Ferdinand von Erwitte

Ferdinand von Erwitte OSB (* December 25, 1628 at Ebbinghausen Castle in today's Erwitte ; † April 17, 1706 in Werden ) was abbot of the monasteries Werden and Helmstedt from 1670 to 1705 .

Life

He came from the Westphalian noble family of the Lords of Erwitte and was the son of the Bavarian general Dietrich Ottmar von Erwitte and his wife Gertrud von Eller zu Oefte. Although he was the last of his race, he decided at the age of 35 years in 1653 to join the Benedictine - imperial abbey of Werden . He was ordained a priest in 1657. Three years later, Ferdinand von Erwitte became prior of Siegburg Abbey , and one year later prior of Helmstedt Abbey . There he did a lot to eliminate the effects of the Thirty Years' War . He also dealt with the restoration of the monastery church. He had a chapel under the church that was still donated by St. Ludger decorated. Although he hoped to succeed Abbot Heinrich Dücker for the monasteries Werden and Helmstedt, which were linked in personal union, Adolf Borcken was preferred to him in 1667. Instead, he took over the office of prior in the abbey of Corvey , but in 1668 he became the abbot's coadjutor in the Ammensleben monastery, where he succeeded the abbot a year later.

Only a short time later, after the death of the Reich prelate Adolf Borcken, he moved back to his professed monastery as his successor. He was the first aristocrat after a series of civil abbots in Werden. The secular regalia were awarded to him by Emperor Leopold I in 1671. As prince abbot, he was director of the Rhenish prelate college .

Ferdinand von Erwitte was a devotee of Marian devotion and founded a rosary brotherhood . He was also involved in the development of the pilgrimage site Neviges . When Prince-Bishop Ferdinand von Fürstenberg became seriously ill, Abbot Ferdinand traveled to him with a representation of Mary. The prince-bishop had a monastery built in Neviges as thanks for his speedy recovery and made a pilgrimage there in 1681. At the time of Abbot Ferdinand, the bells of the abbey church were melted down. He also increased the library holdings. He took action against Lutheran preachers in the city of Werden. But he could not stop, becoming in 1676 and 1685 money for the upkeep of troops to the now to be Electoral Brandenburg belonging Duchy of Cleves had to pay.

In 1685, Werden was the meeting place for the abbots of the monasteries united in the Bursfeld congregation . Ferdinand declined the office of President of the Congregation for reasons of age.

Ferdinand resigned on November 14, 1705. He died on April 17, 1706. He was buried in a corner of the Choir of Our Lady in Werden's abbey church. The grave slab with his portrait still exists there.

literature

• Albert Schuncken: History of the Reichsabtei Werden ad Ruhr. Schwann, Cologne et al. 1865, p. 194 ff.

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