UNTERLINDEN. — Famous Dominican convent at Colmar in Alsace, in the diocese of Basel (today Strasbourg), under the patronage of St. John the Baptist.
The community founded at Colmar in the Piazza dei Tigli, whence the name U., by Agnese di Mittelheim and Agnese di Herkenheim, with the assistance of the Strasbourg prior Gualtiero O. P., moved outside the city in 1232, near a mill (Ufmühlen), but in 1252 returned to its residence at U. Incorporated into the Dominican Order (1245) by Innocent IV, the convent obtained from Cardinal Ugo di S. Caro an indulgence for the church then being built, which was consecrated in 1269 by St. Alberto Magno. Until 1348 U. occupied a notable place in the history of German mysticism; it had relations with Eccardo, who was present there in 1322, with Taulero, the Blessed Enrico Seuse, and Venturino da Bergamo.
The prioress Caterina da Geberschweier compiled the Vitae sororum around the year 1330. In 1419 the community embraced the reform of Schönensteinbach. Separated from the province of Germany and added to the Alsatian Congregation in 1690, the convent was suppressed in 1792; in 1793 the building became a cavalry barracks, in 1845 a girls’ school, and from 1849 the Municipal Museum and Library.