Rapperswil Abbey
The Rapperswil Monastery is an active monastery of the Capuchin Order in Rapperswil in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland . It has existed since 1606. The monastery is known nationwide for its rose garden and the Antonius grotto.
history
In the turmoil of the Reformation , Rapperswil gained strategic importance: Zurich wanted to neutralize the Catholic bridgehead as much as possible, the Catholic cantons tried to consolidate this outpost. Soon after the founding of the first Capuchin monastery in Altdorf , Canton Uri, negotiations were started with the aim of settling the Capuchins in Rapperswil.
founding
Having crossed the Alps reluctantly and on the orders of the Pope, the Franciscans, close to the people, first built small monasteries in Altdorf (1581), Stans (1582), Lucerne (1583), Schwyz (1585) and were employed by the Abbot of St. Gallen Catholic renewal. The idea of a Capuchin establishment was presented in February 1596 by Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden to the Provincial in Lucerne and the Order's leadership in Rome, and it was accepted by the Capuchin Province and the newly elected Order General.
After long negotiations, the Capuchins were assigned the most worthless land in Endingen outside the walled city : a sloping chunk of Nagelfluh towards the lake. It took more than a year to prepare the building site by blasting it. Rapperswil provided the building material and participated in the construction at the western end of the castle hill and the Rapperswil peninsula.
Nuncio Giovanni della Torre managed to get the council to pass the building decision on September 2, 1602 "to increase and reveal the holy, Christian Roman-Catholic faith" and motivated private and church patrons to donate the necessary funds. Widow Verena Züger opens the long list of “large and small donors”. Your donation of land at Krützli and another 1000 guilders from other citizens set a great start, which neither the donation of one of the eight abbots or the Catholic towns, nor the contributions of the mayor of Rapperswil or the French king ... the papal nuncio, the abbots should be equal of Einsiedeln, St. Gallen, St. Blasien, Muri, Rheinau, Wettingen, Pfäfers and the Fischingen monastery as well as political gentlemen who invested in a Catholic Rapperswil: the King of France, whose pay alliance Rapperswil had joined in 1521, the patronage places Uri, Schwyz , Unterwalden and Glarus, the Land of Appenzell and Schultheiss Pfyffer from Lucerne. Other contributions came spontaneously to the emerging monastery. For example, an Alsatian pilgrim, who later walked past the building site on the way to Einsiedeln, paid for the water supply from the city well and donated around 100 guilders. " .
Four fathers and three brothers moved in there in the founding year, with whom the history of the Rapperswil Capuchin community, which has lasted for over 400 years, began.
Despite massive threats of sanctions by the city of Zurich, the Chur bishop Johannes V. Flugi von Aspermont - the keystone on the portal of the church bears the year 1606 - consecrated the church and the altars of the Rapperswil monastery on September 23, 1607 and also consecrated them during the Reformation desecrated churches and chapels.
chronology
In 1607 it was the task of the Capuchins to secure Rapperswil as a bridgehead for the Catholic faith and to promote and consolidate the Catholic life of the population in the surrounding districts.
In 1640 a connecting structure was built between the monastery and the church with three cells, a library and the sacristy .
In 1662, the Kapuzinerschanz was built according to plans by brother Probus Heine in its current form after the siege of Rapperswil (1656) by the people of Zurich.
In 1734 the numerous offspring of the Order forced a major expansion of the monastery. A new wing on the south side created the typical closed courtyard. The north wing was widened and the west wing was extended. The church was also renovated and the inner choir enlarged. The Stations of the Cross in the church probably come from this time.
In 1923 the west and south residential wings were raised by one floor and thus adapted to the height of the north wing. Many components were renovated on this occasion and the living situation improved. The church was redesigned in neo-baroque style and the Antonius grotto was added.
In 1925 a new plaster ceiling had to be installed in the church, at the same time a new window was broken out on the right side of the nave.
In 1967 a new wing was built at an obtuse angle between the Chapel of the Dead and the south wing, which forms a new inner courtyard with the entrance to the gate. The living conditions were also completely renovated and the sanitary facilities were renewed. Through the renovation of the church, it was adapted to the requirements of new forms of liturgy and an atmosphere was created that facilitates personal prayer and meditation for churchgoers.
Since November 1992 the monastery has been open to guests, women and men who want to spend at least a week with the monastery community. In addition, the regional chapter of German-speaking Switzerland (Assembly of Delegates of the Capuchins) commissioned the community to look for new forms of prayer and liturgy and to integrate itself into the city and region in a new way.
In December 1998 two sisters from Menzingen came to Rapperswil and have been living and working in the community ever since.
In 2000 the pews were replaced by chairs. So you are more flexible in the room design for special liturgies, such as dance services, Easter morning and group celebrations.
While the Reformed and Catholics fought each other doggedly during the Reformation in the 16th century, in 2001 at least a third of the monastery guests were Reformed and some were non-denominational.
In 2002, two anniversaries were celebrated: 400 years of the Capuchins in Rapperswil and 10 years of the “Monastery to Live With”
building
The dimensions of the first monastery were modest and calculated for only 12 brothers. The space required for the construction had to be blasted out of the rock with hard work so that the oldest parts of the monastery fit right into the castle hill. Extensions were gradually made, and space was also created for the monastery garden at Kreuzliwiese on the Endingerhorn , jutting out to the west into Lake Zurich.
On the monastery grounds is also the so-called hermit House - named after the monastery of Einsiedeln as a former owner of the former "Krüzliwiese" - where until 1972 a small nut press was operated. Access from the old town of Rapperswil is through the gate at the Endingerturm
literature
- P. Rufin Steimer: History of the Capuchin Monastery Rapperswil: with careful consideration of the history of place and time , Uster 1927
- Niklaus Kuster: Brothers between Silence and City: 400 Years of Capuchins in Rapperswil (1602-2002) , in Helvetia Franciscana 31 (2002) 9–68
- 390 + 10 years Capuchin in Rapperswil (1602-2002) , ed. on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Rapperswil Capuchin Monastery, Rapperswil 2002
Web links
* Capuchin monastery in Rapperswil
Coordinates: 47 ° 13 ′ 36 " N , 8 ° 49 ′ 6" E ; CH1903: seven hundred and four thousand four hundred and eighty-seven / 231556