Capuchin monastery Offenburg

Capuchin monastery Offenburg
The former Capuchin monastery in Offenburg, 2016
medal	Capuchin
founding year	1640
Cancellation / year	1820
Start-up	new order
Patronage	The thirteenth apostle Matthias
location
country	Germany
region	Baden-Württemberg
place	Offenburg
Geographical location	48 ° 28 '  N , 7 ° 57'  E Coordinates: 48 ° 28 '3.5 "  N , 7 ° 56' 40.3"  E
Situation in Germany

The Capuchin Monastery Offenburg , or Old Capuchin Monastery Offenburg , is a former monastery of the Capuchin Order in the city of Offenburg . The foundation stone was laid in 1640. The monastery was closed in 1807 and today, in addition to the use of the monastery church by the Old Catholic community , it is part of the Grimmelshausen grammar school in Offenburg .

history

founding

A first application by the city of Offenburg for the establishment of a Capuchin monastery was rejected in September 1613 by the provincial chapter of the Swiss Capuchin Province in Lucerne . In 1634 the project was resumed. Religious life in the city was disrupted by the Thirty Years War . The order was also interested in a stopover for the Capuchin monasteries in Freiburg and Baden-Baden. The concrete planning was decided by the provincial chapter in Lucerne in 1637. Two priests were sent to Offenburg and soon brought 600 people of different faiths, including many soldiers from the garrison, back to the Catholic mother church. The Capuchin Cross was erected on April 23, 1640. The imperial commander in chief Hannibal von Schauenburg laid the foundation stone on the same day. Construction began on July 3, 1641 and was completed on July 14, 1645. The consecration under the patronage of the Apostle Matthias was carried out by the Strasbourg auxiliary bishop Dr. Gabriel Haug on May 12, 1647. The main donor was Eucharius Harst, landlord of Bieslingen and imperial councilor in Moravia, who was won over by a local relative for the monastery project. Other major donors were Emperor Ferdinand , Hannibal von Schauenburg and the Baron von Neveu. As a thank you, Harst received the promise of being buried in the order's habit in a Capuchin monastery of his choice. The crypt of the Capuchin was laid out under the side chapel.

The monastery

In 1668, the Upper Austrian Capuchin Province split off from the Swiss Capuchin Province. In 1678, Offenburg was occupied by French troops during the Dutch War , but after a few weeks it was appalled by Charles of Lorraine . The duke took his headquarters in the monastery building. In 1689, Offenburg, taken by the French, was destroyed on the orders of Louis XIV in the War of the Palatinate Succession . Only the Capuchin monastery was spared out of consideration for the king, whose favorite order was the Capuchin order. The monastery building is therefore the oldest building in the city of Offenburg today. By decree of Emperor Joseph II , who was particularly averse to the Capuchin order, the monastery was added to the Swabian Capuchin Province on April 4, 1781. In 1805, Margrave Karl Friedrich united the monasteries of Offenburg, Baden-Baden, Bruchsal, Waghäusel, Michaelsberg, Oberkirch, Wertheim and Mannheim to form the Baden custody . As early as February 1808, the monastery was assigned new tasks by a decree of the Baden government. The management of the girls' home in Ottersweier was imposed on the monastery . The monastery in Offenburg was put on the extinction budget but de facto was not dissolved until 1820 by the Grand Ducal Ministry of the Interior. The last verifiable Guardian of the monastery in 1820 was Father Marquard Egle von Suntheim.

The Capuchin Fire Brigade

As early as the 17th century, the Capuchin Order was involved in fire protection and the fire brigade both for its own facilities and for the surroundings. Capuchin fire brigades have been documented for Paris, Landser and Offenburg, where a fire engine from the monastery has also been preserved in the latter location .

Further use of the monastery complex

The Offenburg Grimmelshausen Gymnasium was set up in the vacant monastery complex. The monastery church, largely preserved in its original state, was transferred to the Old Catholic community in 1884. In 1898 the grammar school moved to a new building. The school library and the apartment of the school clerk remained in the monastery building. The rest of the premises were occupied by the notary's office. The building complex was extensively renovated and restored in the early 1980s. Today it is known as the Old Capuchin Monastery because the Rhenish Capuchin Province founded a new Capuchin monastery in the Offenburger suburb in 1927.

Dissolution of the library

After the abolition of the monastery in 1820, the library of the Capuchin monastery was confiscated by the Baden state and, with the exception of top-quality items, ended up in the library of the Grimmelshausen grammar school. Some incunabula and post incunabula in the inventory there go back to the library of the Capuchin monastery. The old stock of the school library is set to the extinction budget.

literature

• Beda Mayer OFMCap .: Capuchin Monastery Offenburg , In: The Capuchin Monasteries of Front Austria, Helvetia Franciscana, Volume 12, 6th issue, St. Fidelis-Buchdruckerei, Lucerne 1977, pp. 279–285.
• Otto Kähni: Offenburg and the Ortenau. The story of a city and its landscape . Offenburg 1976.
• Reinhard Klotz: The Capuchin Monastery in Offenburg. In: W. Müller (ed.): The monasteries of the Ortenau . Offenburg 1978, pp. 501-506.
• The old Capuchin monastery in Offenburg. Festschrift on the renovation in the years 1882–1984 . Edited by the city of Offenburg. Offenburg 1984.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Walther Hümmerich: Capuchin architecture in the Rhenish order provinces. Society for Middle Rhine Church History, Mainz, 1977, p. 116.
2. ↑ Beda Mayer OFMCap .: Kapuzinerkloster Offenburg , In: Die Kapuzinerklöster Vorderösterreichs, Helvetia Franciscana, Volume 12, 6th issue, St. Fidelis-Buchdruckerei, Lucerne 1977, pp. 279–285.
3. ^ Walther Hümmerich: Capuchin architecture in the Rhenish order provinces. Society for Middle Rhine Church History, Mainz, 1977, p. 140.
4. ↑ Patricia Potrykus: Kapuzinerkloster Offenburg, on Leo-BW, accessed on February 24, 2018
5. ↑ Wolfgang Kehr, Wilfried Sühl-Strohmenger, Bernhard Fabian, Wilfried Sühl-Strohmenger: Handbook of the historical book stocks. Baden-Württemberg and Saarland IS., Olms, p. 182ff.