Frauenzell Monastery

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The Frauenzell Monastery is a former Benedictine abbey in the district of the same name in Brennberg in the Upper Palatinate near Regensburg , which today belongs to the Diocese of Regensburg .

Exterior view of the former Frauenzell Benedictine monastery
Portal of the former abbey church
inner space
Engraving of the monastery from the "Churbaierischen Atlas" by Anton Wilhelm Ertl 1687

history

The beginnings of Frauenzell Monastery lie in a hermitage . Around 1312 the bourgeois sons Gottfried Puecher from Straubing and Albert Tuntzlinger from Donaustauf settled as hermits in the woods near Brennberg . Count Reimar IV. Von Brennberg († 1326) donated land to them for building cells and a church in 1317/1320 on the site of today's monastery. Bishop Nikolaus von Regensburg confirmed the foundation in 1324. He determined that the two hermits should live according to the Benedictine Rule and placed them under the supervision of the abbot of the Benedictine monastery in Oberalteich . At the consecration of the first church in 1325, the Mother of God Mary was appointed patroness of the hermitage, which from then on bore the name "Marienzell" or "Our Lady Zell" (later from "Frauenzell").

After further foundations of property, Bishop Friedrich von Regensburg raised Frauenzell to a priory in 1351 . In 1424 the rapidly flourishing monastery achieved the status of an abbey . The first abbot Konrad Pläbl had the previously very primitive monastery buildings replaced by new ones. The new abbey was under the influence of the Chancellor reform . During the Reformation, however, the monastery fell into disrepair. In 1522, the Bishop of Regensburg deposed Abbot Vitus Beck because of poor asset management and violations of the rules of the order. The monastery was administered by Prior Hans Staudenbacher until 1533. The other members of the convent had apparently already left the monastery. After 1533, the Lords of Brennberg appointed secular, partly Protestant monastery administrators.

It was not until the Regensburg Bishop, Cardinal Duke Philipp , that the abandoned monastery was restored in 1582. The new settlement was carried out by the Oberalteich monastery. In the years that followed, the new abbot Melchior Probst fought hard with the lords of Brennberg over the return of the monastery property. During the Thirty Years War the monastery was devastated twice by Swedish troops in 1632–34. Abbot Stephan Rieger fled to Salzburg with the convent . In the Thirty Years' War the worship of the miraculous image began (since 1623). The statue of the Mother of God, venerated as a miracle worker, was saved from the devastation of the monastery and today forms the center of the main altar of the baroque monastery church. The 18th century brought the monastery one last heyday. Abbot Benedikt Eberschwang began after 1721 with the successive new construction of the monastery buildings and the church, which were dilapidated by age and war.

Like other Benedictine monasteries, the Frauenzell monastery had a monastery school where gifted children - mostly from the vicinity of the monastery - were prepared for attending secondary schools. Well-known graduates of the Frauenzelle monastery school at the end of the 18th century were the theologian Franz Sebastian Job (1765-1834; confessor of the Empress Karolina Augusta and co-founder of the Order of Poor School Sisters), the chemist and mineralogist Johann Nepomuk von Fuchs (1774-1856) and the theologian and historian Georg Friedrich Wiedemann (1787–1864; director of the Georgianum and professor at the University of Munich ).

Frauenzell Abbey was abolished in 1803 in the course of secularization by the Bavarian state. Some of the buildings were used to house the school and the parish, the others were sold to villagers. The former monastery church has served as a parish church since then.

Priors and abbots of the monastery

Priors from 1351 to 1424

Priory since 1351, under the care of the Abbot of Oberaltaich, elected priors:

  • Conrad, 1351-1369
  • John, 1369-1392
  • Erhard, 1392-1405
  • Leonhard, 1405-1424

Abbots from 1424 to 1522

  • Konrad Pläbl, 1424-1444; Construction of new monastery buildings
  • Caspar Wildpart, 1452–1482
  • Thomas Uhrmacher, 1482–1497
  • Jakob Premb, 1499-1505; Elected abbot of Biburg Abbey in 1505 ; In 1510 he voluntarily resigned his office because he was unable to fulfill the hopes placed on him for spiritual reform and economic rehabilitation of the Biburg monastery
  • Cyriacus Prucker (also Prugger or Pruckner), 1505–1517, from Reichenbach am Regen Monastery , previously coadjutor and administrator in Metten Monastery
  • Vitus Beck (Pistor), 1517–1522, deposed by the Bishop of Regensburg for misconduct and mismanagement
  • Until 1533 management of the monastery by Prior Hans Staudenbacher, then secular, partly also Protestant monastery administrator in the service of the Lords of Brennberg

Abbots from 1590 to 1803

  • Melchior Probst, from Oberalteich Monastery from 1582 initially administrator, from 1590 abbot of the repopulated monastery
  • Petrus Widmann, 1609-1626
  • Stephan Rieger, 1626-1645; deposed because of alleged bad administration and serious misconduct by the Bishop of Regensburg; was able to prove his innocence in Rome, but died in 1653 before his reinstatement as abbot
  • Placidus Hoertinger, (1645) 1653-1658
  • Maurus von Trauner , 1658–1670, fromChecking Monastery
  • Gregor Müller, 1670–1694
  • Placidus Stainbacher , 1694–1720, from Mallersdorf Abbey ; 1711–1717 Abbot President of the Bavarian Benedictine Congregation
  • Benedikt I. Eberschwang, 1721–1737; Baroque new construction of the monastery, laying of the foundation stone for the monastery church
  • Benno Engerer, 1737–1745
  • Benedict II Cammermayer (Kammermaier), 1745–1751; Brother of Abbot Maurus II in Weltenburg Monastery (1744–1777)
  • Heinrich I. Schneider , 1751–1766; Completion of work on the new monastery church
  • Wolfgang Krieger , 1766–1788; Erection of the early classical high altar in the monastery church
  • Heinrich II. Mühlbauer , 1788–1803, last abbot of Frauenzell († 1810 in Altenthann)

Former abbey church

The laying of the foundation stone for the new monastery church took place after lengthy preparations in 1737. Allegedly Abbot Benedikt Eberschwang had already commissioned the design for the church from the Asam brothers . The construction work was probably carried out by the Metten monastery builder Benedikt Schöttl and his son Albert . The monastery church is a high pillared hall with an oval floor plan, to which the circular chancel is attached to the east and the transversely oval vestibule to the west with the monks' choir above. Only the granite ashlar tower from 1357 was taken over from the old monastery church.

The style of the rich rococo stucco is from Anton Landes . The ceiling frescoes (completed in 1752) are attributed to the Prüfingen painter Otto Gebhard . Only the signed ceiling fresco in the entrance hall comes from Martin Speer , who was previously considered the master of all frescoes in the monastery church.

Due to the modest financial means of the monastery, the further equipment of the monastery church made very slow progress. The lay brother Gottfried Gassl made the excellent confessionals, the artistic choir stalls and the beautiful cheeks of the pews (around 1752). The new high altar, which was only completed in 1790, comes from Brother Albert Kaupp from the Frauenzell monastery. Christian Jorhan the Elder supplied the tabernacle with the associated figurative decorations . Ä. from Landshut; the side figures of Saints Joseph and Joachim, however, are probably not from Jorhan, but from Simon Sorg from Regensburg. The completion of the rest of the equipment prevented secularization. This left the old pulpit and the old side altars, which were provisionally taken over from the former monastery church, but which in size and style do not fit into the elegant Rococo room.

organ

Brandenstein organ

The parapet organ , the prospectus of which is still preserved today, comes from Johann Konrad Brandenstein and was consecrated in 1752. It was two-manual and had a short octave . In the 30s of the last century Ignaz Weise built a new pneumatic two-manual organ with a pocket drawer into the historic case, which better suited the sound of the contemporary taste and the demands on the size of the keyboard. In 2004, Armin Ziegltrum again made a new work in the historicizing style. This instrument was modeled on the Brandenstein organ in terms of key range, construction details and sound characteristics.

Monastery building

The former convent building and the abbey form a large courtyard on the north side of the monastery church. The inner courtyard was originally divided into two smaller courtyards by a transverse wing. This north-south wing was demolished after secularization. The simple three-storey buildings were built under Abbot Benedikt Eberschwang from 1722 in three sections: 1722–1725 east wing with the cells for the monks, 1727–1730 north wing with refectory and library, 1734–1737 west wing with the abbot's apartment. Of the interior, only the former refectory with early Rococo stucco and ceiling frescoes by Johann Gebhard and a room with Rococo stucco in the east wing have been preserved.

South of the church is the former monastery judge's house from 1729, which was used as a brewery after secularization. The space in front of the west facade of the church and the monastery was formerly bounded in the west and south by the economic buildings. To the east of the church and monastery, the large walled garden area has been preserved.

Profaned parish church of the Holy Trinity

To the south-east of the monastery and church, on the edge of the monastery garden, are the remains of the former Trinity Church, which was built between 1620 and 1623. The choir, closed on three sides, and the church tower on the west side were demolished after the secularization, and the nave was converted into a residential building.

Important monks of the monastery

  • Maurus Bächl (1668–1749): 1690 professed in Frauenzell; Prior in Frauenzell; since 1711 prior and vice administrator of the Benedictine abbey Ensdorf (construction of the monastery and church); Secretary of the Bavarian Benedictine Congregation ; abbot of Weltenburg Abbey since 1713 (completion of the monastery buildings and new construction of the monastery church)
  • Gottfried Gassl: lay brother; Cabinet maker and sculptor
  • Albert Kaupp: lay brother; Cabinet maker and sculptor

Others

In the renovated, former monastery church and the former library, guided tours are offered and regular series of concerts are performed.

literature

  • The art monuments of Upper Palatinate & Regensburg, Vol. 21: Regensburg District Office. edited by Felix Mader. Munich 1910, pp. 53-70.
  • Georg Dehio, Handbook of German Art Monuments. Bavaria V: Regensburg and the Upper Palatinate. edited by Jolanda Drexler and Achim Hubel with the assistance of Astrid Debold-Kritter u. a. Munich / Berlin 1991, pp. 156-160.
  • Germania Benedictina. Volume 2: Bavaria. St. Ottilien 1970.
  • 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. (Text available on the homepage of the Historical Association for Upper Palatinate and Regensburg )
  • 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.

Web links

Commons : Frauenzell Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joseph Sächerl: Chronicle of the Benedictine monastery Frauenzell. (Negotiations of the Historical Association of Upper Palatinate and Regensburg, Volume 15). OCLC 775064361 , pp. 269-273.
  2. ↑ Organ mentioned on the website of Heimatforschung Regensburg, accessed on December 1, 2016, (PDF) p. 88.
  3. ↑ Builder on the website of the University of Catholic Church Music and Music Education in Regensburg , accessed on December 1, 2016, (PDF) p. 2.

Coordinates: 49 ° 3 ′ 20.5 ″  N , 12 ° 22 ′ 14.2 ″  E