Canon Monastery of St. Michael Beromünster

The Canons ' Monastery of St. Michael , founded in the Middle Ages, is located in Beromünster , a historic market center in the north of the canton of Lucerne .

history

Founding saga

In the history of the Canons' Monastery, due to the form of the name and remarks in early archive sources, the legend, which cannot be verified in detail, emerged that the monastery was set up by Aargau Count Bero in the 10th century.

Monastery history

In 1036, Count Ulrich von Lenzburg reorganized the protective supervision of the monastery and the disposal of its property. In the deed of 1036, which is handed down not in the original, but only in a later copy which is "the Holy. Michael consecrated canon community in the village of Beromünster" was first mentioned. The document refers in a general sense to the ancestors of the count as the founder of the institution. The Beromünster church probably served as a burial place for the Counts of Aargau . 1045 confirmed King Heinrich III. the position and property of Beromünster during his stay in Solothurn .

The Lenzburger Stift was originally located in the area of the old Gunzwil village . Gradually a village settlement with a market and its own council developed next to the convent complex. The property of the Canons' Monastery was on the one hand in the Michelsamt , the region around Beromünster with Ermensee, and on the other hand it also comprised numerous goods and rights in a wide area of the Central Plateau, especially in the cantons of Lucerne, Aargau and Solothurn, as well as in central Switzerland and scattered holdings up to northern and western Switzerland and southern Germany. This included patronage rights in many parishes.

After the Lenzburger died out in 1173, Beromünster passed to the Counts of Kyburg . Emperor Friedrich I immediately confirmed the ownership of the monastery with a detailed certificate; it lists rights and goods belonging to the monastery in around 100 localities. In 1264 the St. Michael monastery passed to the Habsburgs .

With the conquest of the Habsburg Aargau by the Confederates in 1415, the monastery and the entire Michelsamt came to Lucerne. The far majority of aristocratic canons were now more and more replaced by sons of Lucerne's patrician families. The stately collegiate houses (choirs) around the church still testify to their wealth and understanding of art.

From 1470 to 1475 there was a printer's workshop in the Beromünster canon, which the canon Helias Helye (born around 1400) built. The first to be printed here was the Latin reference work for the Bible Mammotrectus (German, for example, “The man on the mother's breast”) by Johannes Marchesinus (alias Giovanni Marchesini, d. 1299); The book contains explanations of difficult words of the Bible (arranged in the order of the biblical books) and comprises 300 sheets in miniature format, the page with 2 columns and 32 lines each. The final print of the print is dated the day before St. Martin's Day 1470 (November 10, 1470) and is the first book in print in what is now Switzerland (Hain 10555; GW M20793; BSB-Ink M-153) . - In addition to a few other prints of spiritual content, the press published a Tractatus De cometis by the Zurich city doctor Eberhard Schleusinger (around 1430 to after 1488) as a booklet in 12 sheets in 2 ° format (H. 15512; GW 7252; BSB Ink S-202 ). After the death of the Canon Heliae (d. March 20, 1475) the printing works stopped.

The pen survived the tremors during the French invasion of 1798, but not without massive losses. The dissolution of feudal rights through the revolution weighed heavier than the loss of a large part of the church treasury and the financial burden of war taxes. As a result, the monastery lost its possessions and the associated income. Since the Wessenberg Concordat of 1806, an agreement between the canton of Lucerne and the government of the Diocese of Constance, the 18 canon foundations have been reserved for elderly clergymen in the German-speaking dioceses of Switzerland. Correspondingly, reforms of the monastery became necessary, which were carried out under the provost Franz Bernhard Göldlin von Tiefenau .

Architecture and equipment

Thanks to the archaeological and architectural studies in the monastery area, remains of churches and chapels from the early and high Middle Ages are known. According to this, a previous church and an older chapel, the St. Peters Chapel, which only existed until 1693, already stood on the site of the 11th century collegiate church. According to the building history, the construction time of the collegiate church apparently fits in with the time when the document was written down in 1036. The rising masonry of the early Romanesque basilica is still largely preserved in the current structure. The church tower probably dates from the 13th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the monastery had the church renovated in three stages and decorated in the baroque style. The richly decorated choir stalls in the church were built in the 17th century. From 1771 to 1775 Joseph Ignaz Weiss created the holy grave , the ceiling paintings and the high altar picture.

The canons' houses are in the vicinity of the collegiate church.

Organs

The collegiate church has three organs .

View of the main organ

The main organ on the west gallery was built from 1841 to 1842 by the organ builder Franz Anton Kiene (Langenargen), and most recently restored by the organ builder Goll (Lucerne) and largely restored to its original condition. The "Vox humana" has been reconstructed. The instrument has 29 stops on two manual works and a pedal. The actions are mechanical.

I main work C–
1.	Drone	16 '
2.	Cornett	16 '
3.	Principal	8th'
4th	Coppel	8th'
5.	Flute major	8th'
6th	viola	8th'
7th	Dolcian	8th'
8th.	Gamba	8th'
9.	Octav	4 '
10.	Pipe flute	4 '
11.	Flute	4 '
12.	Quint	3 '
13.	mixture	2 '
14th	Doublet	2 '

II positive C–
15th	Montre	8th'
16.	Flute douce	8th'
17th	Quintadœn	8th'
18th	Unda maris	8th'
19th	Fuggari	4 '
20th	Flute cuspito	4 '
21st	echo	4 '
22nd	Cymbal	2 '
23.	Vox humana	8th'

Pedal C–
24.	Principal bass	16 '
25th	Sub bass	16 '
26th	Violon	8th'
27.	Sub bass	8th'
28.	Bombard	16 '
29	Trompon	8th'

Coupling : II / I, I / P

The Epistle organ on the south pore was built in 1960 by the organ builder Walter Graf (Oberkirch) in a historic case from 1773. The slider chest instrument has 22 stops on two manual works and a pedal. The actions are electric.

I main work C–
1.	Principal	8th'
2.	Gemshorn	8th'
3.	Octave	4 '
4th	Reed flute	4 '
5.	Octave	2 '
6th	Mixture IV-V	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  '
7th	Krummhorn	8th'
	tremolo

II positive C–
8th.	Tube bare	6 '
9.	Reed flute	8th'
10.	Salicional	8th'
11.	Praestant	4 '
12.	Pointed flute	4 '
13.	nasal	2 ² ⁄ ₃  '
14th	Forest flute	2 '
15th	third	1 ³ ⁄ ₅  '
16.	Zimbel III	1'
17th	Trumpet	8th'
	tremolo

Pedal C–
18th	Sub bass	16 '
19th	Subtle bass	16 '
20th	octave	8th'
21st	Tube bare	8th'
22nd	Choral bass	4 '

Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P.
Playing aids: two free combinations, three fixed combinations (p, f, tutti), shelf, crescendo

The gospel organ on the north gallery was built in 1693 by the organ builder Johann Christoph Albrecht from Waldshut, and restored and partially reconstructed in 1984 by the organ builder Goll (Lucerne). The instrument has 8 registers (Regal 8 ', Mixtur, Octav 4', Copel 8 ', Principal 8', Superoctav 2 ', Fleuten 4', Quint 3 ') on a manual (short octave). The pedal (C to h) is attached.

Cultural assets

Forest Cathedral

The Canons' Monastery of St. Michael has an old library, which also includes rare early prints that were made in the monastery printing house. The first dated printed book in Switzerland comes from Beromünster, the work Mammotrectus , printed in 1470 by Canon Helias Helye .

The monastery has kept important archive sources since the 11th century, a richly equipped treasury and an inventory of paraments .

At the end of the 18th century, a "walk" was laid out for the canons near the Schlössliwald, which was later called the Forest Cathedral . The system, 140 meters long and 16 meters wide, initially consisted of 94 horse chestnut trees and 3500 hornbeams. The rows of trees formed the outline of a church with a central nave, aisle and a choir.

school

A school is mentioned as early as 1047 in connection with the founder Ulrich I. von Lenzburg . In 1226 the school management was with the documented Scholasticus . From the late 16th century onwards, the school followed the Jesuit curriculum. In 1866 the collegiate school was transformed into a Progymnasium with real classes, today's Beromünster canton school . In 1964 the school was detached from the monastery and by 1977 it was expanded to become a full-fledged cantonal maturity school.

Place of pilgrimage

A traditional occasion for pilgrims is the “ Auffahrtumritt ” from Beromünster on the feast of Ascension Day . It circles the 18 km long former border of the canon monastery property. Thousands of pilgrims take part every year. Beromünster is also a destination for individual pilgrimages.

Picture gallery

Canons of St. Michael Beromünster Abbey
Collegiate church

literature

Helene Büchler-Mattmann: The Beromünster Abbey in the late Middle Ages. 1976.

Peter Eggenberger : The Beromünster Abbey. Results of building research 1975–1983 , Rex-Verlag, Luzern Stuttgart 1986.

Gregor Egloff: Mr. in Münster. The rule of the Collegiate Monastery of St. Michael in Beromünster in the Lucerne Landvogtei Michelsamt at the end of the Middle Ages and in the early modern period (1420–1700). (Lucerne Historical Publications, Vol. 38). Lucerne 2003 ISBN 3-7965-1918-0 .

First dated Swiss printing, commemorative publication for the 500th anniversary in Beromünster, 1470–1970 ; Helyas-Verlag, Beromünster 1970 (in it Gottfried Boesch : Helyas Helye von Laufen , pp. 30–68; Helen Mattmann: Incunabula of the Beromünster Abbey Library , pp. 88–151; Bibliography of the printing company in Beromünster , pp. 170–172; fold-out family tree which shows that Helias H. was the illegitimate son of Konrad H., provost at Fraumünster Zurich (approx. 1350-1423)).

Anton Gössi: Beromünster (pen). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Lothar Emmanuel Kaiser (ed.): Pilgrimage guide of Switzerland. Publishing house Pilgrimage Guide, Emmen 2013.

Theodor von Liebenau: Document book of the Bero-Münster monastery, Volume I. 1036-1312 , Stans 1906.

André Meyer: Abbey and Collegiate Church of St. Michael Beromünster. (Swiss Art Guide, No. 669). Ed. Society for Swiss Art History GSK. Bern 2000, ISBN 978-3-85782-669-6 .

Footnotes

^ Theodor von Liebenau: Document book of the Bero-Münster monastery, Volume I. 1036–1312 , Stans 1906, p. 65. Certificate in Latin.
^ Liebenau, 1906, p. 75.
^ Ferdinand Geldner: Die Deutschen Inkunabeldrucker, a manual of the German book printers of the 15th century according to places of printing ; Verlag Anton Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1968–1970, 2 volumes, ISBN 3-7772-6825-9 . Volume 1, p. 185. - Martin Germann: Medieval tools for studying the Bible: How do you use a Carolingian glossy manuscript (Codex 258 of the Bern Burger Library) and the "Mammotrectus", Beromünster 1470? - In: Librarium , Zeitschrift der Schweizerischen Bibliophilen-Gesellschaft, vol. 47, 2004 issue 3, pp. 134–148, with illus. Pp. 137–140 ( doi: 10.5169 / seals-388767 ).
↑ Eggenberger, 1986, p. 18.
↑ Information on the organs
↑ Information on the main organ
↑ Information on the Epistle organ
↑ Canons Beromünster - Schlössli Forest, pen forests. In: stiftberomuenster.ch/wald/. 2011, accessed July 20, 2020 .
^ Anton Gössi: Beromünster (pen). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
↑ Pirmin Meier : Schola Beronensis - 150 years of Beromünster Cantonal Middle School , 2016