Elisabeth Achler

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Figure of "Elisabeth Bona" (Good Beth), Kornhausmuseum Bad Waldsee .

Elisabeth Achler or Elsbeth Achler (also "Elisabeth von Reute", known as Gute Beth or "Elisabetha Bona"; * November 25, 1386 in Waldsee ; † November 25, 1420 in Reute ) was a German religious sister and mystic . She was a co-founder of the Reute monastery. Her life is connected with the church reform efforts of the 15th century, which, with references to the religious awakening of the 13th and 14th centuries Century and its "mystical" spirituality , aimed at a renewal of ecclesiastical-religious life.

Life

Elisabeth Achler was the daughter of the weaving couple Hans and Anna Achler. She had two brothers.

The Waldsee Augustinian canon Konrad Kügelin (1367–1428) became her confessor and spiritual leader from the age of 14. Under his influence she became a Franciscan - Terziarin . Elisabeth first lived in extreme poverty with an older beguine in Waldsee. In 1403 she moved with four other young women into the newly built hermitage in Reute, which was built with the help of the provost of Waldsee Jakob von Metsch . In 1406 the hermitage was elevated to a women's monastery; the sisters followed the Third Rule of the Franciscan Order. Elisabeth lived there in isolation, poverty and prayer; she took care of the kitchen and looked after the poor at the monastery gate. Her religious life was mainly focused on contemplating and experiencing the Passion of Christ .

Survival

Immediately after Elisabeth's death, Konrad Kügelin wrote a Latin vita , which was subsequently distributed in several versions, including German. Its essential elements are based on the model of the life of St. Catherine of Siena and should serve as the basis for a process of canonization. Elisabeth appears here as a mystic who had visions, experienced ecstatic states, wore Christ's marks and allegedly lived for three years without eating. The formation of evidence for this lack of food comes from the accounts of confessor Kügelin. He wrote:

“Since the dear virgin actually did not eat any physical food, she could not have a bowel movement either. Then the devil came to her many times and brought with him human excrement, which also smelled bad, as if it were sulfur and resin mixed together. And the evil spirit put the excrement in a basin or a jug or in a crockery that was in the room, so that one could see that she was going to the chair and that the suspicion that she was eating secretly was all the greater in the sisters . Even more: The devil also took the same droppings and threw them on her bedroom through a window, so that the walls were unclean from the outside, so that the nuisance increased and not decreased. "

Kügelin also writes that he himself saw the devil hit the Achler. In this respect, the vita also reveals more about Kügelin's views and his religious world experience than about Elisabeth Achler herself. However, a critical examination of how far the individual statements of the vita go back to Kügelin himself or how far they are taken from legendary models is still pending.

Unlike mystics in the established women's monasteries, Elisabeth Achler was regarded as a “woman from the people” who had led a decisive life in following Christ. Ursula Haider , who grew up in Reute monastery from 1422–1430 and later became known as the mystically gifted reform abbess of the Bickenkloster in Villingen , also worked in her spirit .

Elisabeth Achler, the “Gute Beth”, as she is called because of her self-sacrificing life, was the only one among the mystically gifted women of the 14th and 15th centuries in Germany to become the people's saint ; she is revered to this day. Her beatification took place on July 19, 1766 by Pope Clement XIII. ; their festival is celebrated on November 25th. In the pilgrimage church of Reute, baroque frescoes by Eustachius Gabriel depict scenes from her life. Since 1870, Reute has been the motherhouse of a new Franciscan community; Following the example of “Good Beth”, the Franciscan Sisters of Reute set themselves the goal of “serving God in suffering humanity”.

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Werner Williams-Krapp: Women's mysticism and order reform in the 15th century. In: Joachim Heinzle (Hrsg.): Literary interest formation in the Middle Ages. DFG symposium 1991. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1993, pp. 301-313, here: pp. 308-310
  2. ↑ Achler (1932), p. 106 f., New High German transmission in Frenken (2002); P. 261.
  3. ↑ See Frenken (2002), pp. 261ff.
  4. ↑ For example, the assurance of an author that he has seen something himself is a legendary topos in the sense of the assurance of credibility and must be checked in each individual case to see whether it is to be understood purely topologically or as a personal statement.
  5. ^ Genossenschaft der Barmherzigen Schwestern Reute eV (Ed.): Good Beth von Reute . First edition 1968. Johann Josef Zimmer Verlag GmbH, Trier, p. 7 .

literature

  • Ruth Banzhaf, Michael Barczyk: Blessed good Beth von Reute . Kunstverlag Fink, Lindenberg 2003, ISBN 3-89870-131-X
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Achler, Elisabeth. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , column 18.  ( Article / beginning of article in the Internet archive )
  • Karl Bihlmeyer : The Swabian mystic Elsbeth Achler von Reute († 1420) and the tradition of her vita. In: Georg Basecke, Ferdinand Joseph Schneider (ed.): Festgabe Philipp Strauch. Niemeyer, Halle (Saale) 1932, pp. 88–109 (with an edition of Künglein's Vita; digitized version ).
  • Anton Birlinger : Life of holy Alemannic women of the XIV XV century , in: Alemannia , 9th year 1881, pp. 275–292 (edition of Künglein's Vita; digitized version ); 10th year 1882, pp. 81-109 (notes; digitized version ); Pp. 128–137 (Innsbruck manuscript; digitized version )
  • Ottokar Bonmann:  Achler, Elisabeth Maria. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 33 ( digitized version ).
  • Arno Borst : Elsbeth Achler, Franciscan in Reute , in: Mönche am Bodensee. 610-1525 . Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1978, ISBN 3-7995-5005-4 , pp. 301-319
  • Peter Dinzelbacher : Elisabeth Achler von Reute . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 3, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-7608-8903-4 , Sp. 1842.
  • Peter Dinzelbacher : German and Dutch mysticism of the Middle Ages . Berlin 2012.
  • Ralph Frenken: Childhood and Mysticism in the Middle Ages. (= Supplements to Mediaevistics. Volume 2) . Frankfurt am Main 2002.
  • Karl Füller: The blessed good Betha - Reute and Gaisbeuren. Edited by Reute parish. 4th ext. Edition 1974 (with nhd. Rendering of the Vita from 1421)
  • Ulrich Knapp: The Blessed Beth von Reute in Baindt . In: Yearbook of the State Art Collections in Baden-Württemberg, Volume 26. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1989
  • Werner Köck: Vita of the blessed Elisabeth von Reute. Text, word index and investigations . Dissertation, University of Innsbruck 1972 (synoptic copy of Kügelin's vita from the manuscripts Staatsbibliothek Berlin mgq 194, University Library Augsburg Cod. III.1.4 ° 8 and Archbishop's Archive Konstanz Hs. 380)
  • Paulin Link: The good Beth. Passion flower of Upper Swabia . (= Swabian saints). Schwabenverlag, Ostfildern 1992, ISBN 3-7966-0712-8
  • Siegfried Ringler : Kügelin, Konrad . In: The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author's Lexicon (VL²). Vol. 5 (1985), Col. 426-429 (with sources and secondary literature)
  • Paul Schurer: Good Beth von Reute 1386-1986. Exhibition guide for the 600th anniversary . City of Bad Waldsee, Bad Waldsee 1986
  • Hermann Tüchle : Elisabeth Achler, the good Beth . (= Publications of the Bad Waldsee City Archives: Series B, Representations; 3). City archive, Bad Waldsee 1984

Web links

Commons : Good Beth  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Elisabeth Achler  - sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Achler, Elisabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Elisabeth von Reute; Good Beth; Elisabetha Bona
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic nun
DATE OF BIRTH November 25, 1386
PLACE OF BIRTH Forest lake
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 1420
Place of death Reute (Bad Waldsee)