Upper Swabian Benedictine Congregation

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The Upper Swabian Benedictine Congregation ( lat. Congregatio suevica Benedictina S. Josephi ) was a by on August 14, 1603 papal approval confirmed association of independent Benedictine monasteries of Upper Swabia under the patronage of St. Joseph . With a decree of March 24, 1782, Emperor Josef II decreed the withdrawal of the Upper Austrian monasteries from the congregation as part of his Josephine reform efforts, which then came to an end with the secularization of 1802/03.

history

Abbot Georg Wegelin - co-founder and first president of the congregation

The model for the congregation was formed by the amalgamation of the monasteries in the Archdiocese of Mainz and the Diocese of Bamberg in 1417. In 1568, after a diocesan synod of the Diocese of Constance, the abbots of the previously unexamined Benedictine monasteries of the Diocese of Constance met and decided to form a congregation. In 1595 the abbots' assembly asked the then Pope Clement VIII for a license to practice medicine, which the Pope refused in 1597. Julius Priscianensis SJ from Dillingen and Abbot Georg Wegelin von Weingarten (former Jesuit student) continued to support the establishment of the congregation. On the orders of the papal nuncio Johann della Torre, the abbots of seven monasteries met in Weingarten in 1603 and decided on May 13 to form a new congregation, which was confirmed by Pope Clement VIII on August 14, 1603 and placed under the protectorate of the respective nuncio of Lucerne has been. On September 23, 1604, Abbot Georg Wegelin from Weingarten Monastery was elected as the first President and Visitor of the Upper Swabian Benedictine Congregation. The Abbot of Petershausen was appointed to visit Weingarten. Since 1685 the patron saint of the congregation was St. Joseph.

Members

The seven founding members were the monasteries of:

In the course of time the following monasteries have joined the congregation:

Essence

The renewal of religious discipline and the unification of monastic life were at the center of the efforts of the congregation. One wanted to achieve a common training of the monks, avoid episcopal monastery visitations and better coordinate the tax payments to the diocese. An important goal was to regain the abbeys lost after the Reformation . It was decided to exchange monks for monasteries in financial or spiritual crisis. This prevented the threatened dissolution of the monasteries in St. Trudpert and Mehrerau. In order to discuss these questions and to be able to make necessary decisions, a general chapter of the monasteries should initially meet annually, from 1609 every three years. A president was elected who could also stand for re-election. From 1618 separate prior conferences were held. Monastery sightseeing took place annually. Women's monasteries were not accepted into the congregation.

The monasteries paid contributions to a congregational treasury which the Praeses administered. This also carried a congregational seal . The archive of the congregation was in Weingarten. Copies of the archive material were kept in the Ochsenhausen monastery. Both archives have been lost, so researching the history of the congregation is difficult.

Daily routine, rites and liturgy

The Breviarium Paulinum approved by Pope Paul V was used within the congregation . The daily routine began with a choir prayer at 3:30 a.m., Matutin , and ended with Compline at 6:45 p.m. There were also special hourly prayers such as the Office of the Dead, penance psalms, the daily reading of the Regula Benedicti and the renewal of vows on March 21st and July 11th of each year. Another important task was the pastoral care of the subjects in the form of sacraments , sermons , catechesis and processions .

Division of the Congregation

On March 24, 1782, Emperor Josef II ordered the Upper Austrian monasteries to leave the congregation. From then on the Swabian Benedictine Congregation only had the following members: Weingarten, Petershausen, Ochsenhausen, Zwiefalten and Isny. With their secularization in 1802/03, the congregation perished. On May 6th, 1783, the Abbeys in Upper Austria merged to form their own congregation under the name Congregation of St. Joseph of Upper Austria . In addition to the Benedictine monasteries of Wiblingen, Mehrerau, St. Peter in the Black Forest, St. Georgen in the Black Forest, Villingen and St. Trudpert, the Cistercian Abbey of Tennenbach took part. It was founded because the monasteries wanted to avoid visiting the Bishop of Constance. Roman Fehr, the abbot of Wiblingen, was elected as president. Not least the strong dependence on the Austrian sovereign impaired the development of the congregation, which quickly became indifferent to its members and in 1799 was practically at an end. Formally, it existed until the end of Front Austria in 1805/06.

literature

  • Franz Quarthal: The Upper Swabian Benedictine Congregation of St. Joseph , in: The Reform Associations and Congregations of the Benedictines in the German-Speaking Area , arr. by Ulrich Faust and Franz Quarthal, ( Germania Benedictina Vol. 1), EOS-Verlag, St. Ottilien 1999, ISBN 3-8306-6994-1 , pp. 477-534.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jeremias Schröder : Nobody is an island. Monasteries between autonomy and networking . In: Erbe und Einsatz , vol. 95 (2019), pp. 32–44, here p. 40.
  2. ^ Germania Benedictina, page 477
  3. ^ Germania Benedictina, page 504

Web links