Roman Märkl

Coat of arms of Abbot Roman Märkl (right) above the portal of the monastery church in Metten, which he has renovated in the baroque style (left the coat of arms of the monastery)

Roman Märkl OSB, baptismal name: Johannes Christoph (born May 9, 1659 in Straubing ; † April 10, 1744 in Metten ) was a German Benedictine and abbot of the Benedictine monastery in Metten in Lower Bavaria .

Life

Roman Märkl made his profession in 1678 in the Benedictine monastery Metten. In 1683 he was ordained a priest and in 1686 was vicar in the Berg parish entrusted to the monastery. From 1686 to 1696 he held the office of prior in the monastery . Then he was vicar in the parish of Michaelsbuch, which was also entrusted to the monastery . In 1706 he was elected by the Metten convent to succeed the late abbot Benedikt Ferg . The Abtsbenediktion but Roman Merkl was only in the year 1708th

Roman Märkl's term of office as abbot in Metten is characterized by lively building activity in the monastery and in the associated parishes. In 1708 he began building the monastery infirmary. The new building of the brewery followed. On July 16, 1720, Abbot Roman Märkl laid the foundation stone for the baroque renovation of the monastery church. He called on important artists such as the painters Cosmas Damian Asam and Wolfgang Andreas Heindl as well as the plasterer Franz Josef Holzinger for the furnishings . At the same time, the monastery library was given a new baroque design, which made it one of the most magnificent library rooms of the time. In addition, in 1714, Abbot Roman Märkl began the new construction of the church tower of the pilgrimage church in Loh, which is subordinate to the Metten Monastery . In this pilgrimage church there is a votive picture from 1728, which shows the abbot together with the convent of Metten. The parsonage was rebuilt in the Stephansposching parish , the church tower was rebuilt in Neuhausen in 1724 and the new parish church in Michaelsbuch began in 1728.

In addition to the numerous buildings that define the image of Metten Monastery to this day, the Rosary Brotherhood was introduced in Metten in 1726 during the term of office of Abbot Roman Märkl. For its altar, the abbot commissioned Cosmas Damian Asam to paint a picture. In 1729, when the monastery church, which had been redesigned in Baroque style, was re-consecrated by the Regensburg auxiliary bishop Gottfried Langwerth von Simmern , Abbot Roman Märkl resigned from his office. He lived withdrawn and modest in the monastery until his death in 1744.

Abbot Roman Märkl is important for the history of the monastery in Metten because he wrote a series abbatum Mettensium and continued the chronicle of the monastery, which his predecessor Markus Besch is said to have begun more than a hundred years earlier.

literature

• Wilhelm Fink : History of the development of the Benedictine abbey Metten. Vol. 1: The professorship book of the abbey (studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches. Supplementary booklet 1,1), Munich 1927, p. 41.
• Maurus Gandershofer : The merits of the Benedictines of Metten in the care of the sciences and the arts. A recollection dedicated to the former residents of this monastery , Landshut 1841, p. 16f.
• Rupert Mittermüller : The Metten Monastery and its Aebte. An overview of the history of this old Benedictine monastery , Straubing 1856, pp. 198–208.

predecessor	Office	successor
Benedict I. Ferg	Abbot of Metten 1706–1729	Benedict II Höld