Bethlehem Abbey
The Bethlehem Abbey in Ludwigslust is a German church foundation with legal capacity under private law. It is led by a board of trustees. The foundation operates a hospital, old people's homes and a day care center. It is headquartered in a listed building complex of the same name.
task
“The foundation's task is to carry out the mission of Christian charity by setting up and operating suitable facilities. 2It thus fulfills the commission of Jesus Christ as documented in the foundation's motto (Matthew 25:40). 3 She understands her diaconal action as an essential expression of church service in a faith and service community within the Evangelical Lutheran Church District Mecklenburg. "
history
Helene v. Bülow and her niece and successor in the office of superior of the monastery, Ina Countess v. Bassewitz, knew how to effectively use the position that they had already had in Mecklenburg society in the 19th century to achieve their goals in building a widely ramified and firmly established social structure, starting from the motherhouse in Ludwigslust, the Bethlehem Abbey . Both women opted for active social engagement, although society would have made it possible for them to lead a sheltered life in one of the Mecklenburg ladies' monasteries, Kloster Dobbertin and Kloster Malchow.
Helene von Bülow
The founder of Bethlehem Abbey was Helene von Bülow (1816–1890). She was born on January 14th, 1816 as the third of twelve children of Bernhard Joachim Ludwig von Bülow on Camin near Wittenburg and Elise, born. von der Lühe , born and inscribed on January 18, 1816 under no. 923 in the Dobbertiner registration book of the Dobbertin monastery . The father's estate had been in the family since 1663.
Helene and her siblings received lessons from private tutors. In 1829 she attended Fräulein von der Sode's school boarding school in Ratzeburg. In her youth, she zealously translated Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage .
After the death of her father and older brother Bernhard, the mother and her children moved to Ludwigslust in 1842. Here Helene von Bülow was active in the “poor and sick visiting group” of the women's association. She was also an enthusiastic listener of the sermons of the theologian Theodor Kliefoth , who later became president of the Church Council and an important representative of neo-Lutheranism .
Helene von Bülow spoke of the ardent longing for a job in which she could serve Christ. Her friend Marianne von Rantzau (1811–1855) told her about the work of the revival theologian Theodor Fliedner , who had founded a deaconess motherhouse in Kaiserswerth near Düsseldorf in 1836 to train Protestant nurses and “toddler teachers”. In March 1846 she went to the Deaconess Mother House for a year and did an internship there with all the deaconesses' fields of work. In 1847 she returned to Ludwigslust and worked on the board of the Ludwigslust Toddler School. Their efforts to improve the city's poorly equipped hospital failed. In the same year she visited the Berlin Central Deaconess House Bethanien , whose superior was Marianne von Rantzau. Theodor Fliedner, who was also present, advised to start with a small children's hospital, since in his opinion innovations are more successful to be carried out in one's own house than to improve an existing facility. This was followed by visits to Amalie Sieveking's children's hospital in Hamburg and to Johann Hinrich Wichern's Rauhen Haus .
In the fall of 1854 the new superior visited hospitals in Mecklenburg. In Wismar and Rostock she found the conditions under all criticism, dirt and disorder, dull rooms . In June 1860 she accompanied Grand Duchess Auguste to Berlin, together they visited Bethanien, where the Grand Duchess' cousin, Countess Anna von Stolberg , was superior. Helene von Bülow built her life's work entirely on her own experiences. When she died on November 17, 1890, she left behind a modern social structure that had found a permanent place within Mecklenburg.
founding
Immediately after her return from Berlin, Helene von Bülow bought the small Büdnerei No. 18 in June 1847 in front of the Schweriner Tor in the then Ludwigslust suburb of Kleinow in order to set up a children's hospital. At the end of October, Theodor Fliedner visited Helene von Bülow, brought a deaconess from Kaiserwerth to support and consecrated the house. The first child was admitted on November 1, 1847. In the house, the children of the poorer population, including those from the area around the city, were treated by a Ludwigslust doctor. Some children have been treated and cared for over a long period of time.
Most of the costs for accommodation, food and clothing were covered by Helene von Bülow from her private assets. From 1830 it received a raise from the Dobbertin monastery, which rose to a full raise in money until 1852. Helene von Bülow had invested this regular income, as well as the inheritance of her parents, in her life's work . She soon planned to enlarge the house to accommodate women who had been medically neglected up to that point, and to expand and develop it into a deaconess institution. She was supported in her plans by Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II and Grand Duchess Auguste, who often visited the facility. Thanks to the financial help of the grand duke couple, the foundation stone was laid on July 9, 1850, which was inaugurated on November 3, 1851 by Superintenden Schliemann in the presence of the “Very High Lords from Schwerin”.
At the request of Helene von Bülow, who finally found God on Christmas morning 1841 after the death of a brother, the name Bethlehem Abbey was chosen. On the day of inauguration, Helene von Bülow was confirmed as superior and ecclesiastically introduced into her office.
Foundation, endowment
Helene von Bülow gave her property to the foundation, which was recorded in an extensive donation agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church . In this contract it was stipulated, among other things, that the superior had the right to determine her successor and that the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, as senior bishop, could dismiss the superior through his senior church council if she proved unsuitable. The permanent involvement of the monastery in the regional church, due to the foundation contract, differentiated the Ludwigslust facility from all other institutions and meant that all important personnel matters , provision contracts or cash accounts had to be approved by the upper church council. On June 29, 1860, the monastery was granted the rights of a legal “pious foundation” (pium corpus) by sovereign decree.
The training of nurses was accompanied by a pastor from 1860 onwards. From 1866 this was Johannes Krabbe . The appointment of a priest was made possible after the state parliament approved a sum of 10,000 thalers as thanks for the work of the deaconesses during a severe cholera epidemic. The unusually strong position of the superior led to protests among all the clergymen, because the clergy usually ran the institution. Helene von Bülow ran the monastery unchallenged until her death in 1890, but in 1878, after detailed discussions, in which Theodor Kliefoth also mediated, gave up some tasks, such as registry and construction issues. Helene von Bülow's successor was her niece Ina von Bassewitz (1850–1940) on January 11, 1891.
On December 11, 1915 there was an amendment to the statutes. Thereafter, the priest and the superior shared the management of the house in separate areas. An administrative board consisting of economic manager, pastor and superior was established. Further amendments to the Articles of Association were necessary on May 18, 1922 and January 20, 1994 in order to adapt to the changed social conditions. On November 29, 2011, the last adjustment took place, based on the merger of Ev. Mecklenburg regional church into the north church.
Training of the sisters
Bethlehem Abbey was a rare opportunity for many young women to pursue a qualified profession. In the first 20 years of its existence there were just 32 women who entered, the number grew by 100 from 1870 to 1890 and in 1910 250 deaconesses were working in the monastery. In 1873, the Marienschule, financed almost exclusively by the Grand Duke, opened an apprenticeship for 20 preschoolers at a time, followed by a time as a trial sister. The Marienschule, named after Grand Duchess Marie, focused on religious education. Medical training content came into play later. Another training center, the Helenenschule as a children's teacher seminar, was set up in 1877. The graduates later worked as kindergarten teachers in Mecklenburg.
Parament workshop
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The Mecklenburgian Parament Association , founded in 1876 by Martha von Maltzan auf Langhagen († 1883), had its workshop in Ludwigslust, from which the parament workshop of the Bethlehem Abbey emerged in 1907. The work of the association and workshop, especially high-quality antependums , could be found in most Mecklenburg churches; They are preserved, for example, in the parish church of St. Marien (Plau am See) , the village church in Darß or in Gehlsbach (municipality) . The work report of the Mecklenburgischer Paramentenverein for the year 1891 shows that in the previous year 148 works (based on the drafts of the draftsman Eugen Beck in Herrnhut ) were partly delivered by the association, partly set up for execution by other hands, namely 28 grant awards, 28 Pulpit ceilings, 15 altar desk ceilings, 22 large linen altar cloths, 10 corporals , 18 vela , 1 blanket for communion with the sick, 1 palla , 4 bell bags, 4 baptismal tablecloths, 2 baptismal towels, 1 pulpit curtain, 8 protective blankets, 1 leash , 1 carpet, 1 bedcloth. These objects were mostly intended for Mecklenburg churches, but also for foreign ones. So for the chapel of the Jäger Battalion in Colmar, for the city mission hall in Berlin, for the Church in Strelnow in Posen, for the Lutheran church La Valletta and for the hill church in Paris, also to Hanover, Silesia, Hesse, Munich, Baden and Neu -Germania in Paraguay.
The parament and textile workshop is still operated today (see below), although no longer by deaconesses.
hospital
The establishment of the hospital, which has always been a central task of the monastery, is closely related to the Order of St. John . He was looking for a location in Mecklenburg to set up a hospital and Helene von Bülow was able to convince the Order's leadership to do this in Bethlehem Abbey. After the construction of the hospital was delayed by the German War of 1866 , the new Johanniter hospital with 24 beds as a men's ward and a pharmacy was inaugurated in the spring of 1867. The first doctor was hired in 1870. In 1872 a morgue was built. The Grand Duke, who was responsible for the state's health system, initiated a new building that became the largest hospital building in Mecklenburg after the Rostock University Hospital. From the plans from 1883 to 1888, a hospital with 60 beds was built. The architect was Oberhofbaurat Hermann Willebrand , who used the Berlin International Hygiene Exhibition to study the hygiene and ventilation techniques, which were new at the time, in order to implement them in Ludwigslust. For example, he planned separate transports of dirty laundry, modern heating systems or ventilation technology. In 1885, Wilhelm Willemer (1855–1944) became the leading doctor. He worked until 1930 and was also chairman of the Mecklenburg Medical Association for several years. His successor until 1945 was his son of the same name (1887–1971).
Johanniter
Dedicated to Christian nursing , the Order of St. John organized hospitals and nursing homes in the 19th century, also in Mecklenburg. Friedrich Franz II commissioned General Adolf Freiherr von Sell in March 1857 to set up a Johanniter association in Mecklenburg as well. Already on November 12, 1857, the Johanniter agreed with Helene von Bülow to leave their annual contributions to the Bethlehem Abbey for the feeding of the sick. For this purpose, four free beds , two for adults and two for children, could be kept.
Community maintenance
A cornerstone of Theodor Fliedner's ideas was the establishment of stations for community maintenance. However, there was no support for this in 19th century Mecklenburg. Helene von Bülow herself saw Fliedner's idea rather distant, so that this branch of activity was only established late. The Bethlehem Abbey had community care stations first in Osnabrück, Oldenburg, Lübeck and Itzehoe, and later in the Jakobigemeinde in Rostock . With the increasing number of available deaconesses, stations were established in Güstrow and Doberan. In 1918, 56 community nurses were active in Mecklenburg and Lübeck. Usually a sister worked in each ward. In order to treat children suffering from tuberculosis, the Bethesda Children's Hospital was founded in Bad Sülze in 1876. After a new building in 1881, almost 100 beds were available for brine therapy. An extension in 1913 with the Siloah house created another 50 places. Deaconesses from the Bethlehem Abbey were also active in nursing at the Anna Hospital Children 's Hospital (Schwerin) .
today
The Bethlehem Abbey is the sponsor of retirement homes in Hagenow and Ludwigslust, a residential complex for assisted living, a day-care center in Grabow and maintains an advice center for education, marriage, family and life issues for children, young people and adults. The outpatient and inpatient care of mentally ill people is another focus of the work. Since 2011 the former "Protestant Hospital Stift Bethlehem" and the "Kreiskrankenhaus Hagenow" have been united under the umbrella of the "Westmecklenburg Klinikum Helene von Bülow GmbH". The society is supported equally by the Ludwigslust-Parchim district and the Bethlehem Abbey. With around 320 beds, the clinic company ensures basic and standard care as well as emergency care for a catchment area of around 120,000 inhabitants. The range of medical services in Ludwigslust is supplemented by specializations in cardiology, oncology and vascular surgery. The house is the academic teaching hospital of the University of Rostock .
The parament and textile workshop belongs to the monastery , in which individual hangings for the altar, pulpit, lectern, as well as wall hangings, altar ceilings, sacrament cloths, wall designs and textile objects, small coffins, stoles and floor carpets are made. A bakery makes wafers that are used in worship.
Collegiate church
After H. Wilhelmini, the first monastery pastor, was appointed to his office in 1860, the Bethlehem monastery and its employees formed their own parish. The building of the collegiate church made of bricks and lawn iron , begun in 1860 by the Schwerin architect Hermann Willebrand , was inaugurated on May 1, 1864. The altarpiece was originally by Gaston Lenthe . A redesign took place in 1938; this includes two depictions of Bethlehem painted by Rudolf Schäfer . The collegiate church is authorized to seal as a so-called institutional church community and is managed by the collegiate church advisory board, which includes representatives of the parochial community, the clinic, the foundation and the northern church. Services are celebrated in the church every first and third Sunday. During the week, it serves as a place for worship for the employees and visitors of the Church Education Center. The celebrations are broadcast on the screens at the patient beds via a television transmission system. In 1960 the bell from 1914 was placed in a separate bell tower.
Superiors and pen sprays
Superiors
- 1851–1890: Helene von Bülow
- 1891–1922: Ina Countess von Bassewitz
- 1922–1941: Gisela von Sydow
- 1941-1951: Dela Bruhn
- 1951–1953: Anna Haack (provisional)
- 1953–1962: Gerda Wilke
- 1962–1964: Mathilde Schepler (provisional)
- 1964–1990: Elisabeth Lundbeck
- 1990–1993: Irmtraud Schäfer
- 1996–2010: Barbara Fricke
There will be no successor for the time being, said Provost Jürgen Stobbe. The tasks of the superior would have been reduced after the hospital was spun off from the monastery five years ago and transferred to its own company. In addition, there are only five deaconesses left in Ludwigslust, all of whom are very old and retired.
Pen tips
- 1860–1866: Friedrich Wilhelmi
- 1866–1901: Johannes Krabbe
- 1901–1905: Friedrich Schmaltz
- 1905–1912: Gustav Krüger
- 1912–1937: Reinhold Rugenstein
- 1937–1943: Helmut Preß (1904–1960)
- 1940–1951: Heinrich Schwartze (acting)
- 1951–1955: Walter Pagels (1901–1977)
- 1955–1981: Hermann Eichler
- 1981–1998: Gustav Günther
- 1999–2005: Christoph Kindler
- since 2006: Jürgen Stobbe
literature
- Ernst Salfeld: The children's hospital in Kleinow near Ludwigslust and its future. A message from the Christian world. Ludwigslust 1850.
- Bethlehem Calendar 1858–1941.
- Bethlehem messenger 1877 ff.
- Johannes Krabbe: The deaconess work in prison. In: Monthly for Diakonie and Inner Mission, 1877.
- Johannes Krabbe: The Marienschule. The deaconess preschool of the Bethlehem Abbey in Ludwigslust. In: Monthly for Diakonie and Inner Mission, 1878.
- D. Bormann: The deaconesses of the Kaiserwerther Association in the World War. Gütersloh 1936.
- Harald Jenner: Inner Mission and Diakonie in Mecklenburg , Volume 1 1840-1918, Friedrich Wittig Verlag, Kiel 1998. ISBN 3-8048-4453-7
- Harald Jenner: From the middle. 150 years of Bethlehem Abbey, Ludwigslust 2001.
- Axel Attula: Network of Mercy . In: Mecklenburgs Deaconesses . An exhibition companion. Ribnitz 2013.
- Adelheid Martens: In the service of the poor and sick. Helene von Bülow and her deaconesses are unforgettable in Ludwigslust. In: Mecklenburg-Magazin SVZ Schwerin, January 2, 2015 p. 23.
swell
- Archive Bethlehem Ludwigslust Abbey
Web links
- Literature about Bethlehem Abbey in the state bibliography MV
- www.stift-bethlehem.de
- Search for Bethlehem Abbey in the German Digital Library
- Search for "Stift Bethlehem" in the SPK digital portal of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ Articles of Association in the version dated June 27, 2018 PDF
- ↑ Axel Attula: Network of Mercy , In: Mecklenburgs Diakonissen Ribnitz 2013, p. 2.
- ^ Johannes Krabbe: Helene von Bülow. A picture of life , Ludwigslust 1933.
- ↑ Articles of Association PDF ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Biographical lexicon on nursing history
- ↑ See John Crab : The Mecklenburg vestments Club and its history , in: Monthly Journal of Internal Mission 6 (1886), pp 508 -519
- ↑ Christian Art Journal for Church, School and House 1892, p. 96
- ↑ Parament and textile workshop
- ^ Entry by Wilhelm Willemer (1887–1971) in the Rostock matriculation portal with references.
- ↑ Axel Attula: Johanniter. In: Network of Mercy. Mecklenburg's deaconesses. 2013, p. 25.
- ↑ www.marienberger-vereinigung.de ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Stiftskirche at www.stadtludwigslust.de ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Abbey adopted Superior in retirement , report of July 5, 2010, accessed on June 23, 2014
Coordinates: 53 ° 20 ′ 0.4 ″ N , 11 ° 29 ′ 41.6 ″ E