Benedict Werner

Benedikt Werner OSB, baptismal name: Anton Werner (* December 18, 1748 in Dietfurt an der Altmühl , † October 20, 1830 in Munich ), was a German Benedictine and abbot of the Weltenburg Benedictine monastery in Lower Bavaria .

Life

After completing higher education at the grammar schools in Neuburg an der Donau and Ingolstadt , Anton Werner studied logic and physics at the University of Ingolstadt from 1765 . During this time he earned his living by giving music lessons. In 1767 he entered the Benedictine Abbey of Weltenburg. He was sent to the Commun-Novitiate of the Bavarian Benedictine Congregation , which at that time was in Scheyern Monastery . On October 9, 1768 he made his profession in Weltenburg Abbey and was given the religious name Benedict. From 1769 onwards he completed his theological training in the Commun studies of the Bavarian Benedictine Congregation in MonasteryChecking and was ordained a priest on December 19, 1772 . In Weltenburg Abbey, he initially worked as a teacher in theological home studies. He also held the office of prior from 1775 to 1781 and worked as a pastor in the parishes of Holzharlanden (1781) and Reissing (1783), which the monastery looked after .

After the death of Abbot Rupert Waxlhäuser, Benedikt Werner was elected as its successor by the Weltenburg Convention on September 18, 1786. As early as 1778 he had been elected as the successor to Abbot Maurus II. Kammermair, but had refused the election. After the election was confirmed by the Bishop of Regensburg, the Benediction was made on October 1, 1786 by the Regensburg Auxiliary Bishop Valentin Anton von Schneid.

Abbot Benedikt Werner was distinguished by learning and careful management of the small and not very wealthy Weltenburg monastery. He also successfully endeavored to maintain monastic discipline in the convent. From 1799, Benedikt Werner was the representative of the Straubing Rent Office in the Bavarian countryside ( state estates ). He was one of the few abbots who resolutely and militantly opposed the threat of secularization .

After the abolition of the Weltenburg monastery in 1803, Benedikt Werner moved to Munich , where he devoted himself to scientific studies. Since his time as a monk in Weltenburg, he has made a name for himself through political, historical and other scientific publications and as a composer. His historical writings are an important source for the art and regional history of the Weltenburg area. Benedikt Werner bequeathed his extensive library to the seminary in Munich.

Works (selection)

• Hourly necessity for a state parliament in Bavaria, 1798.
• The sovereign right over monasteries , 1800.
• The right to compulsory beer in Bavaria , 1800.
• Answer to the conversation about the abolished beer compulsion , 1801
• Funeral speech for the once venerable, well-bored lord, Mr. Martinus, the most worthy abbot of the famous and liberated Prifling monastery and monastery , Regensburg 1790.
• Historia Weltenburgensis usque ad Annum 1538 , 1780–1783 (Ms. in the Bavarian State Library).
• History of the Weltenburg Monastery (24 volumes), 1806–1816 (Ms. in the Bavarian State Library).
• Notitiae Historicae de re Musica (8 volumes), 1818–1824 (Ms. in the Bavarian State Library).
• Quaedam de rebus Monasticis , 1827–1828 (Ms. in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek).

literature

• Joseph Ernst von Koch-Sternfeld, Benedict Werner, last abbot of Weltenburg and co-ordinator of the former Bavarian landscape. With a foreword about Weltenburg Abbey, Augsburg 1835.
• Wolfgang Rappel: Werner, Benedikt (baptismal name: Anton). In: Karl Bosl (ed.): Bosls Bavarian biography. Pustet, Regensburg 1983, ISBN 3-7917-0792-2 , p. 838 ( digitized version ).

Web links

• Werner, Benedikt in Biographia Benedictina (Benediktinerlexikon.de), version of October 7, 2011

predecessor	Office	successor
Rupert Waxlhauser	Abbot of Weltenburg Abbey 1786–1803	- (secularized) after the re-establishment of Maurus III. Weingart