Konrad Tanner

Einsiedeln Monastery

Konrad Tanner , OSB , baptismal name Jodocus Meinrad Tanner (born December 29, 1752 in Arth ; † April 7, 1825 in Einsiedeln ) was a Swiss Roman Catholic Benedictine priest and abbot of the Einsiedeln monastery .

Life

Konrad Tanner was the son of Josef Meinrad Tanner, school governor and his wife Maria Elisabeth, geb. from Hospenthal. After his father died at the age of 46, Landammann Josef Viktor Lorenz von Hettlingen took care of the family

He attended the convent school of the Einsiedeln monastery and entered 1770 into the monastery; on September 8, he made his holy profession as Brother Konrad and was ordained a priest on May 24, 1777 .

After completing his theology studies, he became a teacher at the monastery school and in 1781 theology teacher for the friars , in 1782 he was appointed as a preceptor at the grammar school in the residence in Bellinzona by Abbot Beat Küttel .

Pen library

At the beginning of October 1787 he returned to the Einsiedeln monastery and became head of the monastery library . He carried out a reorganization and cataloging of the holdings and was sent to other monastery libraries by Abbot Beat to look at them.

In November 1789 he was appointed provost in Bellinzona . Due to his careful management of the business and as a superior over the fathers and students, he was called back in 1795 by the abbot Beat as governor of the monastery in Einsiedeln.

After the departure of Abbot Beat, who fled in 1798 shortly before the French occupation and sacking of the Einsiedeln monastery, Konrad Tanner took over the leadership and management of the monastery and organized the preparations for the escape of the convent and followed Abbot Beat into the monastery on May 2, 1798 Austrian exile to the provost office of Sankt Gerold , but then turned to Konstanz and Petershausen . He negotiated with Father Isidor Moser about a settlement in Reichenau Monastery and tried to come back to Switzerland in the autumn, but his permission to do so was refused. It was not until May 22, 1799 that he received a pass from General Friedrich von Hotze in order to be able to return to Einsiedeln and reached the monastery on June 15, whereupon he was charged with restoring the monastery. On August 8th, he took the oath of loyalty and obedience from the residents of Reichenburg , at their request, which they had to take previously as subjects of the Einsiedeln monastery. On August 14, 1799, however, he had to leave the monastery with his fellow brothers and went first to Freudenfels Castle in the municipality of Eschenz , then to Oberstaad Castle and from there to Petershausen .

In October 1799 he received the order from Abbot Beat to create the miraculous image , the head of St. To bring Meinrad and the pontifical regalia to Tyrol . He then stayed first in the Capuchin monastery in Imst and stayed until May 1800, then he had to flee further and stayed in the Franciscan monastery in Hall in Tyrol , but then had to flee on to Bruneck in the Puster Valley , where he was accepted by the local mayor Fritz von Buol . After a stay of three months, the flight to Linz continued and when the French marched into Styria and Carinthia , he sent the image of grace, the head of St. Meinrad and the pontifical ornaments by the merchant Oberhuber to Trieste . He stayed in Linz until the conclusion of the Treaty of Luneville and in February 1801 went to the Wilten Monastery near Innsbruck , where the estate from Trieste was forwarded to him. After eight months he returned to St. Gerold, where on the eve of St. Meinrad's Day 1802, which is celebrated on January 21, he met the head of St. Meinrad arrived; shortly thereafter he was appointed pastor of St. Gerold ; In the same year, however, St. Gerold was awarded to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm von Nassau-Weilburg , but Konrad von Tanner was left in his office and he received an annual pension of 300 guilders, which was paid to him until the end of his life.

Dept

In 1806 he was called back to the monastery of Einsiedeln as a novice master , but on May 18, 1808 Abbot Beat died and on May 30, 1808 Konrad IV. Tanner was elected as his successor. On September 11, 1808, he received the solemn benediction from the apostolic nuncio Fabrizio Sceberras Testaferrata , assisted by Januarius Frei from the Rheinau monastery and Augustin Bloch (1751–1815) from the Fischingen monastery .

Construction activities

Chapel of Grace (around 1900)

Under his direction most of the altars desecrated by the French were restored and he had the Chapel of Mercy rebuilt; Brother Jakob Natter (1753–1815) and the painter Meinrad Birchler (1765–1838) designed the plans and presented them to the Milanese architect Luigi Cagnola . Construction began in 1816, using the material from the old chapel whenever possible; The chapel received its external decoration from the sculptor Franz Abart . The miraculous image, which had previously been placed on an emergency altar between the two pillars, was transferred to the St. Anne's altar; The new building was completed in 1817 and on the evening of September 11th, Abbot Conrad carried the image of grace to its new place, on the 12th the Salve Regina was sung again for the first time since the revolution and on the day of consecration of the angels itself, to which the papal nuncio Antonius Zeno appeared was, the chapel was moved again, there were 20,000 visitors.

The high altar was also renovated in 1821 and consecrated anew on September 2nd , as were the two large altars next to the Chapel of Grace.

The Chamber of Paraments , which had been particularly badly affected by the French, he enriched with many new acquisitions. For the high altar, he had new, silver-plated candlesticks made by Neyer in Bludenz , and some of the organs were re-erected and some renovated. The cultivation of the sciences was also very important to him and he had the clergy given lessons in physics , higher mathematics and Hebrew ; he sent fathers to French-speaking Switzerland or France to train in the French language . In the library he made sure that the history of Switzerland was maintained, but he was also concerned about the history of the monastery, so the individual priests should record their experiences during the exile and Father Cölestin Müller (1722–1846) a general description of the events at that time give. The old monastery chronicle was reissued in 1823 by Father Josef Tschudi (1791–1844). He made sure that the monastery school was equipped with good teaching staff and that the natural sciences were given more consideration; for this he also had a collection of physical apparatus and minerals built.

The church square and the Kramgasse were also restored, as well as the St. Gangulfs chapel in 1813 and the cemetery chapel on the square in 1823. Further repairs were also necessary on the economic buildings in the monastery and other buildings.

The construction of a new parish church and a new rectory in Kaltbrunn also made great sacrifices on the monastery; Einsiedeln Monastery contributed 7,000 guilders for the choir with the high altar and it also donated the valuable high altar picture, which was painted by Franz Josef Spiegler from Constance in 1738 , plus 5,000 guilders for the rectory. In 1820, the monastery had to lay out over 14,000 guilders for the improvement and partially new construction of Etzelstrasse, a short part of the trade route between Rapperswil and Einsiedel, on which pilgrims from Zurich also came to the Black Madonna in Einsiedeln Abbey. In the pen he set up a wool factory in order to make greater savings.

Abbot Konrad also had the monastery forests re-measured.

Finances

When he took office, he found a monastery property of 3,920 guilders, of which an annual fee had been paid to Schwyz since 1804 ; he succeeded in obtaining an estate of 300 Louis d'or , which was half, so that only this sum was subsequently paid. When the end of mediation came in 1815 , he considered the contract of 1804 to have expired and paid nothing more, because the new federal constitution, the Fifteen Treaty, contained the provision that the monasteries, like other private goods, should be subject to taxes and duties, although there was At that time, apart from the war taxes, which were occasionally levied, there were no regular direct taxes; the monastery had to pay indirect taxes like everyone else. In addition to this, there were taxes and extraordinary contributions that were levied in the canton of Schwyz for the Pfäffikon palace complex and in other cantons for the goods located there, and which indirectly charged the abbey treasury.

When a war tax was levied in 1813 to cover the cost of occupying the border , the abbot voluntarily gave 150 louis d'or and loaned another 100 louis d'or to purchase weapons for the armory . For road improvements he gave 2000 guilders in 1815 and soon afterwards another 94 Louis d'or.

In 1809 the cantonal government imposed a compulsory loan of 1,000 Milan lire on the Bellinzona residence, which the city followed in 1812; This threatened the state inventory for the first time in 1816 , but he was still able to avert this. When it was urged that the monastery would like to pay a certain annual sum again, similar to the time of mediation, the abbot refused, but voluntarily took over the payment of the debt of the canton Gersau , which amounted to 10,400 guilders.

In the past, the Austrian imperial family had received a loan of 100,000 guilders and Abbot Konrad now tried to get this loan back. For this he entrusted in 1808 to the Swiss charge d'affaires in Vienna , Baron Ferdinand Müller from Mühlegg (1759-1824), this matter but it did not come from the Austrian officials continue, then abbot that Konrad 1811 decided Alois von Reding to Vienna to send , in the hope that this highly respected man could achieve something. He stayed in Vienna from October 29, 1811 to January 22, 1812, but achieved nothing despite all audiences with the emperors and ministers. In 1813 Alois von Reding turned to Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich when he was in Freiburg im Breisgau and when Emperor Franz I came to Basel in 1814 , he spoke to him again. Abbot Konrad took the help of Pope Pius VII and that of the Emperor's daughter, Marie-Louise of Austria , the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte . Until the end of his life, Konrad Tanner did not see the money paid back. Occasionally he also tried to get St. Gerold back, but because he was still considered to be the pastor of St. Gerold, who was drawing a pension, these efforts also failed; He had his position as pastor represented by other priests in order to maintain the connection to this old property, which was of great value to Einsiedeln, above all as a place of refuge. Even with the recovery of the capital loaned to the emigrated Archbishop of Paris Jean Baptiste Joseph Gobel in 1794, despite the intervention of the federal authorities, there was no success.

In 1814, after the case of mediation, the citizens of Reichenburg decided to rejoin the Einsiedeln monastery because they did not like to stay with the March . Abbot Konrad was not averse to the plan and so a contract was concluded in 1817 that revived part of the old prince's glory; the resulting disputes over the treasure trove in the March could be settled in kindness.

The negotiations with the bailiff of Einsiedeln about the so-called Dreizerteilten estates , which were called so because they were commons , in which the abbot claimed the old right of co-ownership, led to a legal dispute that lasted for years, which ended on November 19, 1816 with a settlement in which both parties were granted an equal share and the distribution of the annual income was regulated according to the agreement made in 1564.

Visits

During his tenure, the monastery received visits from Prince Karl von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1810), King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (1813), Grand Prince Nicholas of Russia , the later Tsar , Grand Duke Leopold of Baden and ex-Empress Maria Louise of France (1814 ), Queen Hortense de Beauharnais with her son Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte , later Napoleon III. (1816 and several times later). In 1819 came Eugen Beauharnais , Friedrich Wilhelm von Prussia , who later became King and Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria .

Praeses of the Benedictine Congregation

Because the previous president , the abbot Pankraz Vorster of St. Gallen, withdrew more and more from business, the nuncio transferred the leadership of the Swiss Benedictine Congregation to Abbot Konrad in 1819 ; In the same year he invited all abbots to a meeting to Einsiedeln and on 24 May, the abbots of found Muri Abbey , Engelberg Monastery , Monastery Fischingen, Kloster Rheinau and Kloster Maria Stein , and a representative of the monastery Pfäfers where shortly before the Abbot had died a; only the Disentis monastery was not represented. In this meeting Abbot Konrad was elected first visitor and during the negotiations one insisted above all on the implementation of a certain uniformity in the monasteries of the congregation, not least also in the school area.

In 1821 Abbot Konrad visited the individual monasteries; Pfäfers Abbey in particular caused great difficulties even then. By sending a priest as novice master and professor of philosophy and theology, Abbot Konrad hoped to bring about a change there; But all too soon, Father Benedikt Müller (1793–1871), whom the abbot had entrusted with this task, had to give way to the hustle and bustle in Pfäfers and return home.

At the second abbots' meeting in Muri Monastery from July 28th to 30th, 1823, the amendment of the old statutes was discussed in advance.

On October 10, 1824, the congregation met for the third time in the Rheinau monastery, where they were mainly concerned with founding a monastery in Galicia , to which they had been invited; but as a result this plan failed.

Abbot Konrad enjoyed the friendship with men like Alois von Reding, the court president of the Schwyz district Karl Zay and the episcopal commissioner Thomas Fassbind (1755-1824).

After the death of Konrad Tanner, the solemn burial took place on April 11, 1825, performed by Abbot Ambros Bloch von Muri.

Writing

As early as 1786 Konrad Tanner published two volumes of experiments in letters among young school friends from a Ennetbürgische nursery school and wanted to give nature children something to spell, read, write and think about to encourage them . These books, which were published anonymously, came out in 1813 under the title School letters from the mountain cantons along with instructions for writing letters by Benziger & Eberle in Einsiedeln in the second edition and in 1839 by Marian Benziger by P. Gall Morel in the third edition.

In his, again anonymously, published work Patriotic Thoughts about the possible good education of the youth in the Helvetian democracy , he describes the teaching from the first beginnings over the elementary school up to the higher schools. He represents the federal school, today more civic Lessons , and the economics school, which speaks of agriculture, agriculture, animal husbandry, trade and commerce.

In his writings he suggested the creation of a public library and a scholars' academy, but was way ahead of his time. In 1853, Father Morell reissued his program as the Patriotic Education Program . His ideas and suggestions were already recognized by Karl Theodor von Dalberg and Johannes von Müller .

During his time as the abbey librarian, he and Father Sebastian Imfeld (1763–1837) wrote a history of God's most famous saints , which did not appear in print until 1793; In this work special emphasis was placed on the exposition of the doctrine of faith and morals.

During his escape he continued to work as a writer and in 1799 wrote Thoughts on the Tree of Freedom , which was later titled Brief Thoughts for the Present Time, to the brave, honest Tyroleans . On November 4, 1799, his work, Reflections on the Moral Enlightenment in the Nineteenth Century, for both clergy and cosmopolitan , began mainly in St. Gerold. His work, Reflections on Feasts of the Lord and others, was published in print by his successor Abbot Cölestin Müller.

Memberships

Konrad Tanner also promoted the publication of the Monumenta Germaniae , so that he was made an honorary member of the society pro aperiendis fontibus historiae medii aevi .

Fonts (selection)

• Experiments in letters among young school friends from a Ennetbürgische nursery school . Basel, Johann Schweighauser 1786.
• Patriotic thoughts about the possible good upbringing of the youth in the Helvetic democracy . Zurich 1787.
• Sebastian Imfeld; Konrad Tanner: History of the most famous saints of God , 2nd part . 1793.
• Brief thoughts for the present times, of the good, honest Tyroleans . 1799.
• Considerations on the moral enlightenment in the nineteenth century for both clergy and world people , Part I: The mortal man ; Part II: The faulty man ; III. Part: The repentant man ; IV. Part: The virtuous man . Augsburg, Doll 1804-1808.
• Formation of the clergy through mental exercises . Augsburg, Riger 1807.
• Reflections on various subjects for both clergy and world people . Einsiedeln 1832.
• The betrayal of the kingdom of God or the nature of avarice and its pernicious effects on humanity . Regensburg 1838.

literature

• Thomas Fässler: New beginnings and resistance. Einsiedeln Monastery in the area of ​​tension between the Baroque, Enlightenment and Revolution. Thesis, Egg 2019, ISBN 978-3-906812-04-5 .
• Konrad Tanner . In: New Nekrolog der Deutschen , 3rd year 1825, 2nd issue. Ilmenau 1827. p. 1394.
• Konrad Tanner . In: Communications from the Historical Association of the Canton of Schwyz . Volume 33 (1925) pp. 1-139.

Web links

• Gregor Jäggi: Konrad Tanner. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Konrad Tanner at the monastery archive in Einsiedeln.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Parish Kaltbrunn | History. Retrieved April 12, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Alte Etzelstrasse - Veloland. Retrieved April 12, 2019 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Beat Küttel (1780–1808)	Abbot of Einsiedeln 1808–1825	Cölestin Müller (1825–1846)