Einsiedeln Abbey

Einsiedeln Abbey

Kloster Einsiedeln
Location within Canton of Schwyz Einsiedeln Abbey (Switzerland) Show map of Canton of SchwyzShow map of SwitzerlandShow all
Monastery information
Order	Order of Saint Benedict
Established	934
Dedicated to	Our Lady of the Hermits
Diocese	Einsiedeln territorial abbey
People
Founder(s)
Abbot	Urban Federer O.S.B.
Prior	Daniel Emmenegger O.S.B.
Important associated figures	Saint Meinrad
Architecture
Style	Baroque (1704/1721)
Site
Location	Einsiedeln, Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland
Coordinates	Coordinates: 47°07′36″N 08°45′5.3″E / 47.12667°N 8.751472°E / 47.12667; 8.751472
Public access	allowed
Other information	place of pilgrimage, theological school, gymnasium (Swiss Matura, 350 students), work shops, plant nursery, viniculture, stud
Website	https://www.kloster-einsiedeln.ch

Einsiedeln Abbey (German: Kloster Einsiedeln) is a Benedictine monastery in the village of Einsiedeln in the canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. The abbey is dedicated to Our Lady of the Hermits, the title being derived from the circumstances of its foundation, for the first inhabitant of the region was Saint Meinrad, a hermit. It is a territorial abbey and, therefore, not part of a diocese, subject to a bishop. It has been a major resting point on the Way of St. James for centuries.

History[]

Meinrad was educated under his kinsmen, Abbots Hatto and Erlebald, at the abbey school at Reichenau, an island on Lake Constance, where he became a monk and was ordained a priest. After some years at Reichenau, and at a dependent priory on Lake Zurich, he embraced an eremitical life and established his hermitage on the slopes of mount Etzel. He died on January 21, 861, at the hands of two robbers who thought that the hermit had some precious treasures, but during the next 80 years the place was never without one or more hermits emulating Meinrad's example. One of them, named Eberhard, previously Provost of Strassburg, in 934 erected a monastery and church there, of which he became first abbot.

The church is alleged to have been miraculously consecrated, so the legend runs, in 948, by Christ himself assisted by the Four Evangelists, St. Peter, and St. Gregory the Great. This event was investigated and confirmed by Pope Leo VIII and subsequently ratified by many of his successors, the last ratification being by Pope Pius VI in 1793, who confirmed the acts of all his predecessors.

In 965 Gregory, the third Abbot of Einsiedeln, was made a prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Otto I, and his successors continued to enjoy the same dignity up to the cessation of the empire in the beginning of the 19th century. In 1274 the abbey, with its dependencies, was created an independent principality by Rudolf I of Germany, over which the abbot exercised temporal as well as spiritual jurisdiction. It remained independent until 1798, the year of the French invasion. It is still a territorial abbey, meaning that it is located in a territory that is not part of any diocese which the abbot governs "as its proper pastor" (Canon 370, Codex Juris Canonici) with the same authority as a diocesan bishop.

Einsiedeln has been famous for a thousand years, for the learning and piety of its monks, and many saints and scholars have lived within its walls. The study of letters, printing, and music have greatly flourished there, and the abbey has contributed largely to the celebrity of the Benedictine Order. It is true that discipline declined somewhat in the fifteenth century and the rule became relaxed, but Ludovicus II, a monk of St. Gall who was Abbot of Einsiedeln 1526-44, succeeded in restoring a stricter observance.

In the 16th century the religious disturbances caused by the spread of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland were a source of trouble for some time. Zwingli himself was at Einsiedeln for a while, and used the opportunity for protesting against the famous pilgrimages, but the storm passed over and the abbey was left in peace. Abbot Augustine I (1600–29) was the leader of the movement which resulted in the erection of the Swiss Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict in 1602, and he also did much for the establishment of unrelaxed observance in the abbey and for the promotion of a high standard of scholarship and learning amongst his monks.

The pilgrimages which have never ceased since the days of St Meinrad, have tended to make Einsiedeln on a par with the Holy House of Loreto and Santiago de Compostela, serving as a major stopping point on the Way of St. James leading there. Pilgrimages constitute one of the features for which the abbey is chiefly celebrated. The pilgrims number around one million, from all parts of Catholic Europe or even further. The statue of Our Lady from the 15th century, enthroned in the little chapel erected by Eberhard, is the object of their devotion. It is the subject of the earliest preserved print of pilgrimage, by the Master E.S. in 1466.^[1] The chapel stands within the great abbey church, in much the same way as the Holy House at Loreto is encased in a marble shrine and is elaborately decorated.

September 14 and October 13 are the chief pilgrimage days, the former being the anniversary of the miraculous consecration of Eberhard's basilica and the latter that of the translation of St Meinrad's relics from Reichenau Island to Einsiedeln in 1039. The millennium of St Meinrad was kept there with great splendour in 1861 as well as that of the Benedictine monastery in 1934. The great church has been many times rebuilt, the last time by Abbot Maurus between the years 1704 and 1719. The last big renovation ended after more than twenty years in 1997. The library contains nearly 250,000 volumes and many priceless manuscripts. The work of the monks is divided chiefly between prayer, work and study. At pilgrimage times the number of confessions heard is very large.

In 2013 the community numbered 60 monks. Attached to the abbey are a seminary and a college for about 360 pupils who are partially taught by the monks, who also provide spiritual direction for six convents of Religious Sisters.

Expansion to America[]

In 1854, when the monastery was again facing suppression, a colony was sent to the United States from Einsiedeln to minister to the local German-speaking population and to develop a place of refuge, if needed. The delegation started a new foundation, now St. Meinrad Archabbey in St. Meinrad, Indiana, which became part of the Swiss-American Congregation formed in 1881. As of 2020, the Swiss-American Congregation consists of seventeen monasteries from Canada to Guatemala, six of which were founded from the lineage of Einsiedeln Abbey:^[2] St. Meinrad Archabbey, Subiaco Abbey, St. Joseph Abbey, Marmion Abbey, San Jose Priory, and Prince of Peace Abbey.

School[]

One of the abbey's apostolates is a school (Gymnasium) for the seventh to twelfth grades which has existed in its present form since 1848. It is the continuation of a tradition of education that dates to the early Middle Ages. Its distinguished alumni include Gall Morel, , Philipp Etter, Hans Hürlimann and his son Thomas Hürlimann, Bruno Frick, and Anatole Taubman.

Fahr Convent[]

Located in separate cantons, Einsiedeln Abbey and Fahr Convent, a community of Benedictine nuns, form a double monastery, both under the authority of the male Abbot of Einsiedeln. The female prioress of Fahr cannot be elected to oversee both communities.

Ufenau island, Einsiedlerhaus and Endingen area in Rapperswil[]

The western lake shore town wall respectively the fortifications of Rapperswil probably were built in the early 13th century by the Counts of Rapperswil. The so-called Endingen area in Rapperswil was given as a fief by the Einsiedeln Abbey which is still owner of the land, including the site where the Capuchin monastery was built. That's why the adjoint building traditionally was named Einsiedlerhaus, meaning "house of the Einsiedeln abbey". Historians mention a 10th-century ferry station located there – in 981 AD as well as the abbey's vineyard on the Lindenhof hill – between Kempraten on Kempratnerbucht, the Lützelau and Ufenau islands and assumably present Hurden. The ferry services allowed the pilgrims towards Einsiedeln to cross the lake before the prehistoric Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden at the Seedamm isthmus was re-built between 1358 and 1360. Endingen, the Einsiedlerhaus, and even the lake area are still in the possession of the Einsiedeln abbey, as well as the Ufenau island.^[3]

Cultural Heritage[]

The monastery complex, the abbey's library, archives and music collection are listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as Class A objects of national importance.^[4]

The abbey's library contains the Versus de scachis, the earliest mention of chess in Western literature.^[5]

Gallery[]

• 

  The abbey as seen from the left

• 

  The abbey as seen from the east

• 

  Lady Fountain

• 

  Einsiedeln, the Lady chapel (interior)

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  Nave of the abbey church

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  Details of the ceiling paintings

• 

  Details of the ceiling paintings

Bibliography[]

• Moreau (Odile et Richard): D'Einsiedeln à la Salette au fil des siècles : avec les pėlerins comtois sur les pas de la Vierge Marie. L'Harmattan, Paris, 2012.

See also[]

• Meinrad of Einsiedeln
• Gall Morel
• Johann Michael Feuchtmayer the Elder, Franz Joseph Feuchtmayer
• Martin Marty (bishop)

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Einsiedeln Abbey.

• Official website (in German)
• Klosterarchiv Einsiedeln (archives of the abbey) (in German)

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Abbey of Einsiedeln". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.