St. Georgenberg-Fiecht Abbey

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St. Georgenberg
Pen Fiecht

The St. Georgenberg-Fiecht Abbey of the Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien (OSB) is one of the two oldest monasteries in North Tyrol , along with Wilten Monastery . It consists of two monastery complexes that are a good hour's walk from each other: the Fiecht [ fiːəçt ] Abbey in Vomp and the higher pilgrimage site of St. Georgenberg in the municipality of Stans .

Beginnings of St. Georgenberg

Around the middle of the 10th century, Rathold von Aibling (also Ratold, also Rapoto / Ratolf III.) Is said to have retired from the Rapoton family as a hermit, initially in a cave opposite today's Georgenberg. According to legend, the steep rock cone, which rises about 100 meters from the Stallental at 898 m above sea level at the point where the Georgenbach flows into the Stanser Bach, was created by birds who, after injuring a craftsman, carried up bloody shavings on an originally intended building site , as a new building site for the chapel to be built. The fact that Rathold originally intended to found a monastery cannot be rebutted or rebutted: it is possible that he initially just wanted to avoid having to obey the Bavarian ban against the Hungarians. According to the first chronicle of the monastery, 1480, companions should soon have joined him. Rathold himself is said to have a first, St. George consecrated, built a little church, and the chapel of Our Lady under the Linden tree is said to go back to Rathold, who is said to have attached a statue of Mary under a linden tree, which he acquired in Santiago de Compostela .

Allegory: Heinrich IV. And Reginbert on the Georgenberg.

The community, initially resembling a hermit monastery, continued to develop after Rathold's death: the founder was beatified, and at the turn of the millennium, Bishop Albuin von Brixen donated two farms "to support a priest in this holy place." Further donations were made by Emperor Heinrich IV. , who gave six farms in the Lower Inn Valley and a number of serfs in 1097 and pointed out that “the church is in the territory of his Count Rapoto.” He is said to have, among other relics, “the arm tube [a humerus] of St. Georg ”, which is still kept and shown in the pilgrimage church today, and, according to the chronicle, had the first water pipe cut into the rock. An Otto von Hohenwart was also one of the founders, but in particular the knights Dietrich and Gerwein von Schlitters and their sister son Heinrich, who was a cleric, gave the Achensee and to the north of it the Achental (which, however, first had to be cleared; the donation will be made in first third of the 12th century assumed). Donations of this size clearly indicate that a monastery of clerics must have been installed on the Georgenberg . Only a small part of these lands is still owned by the monastery today.

In 1138 at the latest, Bishop Reginbert von Brixen elevated the community to a Benedictine abbey, which Pope Innocent II confirmed on April 30 of this year (the same day as Wilten Abbey). With the incorporation of the original parishes of Vomp and Achental (1141), St. Georgenberg became the intellectual and modest economic center of the Lower Inn Valley .

Penance and pilgrimages (especially promoted by Bishop Hartmann von Brixen as common "cloisters" of entire parishes) possibly began as early as the beginning of the 11th century. The church was soon too small to handle the influx of pilgrims. Although the first devastating fire on July 26, 1284 slowed the development of the monastery, it was rebuilt with the support of Bishop Bruno von Brixen . The pilgrimage flourished again, especially after the "blood miracle" reported around 1310, but further afflictions followed: the bubonic plague (1348/49) killed the abbot and eight members of the convent (the majority of the community), and in 1448 there was a second Fire. In 1470 the Hohe Brücke burned down, in 1489 its new building collapsed for unknown reasons.

The schism harm from about 1520 through interest refusal of farmers and decline in pilgrimages (and related monetary and material donations) and the St. George mountain, a plague epidemic was added: The pilgrimage came almost a hundred years to a halt. The imprisonment of Cardinal Khlesl , who as a prisoner of state on the Georgenberg had to be guarded and properly cared for by more than 20 soldiers from 1619 to 1622, represented an additional economic burden for the monastery.

New monastery building in the valley

Watercolor for the new building on the Eggen, designed by Abbot Benedict III. Herschl, 1647

After a third fire caused by lightning in 1637, the idea of ​​moving the abbey to the Inn Valley came up. This plan, initially delayed by the population and the authorities, finally met resistance in the convent, although (according to rough drafts by Abbot Benedikt Herschl) the Tyrolean master builder Christoph Gumpp the Younger had already planned a new building on the "Eggen" above Fiecht in 1639 : The The restoration of the facility on Georgenberg was probably too advanced in the meantime, and in 1647 the project was apparently "shelved". Only after several avalanches that had endangered the monastery and a forest fire that completely destroyed it on October 31, 1705, this idea was finally implemented under Abbot Cölestin Böhm , who himself designed the building plan.

At first the abbot had to stay in a house belonging to the abbey in Schwaz (other members of the convent found shelter in parishes), but from April 17, 1706 on the "Präbst Gut" in Fiecht, a district of Vomp, a very simple rectangular one was built Plant built, which could be occupied in 1708, although the masonry and carpentry work lasted until August 1709. The chapel in the immediate vicinity, consecrated to Saints Benedict and Scholastica of Nursia in 1688, was initially used as a church .

The Wessobrunner Lambert Höllerer (Abbot from 1732) initially had the church on St. George Berg rebuild (consecration in 1735), and until 1741 the baroque abbey church built in Fiecht, 1750 (with the pen) the hl. Joseph could be consecrated. The church is bricked from nearby broken limestone, the outside unplastered and also kept very simple, with the exception of the false facade in the inner courtyard. It was built by Jakob Singer and his son Cassian . The stucco work was done by Johann Michael and Franz Xaver Feuchtmayer and Johann Georg Üblhör from the Wessobrunn school .

The church tower was only started in 1779 and completed in 1781.

During this period, Father Edmund Angerer (1740–1794) worked at the Fiecht Monastery as choir director, organist and music teacher. The children's symphony, which has long been attributed to Leopold Mozart , most likely originates from him .

Emperor Joseph II (reign 1780–1790) withdrew the church silver as part of his church policy and blocked the novitiate . In 1797 the abbey in the valley was used as a hospital for 200 soldiers. The convent moved back to the Georgenberg for a short time.

Under the rule of the Bavarians, who occupied Tyrol from 1807 in the wake of the Napoleonic turmoil, the monastery was dissolved and bells and other valuables were sold. Only three fathers were allowed to stay in Fiecht and two on the Georgenberg, all others had to leave the country and could only return after the reunification of Tyrol with Austria.

Fire ruins of the Fiecht Abbey in 1868

Destruction by a fire in the valley monastery in 1868 destroyed a large part of the art collections, but did not prevent the huge boom in the 19th century under Abbot Pirmin Pockstaller . St. Georgenberg has also been expanded to become the “Tyrolean jewelery box”.

In 1938 two thirds of the monastery building were occupied by the military, in October 1940 the monks had to retreat to the Georgenberg, and on May 16, 1941 the Gestapo closed the monastery and expelled the monks from the Gau Tirol-Vorarlberg. After the Second World War , the community could initially only return to the Georgenberg, as the monastery had to be thoroughly renovated after the withdrawal of the French occupation troops, and it was not until 1955 that it returned to the valley monastery.

In 1967 the strongly melted monastic community decided to become a member of the Missionary Congregation of St. Ottilien .

Today the monastery looks after the parishes of Fiecht (since 1970), Götzens and Gallzein , Terfens , Stans and Achenkirch (since 1141). Today the Fiecht Abbey runs a religious educational institution with rooms of various capacities and overnight accommodation for up to 100 people in single, double and shared rooms. The range of courses includes, among other things, times of reflection for individuals or groups, retreats and training for parish councils. In the pilgrimage and reflection center St. Georgenberg there are meditation weeks with mountain hikes, Bible camps, retreats and days of reflection. The night pilgrimages on the 13th of May to October are famous. Abbot was Anselm Zeller from 1996 to 2014 . Since December 2014, Fr. Raphael Gebauer OSB has been managing the abbey as prior administrator. In 2016 the Benedictines of St. Georgenberg-Fiecht announced that they wanted to give up the monastery building in Fiecht for personnel and financial reasons and to move to the original monastery on St. Georgenberg. The Klostergasthaus am Georgenberg was temporarily closed in May 2018. The resumption of the pilgrimage was announced for Easter 2019. On Easter Sunday 2019, April 21, 2019, the monastery inn on Georgenberg will reopen. The St. Georgenberg Monastery was officially opened on September 8, 2019. In 2018, Stift Fiecht was sold to Christoph Swarovski, who is planning a digital campus, an elementary school and a grammar school there.

Monastery library and archive

Little is known about the beginnings of the library. Due to the only partially preserved manuscripts, a relationship with the Benedictine monastery Tegernsee can be assumed. Under Abbot Kaspar II. Augsburger (1469–1491), who was very open to humanistic ideas and maintained contact with important humanists such as Johannes Fuchsmagen or Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini , the library experienced great growth. Equally important is the monastery archive, whose holdings share the fate and vicissitudes of the monastery library and suffered considerable losses after several fires.

The two churches on the Georgenberg

Interior of the Georgskirche
Lindenkirche

From Fiecht a road (the last two kilometers of which is closed to public traffic) leads to the Georgenberg, but the most direct access is on foot from Stans via the Wolfsklamm ; further pilgrimage routes from Schwaz, Stans, Vomp and Fiecht.

In any case, the Hohe Brücke , a unique building from the 15th century, which spans the Georgenbach gorge at a height of more than 40 m, offers the only way to reach the pilgrimage site without climbing.

Today St. Georgenberg is a threefold place of pilgrimage: First of all, St. George was especially venerated, but soon also the Mother of God, from around 1310 onwards the Holy Blood relic , and in the Middle Ages relics of 132 saints were venerated. Today the worship of the "Sorrowful Mother" is clearly in the foreground. The famous Gothic “Vesper picture” (a carved Pietà , i.e. the depiction of Mary with the body of Jesus) from around 1415, like earlier Vespers pictures, was initially located in the small linden church , which is hardly used today .

George's Church

The building history of the Saints George and James the Elder. Ä. The current main church, consecrated now, begins around 950 as a wooden structure, its current shape was essentially between 1654 and 1660. The previously three-aisled church was converted into a single-aisled church by Christoph Gumpp in the Baroque and redesigned around 1735 in the late Baroque style.

The vault is adorned with two large and several small frescoes in the Nazarene style , which were created by Franz Lair in 1863 . The high altar from the 18th century is artistically significant with the carved miraculous image of Our Lady of Sorrows from 1415, at her feet the figures of the pilgrim apostle James the Elder. Ä. and the blessed Rathold von Aibling, designed by Franz Xaver Nißl . Both churches were restored around 2000.

Special pilgrimage days are the Friday of Sorrows (Friday before Palm Sunday), George's Day , the Golden Saturdays in October and the night pilgrimages, which take place on the 13th of May to October.

Lindenkirche

The church or chapel Maria unter der Linde, also Our Lady under the Linden tree , was consecrated to the Holy Trinity from 1736 after the Vespers picture had been put up in the larger Georgskirche. Today it is again referred to as the Lindenkirche.

This, the older of the two churches in its preserved core structure, is documented as a stone building as early as 1240, a Romanesque portal has been preserved. In 1475 the church was rebuilt in Gothic style and expanded with the addition of a new choir. In 1515 a stone tower was added. A star rib vault can be seen in the interior. In 1877 the church was furnished in a neo-Gothic style. In 1975 new windows were added showing stained glass by contemporary artist Fred Hochschwarzer .

photos

  • St. George Pilgrimage Church Southwest View (2012)

  • Inner courtyard of the St. Georgenberg-Fiecht Abbey

  • Fiecht Stiftskirche St. Josef - Stuhlwangen by FX Nißl, 1772–1773

  • High Bridge on the Georgenberg (2007)

location

  • Overview of Kellerjoch seen from

  • Fiecht Abbey
    Turquoise: Convent
    Blue: Benediktuskirchlein, Stiftskirche
    Purple: Tower
    Brown: Farm building
    Pink: Library wing

  • St. Georgenberg facility
    Brown above: Hohe Brücke
    Purple: Lindenkirche
    Black: Garage
    Pink: Open-air chapel
    Blue: Georgskirche
    Turquoise: Retreat area
    Light brown: Adjacent building
    Brown: Gastronomy
    Green: to Fiecht
    Gray: to Stans

literature

  • Thomas Naupp OSB among others: Festschrift 850 years Benedictine Abbey St. Georgenberg-Fiecht, EOS Klosterverlag, Archabbey St. Ottilien, 1987. 580 pages, 64 illustrations, ISBN 3-88096-631-1
  • Article by Thomas Naupp in Germania Benedictina Vol III-1, EOS Klosterverlag, Archabbey St. Ottilien, 2000. 844 pp., 1 color illustration, ISBN 3-8306-7029-X
  • Chronicle of St. Georgenberg , printed around 1480, probably by A. Sorg in Augsburg. This first printed work on Tyrol (according to other sources the first printed book in Tyrol) describes all the relics (of 132 saints) that existed in the monastery at that time, and is therefore also called "Heiltumverzeichnis" or "Heiltumbuch", but also contains legends Descriptions.
  • Athos Georgianus , list of the holy things richly decorated with copper engravings, printed by Michael Wagner, Innsbruck 1652.
  • Pirmin Pockstaller OSB: Chronicle of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Georgenberg, now Fiecht . Innsbruck 1874.
  • Maurus Kramer OSB: History of the Benedictine Abbey St. Georgenberg-Fiecht near Schwaz in Tyrol . EOS Verlag, St. Ottilien 2nd increased edition 1977, ISBN 3-88096-036-4 .
  • Hanns Bachmann: The Benedictine Abbey of St. Georgenberg in the cultural life of the Middle Ages , in: Tiroler Heimat , vol. 16, Innsbruck 1952, p. 33ff.
  • Gerhard Weiss: Contributions to the history of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Georgenberg in the late Middle Ages and at the beginning of the modern era . Dissertation, Innsbruck 1969.
  • Christian Fornwagner (arr.): The regests of the documents of the Benedictine abbey St. Georgenberg-Fiecht from the 10th century to 1300 . Innsbruck 1989.
  • Wilhelm Baum : Catalan philosophers in Tyrolean monasteries: to the manuscript collections of Ramon von Penyafort, Ramon Lull, Arnald von Villanova and Antoni Ricard in Innichen, St. Georgenberg, Schnals and Stams. in: Der Schlern 58, H. 10, Athesia, Bozen 1984, pp. 612-621.
  • Peter Jeffery: St. Georgenberg-Fiecht (Descriptive inventories of manuscripts microfilmed for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library Austrian libraries 2). HMML, Collegeville, Minn. 1985, 400 pp.
  • Thomas Naupp: About gold and silver work in St. Georgenberg-Fiecht (in detail about the Hartmann staff !), In: Exhibition catalog gold and silver. Sacred treasures from Tyrol ..., Stams Abbey 2004, pp. 102–126.
  • Thomas Naupp (Red.): 250 years of the collegiate church. Benedictine Abbey St. Georgenberg-Fiecht . Kunstverlag Peda , Passau 2000, 192 pages. (Festschrift II)
  • Thomas Naupp (Red.): Collegiate Church of St. Josef. Benedictine Abbey St. Georgenberg-Fiecht . Kunstverlag Peda, Passau 2001, 30 pages.
  • Thomas Naupp: On the history of the pilgrimage to St. Georgenberg , in: Catalog “Heiltum and Pilgrimage”, Tiroler Landesausstellung 1988, Innsbruck, pp. 94-105.
  • Gerd-Klaus Pinggera: Contributions to the building history of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Georgenberg-Fiecht . Diss., Mschr., Innsbruck 1986.
  • Eve Maria Steinwandter: St. Georgenberg-Fiecht. Considerations on the painterly design in the second half of the 19th century . Diploma thesis, mschr., Innsbruck 1990.
  • Hildegard Herrmann-Schneider: St. Georgenberg-Fiecht. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 5, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-7001-3067-8 .

Web links

Commons : St. Georgenberg-Fiecht Monastery  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Wolfsklamm  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ position 47 ° 23 '  N , 11 ° 42'  E ; eponymous was St. Georg , the church patron of Aibling.
  2. ↑ Chronik 1480, quoted in Festschrift I, p. 13.
  3. ↑ Later researchers do not rule out that Abbot Kaspar II. Augsburger, to whom the chronicle is ascribed, had the aqueduct built and attributed it to the emperor on the one hand out of courtesy and on the other hand to emphasize the importance of his abbey.
  4. ↑ Festschrift I p. 14f.
  5. ↑ Wilten Abbey introduces itself. In: stift-wilten.at. Retrieved April 21, 2019 . See also: Our History in Brief. In: st-georgenberg.at. Retrieved April 21, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Festschrift I p. 15: At the time of Abbot Rupert (1292-1316), a foreign priest had doubts about transubstantiation during communion , whereupon the transformed wine took on the color, smell and taste of blood. According to the chronicle of 1480, the "blood of Christ" stored afterwards remained fresh and in 1480 was filled into a glass tube, which is still shown today in a special monstrance .
  7. ↑ The influx of pilgrims , however, seemed uninterrupted: the MA was introduced to the post of stabbing : a nobleman had to stand by the abbot with a silver staff during appearances in order to keep the crowd at an appropriate distance. Festschrift I p. 53.
  8. ↑ Festschrift I, p. 18: A wing had to be specially rebuilt, and the approximately 7,000 guilders that the monastery had to advance to feed the cardinal and his servants and guards were not paid for by the government until 1640; Above all, because of the annoying body searches, there was almost no influx of pilgrims.
  9. ↑ Only relics, church utensils and library holdings could be saved. (Festschrift I p. 84)
  10. ↑ Jakob Apfalter and Stefan Schweikart are named as builders , but it can be assumed that Gumpp's design was also used (Festschrift I, p. 85f). For lack of money, the complex was turned into a functional building without the rich interior design customary at the time, but a clearly baroque building due to its symmetry and proportions and, precisely because of its simplicity, unique (Festschrift I, p. 90).
  11. ↑ Built in 1687/88, now a cemetery chapel.
  12. ↑ Festschrift I p. 92
  13. ↑ Plan drawings of the abbey are only known from 1919, but they should represent the state of the 18th century with sufficient accuracy. Significant renovations were only carried out later, when utility rooms on the ground floor such as the butcher's shop, cold store, carpentry, wood cellar, bakery, servant room and granary were abandoned and the area was converted into a boarding school for secondary school students. (Festschrift I p. 89)
  14. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: parishes )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.st-georgenberg.at
  15. ↑ Monks give up the monastery building in Fiecht. In: orf.at . July 26, 2016, accessed on January 28, 2020.
  16. ↑ St. Georgenberg closed for one year. In: tirol.orf.at. April 20, 2018, accessed August 5, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Georgenberg opens on Easter Sunday. In: tirol.orf.at. April 17, 2019, accessed April 19, 2019 .
  18. ↑ St. Georgenberg Monastery officially inaugurated. In: tirol.orf.at. September 8, 2019, accessed September 8, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Christoph Swarovski buys Fiecht pen. In: tirol.orf.at. June 29, 2018, accessed October 30, 2018 .
  20. ^ Website of the monastery on library history ( Memento from October 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ↑ On the history of the archive in detail Martin Bitschnau , Hannes Obermair : Tiroler Urkundenbuch, II. Department: The documents on the history of the Inn, Eisack and Pustertal valleys. Vol. 1: Up to the year 1140 . Universitätsverlag Wagner, Innsbruck 2009, ISBN 978-3-7030-0469-8 , p. XXX-XXXI .
  22. ↑ Paths to the monastery

Coordinates: 47 ° 21 ′ 17 ″  N , 11 ° 41 ′ 46 ″  E