REICHERSBERG. - Abbey of Canons Regular of S. Agostino, in the diocese formerly of Passavia, now of Linz (Upper Austria), on the plain of the Inn.
Its renown is due to the celebrated provost (abbot) Gerhoh (v.), who, in the period of the struggle over investitures, played a prominent part also as a publicist. The noble Werner of R., after the death of his wife and son, founded in 1084 near his castle a monastery for the Canons Regular, which he himself entered, dying there on 5 October 1086. But the true flourishing of the abbey begins with the intervention of Corrado I, archbishop of Salisburgo, venerated as its second founder, who rebuilt the convent in 1122 and dedicated the new church in 1126; he brought in canons from the great abbeys of Sassonia, where canonical life was greatly in vogue. In 1624 a fire almost completely destroyed church and monastery; but it was immediately rebuilt, in 1625-44, in simple Baroque forms, and then, in 1663-1704, with all the splendour of the full Baroque. The work was carried out by local masters who achieved great artistic effects, especially in the church and in the refectory, library, and imperial halls; the whole forms a jewel harmoniously set in the landscape. Noteworthy are the altar paintings in the church and the many sepulchral slabs in the cloister. The abbey has several incorporated parishes and carries out extensive pastoral, agricultural, and forestry reclamation work.