Heinrich Schneider (Abbot)

Heinrich Schneider OSB (born June 4, 1713 in Michelfeld (Auerbach in the Upper Palatinate) , † February 16, 1766 in Frauenzell ) was a German Benedictine and abbot in Frauenzell Abbey .

biography

Heinrich Schneider entered the Frauenzell monastery in 1736 and made his profession here in 1737 . After he was ordained a priest in 1739, he was appointed head of the Corpus Christi brotherhood in Frauenzell. In the difficult times of the Austrian Succession War , he served as cellarer responsible for the economic situation of the monastery. He later held the office of prior . During this time, the old monastery church, which had long since fallen into disrepair, was finally demolished and the construction of the new monastery church continued (from 1747), which began in 1737 but was interrupted by the war.

After the death of Benedikt Kammermayer, Heinrich Schneider was elected abbot of the monastery on January 26, 1751 by the convent as its successor. Despite the burdens of the war, which had put a heavy strain on the finances and the economy of the small monastery, Abbot Heinrich managed to raise the necessary funds for the completion of the monastery church. A fire in the newly built grain and hay barn and other farm buildings of the monastery in December 1759 meant a serious setback in the redevelopment of the monastery finances, which were still tense due to the burdens of the war, the construction of the church and other urgently needed construction work. Thanks to the prudent economic management and thrift of the abbot, as well as the support of other monasteries in Bavaria and the adjacent areas, a sustainable consolidation was achieved, although a shift in the course of the Danube caused severe damage to the meadows of the monastery there. In the religious and spiritual life of Frauenzell Abbey, Abbot Heinrich Schneider continued the favorable development that had begun under his predecessors.

Abbot Heinrich Schneider died in 1766 after long periods of illness and several operations and, like his predecessor, was buried in the crypt of the new monastery church in Frauenzell. The eulogy and mourning speech for the deceased was given by Abbot Petrus Gerl from the monastery in Prüfing and then published in Regensburg.

literature

• Petrus Gerl : The ?? Weyland Venerable in God, Hochedelgebohrne Herr, Herr Henricus, of the highly praiseworthy exempte Closter Frauenzell, next Prennberg, Ord. Merzen 1766 ... presented , Regensburg 1766. Digitized at bavarikon.de
• Joseph Sächerl: Chronicle of the Benedictine monastery Frauenzell together with historical news about Brennberg, Bruckbach, Siegenstein and Süßenbach, Altenthan, Pettenreut, Arrach, Zell, Martins-Neukirchen, Marienstein and Hetzbach , in: Negotiations of the Historical Association for Upper Palatinate and Regensburg , Volume 15 (1853), pp. 257-466, here especially pp. 375f.
• Franz Seraph Gsellhofer: Contributions to the history of the former monastery UL Frauenzell. In: Negotiations of the Historical Association for Upper Palatinate and Regensburg , Volume 8 (1844), pp. 41–62, here pp. 48 and 58.

predecessor	Office	successor
Benedict II. Kammermayer	Abbot of Frauenzell Monastery 1751–1766	Wolfgang Krieger