Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius (Tholey)

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The Tholey Abbey in Tholey in Saarland is a Benedictine monastery in the Diocese of Trier and belongs to the Beuron congregation . The abbey is considered the oldest monastery on German soil and was first mentioned in a document in 634 AD. The most important immediate neighboring abbeys were Busendorf , Weiler-Bettnach , St. Avold , Glandern , Fraulautern , Mettlach , St. Arnual and Hornbach . The neighboring intellectual centers of the Middle Ages were Trier and Metz . Today's early Gothic abbey church from the 13th century is one of the oldest Gothic churches in Germany. The abbey church is under the patronage of St. Mauritius . Patronage day of the abbey church is September 22nd . The abbey's current Latin motto is “fides cum benignitate” (“faith and humanity”).

Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius in Tholey
St. Mauritius Abbey, tower of the abbey church from the west

history

The Tholey Foundation by Adalgisel Grimo

Copy of the will of Adalgisel Grimo from the 10th century. The certificate is considered the oldest document from the Rhineland (Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz, inventory 1 a, number 1)

The Franconian aristocrat and deacon of the Verdun church , Adalgisel Grimo , determined in his will on December 30, 634, among other things, that his property in Tholey together with the "loca sanctorum" he established there would be transferred to the diocese of Verdun , the bishop at the time Paul presided over should fall. At the request of Adalgisel Grimos, the Bishop of Trier , who also consecrated the Tholeyer Church, sent clerics to Tholey.

The Latin document from Adalgisel Grimo is considered to be the oldest surviving document in the Rhineland. It is no longer in the original from 634, but in a slightly damaged, but credible copy of the 10th century on parchment and is now kept in the Koblenz State Main Archives. Adalgisel Grimo, who had numerous, widely scattered estates in the Austrasian part of the empire, especially between the Meuse , the Ardennes and the Hunsrück , was brought up at the Verdun cathedral. His ancestral property could have come into the possession of his family through allocation when the Franks took over the land at the end of the 5th and beginning of the 6th century and not through active land development, because the places mentioned in the document all have pre-Germanic names. The relationship between Adalgisel Grimo and Duke Adalgisel is considered certain. This duke, together with Bishop Kunibert of Cologne, reigned for the under-king Sigibert III. and can also be proven in the vicinity of King Childerich II .

After building his own church in Tholey, Adalgisel Grimo had turned to the Trier bishop, probably Moduald , with the request to send clerics and consecrate the Tholeyer church. In addition, the document regulates the purchase of the baptismal chrisam against an annual payment to the diocese of Trier. While Trier was given the spiritual property rights to Tholey, the secular rights were given to the Bishop of Verdun. The current church patron Tholey, Saint Mauritius, is not mentioned in the document. The text of the document is clear in that in Tholey, pastoral care is not incumbent on a single pastor but on a clerical community. It remains to be seen whether this was a loose community of secular clergy (canons as later in the St. Arnual an der Saar Abbey ) or a monastic community based on the Benedictine or Columban model. It is also not entirely clear why Adalgisel Grimo calls the branch in Tholey "loca sanctorum" and not "ecclesia" or "basilica". It is also unclear what the founder means with the place names “Domo et Teulegio”, “Doma aut Toleio” or “Doma vel Taulegius”. While the second place mentioned can be assigned to today's Tholey, the meaning of "Domo" or "Doma" remains hidden.

The connection between the later Abbey of Tholey and the Diocese of Verdun persisted throughout the Middle Ages and was cited in the 1680s by French courts as a legal reason to unite the entire Schaumberg region with the Kingdom of France in the so-called " reunions " . The Tholey Foundation to the Diocese of Verdun is as follows:

“In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. (...) On the 3rd calendar of January in the 12th year of our glorious King Dagobert's reign. I, Adalgisel, who is also called Grimo, a sinner, but by God's grace (deacon). (...) From which my heart, if it pleases God and the mercy of God (...) of the peoples, with which zeal we rejoice after we have exchanged the temporality of this world, without crime, but not without salvation, as a result of which we, a little freed from the chains of punishment, do not feel the coming day of judgment , but the remedy (...) and until then not the venerable trial (meaning the Last Judgment) condemns those who are to be condemned, as I am a guilty and unworthy sinner who would be much sooner to perish in his sins, inspired by the Lord from on high (...) may deserve to be forgiven.

That is why I made my will for the salvation of my soul and as the most willing sacrifice for so many pernicious sins to be washed off through the series of these dispositions (...) and commissioned the venerable deacon Erchenulf to write it. (A number of foundations follow.)

The place with the nickname Domo and the fortification Tholey, located in the Vosges, where I built a place of saints for the glory of God and where the Bishop of Trier has sent clerics to serve there at my request (this means the performance of the Pastoral care), intact, as it is currently owned by me, with fields, meadows, forests and servants, buildings, with all its rights, with accessories, income, houses bought and what is found in this place at the time of my death will, all and everything, as it is contained in this document, which I made in the church in Verdun, this church itself (Verdun is meant) should receive its rights and rule and should own it as administrator in the name of God. (A number of foundations in other locations follow.)

If an improvement, a deletion, or an addition is found in this order of mine, I have done it or wanted it to be done, insofar as I return to my order more often and do it according to my will. If anyone should try to act or oppose my will or my orders, whether relatives or some other opposed person, he should have God as an opponent and according to the law pay the Treasury ten pounds of gold and fifty pounds of silver. My disposition is to remain unchangeable in firm permanence. But I signed this decree with my own hand and asked honorable and wealthy men to sign it. But I plead with you, distinguished and powerful, and swear to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit that you will not allow my present declaration of will and decree to be overturned, broken or changed by any person.

Done at Verdun.

And I think it's good to write that, because these holy places in the above-mentioned place Doma or Tholey were consecrated by the Bishop of Trier at my request, this bishop should perhaps consider another donation from the above Verduner church, he can only ask for the baptismal oil, namely 31 gold pieces, which are to be paid annually to the Trier church for the oil. Beyond that, however, no fee should be paid to him unless it is determined by the Verdun church there; and if, for whatever reason, the Bishop of Verdun or his trustee take action against the Verdun Churches because of the above-mentioned location or do something to the contrary, the Church of Verdun shall receive everything that I have assigned to the Trier Church at its disposal and rule. The already mentioned place Doma or Tholey should invariably belong to the Verdun church in its undiminished entirety, as said above, with Christ's grace.

I, Grimo, sinner, have read and signed this will, which I voluntarily made out of devotion to God. In Christ's name Paul, by the grace of God, the Bishop has signed this will at the request of the above. I, Gisloald, archdeacon, signed the will at the request of the deacon Grimo. Haderich, priest, who is also called Bettilo, signed the will at the request of the deacon Grimo. Meroald, deacon, signed the will at the request of the deacon Grimo. Magnoald. Ansemund. I, Herenulf, deacon, wrote and signed this will at the request of the deacon Grimo. "

middle Ages

Abbey of St. Mauritius (Tholey), sandstone statue of St. Mauritius as the leader of the Thebaic Legion with the legendary Holy Lance in hand, abbey forecourt, 2.46 × 0.80 m, sculptor Jakob Jausel (Kaiserslautern), 1920s
St. Mauritius Abbey (Tholey), arched portal with the Rising Christ, 13th century, chiseled off in 2019
Abbey of St. Mauritius (Tholey), Tholeyer building block with the Latin inscription "Captus erat Gallus, coeunt cum rure cohortes" (translation: the rooster was caught, cohorts fought with peasants), background: In 1525, the French King Francis I captured by imperial troops in Pavia, Italy. In the same year the peasant armies of the German Peasant War were defeated by the princely armies. By keeping the peasantry in St. Wendel, the danger of the Tholey Abbey being plundered no longer existed. The Latin letters M, C, L and V give the year 1525 as Roman numerals.

The monastery complex that still exists today is located on the ruins of a Roman bath complex. Presumably as early as the 7th century, a clerical community of Colombian origin formed at this point .

On the instructions of Magnerich , bishop of Trier from 566 to 600 , the hermits joined together to form monastic communities. According to legend, St. Wendelin was the first abbot of Tholey to preside over such a first community at the foot of the Schaumberg .

In the period from 662 to 675, the Tholeyer abbot Craudingus left the monastery and founded the monastery of St. Maurice de Beaulieu (Waslogium / Beaulieu-en-Argonne ) west of Verdun in the Argonne . In Tholey he installed his nephew Croduin / Froduin as his successor. Both had the rank of bishop as abbots. For its re-establishment, Craudingus received land and privileges from the Merovingian king Childerich II . Craudingus was later venerated as a saint in the Diocese of Verdun under the name of St. Rouin.

In 781 there was an exchange of goods between the Tholey Abbot Anno and Bishop Petrus von Verdun, in which the head of St. Paulus, Bishop of Verdun, was transferred to Tholey as a relic. In 853 the widow of Count Nithad, Erkanfrida, presented the Tholey monastery with a hundred solidi to commemorate her anniversary . Emperor Lothar I and his son Lothar II withdrew Tholey from the bishop of Verdun in the period from 843 to around 865 and gave it to lay abbots, including the named Adalhelm. Around the year 865, Bishop Hatto von Verdun bought the monastery back for the diocese of Verdun with the support of the Pope. The bishops of Verdun occupied from now on for about the next hundred years the Abtsstuhl of Tholey in personal union . Before the year 869, Bishop Hatto had relics of the holy Verduner bishops Maurus, Salvinus and Arator transferred to Tholey. On December 31, 879, Bishop Bernhard von Verdun died in Tholey and was buried in the monastery, where he was venerated as a saint in the 16th century.

The Benedictine life began in Tholey probably around the middle of the 8th century. Tholey was first attested in writing as a Benedictine monastery in the years 916/917 under the Verdun bishop Dabo, a nephew of Bernhard von Verdun. Around 947, Bishop Bernger von Verdun, a relative of Emperor Otto the Great and supporter of the Lorraine monastery reform , gave Tholey Monastery a regular abbot.

The Tholeyer abbot Eberwin III., Who had been abbot of St. Martin in Trier since around 996 , went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land together with his friend, the Verdun monk reformer Richard von St. Vanne , during which they were returning from the Byzantine region Monk Simeon von Trier had been accompanied. After the death of Simeon on June 1, 1035, Abbot Eberwin wrote down his life and carried out his canonization on a massive scale, so that Simeon was already in December 1035 by Pope Benedict IX. was canonized. After Ulrich von Augsburg , Simeon was the second saint to be officially canonized.

In the 10th century Tholey Abbey came increasingly under the influence of the Archbishopric of Trier and became one of five archdeaconates set up under Archbishop Radbod .

The Archbishop of Trier, Kuno I von Pfullingen , who was murdered in Ürzig on June 1, 1066 and was the nephew of the Archbishop of Cologne , Anno II. , Was buried on July 25, 1066 in a burial chapel attached to the Tholeyer Abbey Church at the instigation of Bishop Theoderich from Verdun venerated at this time as a co-patron next to Saint Mauritius. The author of the Vita Kunos, which described numerous alleged miracles of the murdered man, was the Tholeyer monk Theoderich, who also showed strongly anti-papal tendencies in his work (“Vita et Passio”) written between 1056/1080. In the period that followed, a flourishing pilgrimage to the grave of Kuno, who was venerated as a saint, developed, and in the 18th century pilgrims in Tholey were shown the saint's tunic, pierced by sword blows.

Around 1142, Abbot Theodoric von Tholey swore to the Archbishop of Trier, Albero von Montreuil, the oboe oath . In 1171 the Tholeyer abbot Gregor from the house of the Counts of Blieskastel also became abbot of the Prüm monastery .

Abbot Hugo (1264–1280) began building the early Gothic abbey church that still exists today. In 1332 the Tholeyer Abbey Church burned down and relics could be saved in a way that was interpreted as a miracle.

Abbot Thomas II of the von Sötern family led a Benedictine reform synod in Trier in 1422. Under Abbot Damian von Lommersweiler the reform of the Tholey monastery was carried out in 1485, so that after a phase of decline, the monastery of the abbey joined the Bursfeld congregation in 1483 . Seven reform monks from the Maria Laach Abbey and one from St. Pantaleon in Cologne ensured a new upswing in the abbey under Abbot Gerhard von Hasselt (1489–1517), who came from the Netherlands. Abbot Gerhard von Hasselt was previously a monk in Maria Laach and is considered one of the leading personalities of the Bursfeld Reform Congregation. Abbot Balthasar from Utrecht continued his work .

17th century

Between 1613 and 1616, under Abbot Antonius von Trier, there was a conflict between Tholey Abbey and Duke Heinrich II of Lorraine . who Tholey wanted to hand over as property to his illegitimate son Heinrich. In the years 1617–1638, the Tholeyer abbot Martinus Nennich carried out another internal reform of the convent, which was interrupted by the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War . The abbot had to flee to Trier several times and on Christmas Eve 1631 Swedish troops looted the monastery.

There was further armed looting under Abbot Mauritius Groffius in 1655 by French troops and under Abbot Mauritius Gralinger in 1696 by imperial troops.

18th century

Development plan for Tholey drawn up by Friedrich Gerhard Wahl, director of agriculture in Zweibrücken, drawn by Philipp Schaefer, detail, the abbey at the bottom left; The parish church of St. John, which was demolished in 1804, and the surrounding village cemetery are registered under No. 18

Only in the years 1712–1730 could the monastery be renovated under Abbot Caspar de Roussel. A new dormitory was built and the abbey church was decorated with baroque altars. The construction work was continued under Abbot Theobert d'Hame from St. Wendel, who had the church roof restored and bought a new organ. After his death in 1759 the Duchy of Lorraine and the Kingdom of France succeeded with growing success in appointing commander abbots for Tholey. Thus, the Tholeyer's income from the church and monastery property was transferred to one person under exemption from official duties, which led to the growing disruption of the financial situation and the monastic discipline. In 1787, Tholey and the Amt of Schaumburg changed from the French crown to the Duchy of Pfalz-Zweibrücken .

In 1793 the monastery was occupied, looted and pillaged by French revolutionary troops, and it was abolished in the same year. The convent fled. The monastery archive and library were largely destroyed or scattered. The monastery was confiscated as a French domain. In 1798 the monastery buildings were auctioned off and bought by a private individual.

19th century

In 1806 the abbey church as a parish church and the abbatial building attached to the church as a pastor's apartment became the property of the community. Other monastery buildings had been demolished.

20th century

Abbey of St. Mauritius (Tholey), burial place of Abbot Dr. Petrus Borne in front of the Mauritius altar, German translation: “Petrus Borne, born on February 12, 1910, re-founder of the Tholeyer St. Mauritius Monastery and abbot 1950 to 1976, previously abbot of the Trier St. Matthias monastery from 1947 to 1950 and chairman of the Beuron congregation 1966 to 1976. He was a diligent teacher of the monks and made a well-deserved contribution to peace between the churches of Christ and the nations. He stepped over to his heavenly home on March 3, 1976. Live in Christ, most pious father. ”Text and design by Father Robert“ Bonifatius ”Köck, OSB, executed by the stonemason company Paul Schütz, Tholey

The abbey was founded on December 8, 1949 by Pope Pius XII. canonically rebuilt and settled on April 23, 1950 by monks from the Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias in Trier. St. Matthias in Trier was repopulated on October 22, 1922. Already in 1938 there were restrictions on monastery life by the Nazi government. In 1941 the Abbey was closed by the Secret State Police and the property was confiscated. The convent was brought to the Maria Laach Abbey . It was not until 1945 that the convent in Trier was able to gather again, but a pastor was appointed to St. Matthias while the monks were absent, so that the monks could not take over pastoral care directly after their return. The unclear situation between the parish and the abbey put a strain on the already affected community, so that the majority of the community, together with Abbot Petrus Borne, who has been in office since 1947, accepted the offer of the Saarland state government under Prime Minister Johannes Hoffmann to repopulate the abolished Tholey Abbey. A smaller convent group opposed this transfer of the abbey and stayed in Trier. The prelate Ludwig Kaas from Trier tried to get the rest of the community confirmed as a convent in Rome. This ultimately resulted in two separate communities. The Tholey Abbey remained in the Beuron congregation, the Trier convent was directly subordinate to the Abbot Primate .

The current gate structure of Tholey Abbey was built in 1954. The renovation of the church was carried out at the time of Abbot Petrus Borne in the years 1957 to 1963 with state and diocesan support from the government of Saarland and the diocese of Trier. The church interior was redesigned from a liturgical point of view. During this time, Father Maurus Sabel (1912–2012) founded the Tholeyer Boys 'Choir (1950–1978), a nationally recognized boys' choir . The new founding abbot Petrus Borne died on March 3, 1976. His successor was Hrabanus Heddergott in 1976, who resigned on November 26, 1981 due to differences with the convent, so that Father Athanasius Weber ran the monastery for three years as prior administrator. During this time, the restoration work on the chapter house building was completed. On March 11, 1985, the convent elected Father Makarios Hebler as the new Abbot of Tholey. Hebler, who came from Essen and came to the abbey on October 28, 1971, began the restoration of the abbey building in 1985. In November 1997 Abbot Makarios also took over the office of pastor of Tholey. For more than a decade he was the director and editor of the “Studia Regulae Benedicti - interdisciplinary studies on the monastic rule of St. Benedict”.

21st century

Painting from the beginning of the 16th century, Madonna and Child (Florence, Master of Angiolini, tempera on wood)

In 2008 the abbey was on the verge of financial ruin. Abbot Makarios Hebler resigned on August 31, 2008. The abbey was able to consolidate itself economically through the sale of around 80 hectares of land to the municipality of Tholey, support from the association, which has around 200 members, and sponsors and funds from the Saarland Ministry of Economics and the EU Start building and renovation work. Among other things, a baroque green area, a new greenhouse, a beekeeping and new access gates were built. The redesign of the surroundings of the abbey in a historicizing way could be realized through donations from a family close to the abbey. These measures include a Baroque fountain system made in Würzburg with statues of the Virgin and Mother of God, surrounded by the four evangelists, and rich baroque wrought iron work on several gates. The Abbey was also given a Florentine painting of the Madonna and Child (Master of Angiolini) from the beginning of the 16th century by the donor family ( Gebr. Meiser ) who were active in the metal industry . The family's private chapel, the so-called Statio Dominus Mundi in Wustweiler , built in 2002 according to the plans of the architect Alexander von Branca , is under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Benedictine Abbey of Tholey.

Today the monks work in pastoral care and run an inn and a guest house. In 2019, 11 monks lived in the abbey. In July 2015, after extensive renovation work, the Lenoir building from 1722, the cloister from the 1950s and the monk's garden were completed. The costs amounted to around half a million euros. The funds came from the Diocese of Trier, the monument promotion measures of the Saarland and the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Foundation for Monument Protection , the district of St. Wendel , the abbey’s own resources and private donors. The former nurses' home, which was acquired by the Tholey Catholic parish in 2014, was converted into a home for refugee families. The non-profit association “Spiritual Center Benedictine Abbey Tholey”, founded in 2009, acted as the buyer of the former sister's house. From February 2016, around 60 unaccompanied young refugees were also accommodated in the abbey’s Schaumberger Hof, which is to serve as the Saarland-wide registration office in the course of a so-called “pre-clearing process” on behalf of the Saarland government.

  • Historicized wrought iron main gate with pedestrian gates at the side and gilded tip

  • Wrought iron side gate

  • Wrought iron grille on the fountain in the neo-baroque park

  • Staircase with candelabra, statue of the Virgin Mary on a modern, baroque fountain surrounded by statues of evangelists

Abbey church

The abbey church viewed from the Schaumberg
Access to the church from the street "Im Kloster"
View inside the abbey church
View into the chancel

architecture

Today's abbey church is a three-nave Gothic complex without transepts from the middle and second half of the 13th century.

Construction of the Adalgisel-Grimo

The first rectangular church building by the Franconian aristocrat Adalgisel Grimo was built at the beginning of the 7th century in the remains of a Roman bathing complex. Since every new building of the monastery church over the centuries was based on the original orientation of the Roman bathing complex, today's sacred building is not completely easted .

Expansion measures

Around the year 750 the church was extended by a rectangular choir. After 1066, the monastery church was extended to a three-aisled rectangle under the sacramental altar, including the burial place of the martyr of Trier Bishop Kuno von Pfullingen. In the years 1216 to 1230 this building was vaulted to protect against fire. Nevertheless, the church and the monastery buildings fell victim to a major fire in 1230.

Medieval new building measures

In 1236 the construction of a new monastery church with three apses in Romanesque style began at the site of the fire ruins. This building fell victim to another fire before it was even completed. When work on the current church began in 1260, the Romanesque foundation of the unfinished previous building was left and an early Gothic church was built on it in accordance with the style of the time under Trier and Lorraine-Burgundian influence. The formal apparatus of the classical French Gothic was reduced to a monastic minimum in Tholey. The structure of the main portal in the northwest corresponds roughly to the main portal of the Trier Liebfrauenkirche . The arch field shows the resurrection of Jesus in a strongly weathered form . The massive west tower was taken over from the Romanesque building complex. The current structure was completed around 1302.

The nave is supported by 12 pillars and has a length of 47 meters, a width of 20 meters and a height of 31 meters. On the keystones of the vault there are foliage decorations and isolated figurative representations. For the believers in the village, a chapel with the patronage of John the Baptist was built on today's Tholeyer market square around the year 1000 , which no longer exists today.

Baroque period, French Revolution, used as a parish church

In the 18th century the church was decorated with baroque altars. After the monastery was closed on July 7, 1794 and the church and monastery building in Metz were publicly auctioned for 50,000 francs in 1798, a Tholeyer citizen purchased the complex for 1650 new guilders and donated it to the community as a parish church. In the 19th century, numerous restoration work was carried out on the building and the church was painted in the style of historicism .

Renovation work at the beginning of the 20th century

St. Mauritius (Tholey), interior view of the church with neo-Gothic furnishings and ornamental painting

At the beginning of the 20th century, the sacred building underwent major renovations from 1903 to 1906 and the tower foundations were largely underpinned. The vault caps were also almost completely renewed. The floor, which had been raised over the centuries due to rising groundwater, was lowered back to its original level. The area around the church was lowered and secured by a wall facing the street.

General renovation in the post-war period

  • St. Mauritius Abbey, honeycomb antependium of the celebration altar

  • St. Mauritius Abbey, Tabernacle

  • St. Mauritius Abbey, Archangel Gabriel

  • St. Mauritius Abbey, Pietà

  • St. Mauritius Abbey, Baptistery

During the renovation of the church in the years 1957 to 1963, all medieval church foundations were replaced with solid reinforced concrete, the entire stone outer skin of the north aisle with the tracery windows was renewed and the roof structure was redesigned in reinforced concrete struts in the sense of "masonry tongs". A heater was installed in the floor. Liturgically, the church interior was designed in the style of the time, with a new baptistery built in the west and the Gothic altar with its medieval reliquary niches destroyed in order to be able to replace it with a modern, smooth block altar. The modern altar is decorated with a honeycomb pattern made of gold-plated copper plates with mother-of-pearl inlays from the Aachen goldsmith's workshop Schwerdt and Förster. Schwerdt and Förster also created the tabernacle in the sacrament chapel, the eternal light, the hanging cross (formerly lecture cross), the altar candlesticks, the Easter candlestick, the modern lectern and the tabernacle for the holy oils.

During the renovation work, all neo-Gothic pieces of equipment were also removed . The choir stalls , dating from 1704 , of which only half of the original holdings have survived today, were moved towards the apse. Instead of the neo-Gothic altar structure, an Annunciation angel from around 1300 was positioned from the side pillar of the main portal in the apse of the church. The tapestries of the Way of the Cross , which were made by the Aachen textile artist Mila Wiertz-Getz in the 1960s, were replaced in the 1990s by newly framed neo-Gothic Stations of the Cross.

Refurbishment 2018–2020

State of the renovation work in June 2020 with protection portal

The Tholeyer Abbey Church has been extensively renovated since May 2018. The early Gothic church is therefore closed and completely scaffolded both inside and out. Johannes Naumann (Frater Wendelinus, * 1972 in Lebach ) is in charge of the project. The renovation is funded by the German Foundation for Monument Protection , among others . The church will reopen on September 20, 2020.

The redesign of the abbey church, which has been ongoing since 2018 with strong financial support from the Meiser family , led to a massive conflict with the State Monuments Office of Saarland . The department management under Abbot Mauritius Choriol tried to apply an unhistorical light cream-colored paint with ashlar joints in the interior (despite the original reddish paint from the Middle Ages or the stonightness of the last restoration measure) as well as the completed replacement of all church windows with the guarantee of the To legitimize freedom of religion in Germany and the need for religious education in a more contemporary way. The abbey had separated from the diocese of Trier in advance and submitted to the Holy See as an exempte unit . There is no higher authority for them, except for the Pope. Because of the "fundamental importance of the case", the matter should be re-examined in Rome. The State Monuments Office recommended leaving the stonework of the interior in order to document the precision of the medieval architecture of the Saarland. The department management then decided to only glaze the walls in a light cream color and no longer paint them completely. Those responsible at the State Monuments Office approved the installation of new windows in principle.

In addition, with financial support from the Meiser company, the department management had the 13th-century medieval arch of the outer north portal chiseled off without any consultation with the Saarland State Monument. The department head said that the depiction of the risen Christ in the wreath of angels and saints was no longer sufficiently “ adorable ” for today's observer .

In art historical research, the arch field and the associated staggered arches were among the few early Gothic figure portals. The resurrection scene with its rare, originally preserved imagery was unique in Germany, even if the visual legibility was limited by the weathering of the centuries. In his place, the department management plans to add new, recreated figures. The department management had the chiselling of the original early Gothic figures documented. The chiseled off parts were then stored on the company premises of the Meiser company. The State Monument of the Saarland, the State Monument Council and the Ministry of Culture of the Saarland insist on the reinstallation of the chipped original parts.

Church window

Window by Bonifatius Köck

As part of the construction work to renovate the St. Mauritius Abbey Church, the glazing that was temporarily used after the damage caused by the Second World War was replaced by an artistically designed one. Abbot Petrus Borne , the lead architect, building officer Heinrich Otto Vogel , and the Saarland state curator Martin Klewitz entrusted this task to the Tholeyer convent member, Father Bonifatius (real name Robert Köck ).

A synthesis was to be found between the Gothic church interior and the new windows. In 1958, the design work began. Initially, Father Boniface planned figurative conceptions of biblical and hagiographic content. Then ornamental solutions were considered. The windows of Georg Meistermann in the Sepultur at the Würzburg Cathedral in 1956 provided decisive impulses for clarifying one's own visual ideas . Reading the Exodus stories brought the breakthrough to the finally realized representations. In this context, the decision was made not to understand the Gothic tracery of the windows as a boundary, but to overflow them creatively. Father Bonifatius made the design boxes on a 1: 1 scale. As a test, the representation “Water from the rock” ( Ex 16.4–7  EU ) was installed as the first window next to the entrance portal . When this work was convincing to the decision-makers, all other windows of the church were also decorated with stained glass. The Derix workshops in Rottweil and Wiesbaden were responsible for executing the designs , while the glasses were manufactured under the direction of Father Köck in the Mittinger glassworks in Darmstadt . A white matt finish was burned onto all hand-blown glasses to prevent the outside of the church building from shining through.

In 1959 the windows were installed in the side aisles. The second built-in window shows the column of clouds and light above the waves of the Red Sea ( Ex 14.19–31  EU ). The window with the Old Testament manna rain was installed at the height of the communion bench still in existence at that time ( Ex 16.13-23  EU ).

The following window at the height of the altar shows the full moon of the Passover night and the blood of the Passover lamb on the posts of the doors of the Israelites ( Ex 12.11–14  EU ) as an Old Testament foreshadowing the bloody sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

Opposite this window, near the altar, the sacrifice of Abel was portrayed, which rises skyward as a bright column of smoke, while the sacrifice of Cain sinks to the ground as a dark plume of smoke ( Gen 4,1-5  EU ).

In the window next to it, Father Bonifatius designed the burning thorn bush with tiny red roses, in which God had revealed himself as Yahweh to Moses ( Ex 3.1–6  EU ). Bonifatius Köck added the little roses as mariological references .

The last window on the south side shows Noah's rainbow , which was designed in pure white in front of a light blue flood of rain, while rocks seem to emerge from the declining flood ( Gen 9: 12–17  EU ).

Also in 1959, the design of the windows in the side apses began. In cooperation with the goldsmith's workshop Schwerdt and Förster in Aachen , the windows of the sacrament chapel were designed separately. The amount of incident light should be reduced so much that the incident light from the nave outshines that of the side chapels and thus the goldsmith's work would be bathed in an almost mystical light. The windows surrounding the tabernacle show a mesh-like, interwoven ornament of dim red and brown-violet and refer to the Eucharistic figures of wine and bread. The ornamental structure is based on the shape of a bread.

The windows of the Mauritius Chapel , whose altar contains relics of the ancient martyr and abbey patron Mauritius , were designed according to a biblical quote from the Book of Wisdom ( Weish 3,1–6  EU ):

“But the souls of the righteous are in God's hand, and no torment touches them; they appear to be dead in the opinion of the fools, their passing is seen as a calamity and their separation from us as annihilation; but they are at peace. For even if people believed that they were punished, their hope was still entirely filled with a belief in immortality; and after having endured a short period of suffering, they will be blessed with great happiness, for God has only tested them and found them worthy of Him. He has tried it like gold in a furnace and accepted it like the gift of a whole offering. So they will shine brightly at the time of their grace and travel like sparks through dry reeds. "

The window shows a smelting furnace as a dark grid that seems to glow with red surfaces. In the lower zone, bright yellow strands, symbolizing molten gold, flow from the pouring openings of the furnace.

The large window behind the organ gallery in the west wall was designed purely ornamentally. Likewise, the upper facade windows installed in April 1960 also show simple ornaments.

Bonifatius Köck also solved the design task of the three smaller windows in the west wall of the aisles in an abstract way:

  • In a round window through a visualization of the wool miracle ( Ri 6,36-40  EU ) Gideon from the Book of Judges , which in Christian theology was interpreted as an Old Testament foreshadowing the virgin conception and birth of Jesus
  • In another baroque window with the depiction of the parable of the treasure in the field ( Mt 13.44  EU )
  • A golden yellow honeycomb appears in an arched window as a symbol of divine justice ( Ps 19 : 10-11  EU ).

The high windows of the apse were used in the last phase of the new glazing in 1961. Here Father Boniface designed the apocalyptic vision of the crystal sea ( Rev 15 : 1-5  EU ):

“And I saw something like a crystal sea that was mixed with fire, and I saw those who had won victory over the beast and its image and its name number, standing by the crystal sea with harps in praise of God Hand. They sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb with the words: Great and wonderful are your works, Lord Almighty God! Your ways are just and true, King of the nations! Who should not fear you, Lord, and not glorify your name? Because you alone are holy. Yes, all the peoples will come and worship before you; for your righteous deeds have become evident. "

Judge and Maqsoodi's window

As part of the extensive renovation of the Tholeyer Abbey Church, which began in May 2018, the windows by Bonifatius Köck were removed, as they showed a variety of damage. The department management decided not to restore the windows and not to make new ones according to the old designs. The reason given was that the abstract Köck windows are difficult to understand theologically today. The abbey therefore opted for new, figurative and, in their opinion, more understandable window motifs. The three main choir windows of the church are designed by the Cologne artist Gerhard Richter . The design is not figurative and in this case does not correspond to the original intention of the new glazing. The abbey stated that the reason for the assignment was that Richter was famous and that his assignment attracted visitors interested in art. Richter will make the drafts available free of charge and use existing drafts that he had created for another, unfinished project in Tholey.

On September 4, 2019, Richter's choir window designs were presented in Tholey in the absence of the artist. The motifs come from his artist book "Patterns" and are reminiscent of oriental carpet patterns that are mirrored in the manner of blotchographs . In an interview with the Saarbrücker Zeitung in August 2019, Richter stated that he had chosen the motifs for Tholey by chance because he was busy with this book when the order was requested. A direct inspection of the abbey church on site never took place. He denied an artistic-visualizing connection between the window patterns and the musical harmonies of the Estonian artist Arvo Pärt , who was mentioned in an internet press release from the St. Wendel district. When asked about the religious meta-level of his Tholey windows, the artist said that their reference to God consists in the human desire to recognize meaning in life and “to build a church”. He did not design the window motifs for the “glory of God”, but for the “comfort of the beholder” and for their aesthetic elevation, because the church as an institution is “the most important donor of salvation and consolation”. The design of the motifs is due more to chance than to divine providence. He does not intend an aspect of eternity with his motifs, but nevertheless a certain longevity. When asked about the combination of his apse windows with the windows by the artist Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi in the Tholeyer nave, Richter denied any knowledge of this. Frater Wendelinus (Johannes Naumann), the coordinator of the measure, and Abbot Mauritius (Alain Choriol) interpret the three abstract Richter windows as a visualization of the transcendent god mystery , which cannot be represented figuratively. Richter's designs are implemented in glass windows (etching, printing and gluing technology) in the Gustav van Treeck glass workshop in Munich . The inauguration is planned for June 2020. The sum for the entire renovation of the abbey church will be financed 15 percent by the diocese of Trier and 85 percent by a private sponsor.

The remaining windows are designed by the Munich- based Afghan artist Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi (* 1957). The windows in the left aisle are dedicated to Tholeyer's saints (Wendelin, Kuno, Theobert, Craudingus). The windows in the right aisle show Benedictine saints ( Benedict von Nursia , his sister Scholastika , Pope Gregory the Great , Hildegard von Bingen ). For this purpose, the fourth window, previously walled up, behind which the Lenoir building (south wing of the abbey) is located, is also glazed and backlit electrically. The windows of the left side choir will deal with the birth of Jesus, the event of Pentecost and the ascension of Christ as well as the crucifixion of Jesus. The windows of the right side choir show the monastery patron Mauritius. Figures from the Old and New Testaments are juxtaposed in the upper aisle of the central nave. The southern upper storey focuses on the shapes of the Old Testament. Starting from the altar it is:

The northern row of ceilings shows the following New Testament figures:

The large tower window in the west deals with the fall of Satan . The small west window should probably be preserved in memory of Köck. The window on the west wall of the left aisle is to receive a Marian monogram. A Marian altar will be erected below it. The window on the west wall of the right aisle, which is located below the "Köck window", is said to represent the founder of the monastery, Adalgisel Grimo and the Tholeyer abbot Paul von Verdun.

Bells

In the tower of St. Mauritius Church hangs a seven-part bronze bell ringing. It consists of two medieval bells from the foundry Wilhelm Czun from 1458 and 1459 (the two smallest bells), four bells from the foundry Packard / Annecy (1951) and a bell from 1958 from the Saarlouiser bell foundry in Saarlouis-Fraulautern, which is made by Karl (III) Otto from the Otto bell foundry in Bremen-Hemelingen and Alois Riewer from Saarland was founded in 1953. This bell is the Pax Christi bell. It sounds on c ′, has a diameter of 1590 mm and weighs 2450 kg.

organ

Today's organ case essentially goes back to the instrument built in 1736 by the organ builder Roman Benedikt Nollet . This organ lost its pipes around 1793 during the turmoil of the French Revolution. In 1835 the empty case was filled with a new instrument by Jean Fréderic Verschneider from Puttelange-aux-Lacs . In addition, Verschneider added today's pedal towers and the Rückpositiv in the parapet to the Nollet housing.

The Verschneider organ was replaced in 1929 by a pneumatic organ from the Anton Turk company from Klausen, which had 26 registers plus 13 extensions and a transmission on two manuals. This Turk organ was given to the parish of St. Maternus in Aschbach near Lebach in 1958 , where it was used until 1989.

In 1960 the Oberlinger / Windesheim company built the previous organ in the abbey church behind the historical prospectus by Roman Benedikt Nollet . It had 42 registers , divided into three manuals and pedal . The key action is mechanical, the key action electrically. The Oberlinger organ was dismantled in 2018 as part of the church renovation and is currently being replaced by a new building from Hugo Mayer Orgelbau ( Heusweiler ). Around half of the pipes from the previous organ and the historic case will of course be reused. However, a large part of the reused pipes do not even come from the year 1960 by Oberlinger, but are obviously of older origin. It has not yet been conclusively clarified whether these were possibly the pipes of the Verschneider organ built in 1835 that were stored in the meantime and reused by Oberlinger.

The new Mayer organ has 36 registers plus a pre-print and four extensions, including a real 32 'counter-trombone.

Disposition of the new Mayer organ (from 2020)

I Rückpositiv C – g 3
1. Tube bare 8th'
2. Salicional 8th'
3. Prestant 4 ′
4th recorder 4 ′
5. Duplicate 2 ′
6th Sesquialter II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
7th Cymbel IV 1'
8th. Krummhorn 8th'
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
9. Dumped 16 ′
10. Principal 8th'
11. Idleness 8th'
12. Gamba 8th'
13. Octave 4 ′
14th Forest flute 4 ′
15th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Super octave 2 ′
16. Mixture V 2 '
17th Trumpet 8th'
Tremulant
Cymbelstern
III Swell C – g 3
18th Bourdon 16 ′
19th Wooden flute 8th'
20th viola 8th'
21st Vox coelestis 8th'
22nd Principal 4 '
23. Gemshorn 4 '
24. Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
25th Night horn 2 '
26th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
27. Harmonia aetheria III-V 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
28. bassoon 16 '
29 Trompette harmonique 8th'
30th oboe 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
31. Principal bass 16 ′
32. Sub bass 16 ′
33. Quintbass 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′
34. Octavbass 8th'
Dacked bass 8th'
35. Choral bass 4 ′
Counter trumpet 32 ′
36. trombone 16 ′
Trumpet 8th'
Trumpet 4 ′
  • Coupling : I / II (mechanical), III / II (electrical), III / I (electrical), I / P (mechanical), II / P (mechanical), III / P (electrical)
  • Playing aids : setter system

Remarks:

  1. ↑ Draft from Mixture V 2 '
  2. ↑ Extension from the sub-bass 16 '
  3. ↑ a b c extensions from trombone 16 '

Disposition of the former Oberlinger organ (1960–2018)

Former Oberlinger organ of the St. Mauritius Tholey Abbey Church
The console of the Oberlinger organ
I Rückpositiv C – g 3
1. Tube bare 8th'
2. Salicional 8th'
3. Praestant 4 ′
4th recorder 4 ′
5. Octave 2 ′
6th Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
7th Sesquialter II
8th. Scharff IV – VI
9. Dulcian 16 ′
10. Krummhorn 8th'
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
11. Drone 16 ′
12. Principal 8th'
13. Gemshorn 8th'
14th Octave 4 ′
15th Coupling flute 4 ′
16. Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
17th Night horn 2 ′
18th Cornett V
19th Mixture IV-VI
20th Cymbel III
21st Trumpet 8th'
22nd Clairon 4 ′
Tremulant
Cymbelstern
III Breastwork
(swellable) C – g 3
23. Wooden dacked 8th'
24. Quintad 8th'
25th Hollow flute 4 ′
26th Nasard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
27. Duplicate 2 ′
28. third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
29 Flageolet II
30th Sounding Cymbel V
31. oboe 8th'
32. Vox humana 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
33. Principal bass 16 ′
34. Sub bass 16 ′
35. Quintbass 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′
36. Octavbass 8th'
37. Gedacktpommer 8th'
38. Choral bass 4 ′
39. Backset VI
40. trombone 16 ′
41. Trumpet 8th'
42. Trumpet 4 ′
  • Coupling : I / II, III / II, III / I, I / P, II / P, III / P
  • Playing aids : 640 typesetting combinations, roller

Disposition of the former Turk organ (1929–1958)

I main work C – f 3
1. Principal 16 ′
2. Drone 16 ′
Principal 8th'
3. Horn principal 8th'
4th flute 8th'
5. Gamba 8th'
6th Salicional 8th'
Dumped 8 ′
Octave 4 ′
flute 4 ′
viola 4 ′
7th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. Octave 2 '
9. Cornet Mixture III
10. Cornet III
11. Trumpet 8th'
Tremulant
II Swell C – g 3
12. Dumped 16 ′
13. Violin principal 8th'
14th Viennese flute 8th'
15th Gemshorn 8th'
16. Aeolines 8th'
17th Vox celeste 8th'
Lovely Gedackt 8th'
18th Quintatön 8th'
Prestant 4 ′
Swiss flute 4 ′
Pointed flute 4 ′
violin 4 ′
19th Forest flute 2 ′
20th Zimbel IV
21st clarinet 8th'
tremolo
Pedal C – f 1
22nd Violon 16 ′
23. Sub bass 16 ′
Delicately packed 16 ′
Cello bass 8 ′
24. Dacked bass 8th'
25th Octave bass 4 ′
Choral bass 2 ′
26th trombone 16 ′
Trumpet 8th'
  • Pairing :
    • Normal coupling: II / I, I / P, II / P
    • Sub-octave coupling: II / I, II / II
    • Super octave coupling: II / I
  • Playing aids : 2 free combinations, piano, forte, tutti, crescendo roller

Remarks:

  1. ↑ Extension from the principal 16 '
  2. ↑ Extension from the drone 16 '
  3. ↑ Extension from the horn principal 8 '
  4. ↑ Extension from the flute 8 '
  5. ↑ Extension from the Gamba 8 '
  6. ↑ Extension from Gedackt 16 '
  7. ↑ Extension from the violin principal 8 '
  8. ↑ Extension from the Vienna Flute 8 '
  9. ↑ Extension from the Gemshorn 8 '
  10. ↑ Extension from the Aeoline 8 '
  11. ↑ Transmission from the swell (II), Gedackt 16 '
  12. ↑ Extension from the violon 16 '
  13. ↑ Extension from the octave bass 4 '
  14. ↑ Extension from Trumpet 16 '

List of Abbots

In the course of its history, Tholey Abbey was headed by the following abbots:

  • Unknown (later dubbed Magister Pauli)
  • 626–643 / 47 Paul (Bishop of Verdun)
  • 634 Grimo
  • after 634 Leo
  • Chrothmerus
  • 662/75 Craudingus
  • Frodoinus
  • before 662/75 until after 682/83? before 687 (Croduuinus, Croduinus)
  • 700? Herbertusum
  • ? ? Hnodo, Ando
  • Fideardus
  • 781 years ago
  • Buotmerus
  • before 823/25? Hildi (Hildinus)
  • 823 / 25-847 (episc. Virdunensis)
  • Theodefridus episc. ( Choir Bishop ?)
  • Guilliharius
  • Rogobertus
  • Sigehardus
  • Eberinus
  • Ermenaldus
  • 855/60 - around 865 Adalelmus
  • Stephanus Bertehadus episc. (Choir Bishop?)
  • Hildinus (episc. Virdunensis)
  • 847 or after 856–870 Hatto (episc. Virdunensis)
  • 870–879 Bernhardus (episc. Virdunensis)
  • 880–923 Dado (episc. Virdunensis)
  • Bernoinus
  • 923 / 25–939 (Bernouuinus, Barnoinus)
  • 939 to before 947 Bernigerus (Berengarius)
  • Bernhardus
  • before 947 to around 972 (Berahardus, Berardus)
  • after 972o Adol
  • before 988 Ruobertus
  • 988-1001? Blicherus
  • before 1000/01? Ebruinus II
  • after 1000/01? - before 1018 Gerhardus
  • around 1018 until after 1036 Eberwinus III.
  • after 1036 Folradus
  • before 1066 Conradus
  • around 1066 Aberhardus / abbo
  • after 1066 Arnoldus
  • Hieronimus
  • Bertolfus
  • Hildericus
  • before 1136 Bertoldus
  • around 1136 Rudolfus
  • before 1142 to before 1157 Theodericus
  • around 1157 to 1185 Gregorius
  • 1186 to before May 1222 Viricus
  • around 1222–1235 Thomas I.
  • 1235-1260 Henricus I.
  • 1260-1260 / 63 Henricus II.
  • 1264-1280 Hugo
  • 1280–1292 / 94 Wilhelmus
  • 1292/94 Heynricus III. de indagine
  • 1292 / 94-1305 Folmarus
  • 1306–1333 / 37 Emicho de superiori lapide
  • around 1337–1345 / 46 Reynoldus
  • 1346-1353 / 54 Philip de indagine
  • 1354–1362 / 76 Betzelinus de sotteren
  • Boemundus / Beymondus
  • 1362 / 76–1401 / 21 (Beymoldus) de sotteren
  • 1401 / 22–1442 Thomas II. De sotteren
  • 1442–1465 / 66 Johannes von Ellenbach
  • 1466–1474 Nicolaus de Lebensteyn
  • 1475-1479 Casperus de dalem
  • 1479–1489 Damianus de Lommerswiler
  • 1489–1517 Gerhardus de Hassellt
  • 1517–1520 Jodocus of Cologne
  • 1520–1526 Thilmanus de Embrice
  • 1527–1531 Balthasar de Trajecto
  • 1531–1540 Gerhard von Gouda
  • 1540–1572 Robert von Wyck
  • 1572–1581 / 82? Lucas von Aufeld
  • 1582–1617 Antonius of Trier
  • 1617-1638 Martinus Nennigh
  • 1638–1688 Maurus Groffius
    • 1659–1671 Aemilian Wiltz, coadjutor
    • 1680–1688 Mauritius Gralinger, coadjutor
  • 1688–1712 Mauritius Gralinger
  • 1712-1730 Caspar de Roussel
  • 1730–1759 Theobert d'Hame
  • 1758–1768 Maximinus Motté
  • 1768–1785 Salvinus Schaadt
  • 1768–1793 Pierre de Salabert , Commendatar Abbot

Since the repopulation:


Personalities associated with Tholey Abbey

literature

  • The Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius zu Tholey , Rheinische Kunststätten, issue 321; Neusser Druckerei und Verlag GmbH, 1987.
  • The Benedictine Abbey Tholey , in: Dieter Staerk (ed.): Das Saarlandbuch , 5th edition, Minerva-Verlag, Saarbrücken 1990. ISBN 3-477-00066-8
  • Stefan Flesch: The monastic written culture of the Saar region in the Middle Ages , (publications by the Commission for Saarland State History and Folk Research 20), Saarbrücken 1991, online
  • Wolfgang Haubrichs , Gert Hummel (eds.): Tholey 634–1984, scientific lectures given on the occasion of the 1350th anniversary of the town and abbey of Tholey , special edition from: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches, Volume 96, St. Ottilien 1985.
  • Wolfgang Haubrichs: The Tholeyer abbot lists of the Middle Ages, philological, onomastic and chronological studies , publications by the Commission for Saarland State History and Folk Research, Volume 15, Saarbrücken 1986.
  • Benedikt Hermesdorf, Wilfried Haupenthal, Johannes Naumann: Forest Book of the Abbey of St. Mauritius Tholey , Tholey 1998.
  • Johann Christian Lager: The former Benedictine Abbey Tholey. In: Studies and Mittheilungen from the Benedictine and the Cistercian Order 20 (1899) pp. 348–387, 582–599; 21 (1900) pp. 15-34, 268-277.
  • Krešimir Matijević : The inscriptions of Tholey, St. Wendel district, Gallia Belgica , in: Journal for the history of the Saar region, Volume 59, 2011, pp. 9–58.
  • Johannes Naumann: The decline of the old Benedictine Abbey Tholey , in: Tholeyer Brief Vol. 41 (2003) pp. 31–40.
  • Johannes Naumann: The lost archive of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius in Tholey, processing of the archive inventory from the 1770s , publications by the Historical Association for Research into the Schaumberger Land - Tholey eV, Volume 1, Tholey 2004.
  • Johannes Naumann, Maria and Thomas Besse: Trier Repertory of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius Tholey, supplementary directory to the archive inventory , Tholey 2015.
  • Manfred Peter: Saint Wendelin - The story of a fascinating life ; Otzenhausen: Burr, 2005. ISBN 3-9806866-5-5
  • Franz-Josef Reichert : The building history of the Benedictine Abbey Tholey ; Publications of the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, Vol. 3; Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, Saarbrücken 1961. ISBN 978-3-923877-03-4
  • Saarforschungsgemeinschaft (ed.): The art monuments of the Ottweiler and Saarlouis districts , edited by Walter Zimmermann, 2nd, unchanged edition from 1934, Saarbrücken 1976, pp. 108-138.
  • Father Maurus Sabel (OSB): The mosaic of my life , self-published, Maria Laach 1996.
  • Jörg Schmitz: Life and work of the architect Wilhelm Peter Schmitz (1864–1944), cathedral builder, monument conservator, art writer and Lorraine curator, a Rhenish architect of late historicism (Aachen, Cologne, Trier, Metz) , Volume 2: Catalog raisonné; Diss. Phil. University of Trier 2003; Tönning: Der Andere Verlag, 2005; ISBN 3899593839 ; Pp. 325-341
  • Franz Staab : When does Tholey's monastic tradition begin? , in: Journal for the history of the Saar region, 36, 1988, pp. 17-25.
  • Margarete Stitz and Johannes Naumann: Parish visits in the Schaumberger Land: files of the parishes Tholey, Thalexweiler, Marpingen, Bliesen, Theley and Hasborn from 1569 to 1781 ; Transcription, translation and commentary, Friends of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius Tholey, Tholey Abbey Writings, No. 1, 2014

Web links

Commons : Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The oldest monastery in Germany ( [1] )
  2. ↑ Tholey: Is the abbey church the oldest Gothic church in Germany? ( [2] )
  3. ↑ Gerhard Richter designs the windows of the abbey church in Tholey | DOMRADIO.DE. Retrieved September 13, 2019 .
  4. ↑ abtei-tholey.de , accessed on August 2, 2019.
  5. ↑ Under Abbot Petrus Borne, the motto of the abbey from 1949 to 1976 was “Fide et Patientia” (Eng. “In Faith and Patience”), under Abbot Hrabanus Heddergott the motto was “Hilaris in misericordia” (Eng. “Cheerful in mercy ") And under Abbot Makarios Hebler it was again" Fide et Patientia ".
  6. ↑ The large parchment sheet of the certificate is almost 61 cm high and 43 cm wide. However, the certificate is very badly damaged at the edges. Entire pieces have rotten and crumbled off due to moisture, so that part of the script was also lost, which made translation and interpretation of the document much more difficult. During the French rule, the fragile parchment was glued to two sheets of paper for protection. In the 1930s, the edges were again glued under with paper.
  7. ↑ 1370 years ago - December 30, 634. The Grimo Testament. The oldest document in the Rhineland. ( Memento of December 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed November 30, 2014.
  8. ↑ Hans-Walter Herrmann : The Testament of Adalgisel Grimo, in: 22nd Report of the State Preservation of Monuments in Saarland, Department of Floor Preservation, Saarbrücken 1975, pp. 67-89.
  9. ↑ Hans-Walter Herrmann: The testament of the Franconian nobleman Adalgisel Grimo, A testimony to Merovingian life on the Saar, Mosel and Maas, in: Tholey 634–1984, ed. v. Wolfgang Haubrichs and Gert Hummel, 1985, pp. 260-275.
  10. ↑ Hans-Walter Herrmann: The Testament of Adalgisel Grimo, in: 22nd Report of the State Preservation of Monuments in Saarland, Department of Floor Preservation, Saarbrücken 1975, pp. 67-89.
  11. ^ Wilhelm Levison : The Testament of the Deacon Adalgisel-Grimo from 634, in: Trier Journal VII 1932, Issues 1 and 2, pp. 69-85.
  12. ↑ Ulrich Nonn : On the family of the deacon Adalgisel-Grimo, in: Yearbook for West German State History, 1st Jhg. 1975, pp. 11-19.
  13. ^ Franz Irsigler : Society, economy and religious life in the Upper Moselle-Saar area at the time of the deacon Adalgisel Grimo, in: Hochwälder Geschichtsblätter, Volume 1, Issue 1, March 1989, pp. 5-18.
  14. ↑ Bernhard W. Planz: Adalgisel Grimo (around 580 – around 650), in: Saargeschichten, Heft 42, 1, 2016, pp. 40–41.
  15. ↑ LHAKo inventory 1 A, No. 1, Grimo Testament
  16. ^ Document book for the history of the Middle Rhine Territories I, Coblenz 1860, No. 6, pp. 5-8
  17. ↑ Hans-Walter Herrmann: The testament of the Franconian nobleman Adalgisel Grimo, in: Wolfgang Haubrichs, Gert Hummel (Ed.): Tholey 634–1984, Scientific lectures held on the occasion of the 1350th anniversary of the town and abbey of Tholey, special print from: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches, Volume 96, St. Ottilien 1985, 260–276.
  18. ↑ Hans-Walter Herrmann: The Testament of Adalgisel Grimo, in: 22nd Report of the State Preservation of Monuments in Saarland, Department of Bedenkmalpflege, 1975, pp. 67-89.
  19. ↑ At that time, the term “Vosges” meant a larger wooded mountain range than today's Vosges region in Alsace and Lorraine.
  20. ^ Art in public space, Saarland, vol. 4, district of St. Wendel, 1945–2012, essays and inventory, ed. v. Jo Enzweiler, Institute for Contemporary Art in Saarland at the Saar College of Fine Arts, Saarbrücken 2013, p. 314.
  21. ↑ Wolfgang Haubrichs, Gert Hummel (Ed.): Tholey 634–1984, Scientific lectures held on the occasion of the 1350th anniversary of the Tholey site and abbey, special print from: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches, Volume 96, St. Ottilien 1985, p. 364.
  22. ↑ Franz-Josef Reichert: St. Cuno - a forgotten saint of our region, Association for local history in the Birkenfeld district, communications, 75th year, pp. 41–70, 2001.
  23. ^ Alfred Heit: Kuno (Konrad) I., in: Lexikon des Mittelalters, Volume 5, Munich / Zurich 1991, Sp. 1572.
  24. ↑ Wolfgang Haubrichs, Gert Hummel (Ed.): Tholey 634–1984, Scientific lectures held on the occasion of the 1350th anniversary of the Tholey site and abbey, special print from: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches, Volume 96, St. Ottilien 1985, p. 365.
  25. ↑ Wolfgang Haubrichs, Gert Hummel (Ed.): Tholey 634–1984, Scientific lectures held on the occasion of the 1350th anniversary of the Tholey site and abbey, special print from: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches, Volume 96, St. Ottilien 1985, pp. 366-367.
  26. ↑ State Main Archive Koblenz
  27. ↑ Johannes Naumann, Maria and Thomas Besse: Trier Repertory of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius Tholey, supplementary directory to the archive inventory, Tholey 2015.
  28. ↑ Stefan Flesch: Article "Tholey", in: Lexikon des Mittelalters, Volume VIII, Sp. 697–698, Stuttgart 2002.
  29. ^ Dossier "Robert Köck", Institute for Current Art in Saarland at the Saar College of Fine Arts
  30. ^ Paulus Gordan : St. Matthias in Trier . In: Erbe und Einsatz , Vol. 43 (1967), pp. 238–240, here p. 239.
  31. ↑ http://www.abteistmatthias.de/ , accessed on April 12, 2019.
  32. ↑ Wolfgang Haubrichs, Gert Hummel (Ed.): Tholey 634–1984, Scientific lectures held on the occasion of the 1350th anniversary of the Tholey site and abbey, special print from: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches, Volume 96, St. Ottilien 1985, p. 367.
  33. ↑ a b http://www.orden-online.de/wissen/h/hebler-makarios/ , accessed on November 29, 2014.
  34. ↑ funds ( Memento of 4 March 2016 Internet Archive )
  35. ↑ Tholeyer Brief 2011 ( Memento of July 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.6 MB)
  36. ↑ Birgit Reichert: Completely renewed: Germany's oldest monastery ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Trierischer Volksfreund, April 29, 2013.
  37. ↑ abtei-tholey.de , accessed on August 2, 2019.
  38. ↑ Wendelinus (Johannes) Naumann: Baroque building shines in new splendor - Another construction phase completed, in: Tholeyer Brief, No. 53, Tholey 2015, p. 25.
  39. ↑ Tholeyer Brief, No. 53, article "Plans for the former nurses' home in Tholey" and article "The Association Spiritual Center Benedictine Abbey Tholey", Tholey 2015, p. 26.
  40. ^ Greetings from Abbot Mauritius Choriol OSB as a supplement to the Tholeyer letter 2015.
  41. ^ Franz-Josef Reichert: The building history of the Benedictine Abbey Tholey; Publications of the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, Vol. 3; Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, Saarbrücken 1961.
  42. ↑ Martin Klewitz: Das Saarland, 3rd, modified and expanded edition 1982, p. 51.
  43. ↑ Hans-Martin Ulbrich: Mila - Between easel and loom / an artist's life. Pp. 56-58. Mixed-Media-Verlag, Aachen 1995. ISBN 9783980438100 .
  44. ^ Abbey of St. Mauritius Tholey, (Schnell Kunstführer No. 1002), Munich and Zurich 1974.
  45. ^ Franz-Josef-Reichert: The building history of the Benedictine Abbey Church Tholey; Publications of the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, Vol. 3; Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, Saarbrücken 1961, pp. 232–248.
  46. ↑ http://d-nb.info/gnd/130284262 , accessed on April 8, 2020.
  47. ^ Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius Tholey: Tholeyer Brief, No. 57, p. 13.
  48. ↑ Benedictine monastery Tholey, On the ruins of a Roman bathing facility, https://www.denkmalschutz.de/denkmal/Benediktinerkloster-Tholey.html , accessed on February 3, 2020.
  49. ^ Saarbrücker Zeitung, June 9, 2020, front page
  50. ↑ The Saarländischer Rundfunk estimates the company's donation to be around € 5 million; Contribution by Uwe Loebens: The dispute over the Tholey Abbey enters the next round (October 30, 2019); https://www.sr-mediathek.de/index.php?seite=7&id=80080 , accessed on February 3, 2020.
  51. ↑ https://www.abtei-tholey.de/renovierung/kircheninnenraum.html , accessed on February 6, 2020.
  52. ↑ Marlen Dittmann: Opus Baukunst, original or contemporary, On dealing with the monument Benedictine Abbey Tholey, in: Opus, Das Kulturmagazin der Großregion, ed. by Kurt Bohr and Klaas Huizing, Volume 12, September / October 2019, Saarbrücken 2019, p. 145.
  53. ↑ https://www.sr-mediathek.de/index.php?seite=7&id=80080 , accessed on February 3, 2020.
  54. ^ Memorial at Tholeyer Church torn down, Dietmar Schellin / Online version: Sandra Schick, June 11, 2019, 7:50 pm; additional audio file: audio [SR 3, Karin Mayer / Dietmar Schellin, June 13, 2019, length: 03:13 min.], https://www.sr.de/sr/home/nachrichten/panorama/tholey_denkmal_abgerissen100.html , accessed on February 3, 2020.
  55. ↑ Dietmar Schellin: State Monument Council demands restoration, SR report, June 18, 2019, https://www.sr.de/sr/home/nachrichten/panorama/tholey_denkmal_abgerissen104.html , accessed on February 6, 2020.
  56. ↑ Robert Köck: The picture windows in the Benedictine Abbey Church of Tholey, ed. from the Abbey of St. Mauritius zu Tholey, Tholey 1989.
  57. ↑ Bertram Müller: Interview with Gerhard Richter, "Tja", the artist about his window designs for the abbey church in Tholey and the power of chance against divine providence, Saarbrücker Zeitung, p. B 4, culture, August 29, 2019.
  58. ^ Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius Tholey: Tholeyer Brief, No. 57, p. 13.
  59. ↑ SR report: Uwe Loebens: Bavarian Glass for Tholey, February 5, 2020, https://www.sr-mediathek.de/index.php?seite=7&id=83822 , accessed on February 6, 2020.
  60. ↑ The banners of Richter church windows can be seen longer. Saarbrücker Zeitung, September 10, 2019, accessed on September 15, 2019 .
  61. ↑ https://www.monopol-magazin.de/richter-bespiele-kirchenfenster-mit-farbigen-mustern , accessed on September 15, 2019.
  62. ↑ http://www.maqsoodi.de/ , accessed on May 20, 2019.
  63. ^ Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius Tholey: Tholeyer Brief, No. 57, pp. 2-15.
  64. ↑ https://abtei-tholey.de/presse.html , accessed on May 20, 2019.
  65. ^ Gerhard Reinhold: Otto bells - family and company history of the bell foundry dynasty Otto . Self-published, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , p. 588, here in particular pp. 87 to 95, 384, 385, 396, 568 .
  66. ↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen . Nijmegen / NL 2019, p. 556, here in particular pp. 105 to 112, 338, 367, 518 .
  67. ↑ The new Mayer organ
  68. ↑ The organ history on OrganIndex
  69. ^ Abbot list . Benedictine Abbey Tholey e. V. Accessed January 24, 2019.
  70. ↑ Article: From top chef to abbot: Mauritius Choriol is administrator in Tholey from September 10, 2008 on Orden online accessed on September 10, 2008
  71. ↑ Article: Mauritius Choriol re-elected on August 30, 2011 on Orden accessed online on August 30, 2011
  72. ^ Biography of Adalhard I. In: Saarland Biographien. Prof. Dr. Joachim Conrad, accessed on May 22, 2020 .

Coordinates: 49 ° 28 ′ 52 ″  N , 7 ° 1 ′ 52 ″  E