Lienz Friary

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Lienz Friary
Franziskanerkloster Lienz

Franziskanerkloster Lienz.jpg

Lienz Friary (2011)
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Lienz Friary
Location of Lienz Friary in southern Austria
General information
Town or city Lienz, East Tyrol
Country Austria
Coordinates 46°49′50″N12°45′58″E / 46.83056°N 12.76611°E / 46.83056; 12.76611 Coordinates: 46°49′50″N12°45′58″E / 46.83056°N 12.76611°E / 46.83056; 12.76611

Lienz Friary (German : Franziskanerkloster Lienz) is a Franciscan friary in the centre of the town of Lienz in East Tyrol, Austria, formerly a Carmelite friary. [1]

German language West Germanic language

German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.

Lienz Place in Tyrol, Austria

Lienz is a medieval town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative centre of the Lienz district, which covers all of East Tyrol. The municipality also includes the cadastral subdivision of Patriasdorf.

East Tyrol

East Tyrol, occasionally East Tirol, is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol, separated from the main North Tyrol part by the short common border of Salzburg and Italian South Tyrol. It is congruent with the administrative district (Bezirk) of Lienz.

Contents

History

Carmelites

The Carmelite friary in Lienz was founded in 1349 by the Countess Euphemia of Görz [2] and her two sons, Albert IV and Meinhard VII. It was set up for a community of twelve residents but the number of brothers rose to about 20. In 1430 a vicariate was set up for the friary in Tristach, which along with the contributions of the populace and the noble families secured its financial stability. Although it burned down several times in the following centuries, it always received enough in donations to be able to rebuild. In about 1450 a theological college for the Carmelite Order was housed here. In the early 16th century the prior, Lucas Zach, introduced a reform to ensure that the Carmelite rule was better followed.

County of Gorizia former state 1127–1747

The County of Gorizia, from 1365 Princely County of Gorizia, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. Originally mediate Vogts of the Patriarchs of Aquileia, the Counts of Gorizia (Meinhardiner) ruled over several fiefs in the area of Lienz and in the Friuli region of northeastern Italy with their residence at Gorizia (Görz).

Tristach Place in Tyrol, Austria

Tristach is a municipality in the district of Lienz in the Austrian state of Tyrol.

From 1748 to 1773 the Carmelites took on the serving of the parish of Tristach. From 1775 they also taught in the ordinary town school (Normalschule) and from 1777 worked as professors in the Gymnasium of Lienz. [2] Nevertheless, the friary was unable to avoid the wave of monastic suppressions under Joseph II. On 21 March 1785 the community were instructed to vacate the premises to make way for a Franciscan community previously displaced from their friary in Innsbruck. [1] The conventual buildings, the church and all possessions passed to the state "religion fund". Most of the inventory was sold to the profit of the fund, including the valuable library of 4,640 volumes and 168 manuscripts. On 16 April 1785 the Franciscans moved in. Some of the 21 dispossessed Carmelites remained in the town, where nine of them died.

Gymnasium (school) type of school providing advanced secondary education in Europe

A gymnasium is a type of school with a strong emphasis on academic learning, and providing advanced secondary education in some parts of Europe comparable to British grammar schools, sixth form colleges and US preparatory high schools. In its current meaning, it usually refers to secondary schools focused on preparing students to enter a university for advanced academic study. Before the 20th century, the system of gymnasiums was a widespread feature of educational system throughout many countries of central, north, eastern, and south Europe.

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor Francis I, and the brother of Marie Antoinette. He was thus the first ruler in the Austrian dominions of the House of Lorraine, styled Habsburg-Lorraine. Joseph was a proponent of enlightened absolutism; however, his commitment to modernizing reforms subsequently engendered significant opposition, which resulted in failure to fully implement his programmes. He has been ranked, with Catherine the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia, as one of the three great Enlightenment monarchs. His policies are now known as Josephinism. He died with no sons and was succeeded by his younger brother, Leopold II.

Innsbruck Capital city of Tyrol, Austria

Innsbruck is the capital city of Tyrol in western Austria and the fifth-largest city in Austria. It is in the Inn valley, at its junction with the Wipp valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass some 30 km (18.6 mi) to the south.

Carmelite remains

Some works of art remain from the Carmelite period:

Franciscans

As a replacement for the Franciscan friary in Innsbruck, which was suppressed by Emperor Joseph II on 11 April 1785 and the premises of which now accommodate the Tyrolean Museum of Folk Art, the Franciscans were granted the Carmelite friary in Lienz, thus displacing the Carmelites who occupied it. The Franciscans moved into the vacated premises on 19 April 1785. Their duties were the care of souls and the provision of schooling in Lienz. Of the 22 members of the new community six were professors at the Lienz Gymnasium and another two were teachers at the ordinary school (Normalschule). From 1787 till now the Franciscans have also assisted the nearby convent of Dominican nuns as confessors. In 1788 an auxiliary priest was attached to the friary church for the use of the townspeople, and the Franciscans began their care of souls in the hospital.

Dominican Order Roman Catholic religious order

The Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominican Order, is a mendicant Catholic religious order founded by the Spanish priest Dominic of Caleruega in France, approved by Pope Honorius III via the Papal bull Religiosam vitam on 22 December 1216. Members of the order, who are referred to as Dominicans, generally carry the letters OP after their names, standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning of the Order of Preachers. Membership in the order includes friars, nuns, active sisters, and affiliated lay or secular Dominicans.

On 11 April 1798 during the fire of Lienz the roofs of the friary and of the church were destroyed. [2] In addition, the first decades of the friary were very turbulent thanks to the political conditions (Age of Enlightenment, Tyrolean struggle for independence). In 1807 the Gymnasium was closed by the ruling Bavarian administration, which removed the source of income of the Franciscans. In 1809 much of the friary had to be vacated for the billetting of soldiers. The unrest caused the community to drop to 13 in 1815, but the numbers later picked up again and the friars were able to resume their work in Lienz.

Age of Enlightenment European cultural movement of the 18th century

The Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century, the "Century of Philosophy".

Bavaria State in Germany

Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a landlocked federal state of Germany, occupying its southeastern corner. With an area of 70,550.19 square kilometres, Bavaria is the largest German state by land area comprising roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany. With 13 million inhabitants, it is Germany's second-most-populous state after North Rhine-Westphalia. Bavaria's main cities are Munich and Nuremberg.

The National Socialist period caused difficulties. In 1938 the Franciscans were forbidden to collect food. In 1940 large parts of the premises were ordered to be cleared for the accommodation of a proposed museum, which was however afterwards established in Schloss Bruck. After the end of the war, in 1948, Bishop Paulus Rusch  (de ) attached the parish of St Mary's to the friary church. For the parish activities the friary was enlarged in 1968 and from 1974 to 1978 the church was renovated.

Today (as of 2015) 5 or so Franciscans look after the parish, which has about 4,200 Catholic residents, and are also available for other spiritual duties of care in Lienz and the surrounding area. They are also active in the spiritual care of the hospital, old peoples' homes and the Dominican convent.

Works of art of the Franciscan period

Bibliography

Florentin Nothegger: Sondernummer der Osttiroler Heimatblätter zum 200jährigen Bestand des Franziskanerklosters Lienz. Lienz 1985.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Lienz". Franziskanerkirche, Wien. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 P. Oliver Ruggenthaler OFM (2005). "Spuren der ehemaligen Karmeliter-Bibliothek in Lienz" (PDF). Archiv der Tiroler Franziskanerprovinz, Kloster Hall in Tirol (formerly Solbad Hall). Retrieved 17 September 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
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