Poor Clare Monastery Munster

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The Clariss Monastery, which exists today, was founded in 1973 and is located on the Cathedral Square in Münster . Another Klarissenkloster in Münster, built in 1864, existed on Scharnhorststrasse until 2001; the building has meanwhile been demolished. The oldest Poor Clare Monastery in Münster existed near the city ​​wall from 1617 to 1811 and is no longer there today, the monastery church has been partially excavated.

history

A first monastery of the Poor Clares existed on Stubengasse from the laying of the foundation stone in 1617 until the Napoleonic era . The monastery was badly damaged in 1652 when a powder tower exploded. It was abolished in 1811 in the course of secularization in the Hanseatic departments annexed by France ; the building became the property of the military administration. The foundation walls of the small monastery church were exposed in 1999 through excavations. The remains of the actual monastery building are hidden under today's Stubengasse and cannot be explored.

The renewal of the Poor Clares began in France , where the Reformed branch of the Colet nuns experienced an upswing in the 19th century. The Poor Clares came to Münster via Belgium in 1857 and initially lived in modest buildings at the Bispinghof . The restoration of the Order of the Poor Clares in Germany was largely the result of the two monasteries in Münster and Düsseldorf (founded in 1859). Because of the city center location of the branch and the proximity to the Aegidii barracks , the location soon appeared unsuitable. In 1864, the later monastery was built on Scharnhorststrasse on a donated plot of land on Lake Aasee . The property, on which a windmill had previously stood, was still very isolated outside the city. During the Kulturkampf the Poor Clares had to leave Münster in 1875, were expelled from Germany and did not return from exile in the Netherlands until 1887 . For the first time after their return, the cloister sisters left their monastery for the election of the German National Assembly in January 1919, after women's suffrage had been introduced in Germany ; many of them saw an automobile for the first time . In 1926 the Poor Clare Monastery was founded in Münster , at that time the tenth active monastery of the Poor Clares in Germany. During the time of National Socialism and the Second World War , the Poor Clares were initially able to stay in their monastery and did handicrafts that were classified as "war important". However, during bombing raids on Münster in 1943 and 1944 the monastery buildings were destroyed and the nuns moved to Nordwalde for a few years . The reconstruction of the monastery based on the pre-war building began in 1948 and was completed in 1954. After that, the Poor Clares lived on Scharnhorststrasse until the monastery was dissolved in 2001.

In 1973, a second Poor Clare Monastery was founded on the cathedral square in Münster at the instigation of Bishop Heinrich Tenhumberg . The bishop wanted to create a spiritual counterbalance to the "museum character" of the cathedral church , which he perceived . The previous abbess of the monastery on Scharnhorststrasse was the first to move into the new building with five sisters. The cathedral monastery has been independent since February 1979. A special feature of the monastery is that the enclosure borders are open towards the cathedral so that the nuns can take part in public services. That is why they are colloquially also called "Domklarissen".

The monastery complex on Scharnhorststrasse was demolished by the owner of the property, Count Droste zu Vischering , in the 2010s, and a residential and office complex was built on the site. Like today's Domklarissen, the monastery belonged to the Pirckheimer Federation of German-speaking Poor Clares, founded in 1963, an amalgamation of several independent Poor Clare monasteries in Germany, Austria and South Tyrol .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl-Heinz Kirchhoff: City plan and topographical development. In: Franz-Josef Jakobi (Ed.): History of the City of Münster , Vol. 1. Aschendorff, Münster 1993, pp. 447–484; here: p. 475.
  2. ↑ a b c Bettina Knust: Poor Clare Monastery, Münster. In: Münster plus. Retrieved August 13, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Carolin Weichselgartner: Poor Clares. In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria . August 4, 2014, accessed August 13, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Wolfgang Augustyn , Ingeborg Bähr, Dieter Berg , Reimund Haas , Gerard P. Freeman, Marie-Luise Heckmann , Roland Pieper , Esther Pia Wipfler: Franziskaner, Franziskanerinnen. In: Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte , Volume X (2006/2009), Sp. 453–556; Online version from November 26, 2019.
  5. ↑ a b Domklarissen Münster. In: Order online. July 30, 2009, accessed August 13, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Poor Clare Monastery in Münster. Pirckheimer Federation website, accessed August 13, 2019 .
  7. ^ Federation "Caritas Pirckheimer" of the German-speaking Poor Clares. In: Order online. July 30, 2009, accessed August 13, 2019 .