St. Walburg Monastery

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Walburg monastery and former parish church

The monastery of St. Walburg is an abbey of Benedictine nuns in Eichstaett in the Bavarian diocese of Eichstaett .

History of the monastery

Leodegar von Lechsgmünd and Graisbach donates the St. Walburg monastery in Eichstätt. Parchment painting around 1360
The monastery in an ink drawing by Maurizio Pedetti 1794

About 100 years after her death, between 870 and 879, the bones of St. Walburga († 779) were transferred from her monastery in Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm to the site of today's monastery, where a cruciform church stood , under Bishop Otgar (also Otkar) of Eichstätt , which soon got the name of the saint. Soon settled here canonesses on. On June 24, 1035, St. Liutger ( Leodegar ) Count von Lechsgmünd and Graisbach († 1074) founded the Benedictine monastery that still exists today at the suggestion of Bishop Heribert von Eichstätt . The founding equipment included properties in Böhmfeld , Pietenfeld , Dietfurt , Rehlingen , Langenaltheim , Sulzdorf and in the Bavarian village of Gempfing, southeast of Rain .

Under Bishop Johann III. von Eych (r. 1445–1464), the monastery, which has since become a sought-after institution for the care of noble daughters, was reformed after many years of opposition in the spirit of the councils of Constance and Basel . Most of the monastery buildings were cremated during the Swedish War in 1634. They were rebuilt in the baroque period.

The monastery was secularized in 1806 when the Eichstätt bishopric was transferred to Bavaria , but because of their unanimous vote to remain true to their vows and to remain in the monastery, the nuns received permission to continue their monastic life as a community in St. Walburg. In 1835, at the instigation of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, the monastery was renovated; the convent, which still had 13 sisters, was given permission to accept novices again, but with the condition that the girls from the city of Eichstätt should be taught and educated. In 1914 the monastery was opened by King Ludwig III. raised by Bavaria to an abbey . The monastery church (the nuns have always had their own choir room), also parish church since ancient times, is a popular pilgrimage site with the grave of St. Walburga.

The St. Walburg Monastery has strong ties to the New World. The Eichstatter nun, mother Benedicta Riepp , born on June 28, 1825 in Waal / Swabia, died on March 15, 1862 in St. Joseph, Minnesota, USA, came to North America in 1852 as the first Benedictine prioress together with two sisters. The beginning in the German emigrant colony of St. Mary, in the middle of the virgin forests of Pennsylvania, was hard and full of privation. Funding from the Bavarian Ludwig Missionsverein was used by Father Bonifaz Wimmer , later Archabbot and President of the American-Cassinese Benedictine Congregation, for other, more 'urgent' projects. Out of concern for the well-being of the sisters entrusted to her, mother Benedicta and Father Wimmer broke up. In 1859 Pope Pius IX decided. that in future “the competent bishops will be granted the right” to approve simple vows to women members of the order. This sanctioned the separation of the female branch of the order from the male.

From these beginnings three large, soon independent congregations of Benedictine Sisters develop in the USA with a total of over 50 priories.

Maria Anna Benedicta von Spiegel was an important abbess of the 20th century . On February 16, 1985 the abbess of St. Walburg, M. Franziska Salesia Kloos OSB, was elected. On December 27, 2018, she resigned from her position. On January 4, 2019, under the chairmanship of Gregor Maria Hanke, Hildegard Dubnick from the Abbey of St. Walburga in Virginia Dale , Colorado (USA) was elected the 60th abbess.

List of Abbesses

number Surname from to
Eduarda Schnitzer 1849 (prioress) January 9, 1902
56 Karolin Kroiss February 2, 1902 (Prioress)

1914 (abbess)

1926
57 Maria Anna Benedicta from Spiegel August 16, 1926 17th February 1950
58 Augustina Weihermüller March 25, 1950 1985
59 Franziska Kloos February 16, 1985 December 27, 2018
60 Hildegard Dubnick 4th January 2019

activities

In addition to the solemn prayer of the hours , the most important task of a Benedictine community, the nuns run a monastery shop and a guest house. They are also active in the following areas: housekeeping, gardening, various workshops, kindergarten, elementary school, care of pilgrims, library and archive.

The monastery and parish church

Interior with high altar

Instead of the Kreuzkirche, a Romanesque church was built under Bishop Heribert. In the Baroque period , this was put down, and in its place was built under Bishop Johann Christoph von Westerstetten and the Abbess Eugenie Thürmeier during the Swedish War from 1629 to 1631, the current church as a single-aisle building with an elongated south side dominating the cityscape, while the The crypt under the nave remained unchanged. The builder was Martino I. Barbieri . After the Swedes plundered the church, work was carried out on its completion from 1664 until the 18th century.

tower
Crypt with relics of St Walburga

The early baroque wall pillar church houses seven baroque altars and excellent filigree stucco from 1706. Joachim von Sandrart painted the large altarpiece of the high altar, dedicated to the church patroness . The two large side altars are designed by Karl Engel .

The domed, with a figure of St. Walburga tower was built in 1746 in its present form. The entrance to the church can be reached via a platform staircase and through a loggia, under which the Alexius (formerly Agnes) chapel is located. The crypt of St. Walburga in the east of the church has an upper and a lower floor with many votive pictures . In winter, water collects under the stone sarcophagus and has been known to have been given to believers by nuns as " Walburgis oil " since the 11th century .

It is unclear since when the parish of St. Walburg existed; In any case, the names of the pastors have been handed down since the beginning of the 13th century. In 1465 the Mariahilfkapelle was built near the monastery as a branch church of St. Walburg. The parish cemetery was turned westward in 1534 to become the chapel of St. Michael relocated. In 1634 almost all buildings in the Walburg parish district were cremated by the Swedes. After secularization, the parish was reorganized in 1814. The financial basis for the continued existence of a pastor, two chaplains and a sacristan was created. The girls' schools run by the nuns were transferred to the city.

With a parish in the cathedral parish, the parish of Sankt Walburg was dissolved on January 1, 2011 by decree by Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke OSB. The church is now only an abbey and pilgrimage church.

Organ west gallery

West gallery with nuns choir and organ

On the west gallery is an organ in a historic Rococo brochure from the year 1743. The slider chests -instrument was founded in 1996 by the company Orgelbau Mathis built. It has 27 registers , divided into two manuals and a pedal . The playing and stop actions are mechanical.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Bourdon 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Covered 8th'
4th Amorosa 8th'
5. Octave 4 ′
6th Reed flute 4 ′
7th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. Octave 2 ′
9. Mixture III-IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
10. Trumpet 8th'
II Swell C – g 3
11. Hollow flute 8th'
12. Salicional 8th'
13. Vox coelestis 8th'
14th Principal 4 ′
15th Pointed flute 4 ′
16. Sesquialtera II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
17th Forest flute 2 ′
18th Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
19th Mixture IV 2 ′
20th oboe 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
21st Principal 16 ′
22nd Sub bass 16 ′
23. Octave 8th'
24. Covered bass 8th'
25th Choral bass 4 ′
26th trombone 16 ′
27. prong 8th'

Organ nuns choir

The organ in the nuns choir was built in 1992 by Orgelbau Mathis . It has eleven registers , two manuals and a pedal .

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Reed flute 8th'
2. Principal 4 ′
3. flute 2 ′
4th mixture 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
5. shelf 8th'
II Swell C – g 3
6th Dumped 8th'
7th Salicional 8th'
8th. Pointed flute 4 ′
9. Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
10. Sub bass 16 ′
10. Pommer 8th'

  • This plaque in the entrance area of ​​the church commemorates Prince-Bishop Johann Christoph von Westerstetten

  • Detail from the epitaph of Johann III. by Eych

  • The crypt with the relics of St. Walburga

  • Votive pictures in the crypt

  • Monastery gate

literature

  • Joseph Georg Suttner: Reform of the St. Walburg monastery. In: Pastoral Journal of the Diocese of Eichstätt 33 (1886), p. 96ff.
  • Felix Mader : The art monuments of Bavaria. Middle Franconia. I. City of Eichstätt . Munich 1924 (reprint 1981). Pp. 230-285.
  • Karl Ried: Michaela Morasch, Abbess of St. Walburg in Eichstätt and her correspondence. In: Heimgarten. Supplement to Eichstätter Volkszeitung 18 (1937), No. 14-23, 19 (1938), No. 9.
  • For the 900th anniversary of the St. Walburg Abbey in Eichstätt . Historical contributions by J. Braun et al. Edited by K. Ried. Paderborn: Schöningh, 1935.
  • Franz Xaver Buchner : Convent constitution and monastery life in St. Walburg before secularization, according to monastery documents. In: Historical contributions, Paderborn 1935, pp. 27–39.
  • Antonöffelmeier: The St. Walburg Monastery in Eichstätt at the end of the Old Kingdom. In: Collective sheet of the historical association Eichstätt 87 (1994), pp. 7–110.
  • Andreas Friedel: The library of the St. Walburg Abbey in Eichstätt . Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2000. ISBN 3-447-04250-8
  • Agnes Dirr: The St. Walburg Abbey in Eichstätt , in: Alt und Jung Metten Jg. 70 (2003/04), Issue 1, 30–50.
  • Rasso Ronneburger: Mother Benedicta Riepp - An American Lifelong Dream , 2005, ISBN 3-00-015913-4
  • Klaus Kreitmeir: A reform with obstacles. 550 years ago, Bishop Johann III. von Eych new monastic life in Sankt Walburg. In: Church newspaper of the Eichstätt diocese No. 8 of February 19, 2006, p. 31.
  • Maria Magdalena Zunker: History of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Walburg in Eichstätt from 1035 to the present day. Lindenberg: Kunstverlag Josef Fink 2009, ISBN 978-3-89870-544-8
  • Maria Magdalena Zunker: The Benedictine Abbey of St. Walburg in Eichstätt (= Germania Sacra . Third series. The dioceses of the ecclesiastical province of Mainz. The diocese of Eichstätt 2). De Gruyter, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-11-059640-3 .

Web links

Commons : St. Walburg Monastery (Eichstätt)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Resignation and new election. Retrieved January 5, 2019 .
  2. ↑ KROISS, Karolina OSB (1862-1927) - Biographia Benedictina. Retrieved January 5, 2019 .
  3. ↑ WEIHERMÜLLER, Augustina OSB (1900-1993) - Biographia Benedictina. Retrieved January 5, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Information about the organ (as of June 27, 2018)
  5. ^ Diocese of Eichstätt: Eichstätt, St. Walburg - nuns choir. Retrieved January 5, 2019 .

Coordinates: 48 ° 53 '44.7 "  N , 11 ° 10' 59.1"  E