Engelszell Abbey

Abbey church, west front

Abbey church interior

Engelszell Abbey (Stift Engelszell) is a Trappist monastery, the only one in Austria. It was formerly a Cistercian monastery, and is located near Engelhartszell an der Donau in the Innviertel in Upper Austria.

History

Cistercians

The abbey was founded in 1293 by Bernhard of Prambach, Bishop of Passau, as a Cistercian monastery. It was settled in 1295 by monks from Wilhering Abbey, its mother house, and was of the filiation of Morimond. It suffered a considerable decline, both spiritual and financial, in the period of the Reformation, and for a time passed into private ownership. From 1618 onwards the intervention and support of Wilhering Abbey gradually restored it. On Easter Sunday 1699 however a disastrous fire plunged it once again into financial difficulties and from 1720 its management was in the hands of administrators. In 1746 Leopold Reichl, the last and greatest of Engelszell's abbots of the Common Observance, was appointed, and rebuilt its finances, and also between 1754 and 1764 the present abbey church.

In 1786 however Engelszell was dissolved by Emperor Joseph II and the buildings subsequently put to several secular uses, including as a factory and as a residence.

Trappists

It was occupied and re-founded as a Trappist monastery in 1925 by refugee German monks expelled after World War I from Oelenberg Abbey in Alsace, who had found temporary shelter in Banz Abbey but were looking for a permanent home. Initially established as a priory, in 1931 it was elevated to the rank of an abbey, and the former prior, Gregorius Eisvogel, appointed abbot, in which office he was dedicated by Johannes Maria Gföllner, Bishop of Linz, at a ceremony in Wilhering Abbey. On 2 December 1939 the abbey was confiscated by the Gestapo and the community, numbering 73, evicted. Four monks were sent to Dachau Concentration Camp, while others were imprisoned elsewhere or drafted into the Wehrmacht At the end of the war in 1945, only about a third of the previous community returned. They were augmented however by the refugee German Trappists expelled from Mariastern Abbey, Banja Luka, Bosnia, under their abbot Bonaventura Diamant.

Since 1995 the abbot has been Marianus Hauseder. As at 2012, the number of monks in the community was 7.

Buildings

Engelszell Abbey church, built between 1754 and 1764, is an impressive church in the Rococo style, with a tower 76 metres high. The interior contains notable works of art works by Bartolomeo Altomonte, Joseph Deutschmann and the stuccoist Johann Georg Üblhör. After structural damage in about 1957 the ceiling of the nave was repainted with a contemporary work by Fritz Fröhlich.

Economy

The monastery lives mostly from its agricultural produce. It has become known both for its liqueurs and for its cheese, Engelszeller Trappistenkäse.

List of superiors

• Gregorius Eisvogel, 1925–31, prior; 1931–50, abbot
• Basile Sartorio, 1950–1951, interim superior
• Bonaventura Diamant, 1951–1952, superior ad nutum
• Benno Stumpf, 1952–53, superior ad nutum; 1953–1966, abbot
• Willibald Knoll, 1966–1983, abbot
• Klaus Jansen, 1982–83, apostolic adminsitrator; 1983–89, abbot
• Nivard Volkmer, 1989–1991, superior ad nutum
• Marianus Hauseder, 1991–95, superior ad nutum; from 1995, abbot

Sources and external links

• Stift Engelszell official webpage (German)
• Orden-Online.de: Stift Engelszell (German)

Further reading

• Engelszell Abbey (ed. and publ.), 1932: Abtei Engelszell an der Donau. Passau: Gogeißl. (German)
• Natschläger, Walter, 2006: Übersichtliche Geschichte des Cistercienserstiftes Engelszell. Engelhartszell. (German)
• Reisacher, Mathias, 1840: Topographie des Erzherzogthums Oesterreich, oder Darstellung der Entstehung der Städte, Märkte, Dörfer. Das Decanat St. Johann im Mühl-Kreis, sammt den Stiften Wilhering und Engelszell in dem Decanate Peyerbach. Vienna: Wimmer. (German)