Augustin Voit

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The coat of arms of the Abbot Augustin Voit

Augustin Voit (real name Georg Adam Voit ; * around 1643 in Gerolzhofen ; † August 27, 1704 ) was abbot of the Benedictine monastery in Münsterschwarzach from 1691 to 1704 .

Münsterschwarzach before Voit

Münsterschwarzach Abbey was drawn into the clashes between Catholics and Protestants throughout the 16th century, which shook the surrounding diocese of Würzburg . The monastery was equipped with cannons so that it could be defended during the Thirty Years' War . At the same time, under the abbot Johannes Kassian Speiser, embezzlement of the monastery property began, which the abbot practiced.

In 1631 the convent fled from the advancing Swedes and the abbey was converted into a soldiers' quarters. When the monks returned, the rebuilding of the dilapidated buildings began. Voit's predecessor Abbot Plazidus Büchs pushed for the reconstruction of the convent buildings and also had the monastery villages that had to suffer from the war rebuilt. Nevertheless, a conflict in the convent now clearly came to light, which, after the death of Abbot Plazidus, allowed visitors from St. Stephen's monastery in Würzburg to visit the abbey.

Life

Early years

Augustin Voit was born as Georg Adam Voit in Gerolzhofen in Lower Franconia around 1643 . Little is known about his family. His father was probably called Georg Voit and is passed down as a citizen of Gerolzhofen in 1644. The education of the young Augustin, his school and study time, is not mentioned in the sources. Voit only becomes tangible again when he joins the Münsterschwarzach Abbey . This took place on May 13, 1665.

On May 3, 1666, the young Augustin made his vows in the church of the monastery . This was followed by the stages of a monastic career: Voit became subdeacon on September 18, 1666, deacon on December 17, 1667. Voit was ordained priest on September 22, 1668. His first divine service, the Primiz , he celebrated a few days later, on December 30th September 1668, in the monastery church in Münsterschwarzach.

After Voit became a monk, he soon held important offices within the monastery community. Before 1672 he has been handed down as master chef, in September 1672 he became subprior . Voit also worked as a pastor outside the convent, in the abbey's dependent villages. From 1674 to 1686 he took over the office of pastor in the monastery village of Sommerach . In order to resolve a conflict within the convent, he finally became prior from 1686 to 1691 under the abbot Plazidus I. Büchs.

As abbot

After the abbot's death at the beginning of 1691, Voit headed the Holy Spirit Office in the monastery church on January 25, before the monks withdrew to vote. Voting dragged on for two hours before Augustin Voit was elected as the new abbot by a narrow majority. On March 19, 1691 at half past seven in the morning, the confirmation took place at the court in Würzburg. It was carried out by Prince-Bishop Johann Gottfried von Guttenberg .

The benediction was given to him on August 5, 1691, on the feast of Maria Schnee, in Münsterschwarzach. The executive bishop was the Würzburg suffragan Stephan Weinberger . Voit became abbot in a difficult situation: the monastery convent was divided, some monks wanted more radical poverty and a complete renunciation of meat by the monastery members. The new abbot asked his master, the Würzburg bishop, about the reforms. This refused, however, and the convention remained in dispute until 1695.

At the same time, the abbot had to struggle with some price increases, which were an indirect effect of the Palatinate War of Succession on the Franconian abbey. Nonetheless, Abbot Augustin managed to reopen the monastery 's own college in 1692 , where no classes had been held for several years. In addition, he had the library and the monastery archives equipped with new books and manuscripts.

The most important impulses in Voit's tenure, however, were the new construction of the monastery buildings. In 1695/1696 the abbot received approval and hired the Italian Valentin Pezani to build a new guest building. This was completed by 1697 and a new convent building, which was completed in 1704, could be started. Voit also took care of furnishing the monastery church . Augustin Voit died on Wednesday, August 27, 1704 between three and four in the afternoon.

coat of arms

The coat of arms in Dimbach

The coat of arms of Abbot Augustin Voit shows a red heart with a golden flame in silver. The abbot lavishly furnished the monastery church, but the altars and chalices became superfluous only a few years after his death when the church was rebuilt and were shipped to the monastery villages. On the one hand, an enamel coat of arms adorns a measuring chalice of the Reupelsdorf parish church, on the other hand versions of the coat of arms were attached to the side altars of the churches in Reupelsdorf and Dimbach , as well as to the Dimbach organ.

literature

  • Kassius Hallinger: Chronology of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach a. M. (1390-1803) . In: Abtei Münsterschwarzach (Ed.): Abtei Münsterschwarzach. Works from their history . Münsterschwarzach 1938.
  • Rainer Kengel: The coat of arms of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach . In: Abtei Münsterschwarzach (Ed.): Abtei Münsterschwarzach. Works from their history . Münsterschwarzach 1938.
  • Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey . Münsterschwarzach 2002.

Web links

Commons : Augustin Voit  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Hallinger, Kassius: The chronology of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach . P. 115.
  2. Mahr, Johannes: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey . P. 37.
  3. Hallinger, Kassius: The chronology of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach . P. 115.
  4. Mahr, Johannes: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey . P. 42.
  5. Kengel, Rainer: The coat of arms of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach . P. 150.
predecessor Office successor
Plazidus I. Büchs Abbot of Münsterschwarzach
1691–1704
Bernhard Reyder