Benedict II. Weidenbusch

The coat of arms of Abbot Benedikt Weidenbusch

Benedikt II. Weidenbusch (real name Johann Christoph Weidenbusch ; * 1632 in Königshofen im Grabfeld , † August 15, 1672 in Nordheim am Main ) was abbot of the Benedictine monastery in Münsterschwarzach from 1654 to 1672 .

Münsterschwarzach before Weidenbusch

Half a century before Abbot Benedikt Weidenbusch was marked by the Thirty Years' War in Münsterschwarzach . In 1631 the monastery was occupied by the Protestant Swedes and the monks had to flee. After their return to the run-down monastery buildings, Weidenbusch's predecessor Abbot Remigius Winckel pushed for the reconstruction and resettlement of the abandoned monastery villages in the area.

At the same time, monastic renewal was promoted through the establishment of a scientific center in the region. With its library and theological school, the abbey itself was supposed to train the new generation of monasteries. A complete new beginning also took place in the organizational structures from the second half of the 17th century: The collaboration with the Bursfeld congregation , in which Münsterschwarzach had been organized since 1480, was officially ended. From then on, the Würzburg prince-bishops ruled the abbey alone.

Life

Early years

Benedikt II. Weidenbusch was born in 1632 as Johann Christoph Weidenbusch in Königshofen in the Grabfeld . While the exact date of birth is not known, according to the sources, the day of baptism was May 13, 1632; The godfather was Christoph Arnstein. The father of Benedikt Weidenbusch, about whose occupation nothing is known, was called Johannes Weidenbusch and was married to Margarete Weidenbusch, a born Beußlein.

Nothing is known about the school days of the young Benedict either. On November 26, 1646, he enrolled at the University of Würzburg to begin studying rhetoric . This is remarkable in that at that time a philosophy course was used far more frequently for a spiritual career. Weidenbusch entered the Münsterschwarzach Abbey in 1648 and made his vows on August 15, 1649 .

From November 1649 he appeared in the records of the Bamberg Academy as a theology student. His studies finally led him to the general seminar of the monastery federation of the Bursfeld congregation in the Pantaleon Church in Cologne, where he stayed from 1651 to 1653. After graduating, he taught philosophy in 1653 and 1654 at the Münsterschwarzach monastery school, thus supporting the efforts of his predecessor Remigius Winckel.

Administrator and Dept.

After his death, a dispute broke out over the provisions for electing young Weidenbusch as abbot. He was only 22 years old and as a deacon had not even been ordained a priest. On August 31, 1654, the Würzburg prince-bishop approved the election of Weidenbusch. On September 22, 1654 he was elected and on November 19 of the same year as "administratorio modo", confirmed as administrator . Weidenbusch received the dignity of abbot only after he was ordained a priest.

He ran the monastery as administrator for two years before it was consecrated in 1656. The primacy took place on May 15, 1656, Weidenbusch was confirmed on May 19 of the same year. As a trained theologian, philosopher and rhetorician, Weidenbusch first began to further develop the sciences in the monastery school. For this purpose he sent the monks to the colleges and universities of Würzburg, Salzburg , Cologne and Douai for clerical training .

At the same time he taught himself in Münsterschwarzach and built a prestigious university in the abbey, the study of which the University of Würzburg recognized as being on an equal footing with theirs. In doing so, he also created his own Schwarzach constitutions, which were based strongly on those of the Bursfeld congregation, but were considered independent. The appointment of some Dominicans as lecturers at his Benedictine college was also the work of Weidenbusch.

From the second half of the sixties of the 17th century, however, Weidenbusch began to experience extreme hypochondria . From then on, the abbot stayed only rarely in Münsterschwarzach, but tried to alleviate his imaginary suffering on various spa trips. In 1666, Weidenbusch stayed for four months in Eger and Karlsbad in what is now the Czech Republic. In 1668 he traveled again to the Bohemian seaside resorts and also visited Bad Mergentheim.

In 1669 Benedikt Weidenbusch spent 14 weeks in Würzburg . He had rented a house there and gathered the best doctors in the episcopal city around him. When they couldn't help either, he moved to the monastery village of Nordheim. There he died of a cold on August 15, 1672 at 2 a.m. His funeral in the middle of the church in Münsterschwarzach took place on August 17th at 9 a.m.

coat of arms

The coat of arms in Sommerach

The coat of arms of Abbot Benedikt Weidenbusch was first handed down on a seal. Description: “Split; in front a willow bush, behind under the sun a raven with bread in its beak. ” There is no information about the tinging of the coat of arms. His coat of arms is on the street side of the former Münsterschwarzach office building in Sommerach , where it is inscribed with the year 1668. The raven and the sun are absent.

literature

• Kassius Hallinger: The 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 : Benedikt II. Weidenbusch  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mahr, Johannes: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey . P. 33.
2. ↑ Hallinger, Kassius: The chronology of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach . P. 112.
3. ↑ Mahr, Johannes: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey . P. 34.
4. ↑ Hallinger, Kassius: The chronology of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach . P. 114.
5. ↑ Kengel, Rainer: The coat of arms of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach . P. 148.

predecessor	Office	successor
Remigius Winckel	Abbot of Münsterschwarzach 1654–1672	Plazidus I. Büchs