St. Blaise's Cathedral, the former abbey church

St. Blaise's Abbey in the Black Forest (Kloster St. Blasien) was a Benedictine monastery in the village of St. Blasien in the Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. This article is about the Roman Catholic order; see also Benedictine Confederation and Benedictine. ... The Black Forest (German Schwarzwald) is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. ... Baden-Württemberg is a federal state in southwestern Germany to the east of the Upper Rhine. ...

History

9th - 12th centuries

The early history of the abbey is obscure. Its predecessor in the 9th century is supposed to have been a cell of Rheinau Abbey, known as cella alba (the "white cell"), but the line of development between that and the confirmed existence of St. Blaise's Abbey in the 11th century is unclear. At some point the new foundation would have had to become independent of Rheinau, in which process the shadowy Reginbert of Seldenbüren (died about 962), traditionally named as the founder, may have played some role. The first definite abbot of St. Blaise's however was Werner I (1045?-1069). On 8 June 1065 the abbey received a grant of immunity from Emperor Henry IV, although it had connections to the family of the anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden. Saint Blaise can refer to: A saint, see Blaise Saint-Blaise is the name or part of the name of several communes in France Saint-Blaise, in the Alpes-Maritimes Saint-Blaise, in the Haute-Savoie Saint-Blaise-du-Buis, commune in the Is re Saint-Blaise-la-Roche, commune... June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. ... Events December 28 - Westminster Abbey is consecrated. ... HEINRIC·IMP[ERATOR], Emperor Henry Henry IV (November 11, 1050 – August 7, 1106) was King of Germany (Holy Roman Empire) from 1056 and Emperor from 1084, until his abdication in 1105. ... Rudolph of Rheinfelden (in German, Rudolf von Rheinfeld, and in Italian Rodolfo di Svevia), died October 15, 1080, was Duke of Swabia (1057–1077) and German antiking (1077–1080). ...

Between 1070 and 1073 there seem to have been contacts between St. Blaise's and the active Cluniac abbey of Fruttuaria in Italy, which led to St. Blaise's following the Fruttuarian reforms, introducing lay-brothers or "conversi" and probably even the reformation of the abbey as a double monastery for both monks and nuns (the nuns are said to have re-settled to Berau Abbey by 1117). 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. ... Lay brothers are Catholic religious occupied solely with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary. ... A double monastery is an institution combining a separate monastery for monks and an abbey for nuns. ...

Bernold of Constance (c. 1050–1100) in his histories counts St. Blaise's alongside Hirsau Abbey as leading Swabian reform monasteries. Other religious houses reformed by, or founded as priories of, St. Blaise's were: Muri Abbey (1082), Ochsenhausen (1093), Göttweig Abbey (1094), Stein am Rhein (before 1123) and Prüm Abbey (1132). It also had significant influence on Alpirsbach Abbey (1099), Ettenheimmünster (1124) and Sulzburg (ca. 1125), and the priories of Weitenau (ca.1100), Bürgeln (before 1130) and Sitzenkirch (ca. 1130). A list of prayer partnerships, drawn up about 1150, shows how extensive the connections were between St. Blaise's and other religious communities. Bernold of Constance ca 1054 - Schaffhausen, September 16, 1100) was a chronicler and writer of tracts, a defender of the Church reforms of Pope Gregory VII, who was educated at Constance under the renowned teacher Bernard of Constance. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Ochsenhausen Ochsenhausen is a city in the district of Biberach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. ... Stein am Rhein with the castle Hohenklingen in the background Stein am Rhein is a town located in Switzerland near the German border, a municipality of the canton of Schaffhausen. ... Sulzberg or Sulzburg is the name of a number of places, castles or mountains. ...

During the course of the 12th century however the zeal of the monks cooled, as their attention became increasingly focussed on the acquisition, management and exploitation of their substantial estates, which by the 15th century extended across the whole of the Black Forest and included not only the abbey's priories named above, but also the nunnery at Gutnau and the livings of Niederrotweil, Schluchsee, Wettelbrunn, Achdorf, Hochemmingen, Todtnau, Efringen, Schönau, Wangen, Plochingen, Nassenbeuren and many others. The Black Forest (German Schwarzwald) is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. ...

13th - 17th centuries

Boundary stone, Bonndorf (1767)

The original "Vogtei" (protective lordship) of the Bishops of Basle was shaken off quite early: a charter of the Emperor Henry V dated 8 January 1125 confirms that the abbey possessed imperial protection and free election of their "Vogt". Nevertheless, the office afterwards became a possession of the Zähringer, and after their extinction in 1218, was held at Imperial will and gift under the Emperor Frederick II. While this may well have preserved a certain bond with the Emperor, there seems to have been no question of St. Blaise's having the status of a "Reichskloster". Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, (1081 – May 23, 1125) was the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. ... January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events May 23 - Lothair of Saxony becomes Holy Roman Emperor on the death of Henry V. War ends between Toulouse and Provence. ... Vogt is a word of Germanic languages(except for English), originated from latin language vocatius, refers to: People named Vogt: Alfred Elton (A. E.) van Vogt Andrea Vogt Berti Vogts Erik Vogt Howard C. Vogts Jørgen Herman Vogt Karl Vogt Paul Vogt Roland Vogt Tom Vogt Other: Funker Vogt... Zähringen is the name of an old and influential German noble family, taken from the castle and village of that name. ... Frederick II (December 26, 1194 – December 13, 1250), Holy Roman Emperor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212, unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 until his death in 1250. ...

From the mid-13th century the "Vögte" were the Habsburgs and this drew St. Blaise's increasingly into the Austrian sphere of influence. The ties to the Empire remained, however: the abbey was named between 1422 and 1521 in the lists of imperial territories and the Swabian Circle tried in vain in 1549 to claim St. Blaise's as an imperial abbey. The four imperial lordships which St. Blaise's had acquired by the end of the 13th century - Blumegg, Bettmaringen, Gutenburg and Berauer Berg - in fact formed the nucleus of the "reichsunmittelbar" lordship of Bonndorf, constituted in 1609, from which the Prince-Abbots derived their status in the Holy Roman Empire. Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy; also used as the flag of the Austrian Empire until the Ausgleich of 1867. ... A map of the Imperial Circles as at the beginning of the 16th century. ... The Reichsfreiheit or Reichsunmittelbarkeit (adjectives reichsfrei, reichsunmittelbar) was a special, privileged status a city or region could attain in the Holy Roman Empire. ... Bonndorf is a town in the Waldshut district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. ... // Events April 4 – King of Spain signs an edit of expulsion of all moriscos from Spain April 9 – Spain recognizes Dutch independence May 23 - Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia. ... The Holy Roman Empire and from the 16th century on also The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was a political conglomeration of lands in Central Europe in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. ...

17th century - present

The abbey was dissolved in the course of secularisation in 1806 and the monastic premises were thereupon used as one of the earliest mechanised factories in Germany. The monks however, under the last Prince-Abbot Dr. Bernhard Rottler, found their way to St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal in Austria, where they settled in 1809. 1806 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

From 1934 the remaining buildings have been occupied by the well-knownJesuit college, the "Kolleg St. Blasius". The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ...

Dom St. Blasius

The abbey church burnt down in 1768, and was re-built as a Baroque round church by the architect Pierre Michel d'Ixnard, with an enormous dome 46 metres across and 63 metres high (the third-largest in Europe north of the Alps), during the years up to 1781 under the Prince-Abbot Martin Gerbert. It remains as the Dom St. Blasius, or "St. Blaise's Cathedral" (so called because of its size and magnificence, not because it is a cathedral in any ecclesiastiacal or administrative sense). The effects of another catastrophic fire in 1874 were only finally remedied in the 1980s. 1768 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens. ... The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ... Martin Gerbert (August, 1720 – May 3, 1793), German theologian, historian and writer on music, belonged to the noble family of Gerbert von Hornau, and was born at Horb on the Neckar, Württemberg, on the 12th (or 11th or 13th) of August 1720. ...

[Ariel View of the Monastery Complex:[1]]

[Image of St. Blaise:[2]]

Abbots of St. Blaise's in the Black Forest

Martin Gerbert (August, 1720 – May 3, 1793), German theologian, historian and writer on music, belonged to the noble family of Gerbert von Hornau, and was born at Horb on the Neckar, Württemberg, on the 12th (or 11th or 13th) of August 1720. ...

External links

• (German) St. Blaise's Cathedral, and the Jesuit community

Sources

• Braun, J.W. (ed.), 2003. Urkundenbuch des Klosters Sankt Blasien im Schwarzwald. Von den Anfängen bis zum Jahr 1299; Teil I: Edition; Teil II: Einführung, Verzeichnisse, Register (= Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Geschichtliche Landeskunde in Baden-Württemberg: Reihe A, Quellen; Band 23), Stuttgart. ISBN 3-17-017985-3

• Buhlmann, M., 2004. : Benediktinisches Mönchtum im mittelalterlichen Schwarzwald. Ein Lexikon. Vortrag beim Schwarzwaldverein St. Georgen e.V., St. Georgen im Schwarzwald, 10. November 2004, Teil 2: N-Z (= Vertex Alemanniae, H.10/2), pp. 76ff. St. Georgen.

• Ott, H., 1963. Studien zur Geschichte des Klosters St. Blasien im hohen und späten Mittelalter (= Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für geschichtliche Landeskunde in Baden-Württemberg; Reihe B, Band 27). Stuttgart.

• Ott, H., 1965. Die Vogtei über das Kloster St. Blasien seit dem Aussterben der Zähringer bis zum Übergang an das Haus Habsburg, in: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins, Band 113 (NF 74), pp.30-44.

• Ott, H., 1969. Die Klostergrundherrschaft St. Blasien im Mittelalter. Beiträge zur Besitzgeschichte (= Arbeiten zum Historischen Atlas von Südwestdeutschland, Bd.4). Stuttgart.

• Quarthal, F. (ed.), 1987. Germania Benedictina, Bd.5: Die Benediktinerklöster in Baden-Württemberg, 2nd ed., pp.146-160. St. Ottilien. ISBN 3-88096-605-2