St. Mary's Abbey, Fulda

Last updated
St. Mary's Abbey Fulda - Benediktinerinnenabtei St. Maria.jpg
St. Mary's Abbey
sign Fulda - Abtei St. Maria, Schild.JPG
sign

St. Mary's Abbey is a Benedictine nunnery in Fulda, Hesse, Germany.

St. Mary's Abbey was founded in 1626. The first decades were very troubled as a result of the Thirty Years' War: the sisters often had to flee from enemy troops and the abbey was looted several times. [1]

The nunnery was able to evade destruction during the secularization of 1802 by turning itself into a girls' school. During the Kulturkampf , the sisters went into exile in France from 1875 to 1887. In 1898, the nunnery was elevated to the status of abbey. In 1942, although most religious houses in Germany were commandeered by the National Socialists, the nuns were able to avoid eviction by offering the use of most of the premises to the Wehrmacht. [2]

After becoming closer in their way of life over a period of many years to the Beuronese Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation, the abbey finally became a member in 1982. [3]

The nuns engage in various handicrafts, run the abbey shop and have built a compost activator. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Boniface</span> Anglo-Saxon missionary and saint (died 754)

Boniface was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of the church in Germany and was made bishop of Mainz by Pope Gregory III. He was martyred in Frisia in 754, along with 52 others, and his remains were returned to Fulda, where they rest in a sarcophagus which remains a site of Christian pilgrimage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burtscheid Abbey</span>

Burtscheid Abbey was a Benedictine monastery, after 1220 a Cistercian nunnery, located at Burtscheid, near Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beuronese Congregation</span> Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation

The Beuronese Congregation, or Beuron Congregation, is a union of mostly German or German-speaking monasteries of both monks and nuns within the Benedictine Confederation. The congregation stands under the patronage of Martin of Tours, who is the patron saint of the Archabbey of Beuron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weingarten Abbey</span>

Weingarten Abbey or St. Martin's Abbey is a Benedictine monastery on the Martinsberg in Weingarten near Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg (Germany).

Engelthal Abbey or St. Mary's Abbey, Engelthal, is a Benedictine nunnery in the Wetterau region, Hesse, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Gabriel's Priory</span> Benedictine nunnery in Austria

St. Gabriel's Priory, formerly St. Gabriel's Abbey, is a Benedictine nunnery in Sankt Johann bei Herberstein, Styria, Austria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eibingen Abbey</span> Church in Eibingen, Germany

Eibingen Abbey is a community of Benedictine nuns in Eibingen near Rüdesheim in Hesse, Germany. Founded by Hildegard of Bingen in 1165, it was dissolved in 1804, but restored, with new buildings, in 1904. The nuns produce wine and crafts. They sing regular services, which have been at times recorded. The church is also used as a concert venue. The abbey is a Rhine Gorge World Heritage Site.

Münsterschwarzach Abbey, is a monastery for Benedictine monks in Germany. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Schwarzach and Main in Bavaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaufungen Abbey</span>

Kaufungen Abbey was a Benedictine nunnery founded in 1017 by the Empress Cunigunde of Luxembourg, wife of Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, located in Kaufungen in Hessen, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Marx Abbey</span>

St. Marx Abbey or St. Mark's Abbey was a Benedictine nunnery in Gueberschwihr (Geberschweier) in Alsace, founded in about 1105. Since 1845 it has been the principal house of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Marc, rebuilt in 1852 after a disastrous fire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen auf Rügen Abbey</span>

Bergen auf Rügen Abbey was a monastery for Cistercian nuns established on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen. It lasted from the end of the 12th century to the early 16th century as a Roman-Catholic monastery and then, until 1945, as a Protestant aristocratic nunnery.

Petra Kehl is a German scholar of the Middle Ages, specifically of the veneration of saints. Kehl's monograph Kult und Nachleben des hl. Bonifatius (1993) is one of two monographs on the veneration of Saint Boniface. Her study was praised by one reviewer as written "with meticulous care", and by another as "an account that deserves wide recognition, a standard for scholarship for years to come". Kehl lives in Fulda, where she runs a publishing company specializing in historical fiction, religious literature, and children's literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbey of St John, Laon</span>

The Abbey of St. John, Laon was a Benedictine monastery in Laon, France, from 1128 to 1766, which replaced a nunnery founded in 641. The prefecture of the department of Aisne now occupies the site.

Marienschloss Abbey is a former Cistercian nunnery in Rockenberg, a town in Hesse, Germany. It is now used as Rockenberg Prison.

Gutnau Priory, also spelled Guttnau or Guttenau, was a small Benedictine nunnery in Neuenburg am Rhein, in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.

The Vilich Abbey is a former monastery located in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is named after the canonized Adelaide of Vilich, who lived from 970 to 1015. After her death, a cult formed around her and the convent. The convent was terminated in 1804 due to secularization. It was destroyed during the Thirty Years´ war and rebuilt. The Franciscans took over the abbey as a hospital in 1865, followed by many different charitable institutions. The church was destroyed in World War II and once again restored, and is now used as a retirement home.

Maria Birgitta zu Münster, OSB : née Ursula zu Münster, was a Catholic convert, Benedictine nun, and translator.

References

  1. Candida Elvert: "Fulda, St. Maria". In: Friedhelm Jürgensmeier et al.: Die benediktinischen Mönchs- und Nonnenklöster in Hessen (Germania Benedictina 7 Hessen), Eos, St. Ottilien 2004, pp. 480–511. ISBN   3830671997
  2. OrdenOnline.de: Fulda (Benediktinerinnen)
  3. Conny Gies, 2016: "Hinter hohen Klostermauern – Abtei zur Hl. Maria". In: Susanne Bohl et al. (eds.): Fulda. 50 Schätze und Besonderheiten. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg, ISBN   9783731904250, pp. 77–81.
  4. Abtei Fulda (abbey website)

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Abtei zur Hl. Maria (Fulda) at Wikimedia Commons

50°33′11″N9°40′38″E / 50.55306°N 9.67722°E / 50.55306; 9.67722