Wittichen Abbey (german: Kloster Wittichen) is a former

Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...

abbey in Wittichen in a narrow side valley of the Kleine Kinzig stream near Schenkenzell in the upper Kinzig valley in the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

History

The

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

was founded by Saint Luitgard of Wittichen in 1324. According to Luitgard, who came from the Schenkenzell village of Kaltbrunn-Vortal, God said to her on the site of the monastery: "Here you are to build me a house!" So she searched for other co-sisters and founded her abbey in the outback of Wittichen with 33 sisters. The abbey found support from the

dukes of Teck Duke of Teck is a title which was created twice in Germanic lands. It was first borne from 1187 to 1439 by the head of a cadet line of the German ducal House of Zähringen, known as the "first House of Teck". The ''caput'' of his territory was Te ...

and the counts of Geroldseck as well as Queen Agnes of Hungary. Through her intervention the retreat was recognised as an abbey by

John XXII Pope John XXII ( la, Ioannes PP. XXII; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope, elected by ...

Literature

* ''Der Landkreis Rottweil'', published by the Landesarchivdirektion Baden-Württemberg, Vo,.2, Ostfildern, 2003, pp. 156f

External links

*
Wittichen Abbey on the Schenkenzell website

{{Coord, 48.33481, N, 8.34690, E, type:landmark_region:DE-BW, display=title Monasteries in Baden-Württemberg Poor Clare monasteries 1320s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1324 establishments in Europe