St. Ursula Abbey in Werl
The St. Ursula Stift in Werl in Westphalia is a monastery founded in 1888 by the Order of St. Ursula (Latin Ordo Sanctae Ursulae , OSU), usually called Ursulines for short . The sisters living in the monastery taught at the affiliated Ursuline grammar school .
history
founding
In 1888 five Ursulines from the so-called Marienburg in Nijmegen (Netherlands) came to Werl to establish an Ursuline branch. In 1897 the monastery in Werl became independent.
The first superior of the monastery and at the same time headmistress of the Ursuline High School was M. Scholastica Bröbbering. She was introduced to her new office by M. Bernardine von Nymwegen , the deputy mayor of Werl, Freiherr von Papen-Königen and the Werl pastor Alterauge. She replaced the previous directors of the higher girls' school Josefine and Elisabeth Syterman van Langeweyde. At that time the monastery consisted of a house for the sisters and a small chapel, a massive stone building in which no mass had been read for over 50 years. The chapel was consecrated anew by Pastor Alterauge, it received the patronage Queen of the Holy Rosary . The chapel was also equipped with a harmonium brought from Nijmegen .
Development until 1900
The monastery was run as a family monastery . The structure is similar to Benedictine abbeys. The convent lived in a legally independent monastery with autonomy in administration, in accepting new members and in electing the superior (in contrast to monasteries that are under general management). A transfer of individual members of the convent to other monasteries was virtually impossible. The actually monastic way of life had to be relaxed through a number of dispensations in order to enable teaching in the secondary school for girls and the Werler winter school . For example, the mayor of Werl provided the sisters with a dark-curtained carriage for the short walk from the monastery to the winter school. Because of this relaxation, there were canonical difficulties with the recognition of independence by the Holy See , the so-called Venia Apostolicae Sedis . Because of its public duties, the monastery did not have a grid to meet the required papal cloister ( Papalis clausura absque cratibus non conceditur - “The papal cloister is not granted without a grid”). The Paderborn Bishop Konrad Martin made a new request, which was granted on November 12, 1900 by the Holy Congregation .
literature
- 100 years of the Ursulines in Werl 1888–1988. (Festschrift) Werl 1988.
Coordinates: 51 ° 33 ′ 1.2 ″ N , 7 ° 54 ′ 38.2 ″ E