Premonstratensian women

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Premonstratensian women are the female branch of the Premonstratensian order . They consist of Premonstratensian choir women and the Premonstratensian women of the Third Order , also called Norbertine women .

Beginnings

Like the Premonstratensians, they trace their origins back to Norbert von Xanten . Together with Ricovera von Clastre, he is said to have been the founder of the Premonstratensian women. The rule of Augustine applies in their monasteries .

In the beginning, canons and sisters often lived in double monasteries . The two areas of life were structurally separated. In addition to the priests, men and women lived there as conversationalists who, according to Norbert , worked and prayed together based on the example of the early church in Jerusalem. They were under the supervision of the abbot of the men's convention.

In addition to the double monasteries, there were women’s monasteries from the beginning, far removed from the men’s convents. Their economic basis was based on their own property donated by the nobility and later by the bourgeoisie. But they remained dependent on a canon convent. Often it is not possible to clearly distinguish between the founding of monasteries that were subordinate to a men's convention. There were relatively independent women's conventions mainly in the northern Netherlands, in western and central Germany, and in Bohemia.

Little is known about life in the double monasteries. The well-known depiction of Jakob von Vitry from around 1220 already falls in the time of the decline of this form of life. But it does reflect the character of the Premonstratensian women. After that, the women lived in the strictest enclosure in the inner area of ​​the monastery. They also did not take part in choir or church singing, but prayed and read in silence. Hermann von Tournai also describes the life of the early Premonstratensian women hardly differently . The Premonstratensian women were not allowed to speak face to face with men - including their brothers. In exceptional cases, this was only possible through a window in the church controlled by others. Every luxury dress was frowned upon. The traditional habit consisted of a tunic and scapular made of white wool, a white belt and a black veil. There should be constant silence inside the monastery. In addition to silent prayer, there was a monastery school in the monasteries to train the offspring.

The strict observance, especially at the beginning, led to a strong upswing of the Premonstratensian women in the Middle Ages. If you follow Hermann von Tournai, who wrote his chronicle in the 1140s, 1,000 women lived in the Prémontré monastery and its immediate daughter monasteries alone, and 10,000 women in the entire order.

In the course of time there was also an inner differentiation between those who sing the Office, the actual choir women and the non-singing sisters who continued to have the status of conversers. The development of women choirs contradicted the older regulations. While the development of women choirs did not take place in France, this happened in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire as early as the second half of the 12th century.

Forcing women out of the order

As early as 1137, under Abbot Hugo von Fosses , Norbert's successor, women began to be forced out of the order. Various reasons played a role here. One of them was the large crowd, which led to entire families wanting to enter the monastery. Other reasons were the practical problems associated with the strict enclosure of the sisters in the middle of a men's convention. Ultimately, this development has something to do with the turning away from the initial charismatic community towards an order with clear institutions.

Whether there was a resolution by the General Chapter on this at this time is disputed in research. The policy was supported by the Second Lateran Council , which forbade common choral prayers by sisters, canons and monks. A first documented resolution of the General Chapter of the Order is known from 1174 or 1176. There it said: “Because we live in dangerous times and our monasteries are burdened beyond measure, we decided by a joint resolution of the chapter not to accept any more sisters from now on. An abbot who violates this provision will be relentlessly removed. "

First the double monasteries were dissolved. Men or women were resettled in their own houses. The women's shelters were subordinate to those of the men as daughter monasteries . Often these were founded only a few hundred meters from the mother monastery on a monastery-owned farm. These were mostly small and are also known as annex monasteries because of their strong dependency.

In some cases the male or female part of the convent was allowed to die out, so that after a while a purely male or female monastery emerged.

The final point was the decision in 1270 to exclude the nuns from the order and to transfer them to other orders. Many monasteries were taken over by the Cistercian women.

Another story

This did not happen everywhere, however. In the Rhineland and Westphalia, for example, the 40 women's convents there remained or were returned to the order. In Friesland , a few double monasteries even survived until the Reformation and the end that came with it. In Austria, the Pernegg Monastery, founded in 1153, existed as a women's choir monastery until 1584.

Incidentally, the prohibition on accepting sisters was effectively lifted at the end of the 13th century.

In the 14th century there were around 400 pens in continental Europe. In Germany in particular there were more women than men. Many women's convents, especially in Germany, became wealthy through the acquisition of extensive estates and in some cases became institutions for the provision of noble daughters.

There is evidence from the 14th century that the exam regulations had relaxed and that sisters began relationships with men. The order tried to counter this with various provisions.

Even if the women's monasteries were always subordinate to the men's monasteries, there were different forms of dependency. In one group, the women were able to enforce or retain the choice of the male leader, usually called provost . In the other group, the leader, usually called prior , was appointed by the head of the mother monastery without the participation of the sisters.

The women's community itself was initially headed by a “Magistra”, later these were mostly called prioresses or subprioresses. When the sisters in some monasteries tried to strengthen their rights, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, there were sometimes conflicts with the mother houses.

The Premonstratensian women were badly affected by the Reformation. As a result, most of the houses in the Protestant areas were lost. The effects of Josephinism in the Habsburg territories and finally the secularization at the beginning of the 19th century were also profound . In the further course of the century and in the 20th century, some new foundations took place.

In 1998 there were still seven monasteries worldwide with a total of 146 sisters. There were also 20 branches with 227 sisters in some of the communities under episcopal law associated with the order.

Gertrud von Altenberg , a daughter of Elisabeth of Thuringia , is one of the religious saints .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Krings, p. 82f.
  2. ^ A b Edeltraud Klueting : Monasteria semper reformanda. Monastery and order reforms in the Middle Ages. Münster 2005, p. 57.
  3. ^ Krings, p. 75
  4. ^ Krings, p. 79
  5. ^ Krings, p. 89
  6. ↑ Krings, p. 79, p. 81
  7. ^ Edeltraud Klueting: Monasteria semper reformanda. Monastery and order reforms in the Middle Ages. Münster 2005, p. 57
  8. ^ Krings, p. 83
  9. ^ Krings, p. 82
  10. ^ Edeltraud Klueting: Monasteria semper reformanda. Monastery and order reforms in the Middle Ages. Münster 2005, p. 58
  11. ^ Krings, p. 93
  12. ^ Krings, p. 93

literature

  • Manfred Heim: Premonstratensian women. In: Georg Schwaiger (Ed.): Monasticism, orders, monasteries. From the beginning to the present. Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-49483-8 , pp. 366-367.
  • Ludger Horstkötter : Premonstratensian. In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie , Vol. 27. Berlin a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-11-015435-8 , pp. 167-171.
  • Barbara Schildt-Specker: Monastery women and secularization: Premonstratensian women in the Rhineland. Klartext, Essen 1996 (Düsseldorfer Schriften zur recent regional history and the history of North Rhine-Westphalia 44), ISBN 3-88474-378-3 .
  • Urs Amacher, Bernard Andenmatten: The Premonstratensians in Switzerland. Schwabe, Basel 2002. (Helvetia sacra 4,3), ISBN 3-7965-1218-6 .
  • Bruno Krings: The Premonstratensians and their female branch. In: Irene Crusius / Helmut Flachenecker (ed.): Studies on the Premonstratensian Order. Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-525-35183-6 , pp. 73-106.