Capuchin monastery Werne
The Werne Monastery is a monastery of the Capuchin Order in Werne / North Rhine-Westphalia.
history
founding
Since after the Thirty Years' War three religious visited Werne regularly , and the council members asked for the "preservation and revival of the Catholic religion", three Capuchin brothers settled in Werne in 1659. You should see to the salvation of the population. This had become necessary because the only church in Werne, the Christophorus Church , only housed two of the eleven priests who had previously worked before the war. Their tasks should also include the management of religious education in schools.
Space within the city was limited, so land was given to the monks outside the city wall, where they built the monastery and the church from 1671 to 1680 on filled graves.
17th and 18th centuries
The fathers lived true to the rules of St. Francis of Assisi . The focus was on helping and helping people in need. From this a popular life quickly developed, which earned the monks in Werne a lot of sympathy.
When the plague raged in Werne in the 17th and 18th centuries , the monks were responsible for caring for the sick. Part of the monastery, the pest house, still reminds of it today. The monks who came into contact with sick people lived here in order not to infect others.
secularization
The monastery became state property in 1803 through the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss , which became mandatory for Werne as a result of the connection between Münster and Prussia . The monks were allowed to stay in the monastery, but they were not allowed to accept additional members. However, in 1843 the monastery was secularized and various schools were housed in the buildings. The monks could still live on the upper floors.
Anton Erdmann, the head of the rectorate school housed in the monastery, got in touch with the order general of the Capuchins in Rome and managed to get the order to resume in 1851. A few more Rhenish-Westphalian Capuchin monasteries were built from Werne in the period that followed. The rectorate school remained under the direction of the friars in the monastery until 1869, when it got its own building in 1869.
Kulturkampf
The Kulturkampf , a dispute between the Catholic Church under Pope Pius IX. and the Kingdom of Prussia under Otto von Bismarck in the years 1871 to 1878, put the secure existence of the monastery in danger again. With the Monastery Closure Act of 1875, the monastery threatened to be closed again. But Ferdinand Graf von Meerfeld in Westerwinkel, who first leased the monastery from the city and later took it over, let two monks live in the property, who could also hold church services. Now the good relationship with the people paid off. A control that checked whether the monastery was really closed was always informed that services had not taken place for a long time. When the population was not believed and they wanted to break into the monastery, one of the monks in civilian clothes came and threatened to charge the intruders with trespassing at the Count von Meerfeld's. Since this was too risky for control, they finally moved away with the result that the monastery was uninhabited.
Both during the secularization and the Kulturkampf monks lived in the monastery; this makes the Werne monastery the only Capuchin monastery that has always been inhabited. All other orders have to look back on expulsions in their history.
It was not until 1887 that the Capuchins were allowed to reopen the monastery. From then on, young people moved into the monastery as it became an educational facility for students of the order. At the turn of the century and after the Second World War, young brothers were able to study theology and philosophy.
20th century
From 1904 to 1911 the Blessed Anicet Koplin (1875–1941) lived in Werne Monastery. He worked primarily as a pastor for the Polish-speaking miners of the Werne colliery . From 1918 he was a pastor in Warsaw, called the crimes of the occupiers by name after the attack by the Wehrmacht on Poland and was murdered in Auschwitz .
From 1978 to 1999 the monastery in Werne was the novitiate house of the Rhenish-Westphalian Capuchin Province . There young men were instructed in the life and tasks of the fraternity. Thereafter, Salzburg was designated as the training location for the entire German-speaking area; from 1999 to 2004 Werne was just a monastery where young men could get to know the life of the Fathers in order to decide whether they would like to join the order.
The monastery today
There are currently five monks still living in Werne. You work in pastoral care, celebrate church services in your own church or as a temporary worker in other churches, lead groups of altar servers and devote yourself to youth pastoral care, etc. a. with a monthly “self-discovery day” for young people. They offer Bible discussions, meditations and tours of churches and monasteries.
For almost 350 years, the foot pilgrimage to the miraculous image of Our Lady has taken place in Werl on the last weekend of summer vacation . More than 200 pilgrims undertake the thirty kilometers in all weathers, praying and singing together with the Capuchins on a pilgrimage to Werl and back.
Many Capuchins found their final resting place in a separate part of the cemetery in Werne.
architecture
The architect of the monastery, the Capuchin brother Ambrosius von Oelde, was a well-known master builder in Westphalia during the early baroque period . The baroque chapel at Paderborn Cathedral was designed by him, among others. He died in Werne in 1705 and his grave is under the left side altar in the church. A memorial plaque that was set into the wall at the entrance to the church still testifies to this today.
The four wings of the simple monastery complex are located around a small courtyard, which was renovated as a fountain courtyard in 1992. The church is a hall building. Behind it is the prayer room of the monks. A roof turret with an onion helmet and a small bell marks the Capuchin Church. The pest house is built on the first floor with gray granite. A white plastered half-timbered house with a red tile roof stretches above it.
According to the Latin inscription above the central portal, the monastery church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and the apostles Peter and Paul. On October 4, 1680, on the feast of St. Francis, she was initiated. The interior of the church is kept simple, and only the three rococo- style altars immediately catch the eye. The high altar was donated by the sovereign, Prince-Bishop von Fürstenberg, the right altar shows the coat of arms of the noble von Ascheberg family. The one on the left does not have the donor's coat of arms, as it was donated by the people of the city of Werne. The picture above the high altar shows the crucified Jesus with his mother Mary, the favorite disciple John and the sinner. Longinus sits on his horse, the Roman soldier thrusts a lance into the side of the crucified. This work of art was painted by the Capuchin brother Damian von Ratingen in 1684. His self-portrait can be seen in the face of the lance cutter.
In the back of the church there is a baroque pieta. Many visitors light a candle here and write their worries and needs in an intercession book. The Capuchins mention the petitions in their daily common prayer. In the cloister of the monastery hangs an old pilgrim cross that pilgrims have been carrying since 1677 on the annual foot pilgrimage to the image of grace in Werl.
The library has a well-preserved collection of around 20,000 books, some of which are almost 400 years old. This inventory came about through donations and the inheritance of deceased priests who wanted their books to be kept safe.
The monastery garden, lovingly cared for by the Friends of the Werne Monastery Garden, was named Monument of the Month for June 2014 by the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (LWL).
literature
in order of appearance
- Franz Solanus Nüßlein: What did the ox want at the Guardian? A piece of monastery history - Werne and his Capuchins . In: Heimatbuch des Kreis Unna , vol. 2 (1981).
- Heidelore Fertig-Möller: Werne and his Capuchin monastery . In: Birgit Striepens u. a. (Red.): 1200 years of Christians in Werne . Catholic parish of St. Christophorus, Werne 2003, pp. 138–143.
- Art. Werne - Capuchin . In: Karl Hengst (Ed.): Westfälisches Klosterbuch , Vol. 2: Münster - Zwillbrock . Verlag Aschendorff, Münster 1994, ISBN 3-402-06888-5 , p. 464 ff.
- Suitbert Telgmann (Ed.): "Lives and proclaims peace to people". 350 years of Capuchins in Werne . Dialogverlag, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-941462-07-6 .
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Kilian Müller: The foundation of the Capuchin monastery in Werne. The city needs pastors! In: Suitbert Teigmann (Ed.): “Lives and proclaims peace to people.” 350 years of Capuchin monks in Werne . Dialogverlag, Münster 2009, pp. 37–41.
- ↑ Kilian Müller: Capuchins return to the Werner Monastery after secularization - "You are here" . In: Suitbert Teigmann (Ed.): “Lives and proclaims peace to people.” 350 years of Capuchin monks in Werne . Dialogverlag, Münster 2009, pp. 79–84.
- ↑ Suitbert Teigmann: Father Anicet, "Father of the Poor": The pastor for Wernes Polish miners . In the S. (Ed.): “Lives and proclaims peace to the people.” 350 years of Capuchins in Werne . Dialogverlag, Münster 2009, pp. 105–108.
- ↑ Werne on the website kapuziner.de, accessed on May 11, 2018.
- ^ Wallfahrt Werne - Werl , accessed on May 11, 2018.
- ↑ Heidelore Fertig-Möller: The grave of the great master builder. Ambrosius von Oelde and the Capuchins in Werne . In: Jahrbuch Westfalen , Vol. 44 (1989), pp. 212-214.
Coordinates: 51 ° 39 ′ 42 ″ N , 7 ° 38 ′ 12 ″ E