Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien
The Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien or Ottilian Congregation is a Benedictine Congregation located in the Archabbey of Sankt Ottilien in the district of Landsberg am Lech near the Ammersee in the Bavarian Alpine Foreland.
The connection between the Benedictine way of life and commitment to missions and, today, also commitment to the young churches, especially in Africa , Asia and Latin America, is characteristic of the Congregation . The Congregation has the title (Patronage) of the Sacred Heart of Jesus . Parallel to the men's congregation, there is also a women's community, the Mission Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing .
History of the Congregation
In 1884 , the Benedictine Father Andreas Amrhein from Beuron founded a mission house with a male and a female branch in Reichenbach in the Upper Palatinate , with the intention of creating monastic communities based on the missionary efforts of the Benedictine monasteries of the Middle Ages. This development was favored by the fact that the imperial laws, which were directed against the establishment of orders due to the culture war , were weakened, since the government of the empire wanted to enable the training of missionaries due to the colonial expansion in Africa.
On November 27, 1886, Amrhein acquired the Emming estate in the municipality of Eresing near Landsberg am Lech . The newly formed community moved its headquarters there and in the following years also bought up the remaining properties in the small hamlet. In 1896 a male and a female monastery was officially founded. Its name Sankt Ottilien was derived from the Ottilien Chapel in Emmingen, which has been a destination for pilgrimages since the Middle Ages. The women's monastery moved to Tutzing on Lake Starnberg in 1904 .
Missionaries were sent to what was then German East Africa as early as 1887 . The community grew rapidly and was soon able to set up subsidiary branches in Bavaria , primarily to train young people. In 1901 a branch was established in St. Ludwig am Main , which in 1913 repopulated the former Benedictine abbey of Münsterschwarzach , and in 1904 a further branch in Schweiklberg in Lower Bavaria , each connected to a monastery school. The mission field also expanded: as early as 1909 , a new company was founded in Seoul .
In 1902 Sankt Ottilien was elevated to an abbey, two years later the hamlet of Emming was renamed St. Ottilien. In 1914, the Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien was established under canonical law, which was headed by the Archabbot of St. Ottilien until 2012, and since then by an elected Abbot President.
After the East Africa mission had already suffered from uprisings several times, the First World War plunged the work of the Mission Benedictines into a deep crisis: apart from personnel losses, the work of the German missionaries had become impossible in the Tanganyika area, which was now under British rule ; a certain continuation was only possible through Swiss confreres. So they turned to new tasks, especially in East Asia and South Africa ( Zululand ), and at the same time began to expand the base beyond Germany, first in Uznach (Switzerland), then also in Venezuela and the USA .
In East Asia, the congregation was assigned a larger mission area in North Chosen and Manchuria (or later Manchukuo ) in 1920 , so that instead of Seoul Abbey, two new abbeys were founded in Tokwon (near Wonsan , Chōsen) and Yenki ( Republic of China ) . The communists' seizure of power after the Second World War brought the violent end of these monasteries; especially in Korea some monks were murdered or deported to concentration camps, where more of them perished. As a result, however, a Korean abbey was founded in Waegwan ( South Korea ).
In Germany in 1928, at the request of the city of Meschede , the Königsmünster Abbey was opened there. During the Nazi regime , the congregation in Germany was subjected to a variety of reprisals, until 1941 all monasteries were abolished. Some were converted into hospitals .
After the war and the re-establishment of the German monasteries, it was necessary to adjust to the independence efforts of the African peoples . For this purpose, local offspring were increasingly trained, who were then able to take on leadership functions in the mission areas. In the decades since then, the international character of the congregation has increased more and more: Many monks now come from the indigenous population; At the same time, the locations and countries have expanded further.
Benedictine Missionary Monasteries
In 2010 the congregation included 23 independent monasteries (mostly abbeys ) as well as other dependent branches. The main monastery of the congregation is the Archabbey of St. Ottilien ; The Archabbot of St. Ottilien was also Abbot President of the Congregation until 2012 . Dependent houses are highlighted in blue; their list is incomplete.
Surname | place | Patronage | Convention (monks / novices) as of March 17, 2015 |
founded | country | continent |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Archabbey of St. Ottilien | St. Ottilien | Heart of jesus | 109/2 | 1887 | Germany | Europe |
Münsterschwarzach Abbey | Münsterschwarzach | St. Felicitas | 113 / - | (788) 1913 | Germany | Europe |
Schweiklberg Abbey | Vilshofen on the Danube | Holy Trinity | 30 / - | 1904 | Germany | Europe |
Königsmünster Abbey | Meschede | Christ the King | 48/3 | 1928 | Germany | Europe |
Jakobsberg Priory (to St. Ottilien) | Ockenheim | Holy Helper | 1960 | Germany | Europe | |
Damme Priory (to Münsterschwarzach) | Dams | St. Benedict | 1963 | Germany | Europe | |
Cella St. Benedikt (at Königsmünster) | Hanover | St. Benedict | 1988 | Germany | Europe | |
St. Georgenberg-Fiecht Abbey | Fears | St. George | 9 / - | around 950/1967 | Austria | Europe |
St. Otmarsberg Abbey | Uznach | St. Otmar | 18 / - | 1919 | Switzerland | Europe |
Monasterio Benedictino Nra. Sra. de Sopetrán (to Güigüe) | Sopetrán | St. Mary | Spain | Europe | ||
St. Benedict's Abbey Peramiho | Peramiho | St. Benedict | 55/4 | 1888 | Tanzania | Africa |
Benedictine Abbey Ndanda | Ndanda | Holy Mary, Help of Christians | 72/5 | 1906 | Tanzania | Africa |
Benedictine Abbey Hanga | Songea | St. Maurus | 121/22 | 1958 | Tanzania | Africa |
St. Raphael's Priory Uwemba (to Peramiho) | Uwemba | St. Raphael | 1931 | Tanzania | Africa | |
Benedictine Abbey Mvimwa | Sumbawanga | Holy Spirit | 59/11 | 1997 | Tanzania | Africa |
Kurasini (to Ndanda) | Dar es Salaam | St. Maurus | 1894 | Tanzania | Africa | |
Benedictine Priory Kipalapala (to Hanga) | Tabora | St. John Evangelist | 1974 | Tanzania | Africa | |
Benedictine Priory Tigoni | Tigoni | Christ King of Peace | 23/5 | 1978 | Kenya | Africa |
Benedictine Abbey Inkamana | Vryheid | Heart of jesus | 36/3 | 1922 | South Africa | Africa |
Christ the King's Priory | Tororo | Christ the King | 18/4 | 1984 | Uganda | Africa |
Benedictine Monastery Katibunga (to Hanga) | Katibunga | St. Therese of Lisieux | 14/3 | 1987 | Zambia | Africa |
Monastère de l'Incarnation d'Agbang | Agbang | Incarnation of christ | 26/3 | 1988 | Togo | Africa |
Waegwan Abbey | Waegwan | St. Maurus and St. Placidus | 144/4 | 1952 | South Korea | Asia |
St. Benedict's Priory Digos | Digos | St. Benedict | 16/5 | 1983 | Philippines | Asia |
St. Michael's Benedictine Hermitage Kumily | Kumily | St. Michael | 12 / - | 1987 | India | Asia |
Yenki Abbey | Yenki | 5/0 | 2001 | People's Republic of China | Asia | |
Cella ULF (to Uznach) | Osornoe | 2006 | Kazakhstan | Asia | ||
Abadía Benedictina de San José Güigüe | Valencia | St. Joseph of Avila | 8/2 | 1923 | Venezuela | South America |
El Rosal Monastery | Santafé de Bogotá | St. Benedict | 7/1 | 1961 | Colombia | South America |
Christ the King Priory (to Münsterschwarzach) | Schuyler (Nebraska) | Christ the King | 10 | 1935 | United States | North America |
St. Paul's Abbey | Newton | St. Paul | 4th | 1924 | United States | North America |
Dependent priory of Havana | Havana | 4 / - | 2008 | Cuba | America | |
total | 922/74 |
Superior General and Archabbots as Head of the Congregation
- Andreas Amrhein (1884–1895) (Superior General)
- Ildefons Schober (1896–1902) (Superior General)
- Norbert Weber (1902–1930) (Superior General, from 1914 first Archabbot)
- Chrysostomus Schmid (1930–1957)
- Suso Brecht (1957–1974)
- Viktor Josef Dammertz (1975–1977)
- Notker Wolf (1977-2000)
- Jeremias Schröder (2000 - until today)
Abbot President as head of the Congregation (elected by the General Chapter)
From the beginning until 2012, the Archabbot of St. Ottilien was always the “born” leader of the Congregation ( praeses natus ; so-called Archabbot System). Since 2012 the congregation has been led by an elected abbot president . The previous Archabbot was elected as the first President of the Congregation.
- Jeremias Schröder (since 2012)
literature
- P. Frumentius Renner (Ed.): The five-armed candlestick . Contributions to the development and work of the Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien. 4 volumes. Eos-Verlag , St. Ottilien 1979–1993.
- P. Frumentius Renner: St. Ottilien. His becoming and working. = Mini chandelier. 4th expanded edition. Eos-Verlag, St. Ottilien 1985, ISBN 3-88096-015-1 .
- Notker Wolf: St. Ottilien . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 9 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2000, Sp. 38 .
- Peter Rohrbacher: German mission initiatives at Campo Santo Teutonico. The Missionary Benedictines in German East Africa and the Nordic Missions, in: Stefan Heid , Karl-Joseph Hummel (ed.): Papalism and Patriotism. The Campo Santo Teutonico: Place of the Germans in Rome between Risorgimento and the First World War (1870–1918) (= Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history . Supplement vol. 65). Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 2018, ISBN 978-3-451-38130-0 , pp. 613–643.
Web links
- Congregation of St. Ottilien
- Monasteries of the Congregation on the homepage of the Confoederatio Benedictina Ordinis Sancti Benedicti
- Entry to Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien on Order online
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Gerhard Heininger: 100 years of St. Ottilien monastery fire brigade . St. Ottilien 2007, p. 8th f . ( erzabtei.de [PDF; 1.8 MB ; accessed on January 21, 2014]). PDF document; 1.8 MB ( memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Mission sheets of the Benedictine missionaries from Uznach, September-October 2010 edition