Kornelimünster Abbey

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Princely Imperial Abbey of Kornelimünster
Reichsfürstabtei Kornelimünster
Imperial Abbey of the Holy Roman Empire
←
9th century – 1802 →


Coat of arms

Kornelimünster in 1789
Capital Kornelimünster Abbey
Government Elective principality
Historical era Middle Ages
 - Abbey founded 814
 -  Gained Reichsfreiheit mid-9th century the 9th century
 - Acquired reliquary (head
    of Pope Cornelius)
875
 - Joined Lower Rhenish–
    Westphalian Circle
1500
 -  Secularised by France 1802
 - Awarded to Prussia June 9, 1815
Buildings of the Imperial Abbey of Kornelimünster
Relics at the abbey

Kornelimünster Abbey (German: Kloster Kornelimünster) is a Benedictine monastery in Kornelimünster, since 1972 a part of Aachen (in the district of Kornelimünster/Walheim), in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.

First foundation

The monastery was founded in 814 by Benedict of Aniane, adviser to Emperor Louis the Pious, successor to Charlemagne, on the little river Inde. The monastery was at first known as the "monastery of the Redeemer on the Inde".

In the mid-9th century the monastery became an Imperial abbey ("reichsunmittelbar") and received not only great endowments of land but also the so-called biblical or Saviour's relics: the loincloth, the sudarium and the shroud.

In 875, half of the shroud was exchanged for a relic of the head of the martyred Pope Cornelius (died in 253), after which the abbey was known as Sancti Cornelii ad Indam, and later as Kornelimünster. (The full official title of the present monastery is the Abbey of the Abbot Saint Benedict of Aniane and Pope Cornelius).

In 1500, the princely imperial abbey (Reichsfürstabtei) of Kornelimünster became part of the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle.

In 1802, the territory of Kornelimünster came under French rule and the abbey was dissolved in the secularisation. The abbey church became the parish church, and the remaining abbey buildings state property, now belonging to the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia. Kornelimünster became a mairie in Kanton Burtscheid.

In 1815, Kornelimünster became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and of the district (Landkreis) of Aachen.

Second foundation

The monastery was re-founded by Benedictines in 1906 and is still in operation as a member of the Subiaco Congregation.

Further reading

  • Paul Fabianek: Folgen der Säkularisierung für die Klöster im Rheinland - Am Beispiel der Klöster Schwarzenbroich und Kornelimünster, 2012, Verlag BoD, ISBN 978-3-8482-1795-3

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Imperial Abbey of Kornelimünster.
Imperial abbeys and colleges
(Reichsabteien, Reichsklöster
und Reichsstifte)
Imperial provostries and
priories (Reichspropsteien)
Imperial charterhouse
(Reichskartause)
* Also a Prince of the Empire     † Also in Swabian College
Ecclesiastical
Map of a large region (in white) including all the territory of modern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, plus parts of most neighbouring countries, including most of Northern Italy. Some of the northwest part region is highlighted in color, including Münster, most of the Netherlands and parts of modern Belgium.
The Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle (color) within the Holy Roman Empire (white)
Prelates
Secular
Counts
and lords
From 1500
From 1792
Status
uncertain
Cities

1 from 1792 2 until 1792 3 without seat in Imperial Diet ? status uncertain

Circles est. 1500: Bavarian, Swabian, Upper Rhenish, Lower Rhenish–Westphalian, Franconian, (Lower) Saxon

Coordinates: 50°43′43″N 6°10′41″E / 50.72861°N 6.17806°E / 50.72861; 6.17806

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