WOLTER, MAURUS (RUDOLF). — Benedictine abbot, b. 4 June 1825 in Bonn, d. 8 July 1890 in Beuron.
Ordained a priest in 1850, he was initially director of the Gymnasium of Jülich and of the cathedral school of Aachen; he then became a Benedictine at the abbey of S. Paolo fuori le Mura (1857), where he taught theology and devoted himself to Christian archaeology under the guidance of G. B. De Rossi. In 1860 he returned to Germany, together with his brother Placido, in order to restore Benedictine life there, with the consent of Pius IX and following in the footsteps of dom Guéranger. The Beuron (v.) in Hohenzollern (1863), of which he became the first abbot in 1868 (blessed at S. Paolo fuori le Mura by Cardinal Reisach). The suppression of the Kulturkampf (1875) forced him to take refuge abroad: he restored the monasteries of Emaus in Prague (1886) and Seckau in Styria (1883), Maredsous (v.). In 1884 he received the title of archabbot of the Beuronese Congregation, and in 1887 was able to reopen his abbey of Beuron.
Among his writings are remembered: Praecipua Ordinis Monastici elementa (Bruges 1880) and Pualite sapienter, a commentary on the Psalms in 5 vols. (Freiburg in Br. 1871–90).
PLACIDUS (Errst), brother of Maurus, b. in Bonn on 24 April 1828 and d. in Beuron on 13 September 1908. Ordained a priest in 1851, he made his profession at S. Paolo fuori le Mura in 1856, where he served as instructor of the students; FANE (v.), the future founder of the Italian Catholic Youth. Having returned to his homeland in 1860, he was his brother’s faithful and tireless collaborator in restoring Benedictine life in Germany. From 1878 to 1890 he was the first abbot of Maredsous and then, in 1890, succeeded his brother Maurus as archabbot of Beuron. During his abbacy the Beuronese Congregation grew considerably: several monasteries were restored and founded, among them Maria Laach in the Rhineland (1892), S. Giuseppe in Westphalia (1904), and the abbey of «Dormitio Beatae Mariae Virginis» in Jerusalem (1906).