Ildephons Barth

Ildephons Barth (also Ildefons , born as Franz Christoph Barth ; * 1698 in Sommerach ; † November 25, 1757 ) was abbot of the Benedictine monastery in Weißenohe in Upper Franconia from 1740 until his death .

Weißenohe before Barth

In the second half of the 17th century, the Benedictine monastery in Weißenohe was drawn into the disputes between the Electors of the Palatinate and the Duchy of Bamberg . The diocese demanded sovereignty over the actually exempt monastery and even accepted the abbey being dissolved. In 1621 Weißenohe was occupied by Bavarian troops and the surrounding area was recatholicized. Thereupon the repopulation of the monastery was carried out by priors from the monastery checking . Not until 1695 did the monks regain the right to elect their own abbot.

Life

Ildephons Barth was born as Franz Christoph Barth in 1698 in Sommerach, now in Lower Franconia. Nothing is known about the family of the future abbot. In the wine village, the Benedictine monastery Münsterschwarzach ruled the village , so that the young Franz Christoph was confronted with the Benedictine rules and ideas at an early age . It was probably also thanks to the members of the order, who also provided the pastor in Sommerach, that Barth received a higher education so that he could later study theology.

In 1722, Barth was ordained a priest , having assumed the religious name Ildephons. He probably belonged to the convent of the Michelfeld monastery, which is also part of the diocese of Bamberg, in what is now the municipality of Auerbach. There Barth was well before 1740 Prior and thus had the second-highest office within the monastery held. The appointment to Weißenohe, about 25 kilometers away, happened without knowledge of the sources and could already be related to the later election as abbot.

After the death of Abbot Benedikt II. Rheindl in August 1740, a new election in Weißenohe became necessary. Only in September did the monks vote, from which Ildephons Barth emerged victorious. He was postulated as abbot by the confreres on September 3, 1740. However, the appointment was delayed because the support of the Diocese of Bamberg was necessary. The Bambergers still protested against what they saw as the illegal occupation by Bavaria. It was not until December 21, 1740 that Barth was officially elected abbot with Inful and his staff .

The first years of office of the new abbot were marked by the War of the Austrian Succession . Troops often moved through the area around the abbey and occupied Amberg in particular . For six months, Weißenohe had to deliver money and in kind to an Austrian major general who had moved into quarters in the nearby Speinshart Abbey . It was not until April 1745 that the enemy soldiers withdrew from the vicinity of the monastery and the Bavarian government was restored.

Before that, in 1744, a fire had largely destroyed Regensberg Castle, which belonged to the monastery , and destroyed the neighboring brewery, which was an important source of income for the abbey. Abbot Ildephons began to organize the reconstruction a short time later. At the monastery itself, he pushed ahead with the renovation of the buildings. The so-called guest building in the west of the monastery church goes back to his initiative. Barth reduced the monastery's debts and promoted the improvement of the economy. He died of dropsy on November 25, 1757 .

coat of arms

Due to the abbot's lively building activity, the Ildephon's personal coat of arms has been preserved all over the site of the former abbey. It refers to the origin of the abbot from the wine-growing village of Sommerach. Blazon : “A vine, entwined with vines”, the tinging is unclear. In the stairwell of the guest wing there is the coat of arms below a portrait of the abbot, which was decorated with the Bavarian diamonds and probably refers to the return of the monastery by Elector Ferdinand Maria of Bavaria.

His epitaph in today's parish church in Weißenohe has also been preserved. It is located in front of the entrance to the Kreuzkapelle. An inscription reads: “Sta viator et vide hanc et unam quae reverendissime, perillustris ac amplissime DD Ildephonsi Barth, huius loci Abbatis meritissime manes magnos capit tantilla tantum postquam inter homines LIX, inter sacerdotes XXXV, inter Abbates XVII consumluavit annos lenta hydropsi accessit Silentium in festo S. Catherina v et m. anno MDCCLVII . "

plant

• Ildephons Barth, Virgil Hyenner: Summulae Sive Tres Mentis Operationes Menstruo Certamini Expositae In Communi Studio Exemptae Congegationis Benedictino-Bavaricae In Celeberrimo Et Antiquissimo Monasterio Sancti Michaëlis Erecto . Regensburg 1719.

literature

• Johann Ludwig Klarmann: The Steigerwald in the past. A contribution to Franconian cultural studies. Gerolzhofen ² 1909.
• Markus Naser: Weissenohe . In: Helmut Flachenecker, Manfred Heim, Michael Kaufmann, Wolfgang Wüst (eds.): The male and female monasteries of the Benedictines in Bavaria Vol. 3 (= Germania Benedictina Volume II / 3) . St. Ottilien 2014. pp. 2481–2497.
• Josef Pöppel: Weißenohe. On the history of the monastery and parish . Norderstedt 2013.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klarmann, Johann Ludwig: The Steigerwald in the past . P. 210.
2. ^ Naser, Markus: Weissenohe . P. 2487 f.
3. ^ Pöppel, Josef: Weißenohe . P. 54.
4. ^ Pöppel, Josef: Weißenohe . P. 233.
5. ^ Pöppel, Josef: Weißenohe . P. 54.
6. ^ Pöppel, Josef: Weißenohe . P. 54.