MARIA LAACH. – Benedictine abbey situated near Koblenz on the Rhine in Germany, founded in 1093 by Count Palatine Enrico II (d. 1095), count of Laach, and his wife Adelaide of Orlamünde (d. 1100). The founding monks came from the Abbey of S. Massimino at Trier. The original community was enlarged by a group of monks from the Abbey of Afflighem in Brabant, to which the priory of M. L. was subordinated by Count Palatine Siffredo (d. 1113), the founder’s adopted son, in 1112.
Beginning with the first abbot, Gilberto (1127–52), the succession of abbots continued until 2 August 1802, when the monastery was suppressed by the Napoleonic secularization. From 1474 until its suppression, the monastery belonged to the Bursfeld Union, of which 2 abbots of Laach were elected presidents. Around 1500, M. L. became the center of humanism in the monasteries of the Rhineland through the initiatives of the prior Giovanni Butzbach (d. 1516) and Giacomo Siberti, well-known humanists. In 1892 the monks of Beuron took possession of the ancient Benedictine heritage of M. L. The first abbot of the new foundation, Willibrordo Benzler, was elevated to the episcopal see of Metz in 1901; his successor, Fedele di Stotzingen, was elected primate abbot of the Benedictine Confederation in 1913. Under the regime of the third abbot, d. Ildefonso Herwegen, a well-known advocate of the liturgical apostolate, the abbey became a center of liturgical and monastic studies. The principal scholarly initiatives of the monks of Laach in recent times are: the collection Ecclesia Orans, which deals with important aspects of the Church’s worship; the Liturgiegeschichtliche Quellen, publications of unpublished liturgical texts and related documents such as calendars and ascetical writings of antiquity and the Middle Ages concerning worship; the Liturgiegeschichtliche Forschungen, dealing with liturgies from a historical perspective; the Jahrbuch für Liturgiewissenschaft (1921–41), followed by the Archiv für Liturgiewissenschaft (1st vol. in 1950); and, edited by Abbot I. Herwegen, the Beiträge zur Geschichte des alten Mönchtums und des Benediktinerordens.