Cellitinnenkloster Zederwald
The Zederwald Cellitinnenkloster is one of the historical monasteries in the city of Cologne . The nuns who inhabited it, were part of the religious family of Cellitinnen and devoted themselves to nursing.
history
The monastery, located on Komödienstraße, was founded on April 2, 1302 by Lufredus from the wood market as a convent for poor beguines , to whom the neighboring house was also given to secure the current income. But that's not all. The obviously popular convent already experienced considerable enlargements in the first years of its existence. On July 11th, 1303, Elisabeth Overstolz gave him a neighboring property, on June 4th, 1304 a neighboring house by Hermann Bonzstorp and in 1314 the priest Johannes von Burggrafenhofe endowed the community with considerable funds from his private fortune.
However, the community made progress not only in expanding their property, but also in spiritual life, because on July 30, 1328 they elected canon Siegfried von Renneberg and patrician Konstantin von Lyskirchen to the post of rector or provisional for life so get about the order of the house. This system seems to have had some success, because in a revision protocol from 1452 the 11 beguines are said to have diligently visited the sick. In contrast to many other beginner's conventions, this house, which had enough space for 20 women, did not have a maximum number of members. This was extremely positive for the further development of the community, which had its own visitor even without having accepted a rule of the order (Bernhard von Reyda, professor of theology at Cologne University is attested to us in 1452), because by 1487 their number should be 16 to grow.
Although they have always lived in a monastic character, it was not until 1496 that the Beguines adopted the Rule of St. Augustine. However, they did not take this step as easily as it sounds, because not all 16 members of the convention gave their consent. The two sisters who refused to accept the rule were able to maintain their old status until their death. Although the city council wanted a change to the old state and forbade the sisters to build a chapel, development continued. The construction of a chapel, which was inaugurated in 1502 by the auxiliary bishop Johannes Spender OFM and had a public character, began very soon. The church was dedicated to St. Augustine.
The monastery’s fortunes had generally developed favorably in the years to come, to which a number of donations and also their manual labor, especially the manufacture and mending of parament , had contributed.
In the years that followed, the life of the community seems to have taken its usual course. It is of some interest that the office of monastery commissioner was carried out in 1783 by a Dominican . The French Revolution brought the end of the community, which still had nine members in 1800. Since there were no more offspring and four sisters had left the convent, the monastery was closed in 1802 and the other two sisters were given the option of uniting with the Cellitinnen "Zur Cell", where they then moved. The list of assets of the community, which has been handed down to us, dates back to this year. In addition to its monastery, it owned two other houses in the city, which were worth 6,600 francs. In addition to capital and pension claims amounting to 17,605 francs, there were also 3,948 francs in debts, so that the total capital value was 20,257 francs.
After the monastery church was demolished, the remaining premises were leased in 1804 for 100 francs and finally sold on December 9, 1806 at a price of 5,045 francs. The monastery property itself was transferred to the "Zurzelle" monastery.
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 30.1 ″ N , 6 ° 57 ′ 12.1 ″ E