WEINGARTEN. - Benedictine abbey in Württemberg. It is the ancient "Monasterium Vinearum" or "ad Vineas, prope Altdeffium."

It was founded in 934 by Count Henry, father of St. Conrad of Constance, as a women's monastery, destroyed by fire in 1053. Welf IV had the new monastery built, which in 1057 passed to the Benedictines. After the buildings and the church were ruined in 1124, they were rebuilt in 1182 and a Romanesque basilica was produced. The abbey received privileges from the popes and the kings. Among its abbots are remembered Conrad II of Ibach (1315-36), John II Blarer (1418-51), George Wegelin (1587-1627) considered as the second founder of W., Sebastian Hyller (1697-1730) who renewed the church, Dominic II Schmitzer (1745-1802). The library of 800 manuscripts and more than 20,000 volumes was precious. The monastic buildings were used as a barracks from 1868 to 1919. In 1922 the abbey of St. Thomas of Erdington settled there.

The buildings date back to the 18th century and are the work of D. G. Frisoni and F. Beer. The church is Baroque, with frescoes by G. D. Asam, stuccoes by Fr. Schmutzer, decorations by Carlone, Frisoni, Corbellini; the artistic choir stalls are by J. A. Feichtmayer. It is a pilgrimage destination for the relic of the Precious Blood, especially on the Friday after the Ascension.

Bibliography8 works

BIBL.: Catalog. Abbatum, in MGH, Script., XV, II, pp. 1312-1314; Notae, ibid., XXIV, pp. 830-83; Kl. Löffler, Die Handschriften des Klosters W., Weingarten 1912; R. Weser, Die Heilgeburt-Reliquiere in W. und Weissenau, in Archiv. für christliche Kunst, 1920-21, pp. 17-23; A. Schlegel, Die benediktiner Kirche z. W., Weingarten 1924; Cottineau, II, coll. 3437-39; A. Schmitt, Die Ben.-Abtei W., Weingarten 1924; E. König, Die süddeutschen Welfen als Klostergründer, ivi 1934. On the privileges: W. Krallert, in Archiv. für Urkundenforschung, 15 (1938), pp. 235-304. For the Baroque church: J. H. Drissen, Die Barocharchitektur der Abtei W., Weingarten 1928.

Enrico Josi

@incollection{ec12_weingarten, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Weingarten}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {1662}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/weingarten} }

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