23. Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
24. Field whistle 2 ′
25th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
26th Octave 1'
27. Mixture IV-V 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
28. Dulcian 16 ′
29 Hautbois 8th'
30th Clairon 4 ′
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
31. Pedestal 32 ′
32. Principal 16 ′
33. Sub bass 16 ′
34. Octavbass 8th'
35. 8th'
36. Hollow flute 8th'
37. Rauschpfeife IV 4 ′
38. trombone 16 ′
39. Trumpet 8th'
  • Pairing :
    • Mechanical coupling : I / II, I / P, II / P.
    • Electrical coupling : III / I, III / II, III / P, III 4 ′ / P.
  • Playing aids : 3 fixed combinations , 4 setter combinations, 2 setter combinations pedal, tongue general stopper, 8 tongue individual stopper.

Alfred Müller-Kranich has been organist at the basilica since 1988 .

Cross relic

Cross relic

In the cross chapel in the north side tower of the basilica, the cross relic , the storage library, is kept. It is a goldsmith's work from the 13th century, in the center of which there is a gold cross set with precious stones. It is said to contain pieces of the wooden cross on which Christ was crucified. The Kreuzkapelle is accessible during guided tours.

Rectory

The rectory, which forms the north-western border of the abbey, bears the wrought-iron sequence of letters NTASM on the outside facing the Moselle. According to the Trier vernacular, this should be the abbreviation for the words “Nothing is good for Sankt Mattheiser” or - depending on your point of view - “Still good all Sankt Mattheiser ”. However, more likely is the theory that it is in the letter string to an indication of the builder of the building, N icolaus T Rinkler A bbas S ancti M atthiae, acts.

Mattheiser Venus

A slightly bizarre case of dealing with the ancient heritage of Trier has come down to us from the surroundings of the abbey. The "Mattheiser Venus" (also Venus von St. Matthias ), a Venus statue in the type of Venus von Capua , has been chained to the cemetery wall since the Middle Ages and given the following inscription:

"WOLT YOU KNOW WHAT I AM
I HAVE BEEN A GOD
DA S. EVCHARIVS ZV TRIER CAME
TO ME BREAKED MY HONOR
I WAS HONORED AS A GOD
NOW I AM THE WORLD ZV SPOT."

For centuries it was the custom among visitors to the abbey to throw stones at the statue to emphasize the victory of Christianity. It was first mentioned in 1551. When the piece was handed over to the Society for Useful Research by the French city commander in 1811 , almost only the torso of the statue was preserved. The Mattheiser Venus is now in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum .

Abbots

  •   976-27. August 977: Sigehard
  •   977-11. October 980: Gother (ius)
  •   980-22. August 1005: Gunderad
  • 1005-18. February 1006: Engelbert Abbot?
  • 1006-22. October 1023: Richard
  • 1023-6. June 1048: Bertulf I.
  • 1048-18. July 1061: Reginhard
  • 1061-1075: Rupert (us), Robert
  • 1075-1097: Bernhard
  • 1097/98: Benedict (identity unclear)
  • 1097 / 98-1106 / 11: E (be) rwin
  • 1111–1135: Eberhard I. von Kamberg
  • 1135–1162: Bertulf II.
  • 1162–1173: Gerich (Gerwin)
  • 1168–1188: Ludwig (Ludovicus)
  • 1189: Johann (es) electus
  • 1190–1210: Godfried I. von Kahler
  • 1210 / 11-1212: Sibold
  • 1212–1257: Jacob of Lothringen (Jacob (us))
  • 1257-1287: Theodorich von Warsberg
  • 1287 / 88-1305 / 07: Alexander
  • 1308–1318: Frederick I (Fridericus)
  • 1318–1334: Eberhard II von Warsberg
  • 1334-17. August 1344: Friedrich II. Von Heinzenberg
  • 1344-25. January 1352: Heinrich I von Rodenmacher
  • 1352-5. September 1357: Walter von Mengen
  • October 18, 1357-15. September 1364: Johann (es) I von Wallerfangen
  • 1365-30. January 1410: Joffrid Zöllner (Dunne) von Leiningen (Gaufrid, Godfried II.)
  • 1410-1416: Eberhard III. from Hohenecken
  • 1416–1421: Herbrand von Güls
  • July 6, 1421–1439: Johann (es) II. Rode
  • December 28, 1439-30. April 1447: Johannes von Forst
  • 1447-6. April 1451: Heinrich II. Wolff von Sponheim
  • September 15, 1451-20. August 1484: Johann (es) IV. Donre (Donner, Tonarius)
  • August 23, 1484-23. March 1519: Anton Lewen (Antonius Loeuenius)
  • March 25, 1519-25. March 1526: Eberhard IV von Kamp
  • April 17, 1526–1. June 1533: Peter I of Olewig
  • June 11, 1533-26. August 1537: Johann (es) V. von Wittlich
  • September 22, 1537-30. July 1542: Lambert von Falckenberg (Falckenburg)
  • September 10, 1542-19. January 1566: Henry III. Skipper
  • January 23, 1566-20. April 1573: Peter II of Weis (Niederweiß)
  • April 28, 1573-17. May 1599: Johann (es) VI. Plütscheid ("Plützet")
  • 1599-23. September 1612: Johann (es) VII. Von Keil (Kail)
  • October 4, 1612-28. February 1630: Gangolf Alderborn
  • March 14, 1630-10. February 1649: Nikolaus Trink (e) ler (Trunckeler, Drinckeler)
  • February 22, 1649-27. September 1675: Martin Feiden (Feuden)
  • October 15, 1675-27. January 1700: Cyrill Kersch
  • February 15, 1700-10. October 1727: Wilhelm Henn
  • November 5, 1727–2. April 1758: Modestus Manheim
  • April 24, 1758-10. May 1773: Adalbert Wiltz
  • June 7, 1773-15. December 1783: Andreas Welter († 1809)

51 abbots until resettlement

After the abbey was repopulated:

The convent was divided in 1949. A part moved with Abbot Petrus Borne to Tholey. The remaining convent in Trier was subordinated directly to the Abbot Primate.

The daily routine of the monks

On working days, the daily routine is usually structured as follows:

  • 05:15 a.m. wake up
  • 05:45 a.m. morning prayer (Matins and Laudes)
  • 06:30 a.m. daily meeting; afterwards time at personal disposal and the opportunity to have breakfast
  • 08:00 a.m. working hours
  • 12:30 noon prayer (sixth)
  • 12:45 p.m. lunch (with conversation)
  • 2:30 p.m. working hours
  • 6:15 p.m. Vespers and Eucharistic celebration
  • 7:10 p.m. Dinner (in silence, with table reading )
  • 8:00 p.m. night prayer (Compline)
  • 8:15 p.m. Time at your own disposal

The exception is Thursday, when the community gathering normally takes place at 8:00 p.m. This shifts Compline to 9:00 p.m. In addition, the order of everyday life is checked at regular intervals in order to adapt it to changing needs and circumstances.

Relationships with other communities

  • Benedictine priory on the Huysburg : Since September 2004 St. Matthias has formed a community with the brothers of the priory on the Huysburg near Halberstadt (Saxony-Anhalt).
  • St. Matthias belongs to the Congregation of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Congregatio Annuntiationis BMV); the current abbot president is the former abbot of St. Matthias, brother Ansgar Schmidt (as of Sep. 2005)
  • Benedictine Abbey of St. Scholastika : There is a deeper, longstanding bond with the community of the Abbey of St. Scholastika in Dinklage . Both communities support one another in their common vocation to monasticism and also help one another. Annual delegation visits and holidays by individual brothers and sisters in the other community promote the relationship.
  • Community of the Resurrection : St. Matthias has a partnership with the Anglican Community of the Resurrection ( Mirfield , England). Maintaining these relationships includes an annual visit by a delegation to both communities or a visit from both communities to Saint Matthias.

literature

  • Sandra Ost: St. Matthias Cemetery ; Trier: Matergloriosa-Verlag, 2007; ISBN 978-3-9811323-6-6
  • Eduard Sebald: St. Eucharius - St. Matthias in Trier ; DKV art guide 591; Munich, Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2008 2 ; ISBN 978-3-422-02154-9 ; English-language edition: ISBN 978-3-422-02158-7
  • The Archdiocese of Trier , Volume 8: The Benedictine Abbey of St. Eucharius and St. Matthias in Trier ; edited by Petrus Becker OSB; Germania Sacra, New Volume 34; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1996; ISBN 3-11-015023-9 online
  • P. Andreas Winnighoff OSB , Josef Schillo: The damage to the St. Matthias Basilica in Trier, its cause and the renovation work in New Trierisches Jahrbuch 1963, pages 48–56.

Web links

Commons : St. Matthias (Trier)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Paulus Gordan : St. Matthias in Trier . In: Erbe und Einsatz , Vol. 43 (1967), pp. 238–240, here p. 238.
  2. ^ Stephanie Haarländer :  Rode, Johannes. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 691 f. ( Digitized version ).
  3. ^ Heinrich Halbig: Marie-Luise Dreyer: "Queen Malu" takes over the scepter in Mainz . Badische Zeitung , January 15, 2013; 20th January 2013.
  4. ^ Benedictus XV .: Litt. Apost. Exstat in civitate Trevirorum , in: AAS 12 (1920), No. 11, pp. 428f.
  5. ↑ Press release of the Episcopal Vicariate General of December 12, 2007 , Internet edition, accessed March 24, 2008
  6. ↑ William Deuser: NTASM In: Gottfried Kentenich , Christian camp (ed.): Trierische Chronicle. Journal of Trier History and Monument Preservation. NF 4 (1907), p. 23 ff .; Trier: Ms. Lintz, 1907; Online edition of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Library Center , accessed on March 24, 2008
  7. ↑ On Mattheiser Venus, see Hans-Peter Kuhnen (Ed.): The Roman Trier. Theiss, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1517-0 ( Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany 40), p. 177f.
    Wolfgang Binsfeld , Karin Goethert-Polaschek, Lothar Schwinden: Catalog of the Roman stone monuments of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier , 1: Gods and consecration monuments. Zabern, Mainz 1988, ISBN 3-8053-0286-X ( Corpus signorum Imperii Romani . Vol. 4.3. Trier and Trier Land. At the same time: Trier excavations and research 12), p. 165, no. 333; Website of the Society for Useful Research on Trier eV .
  8. ↑ Germania Sacra - Monasteries and Abbey of the Old Kingdom: Benedictine Abbey St. Eucharius-St. Matthias, Trier

Coordinates: 49 ° 44 ′ 17 "  N , 6 ° 37 ′ 55"  E