Ambrosius Balbus

Ambrosius Balbus (real name Johann Wilderich Balbus ; born November 15, 1704 in Volkach , † June 11, 1794 in Bronnbach Monastery ) was abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Bronnbach from 1752 to 1783 .

Bronnbach before Balbus

Half a century before the term of office of Ambrosius Balbus was marked in Bronnbach by the disputes with the city of Wertheim . Actually, the monastery and the villages belonging to it had been "territorium nullius", i.e. an independent area, since 1656, but Wertheim repeatedly questioned this situation. In 1673 an agreement was finally reached: By renouncing Nassig , Bronnbach received the villages of Dörlesberg and Reicholzheim .

At the same time, the baroque redesign of the monastery buildings began in the second half of the 17th century . A new convent and hospital building was built under Abbot Joseph Hartmann in 1705, and the refectory was rebuilt in the 1820s and equipped with a representative reception room. The term of office of Balbus' predecessor Engelbert Schäffner was also marked by further construction work.

Life

Ambrosius Balbus was born on November 15, 1704 as Johann Wilderich Balbus in Volkach. His father, Johann Peter Balbus, was the representative of the Würzburg prince-bishop in the village and held the cellar office. Ambrosius' mother was Maria Walpurga, née Knapp, who came from Freudenberg in what is now Baden. The family had many children as the father had been married before. The Ambrosius brothers include the future abbot of Münsterschwarzach, Christophorus Balbus .

Little is known about Ambrose's childhood, but like his older brother he was a member of the Volkach Society of St. Cecilia. He also supported this association as abbot by sending it a Carolin annually . Ambrosius received his education in the Volkach Latin School , as whose pupil he is handed down in the years 1720 and 1721. After finishing school, he enrolled at the University of Würzburg in 1721 to begin studying philosophy.

In 1725 Balbus began a spiritual career. On April 22nd, 1725 he made his vows in the Bronnbach Abbey. The young professed rose quickly. After his elevations to subdeacon and deacon , he was finally ordained a priest on April 17, 1729. In addition to his monastery consecrations, Ambrosius continued to be involved at the university , so that he qualified as professor of theology in 1736/1737.

Balbus also took on important tasks within the monastery. From July 7, 1737 to February 23, 1740 he was prior of the abbey and was responsible for the financial administration of the monastery. From 1741 to 1748 he was appointed Granarius before becoming director of the monastic chancellery. He held this office for two years, from 1746 to 1748. Then he took over the post of bursarius in the monastery for a year , only to exchange it for the service as an economist in the monastery village of Dürrhof .

Abbot Engelbert died in 1752 and a successor was immediately elected. On August 29, 1752, Ambrosius Balbus emerged victorious from this election. He immediately began to complete the church furnishings , the monastery church. In 1778 a choir stalls were added by Daniel Aschauer, the stucco was contributed by Sturtzenhöfer. Before that, in 1774, the frescoes in the newly built orangery had already been completed.

On July 27, 1783 , Balbus resigned as abbot of Bronnbach Monastery, the circumstances that contributed to this decision are unclear. Illnesses had probably afflicted the seventy-nine year old. Nevertheless, Ambrosius Balbus lived as abbot emeritus for almost eleven years in the buildings of the monastery before he died on June 11, 1794. He was buried as the fifty-first abbot of the monastery in the south transept of the monastery church in Bronnbach.

coat of arms

The personal coat of arms of Ambrosius Balbus is the family coat of arms of the Balbus family. Description : Two lowered black rafters in gold, a black eagle sitting on the upper one. The coat of arms can be found on a seal of the Bronnbach monastery.

literature

• Gerhard Egert: The Volkach patrician family Balbus. A contribution to family research in Franconia . In: Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch für Geschichte und Kunst , Vol. 40 (1988), ISSN  0076-2725

Individual evidence

1. ^ Monasteries in Baden-Württemberg: Bronnbach Cistercian Abbey - History , accessed on April 16, 2014.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Gerhard Egert: The Volkach patrician family Balbus , p. 30.