Waegwan Benedictine Monastery

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Church of the Benedictine monastery Waegwan (2008)

The Benedictine Monastery of St. Maurus and Placidus Waegwan is a Benedictine abbey in Waegwan in the province ( Do ) Gyeongsangbuk-do in South Korea . The monastery belongs to the Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien .

history

The monastery was originally founded by Benedictines in Seoul. On November 17, 1927, the Convention relocated to Tokwon in North Korea. With the communist takeover of power in May 1949 it was closed. Many religious were killed; others such as the sisters of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters von Tutzing were interned in the concentration camp and prison in Pyeongyang , where many died.

In 1952 the Swiss missionary benedictine Timotheus Bitterli was able to buy a plot of land in Waegwan-ri and, with survivors from the convent in Tokwon, complete a monastery building by 1955. On January 9, 1956, the monastery was recognized as a priory with the right to establish a novitiate by the Holy See . In 1964 it was elevated to an abbey . Father Odo Haas was elected first abbot on April 28, 1964.

The Waegwan Monastery is the largest monastery of the Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien and with over 140 members is the largest Benedictine community in Asia. Various dependent priories were set up next to the main house . In 2007 a fire partially destroyed the monastery and it was rebuilt.

Abbots

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Abbey of St. Maurus and Placidus in Waegwan on orden-online from September 3, 2013, accessed on February 21, 2019
  2. ↑ Lower Franconian Benedictine Odo Haas died in South Korea , Bayerischer Rundfunk from February 19, 2019

Web links


Coordinates: 35 ° 59 ′ 0 ″  N , 128 ° 24 ′ 0 ″  E