Beuron Archabbey


Beuron Archabbey is a major house of the Benedictine Order located at Beuron in the upper Danube valley in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.

History

It was founded in 1863 by the brothers Maurus and Placidus Wolter, in buildings which until 1802 had housed an Augustinian monastery. Between 1875 and 1887 because of political conditions during the "Kulturkampf" the monks had to leave the abbey, but used the opportunity to found new communities elsewhere, which afterwards joined together under the leadership of Beuron as the Beuronese Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Beuron Art School, with its emphasis on early Christian and Byzantine art, was influential on religious art of the period. One of the biggest exhibits of this type of art in the United States is at Conception Abbey in Missouri which was founded on principles established by Beuron.
The abbey continues to be a centre of study. The library is the largest monastic library in Germany, with over 400,000 books. Since 1884 the abbey has published the Missale Romanum, a lay missal originally produced by Father Anselm Schott of Beuron. The abbey also houses the Vetus-Latina-Institut, which has for its purpose the collection and publication of all extant Old Latin translations of the Bible.

Archabbots since 1863

  1. Maurus Wolter from Bonn : Founder prior 1863, Abbot 1868–1890, Archabbot since 1885
  2. Placidus Wolter from Bonn, the founders brother : 1890–1908
  3. Ildefons Schober from Pfullendorf : 1908–1917
  4. Raphael Walzer from Ravensburg : 1918–1937
  5. Benedikt Baur from Mengen : 1938–1955
  6. Benedikt Reetz from Ripsdorf/Eifel : 1957–1964
  7. Damasus Zähringer from Ibach : 1965–1967
  8. Ursmar Engelmann from Jena : 1970–1980
  9. Hieronymus Nitz from Flensburg : 1980–2001
  10. Theodor Hogg from Kirchen-Hausen : 2001–2011
  11. Tutilo Burger from Löffingen-Seppenhofen, since 2011

    Burials