Maurus Lauter

Maurus Lauter OSB († before 1665 in Lauffen (Upper Austria) near Gmunden ) was a monk and abbot in the Bavarian Benedictine abbey of Metten .

biography

Maurus Lauter came from Regensburg . He was the son of an organist at the Benedictine Abbey of Sankt Emmeram . In 1626 he made his profession in Metten Monastery . He studied philosophy at the Benedictine University in Salzburg . In 1639 he was pastor in the Stephansposching parish entrusted to the Metten monastery for pastoral care .

On February 15 (or March 8) 1645, Maurus Lauter was elected by the convent of the Metten Monastery to succeed the deceased Abbot Johannes Christoph Guetknecht . He received the benediction on May 28, 1645 in the Abbey Church of Sankt Emmeram in Regensburg.

Abbot Maurus Lauter continued the renovation and restoration work of his predecessors Johannes Nablas and Johannes Christoph Guetknecht in Metten Monastery . In 1646 the high altar was moved to the center of the choir in the monastery church. The grave of the monastery founder Utto was moved . The high grave was moved to the side wall of the choir on the Gospel side. His efforts to renew the inner order of the monastery are documented by a preserved monastic agenda from 1645 (division of times for communal services and prayers, for reading and studying scriptures, fast days, etc.).

The term of office of Abbot Maurus was marked by the last years of the Thirty Years War and its negative effects on the condition of the Metten Monastery. In 1648, the abbot had to flee from the monastery before the advancing Swedish troops. As the war's income had fallen sharply, the monastery’s debt increased during Maurus Lauter's tenure.

Abbot Maurus Lauter had to answer to the episcopal ordinariate under Cardinal Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg in 1650 in Regensburg because of offenses and accusations no longer known . In order to avoid further and more severe punishments, he voluntarily resigned his office and resigned as Abbot von Metten. He took over the position of pastor in Lauffen near Ischl in Austria and never returned to the Metten monastery.

The exact year of death of Maurus Lauter is unclear. He probably died in 1662; his Totenrotel dates back to 1665.

literature

• Wilhelm Fink , History of the Development of the Benedictine Abbey of Metten. Part 1: The profession book of the abbey (studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches, supplement 1/1), Munich 1926, p. 36f.
• Rupert Mittermüller , The Metten Monastery and His Aebte: An overview of the history of this old Benedictine monastery , Straubing 1856, pp. 168–173.

Web links

• Entry on Maurus Lauter (Lauterius) on RES (Regesta Ecclesiastica Salisburgensia)

predecessor	Office	successor
Johannes Christoph Guetknecht	Abbot of Metten Monastery 1645–1651	Augustine Gerlstötter