Canons of St. Pelagius
The Canons' Monastery of St. Pelagius was a secular collegiate monastery in the small country town of Bischofszell in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland .
The Canons' Monastery consecrated to St. Pelagius belonged to the Diocese of Constance until 1814 and to the Diocese of Basel from 1829 . It was mentioned in 1150 as Praepositura S. Pelagii , in 1221 as Ecclesia Episcopaliscellae and from the middle of the 14th century as the Stift zue Sant Pelayen . It was probably founded in the 9th century by Bishop Solomon I of Constance . The provost's office was first mentioned in a document in 1150 .
Never economically strong, the Canons' Monastery of St. Pelagius owned the manor and judiciary of Gottshaus as well as some houses in Constance . Around 1500 the pen and school, from which the humanists Theodor Bibliander , Ludwig Hätzer and Ulrich Mutius emerged , flourished.
In 1529 many canons converted to the new faith . In 1531 the Catholic places forced the restoration; In 1535 the mass was reintroduced against the opposition of the predominantly Reformed population. The collegiate church of St. Pelagius , from the beginning also parish church for Bischofszell, became a simultaneous church , the parish charter shared with the Reformed. The parish also included Hauptwil with St. Pelagiberg , Neukirch an der Thur and Hohentannen , from 1359 Sulgen with Berg , Bürglen (sold in 1585) and Heldswil .
In 1617, the Central Swiss Estates received the right from the Pope to appoint canons from their area. From 1632 onwards, a good half of the provosts and capitulars came from central Switzerland. As Niederstift completely dependent on the Bishop and Cathedral Chapter of Constance , the Canon Monastery of St. Pelagius always had nine benefices under the direction of the provost, who had to be a canon of Constance and did not reside in Bischofszell. From the 14th century, the actual director was the custodian , whose position was strengthened in 1632. The ordination of priests , which was originally presupposed only for probably three benefices, was required for all canons in 1594; This requirement was followed from the middle of the 17th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the canons promoted the re-Catholicization of the population.
In 1798 the monastery was placed under state administration and abolished in 1852.
literature
- Stefanie Spirig-Bülte: Bischofszell (pen). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
This article is largely based on the entry in the Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), which, according to the HLS's usage information, is licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution - Distribution under the same conditions 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license .