Sebastian Cönen

The coat of arms of Abbot Sebastian Cönen

Sebastian Cönen (real name Johannes Andreas Cönen ; * 1697 in Würzburg ; † October 7, 1766 ) was abbot of the Benedictine monastery in Münsterschwarzach from 1761 to 1766 .

Münsterschwarzach before Cönen

The Münsterschwarzach monastery flourished under the predecessors of Sebastian Cönen in the 17th and 18th centuries. The wealth was also due to the theological college in the buildings of the monastery, whose studies could be recognized by the University of Würzburg as being on an equal footing with theirs. The scientific heyday of the abbey led educated lecturers and many professions to the Schwarzach, the monastery was also famous for its large library .

Cönen's direct predecessor, Abbot Christophorus Balbus , also had a major influence on the renewal of the monastery . During his time, Balthasar Neumann completed the Münsterschwarzach monastery church, before all the other monastery buildings had already been renewed. Balbus had the new church fitted out by the best artists of the time and the monastery villages decorated with the old altars. In the sixties of the 18th century, however, Prussian soldiers robbed the Main Abbey during the Seven Years' War .

Life

Sebastian Cönen was born in 1697 as Johannes Andreas Cönen in Würzburg. Nothing is known about his parents and siblings, and neither is his childhood, adolescence or early education mentioned in the sources. It was not until 1712 that he reappeared in the documents of the University of Würzburg as "logices studiosus" (student of logic). After his studies, he began a spiritual career and entered the Münsterschwarzach Abbey in 1716/1717.

He rose quickly. On September 24, 1718 he became a subdeacon , on September 21, 1720 he was already a deacon . Cönens was ordained priest on December 20, 1721 in Münsterschwarzach. In the same year he obtained a theological license from the abbey college. From 1724 to 1728 Cönen took up this teaching position and taught theology as a lecturer at the monastery school.

He then turned to the financial affairs of the monastery and, as prior, managed the convent's expenses from 1728 to 1739. Later he took over pastoral duties of a pastor in the monastery village of Nordheim am Main , where he served in the Laurentiuskirche from March 11, 1743 to 1761 . At the age of sixty-four he received the news of the resignation of his predecessor Abbot Christophorus.

On September 15, 1761, the thirty-one member convention met to appoint a new abbot. The result was announced at around 8 a.m.: Sebastian Cönen was able to unite 25 of the 31 votes. On November 12, 1761 he received his confirmation from the Würzburg Prince-Bishop Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim ; This benedizierte him on 25 November of the same year for sixty-seventh abbot of Münsterschwarzach. Nothing is known about his term of office. Cönen died on October 7, 1766.

coat of arms

The abbot coat of arms of Sebastian Cönen is only handed down on a seal from 1763. Description: "In blue three squares placed on top of each other in stakes in the colors gold, green, red. On the helmet a growing man, holding a flower in his right hand, his left one on his hip."

literature

• Kassius Hallinger: Chronology of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach a. M. (1390-1803). In: Abtei Münsterschwarzach (Ed.): Abtei Münsterschwarzach. Works from their history. Münsterschwarzach 1938.
• Rainer Kengel: The coat of arms of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach. In: Abtei Münsterschwarzach (Ed.): Abtei Münsterschwarzach. Works from their history. Münsterschwarzach 1938.
• Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey. Münsterschwarzach 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey. P.56.
2. ↑ Kassius Hallinger: The chronology of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach . P. 121.
3. ↑ Rainer Kengel: The coat of arms of the abbots of Münsterschwarzach. P. 151.

predecessor	Office	successor
Christophorus Balbus	Abbot of Münsterschwarzach 1761–1766	Dominicus Otto