Hegne Monastery
| Hegne Monastery | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Hegne Monastery on Lake Constance
|
|||
| medal | Merciful Sisters of the Holy Cross |
||
| founding year | 1892 | ||
| Patronage | St. Konrad (church) | ||
| Website | http://www.kloster-hegne.de/ | ||
| - | location | ||
| country | Germany | ||
| region | Baden-Württemberg | ||
| place | Allensbach on Lake Constance | ||
| Geographical location | 47 ° 43 ' N , 9 ° 6' E | ||
|
|||
| Location in Baden-Württemberg | |||
The Hegne Monastery of the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross is located near the village of Hegne, a district of the municipality of Allensbach on Lake Constance in the district of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg . It consists of a building complex , the structural core of which is the historic Hegne Castle . In addition to the monastery, this building complex also houses various educational and charitable institutions. The monastery is also the seat of the religious province of Baden-Wuerttemberg this Swiss Congregation .
history
Years of development and expansion
In 1892 the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross acquired the Hegne Castle, which dates back to the 16th century, and established a monastery in it; In 1895 it also became the seat of the Baden-Hohenzollern Order Province (today Baden-Wuerttemberg Order Province ) of this congregation.
In order to meet the growing space requirements of the numerically growing monastery community, numerous building projects were quickly necessary:
- 1893: A barrack belonging to Hegne Castle was converted into a rectory.
- 1894: The “Hirschen” inn, which also belongs to the castle, was converted into a “pension and beneficiary's house”.
- 1888: According to the plans of the Schwyz- born architect Clemens Steiner, the Provincial House of the Order and the monastery church consecrated to Saint Konrad were added to Hegne Castle and consecrated in 1899.
- 1902: The “pension and beneficiary house” became a nurses hospital, “St. Elisabeth "called, expanded. In the immediate vicinity, a new “Hirschen” inn was built and leased (today “Haus Franziskus”).
- 1907: On the occasion of the feast of St. Joseph, the north-south wing of the monastery building, the "Josefbau", was inaugurated on March 19.
- 1913: The construction of a new nurses' hospital, "Maria Hilf", was tackled and opened on December 8, 1914 on the feast of the Conception of the Virgin, despite the outbreak of the First World War.
Starting from the growing monastery of Hegne, the nuns founded numerous branches in the province of Baden-Hohenzollern , mostly private nursing stations, children's schools, work schools and sewing and patching schools. The sisters were also used in numerous hospitals.
First World War and Weimar Republic
As early as September 1914, the nuns accepted the first 50 war wounded in the rooms of the Provincial House. In January 1915, one floor of the new “Maria Hilf” building was converted into a war hospital. A total of 250 sisters served in military hospitals during the First World War .
In addition, in the house “St. Elisabeth ”from 1915 to 1918 145 foster people from the“ Schwachsinnigenanstalt Sennheim ”( Upper Alsace ) with their nurses Admitted after their home was destroyed in the war. After the end of the war in 1918, the now empty house “St. Elisabeth “for several years as a rest home for children who had suffered health problems from the war.
Despite the war and the post-war years marked by material hardship, the Hegne Monastery and the Baden-Hohenzollern Order Province, which was headed from there, continued to grow. In 1920 the province had 1,027 professed sisters, 46 novices and 192 candidates, more than three times as many sisters as when it was founded in 1895.
In addition to the opening or taking over of further social stations in the entire order province, the Hegne monastery was also expanded. In 1925 a household school with boarding school was opened, which was temporarily housed in Hegne Castle. In 1927 the school was able to move into the specially built “Marianum” house. In 1929 a building was built for the laundry room, ironing room and accommodation for secular employees of the monastery.
National Socialism and World War II
The time of National Socialism made the work of the nuns increasingly difficult in educational institutions and schools, until their activities were finally banned completely. Under the strictest supervision of the NSDAP , the sisters could soon only work in nursing homes and hospitals.
With the beginning of the Second World War , many sisters had to take care of evacuated people again and serve in war hospitals. During the entire war, mothers and children who had been evacuated from the industrial regions in northwest Germany and sent by the Caritas Association were taken in at Hegne Castle, in the Provincial House, in the St. Elisabeth House and in the “Hirschen” inn (today's house “Franziskus”) .
Half of the “Marianum” was confiscated by the National Socialists in 1941 as a resettlement camp for 200 Germans abroad. The sisters lived in constant fear that the monastery could also be confiscated for party purposes. In case of emergency, the order had given the sisters civilian clothes and an “emergency penny”.
The fact that the Hegne Monastery survived the invasion of French troops at the end of April 1945 unscathed was thanks to the General Superior Mother M. Diomira Brandenberg. This brokered a letter of protection, which placed the monastery of Hegne and its facilities as part of a Swiss religious congregation under the protection of the Swiss government. The letter of protection arrived at the monastery on April 25, 1945, just one day before the French army occupied it.
From the post-war period to the present
The first post-war years were marked by great material hardship. The decline in the number of religious sisters, which began during the Second World War, continued. The new entrants to the monastery were less and less able to compensate for the deaths. Branches in the Order Province had to be increasingly closed due to the shortage of sisters.
After a kindergarten was opened in the village of Hegne near the monastery in 1953, the monastery church “St. Konrad ”. The choir wall was coated with a 80 m 2 large mosaic of Church artist Wilfrid Perraudin equipped and the space provided with new windows. The coffered ceiling and the choir vault with the Pope's coat of arms can still be seen from the furnishings of the first church . The church underwent the last redesign for the time being with the construction of the crypt , from 1988 to 1991. A cross and a statue of Mary to the left and right of the choir arch come from this phase, as well as the windows of the crypt, which were designed by Clemens Hillebrand from amber onyx and glass. As with the renovation of the monastery church in the early 1960s, the artistic design of the crypt was in the hands of Elmar Hillebrand .
After Hegne's sister Ulrika von Hegne (1882–1913) was beatified in Rome by Pope John Paul II on November 1, 1987, the Hegne Monastery has become a place of pilgrimage for numerous people who are in the new crypt of the monastery church go to the grave of Ulrika.
In the post-war period, the sisters of the Hegne monastery also expanded the care facilities on the monastery grounds. After a new house "St. Elisabeth ”was built as a conference and guest house, an extension for the Marianum school followed from 1966 to 1967 . Its educational offer was continuously expanded in the following decades and in 2011 comprised seven educational institutions:
- a secondary school
- a social science high school (SG)
- a two-year vocational school for home economics and nutrition (2BFS)
- a vocational college for interns (1BKSP)
- a technical school for social education (2BKSP)
- a technical school for organization and leadership (FOF)
- a vocational school for the acquisition of additional qualifications (BFQ-E).
In addition to the Marianum school , other care facilities have also been expanded or newly established, e.g. B .:
- 1991: Conversion of the “Hirschen” inn to house Franziskus for youth work
- 1993: a new Ulrika house to take care of the growing number of pilgrims;
- 1995: the Theodosius room for mental care of people without shelter;
- 1998 to 2000: Total renovation and structural expansion of the Maria Hilf nursing hospital . Since then it has served as a nursing home for the elderly not only for nuns, but also for other people in need of care from the area.
Provincial Superiors of the Hegne Monastery
- .... - 2018: Sister Benedicta-Maria Kramer
- 2018 - ....: Sister Maria Paola Zinniel
literature
- Sisters of Mercy of St. Kreuz, Hegne (ed.): Hegne, monastery church and crypt. Peda art guide No. 367/1996, ISBN 3-89643-023-8 .
- Hegner Cultural Association V. (Ed.): Hegne - Village Castle Monastery. Hegau Library Volume 117, print: Uhl, Radolfzell 2003, ISBN 3-921413-88-5 .
- Michael Losse, Ilga Koch: Palaces and fortresses on western Lake Constance. Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2004, ISBN 3-8313-1448-9 . P. 9.
- Michael Weithmann: Castles and palaces around Lake Constance. Tyrolia-Verlag, Innsbruck 2008, ISBN 978-3-7022-2922-1 .
Web links
- Information from the South Baden holiday region about Hegne Castle and Monastery
- Homepage of the monastery of Hegne