Maria Laach Abbey, the west end with the paradisium

Maria Laach Abbey (in German: Abtei Maria Laach, in Latin: Abbatia Maria Lacensis or Abbatia Maria ad Lacum) is a Benedictine abbey situated on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See (Lake Laach), near Andernach, in the Eifel region of the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It is a member of the Beuronese Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation. The abbey was known for nearly 770 years as "Abtei Laach" ("Abbatia Lacensis" or "Laach Abbey", meaning the "Lake Abbey") until 1862 when the Jesuits added the name "Maria". Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1944 × 2592 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1944 × 2592 pixel, file size: 1. ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... The longest lasting of the western Catholic monastic orders, the Benedictine Order traces its origins to the adoption of the monastic life by St. ... The Laacher See is a lake in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. ... // Andernach (pronounced: [ˈandərˌnax], the syllable -ach as in Gaelic) is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany of currently about 30,000 inhabitants which are named der/die Andernacher (male singular and plural forms are identical), and the lady/-ies are die Andernacherin... Not to be confused with Eiffel Tower. ... The Rhenish Palatinate (Rheinpfalz, sometimes Lower Palatinate or Niederpfalz) occupies rather more than a quarter of the German Bundesland (federal state) of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) and contains the towns of Ludwigshafen, Kaiserslautern, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Pirmasens, Landau and Speyer. ... The Beuronese Congregation, or Beuron Congregation, is a union of mostly German or German-speaking religious houses of both monks and nuns within the Benedictine Confederation. ... See also Rule of Saint Benedict and Benedictine. ... Seal of the Society of Jesus. ...

First Benedictine foundation

Founded in 1093 as a priory of Affligem Abbey (in modern Belgium) by the first Count Palatine of the Rhine Heinrich II von Laach and his wife Adelheid von Orlamünde-Weimar, widow of Hermann II of Lotharingia, Laach became an independent house in 1127, under its first abbot, Gilbert. Affligem itself had been founded by Hermann, who was a prominent member of the Cluniac reform movement. // Events Donald III of Scotland comes to the throne of Scotland. ... A priory is an ecclesiastical circumscription run by a prior. ... Affligem Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Belgium. ... A palatinate is an area administered by a count palatine, originally the direct representative of the sovereign but later the hereditary ruler of the territory subject to the crowns overlordship. ... Hermann II (born 1049, † Dalhem, September 20, 1085), Count Palatine of Lotharingia from 1064 when reaching majority, until 1085. ... Cluny nowadays The town of Cluny or Clugny lies in the modern-day département of Saône-et-Loire in the région of France, near Mâcon. ...

The abbey developed as a centre of study during the 12th century, and the 13th-century abbots Albert (1199-1217) and Theoderich II (1256-1295) added significantly to the buildings and architectural decoration, including the celebrated tomb of the founder.

In common with most other German Benedictine houses, Laach declined during the 14th century in terms of its spiritual and monastic life, a tendency which was reversed only in the late 15th century, under the influence of the reforming Bursfelde Congregation, which the abbey joined, supported against a certain resistance within the abbey by Abbot Johannes V von Deidesheim (1469-1491).

The consequent improvement in discipline led to a fruitful literary period in the abbey's history, prominent in which were Jakob Siberti, Tilman of Bonn and Benedict of Munstereifel, but principally Prior Johannes Butzbach (d. 1526). Although much of his work, both published and unpublished, survives, his chronicle of the abbey is unfortunately lost.

Secularisation and the Jesuits

Laach Abbey was dissolved in the secularisation of 1802. The premises became the property, first of the occupying French, and then in 1815 of the Prussian State. // Background The German Mediatisation is a name applied to the series of mediatisations and secularisations which occurred in Germany during the Napoleonic Era (occurring 1795 - 1814AD). ... Year 1802 (MDCCCII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... For other uses, see Prussia (disambiguation). ...

In 1820 the buildings were acquired by the Society of Jesus, who established a place of study and scholarship here. Of particular note were Fathers Gerard Schneemann, Theodor Granderath and Florian Reiss, who produced a number of important works: the "Collectio lacensis" ("Acta et decreta sacrorum conciliorum recentiorum", 7 volumes, Freiburg, 1870-1890); the "Philosophia lacensis", a collection of learned books on the different branches of philosophy (logic, cosmology, psychology, theodicy, natural law) and published at Freiburg, 1880-1900; and, perhaps best-known, the "Stimmen aus Maria-Laach" ("Voices from Maria Laach"), appearing from 1865, at first as individual pamphlets defending against liberalism within the Roman Catholic church, and from 1871 as a regular periodical. The Jesuits were obliged to leave during the "Kulturkampf" of the 1870s. Seal of the Society of Jesus. ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... The German term Kulturkampf (literally, culture struggle) refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Chancellor of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck. ...

Second Benedictine foundation

The Benedictines of the Beuronese Congregation moved into the monastery in 1892, and it was raised into an abbey the following year. The restoration of the church, at that time still the property of Prussia, was inaugurated by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1897. The Beuronese Congregation, or Beuron Congregation, is a union of mostly German or German-speaking religious houses of both monks and nuns within the Benedictine Confederation. ... Year 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Wilhelm II of Prussia and Germany, Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert von Hohenzollern (January 27, 1859 - June 4, 1941) was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and the last King (König) of Prussia from 1888 - 1918. ...

In the first half of the twentieth century Maria Laach played a leading role in the Liturgical Movement. The Liturgical Movement is a movement of scholarship and the reform of worship within the Roman Catholic Church which has taken place over the last century and a half and which has affected many Reformed Churches including the Church of England and other Churches of the Anglican Communion. ...

The abbey structure dates from between 1093 and 1177, with a paradisium added around 1225 and is considered a prime example of Romanesque architecture of the Staufen period. Despite its long construction time the well-preserved basilica with its six towers is considered to be one of the most beautiful Romanesque buildings in Germany. South transept of Tournai Cathedral, Belgium, 12th century. ... Arms of the Hohenstaufen Dynasty The Hohenstaufen (or the Staufer(s)) were a dynasty of Kings of Germany, many of whom were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor and Dukes of Swabia. ... Look up basilica in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Due to a considerable reduction of the lake level in the early 19th century, serious and unexpected structural damages to the church vaults and roofs were detected. Three important renovation campaigns took place - the first in the 1830s to repair the structural damages including the removal of the paradisium's upper storey (it had an upper storey at that time for accommodation facilities), the second in the 1880s including repairs after a serious fire in the southern round tower in 1885, and the third in the 1930s. Many former changes to the buildings carried out in Gothic (e. g. steep tower roofs) and Baroque style (e. g. wider windows) have been re-altered to Romanesque style. The western facade of Reims Cathedral, France. ... Baroque architecture, starting in the early 17th century in Italy, took the humanist Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical, theatrical, sculptural fashion, expressing the triumph of absolutist church and state. ...

Controversial relations with the Nazi Regime

The Maria Laach Abbey has been at the center of a controversy over its relations with the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945. In particular Heinrich Böll, depicting in Billiards at Half-past Nine a Benedictine monastery whose monks actively and voluntarily collaborated with the Nazis, is generally considered to have had Maria Laach in mind. National Socialism redirects here. ... A monument of Heinrich Böll in Berlin Heinrich Theodor Böll (December 21, 1917 – July 16, 1985) was one of Germanys foremost post-World War II writers. ... Billiards at Half-past Nine was written in 1959 by Heinrich Böll. ...

In 2004 researcher Marcel Albert published Die Benediktinerabtei Maria Laach und der Nationalsozialismus ("The Maria Laach Bendicitine Abbey and National Socialism") ^[1]. In reviewing the book, Dr. Mark Edward Ruff of Saint Louis University wrote: ^[2] Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Saint Louis University is a private, co-educational Catholic Jesuit university in the United States of America located in St. ...

The Benedictine abbey, Maria Laach, poses a number of interpretative challenges for historians writing on Roman Catholicism during the Third Reich. This influential monastery in the Eifel became known as a center for right-wing Catholicism already during the Weimar Republic. Its leaders enthusiastically greeted the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Anthem Das Lied der Deutschen Germany during the Weimar period, with the Free State of Prussia (in blue) as the largest state Capital Berlin Language(s) German Government Republic President  - 1918-1925 Friedrich Ebert  - 1925-1933 Paul von Hindenburg Chancellor  - 1919 Philipp Scheidemann(first)  - 1933 Kurt von Schleicher (last) Legislature...

It was the only Benedictine monastery in the Rhineland not to be confiscated by the Nazi regime, even if part of the facility was converted into a hospital for wounded soldiers. Yet at the same time, it provided a sanctuary for Konrad Adenauer in 1934, who had been unceremoniously removed from his position as mayor of Cologne. In addition, its leaders became the target of numerous Gestapo interrogations, even as rumors spread that the monastery was to be appropriated by the state(...). For other uses, see Konrad Adenauer (disambiguation). ... Year 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cologne (German: , IPA: ; local dialect: Kölle ) is Germanys fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than... The   (contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei: “secret state police”) was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. ...

Marcel Albert's book (...) relies heavily on the unpublished memoirs of Ildefons Herwegen, a conservative monarchist who served as abbot of Maria Laach until his death in 1946. At times self-serving, these memoirs provide the narrative thread for this book. Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Albert quotes extensively from these, all the while commenting on the accuracy and reliability of Herwegen's account. He also makes extensive use of the archival holdings of the monastery itself, supplementing these with official state and police reports (...).

Maria Laach became a focal point in the Weimar Republic for those right-wing Catholics disillusioned by the collapse of the Hohenzollern monarchy and outraged at the Catholic Centre Party's coalitions with the Social Democrats (SPD). The monks, politicians, businessmen, theologians and students who gathered there were strongly influenced by the idea of a coming "Reich," hoping to build a third Holy Roman Empire. The German Centre Party (Deutsche Zentrumspartei or merely Zentrum), often called the Catholic Centre Party, was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. ... Social Democratic Party of Germany Spectral Power Density ... This article is about the medieval empire. ...

Such promionent conservatives as Emil Ritter, Carl Schmitt - later to gain notoriety as the "Crown Jurist of the Third Reich" [1] - and Carl Edward Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg, renegade member of the British aristocracy, all participated in events sponsored by the monastery. (...) The Benedictines here attracted members of the Catholic aristocracy, those who were more receptive to the right-wing nationalist movements of the time. Carl Schmitt (July 11, 1888 – April 7, 1985) was a German jurist, political theorist, and professor of law. ... Aristocrat redirects here. ...

Not surprisingly, both Herwegen and many others at Maria Laach embraced Hitler's regime and even chided other Catholics for failing to work with the new state. "Blood, soil and fate are the appropriate expressions for the funamental powers of the time," Herwegen avowed. The rise of the Third Reich was part of the workings and designs of God. Hitler's promise to build Germany on a Christian foundation on March 21, 1933 led several monks to hang a picture of Hitler in the abbey and to unfurl the black white red flag of the bygone Kaiserreich. Blood and Soil (German: Blut und Boden) was a phrase and doctrine exploited by Adolf Hitler to provide moral justification for the ejection of the Jewish, and generally non-Germanic, people. ... Hitler redirects here. ... is the 80th day of the year (81st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section should include material from German Monarchy The term German Empire (the translation from German of Deutsches Reich) commonly refers to Germany, from its consolidation as a unified nation-state on January 18, 1871, until the abdication of Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918. ...

As late as 1939, one of the members of the abbey, an artist who had converted to Catholicism, P. Theodor Bogler, published a "Briefe an einen jungen Soldaten," (Letters to a young soldier) in which he let loose a virulently anti-Jewish polemic. Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Anti-Semitism (alternatively spelled antisemitism) is hostility towards Jews (not: Semites - see the Misnomer section further on). ...

This openness to National Socialism by many at Maria Laach did not go unnoticed by the Nazi press. Robert Ley's Westdeutsche Beobachter reported that "one knows that the spirititual-religious educational work of the Benedictines of Maria-Laach for years has increasingly viewed itself responsible for all of the duties to renew the national conscience." Dr Robert Ley Dr. Robert Ley (15 February 1890 – 25 October 1945), Nazi German politician, was head of the German Labour Front from 1933 to 1945. ...

Yet the Nazis did not always reciprocate the embrace of the monks. Instead, the Gestapo began to interrogate the monks, arresting one monk on charges of homosexuality. The printing of Alfred Rosenberg's "Myth of the 20th Century" (advocating "positive" Christianity, which was actually based on pantheistic pagan nature worship and Teutonic Gods), as well as the political demotion of Franz von Papen, forced Herwegen already in 1934 to temper his hopes of exerting a Christian influence on the new state. Alfred Rosenberg around 1935   (January 12, 1893 Reval (today Tallinn) – October 16, 1946) was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi party, who later held several important posts in the Nazi government. ... Pantheism literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... Pagan and heathen redirect here. ... Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen (29 October 1879 – 2 May 1969) was a German nobleman Catholic politician, General Staff officer, and diplomat, who served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932. ... Year 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Although the monastery was not closed down, as were all other Benedictine abbeys in the area, its members had become a regular target of state attacks. Albert makes it clear, however, that it was only the Nazi persecution of the churches, and not the attacks on the Jews or Nazi military aggression, that forced Herwegen to see the regime in a new light.

Similarly, Herwegen housed Adenauer for almost a year in his abbey not necessarily because he agreed with the Center Party politician's Weltanschauung, but because Adenauer was a childhood friend from his days at school (...). The German Centre Party (Deutsche Zentrumspartei or merely Zentrum), often called the Catholic Centre Party, was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. ... A world view, also spelled as worldview is a term calqued from the German word Weltanschauung (look onto the world). The German word is also in wide use in English, as well as the translated form world outlook. ...

In its closing chapters, the book shows that the abbey cultivated a positive relationship to Adenauer and the CDU after 1945, but retained its monarchist beliefs. However, the post-war parts of the book are less extensive, and this part of the monatery's history seems to await further research. CDU as a three-letter abbreviation can refer to: Christian Democratic Union (Germany), a German political party Christian Democratic Union of Italy, an Italian political party Christian Democratic Union (East Germany), a defunct political party Christian Democratic Union (Ukraine), a political party in Ukraine Cameroon Democratic Union, a political party...

Basilius Ebel

Born Henri Ebel in 1896 as son of a wine producing family from Alsace and significant scholar of his times, Dr. Basilius Ebel became abbot of St. Matthias' Abbey in Trier in 1939 and provided a sanctuary to Jews whom he admitted among the monks. In 1941, his abbey was confiscated by the Gestapo and he himself was exiled to Maria Laach where he became abbot from 1946 to 1966. Under his leadership, Maria Laach became an important center of reconciliation between Christians and Jews. Trier (French: ; Luxembourgish Tréier) is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle River. ...

On the scholarly side, he should be remembered for publishing a 12th century Alemannic hymnar (Das alteste alemannische Hymnar mit Noten, Kodex 366 Einsiedeln (XII. Jahrhundert), Einsiedeln: Benziger, 1930) and for the restoration of the Maria Laach basilica in its original style.

Notable Features

The abbey church of Maria Laach is considered a masterpiece of German Romanesque architecture^[3], with its multiple towers, large westwork with arcaded gallery, and unique west porch. The monumental, west-facing entrance section of a Carolingian, Ottonian, or Romanesque church. ...

The east end has a round apse flanked by twin square towers. Over the transept crossing is a broad cupola with cone-shaped roof. The monumental west facade includes a west choir with apse flanked by round twin towers and a square central tower.

The Paradise, a single-story, colonnaded west porch surrounding a small courtyard, was added in about 1225. It recalls the architecture of Early Christian basilicas. Its capitals are richly carved with human and mythical figures. The imaginative mason is known as the Laacher Samson-Meister or "Master of the Laach Samson," whose carvings are also found in Cologne and elsewhere. The Lion Fountain in the courtyard was added in 1928.

Notable features of the interior include the tomb of the founder Pfalzgraf Heinrich II (dating from 1270), 16th-century murals, a Late Romanesque baldachino in the apse, and interesting modern decorations such as mosaics from c.1910 and stained glass windows from the 1950s.

References

Paderborn is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. ... The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Canadian public research university with campuses in Vancouver and Kelowna. ... Professor John Conway John S. Conway is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of British Columbia. ...

External links