Matthias Schober

Matthias Schober OSB (* before 1577; † August 15, 1604 in Füssen ) was abbot of the St. Mang monastery .

Life

Matthias Schober was the Benedictine Monastery St. Mang in Füssen as abbot before more than 27 years. But since January 4, 1577 he had already been appointed administrator of the monastery by the Augsburg bishop. Bishop Marquard II was very satisfied with his administration as administrator and so he appointed him abbot on May 27, 1579. Because he had withdrawn debt claims on the bishop of 6,000  florins . With this he won the favor of the bishop, and he became an abbot from an administrator , as the monastery chronicler and successor in office, Abbot Heinrich Amman, bitterly notes. In order to partially pay off these debts, he had sold the valuable tithe income from the monastery estates in Ostendorf, Westendorf and Lengenfeld. Contrary to his coat of arms - the sheaves of corn tied together: a symbol of good housekeeping - he did not manage to leave the monastery debt-free during his reign, but had to borrow 2,100 guilders on interest.

The monastery chronicle notes on the positive side of his reign the willingness to invest and the drive of Abbot Matthias to restore the shabby church .

So he initiated the following major construction work:

• Demolition of the Romanesque cloister and erection of a vaulted, presumably two-story cloister
• Renewal and painting of the monk's choir in the monastery church
• Repair of the organ
• New construction of a colloquium room
• Enlargement of the convent cellar
• Expansion of the castle in Rückholz
• Renovation and refurbishment of the Anna Chapel
• Contract award for a new dance of death cycle to Jakob Hiebeler

Abbot Matthias Schober passed away on August 15, 1604. He was buried in front of the Holy Cross altar in the medieval monastery church of St. Mang, which stood in front of a high choir screen and the staircase leading to the crypt. The choir screen also visually separated the monk's choir with the Magnus altar from the lay church.

A year after Abbot Matthias was buried, Abbot Heinrich Ammann commissioned an epitaph and a tombstone for his predecessor. In 1607 the epitaph and the tombstone were completed and placed next to the choir altar.

About 100 years later, due to the church renovation by Johann Jakob Herkomer, this epitaph was moved and integrated into the northern pillar of the anteroom to the Anna chapel.

literature

David Leistle: Scientific and artistic ambition in the St. Magnus pen at Füssen . Brno 1898, p. 49.