The Franciscans will close their monastery in Engelberg, Germany, by the end of July. “The number of Franciscans is decreasing in our country, but we are growing all over the world – like in Africa or Vietnam.”
Newsroom (14/02/2024 15:00, Gaudium Press) The origins of the Engelberg monastery and church date back to pagan times, when it was a place of worship for the Norse god Wotan. Around 1300, a simple wooden chapel was built on the mountain, dedicated to the Archangel St. Michael, usually chosen to be the patron saint of churches in places where there had previously been pagan shrines. At the beginning of the 14th century, an image of Our Lady, Queen of Angels, was placed in the chapel, which is still venerated today as a miraculous image and a destination for pilgrimages.
In 1630, as the number of pilgrims increased, the archbishop of Mainz, Anselm Casimir Wambolt von Umstadt, to whose district the area belonged at the time, brought the Capuchins to Engelberg and ordered the construction of a monastery for them.
In 1828, by order of King Louis I of Bavaria, the monastery was taken over by the Franciscans of the Franciscan Province of Bavaria.
In recent years, only two brothers had lived in the monastery. The decision to close the monastery is due to “the lack of young monks for the order, which makes it increasingly difficult to adequately maintain the current 26 Franciscan communities in Germany,” the Franciscans noted.
“Already in 2019, in an internal process to decide the future of the Order, a classification of the communities of the German Franciscan Province was made. On the basis of this ranking and the lack of new vocations, the provincial leadership decided to close the monastery of Engelberg in July 2024.
In a statement to the German Catholic news website katholisch.de, Friar Othmar Brüggemann said: “Ultimately, the closure of monasteries in our country is more of a German phenomenon than a European one. The number of Franciscans is decreasing in our country, but we are growing all over the world – like in Africa or Vietnam.”
“The Diocese of Würzburg is also looking for a new community to occupy the Engelberg Monastery, so that the site is not abandoned,” said Friar Othmar Brüggemann.
The Franciscan explained that, due to an “emergency situation” at the Engelberg monastery, “the brothers have left for other places and we, the two remaining priests, are needed elsewhere”.
In fact, “until recently, there were three of us here at the Engelberg monastery,” recalled Friar Othmar. “But our third friar had to be transferred in mid-January due to illness. Now there are only two of us. When one is traveling, the other is usually left alone. That’s not a good number.
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Compiled by Florence MacDonald