Himmerod Abbey (Kloster Himmerod) is a

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...

monastery in the community of Großlittgen in the ''

Verbandsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns. Rhinelan ...

'' of Manderscheid in the district of

Bernkastel-Wittlich Bernkastel-Wittlich ( German: ''Landkreis Bernkastel-Wittlich'') is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Vulkaneifel, Cochem-Zell, Rhein-Hunsrück, Birkenfeld, Trier-Saarbu ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, located in the

Eifel The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

, in the valley of the

Salm Salm may refer to People * Constance de Salm (1767–1845), poet and miscellaneous writer; through her second marriage, she became Princess of Salm-Dyck * Salm ibn Ziyad, an Umayyad governor of Khurasan and Sijistan * House of Salm, a European ...

First foundation

Himmerod Abbey was founded in 1134 by Saint Bernard and is a direct foundation of Clairvaux. In its turn it founded a daughter house, Heisterbach Abbey, in 1189. The

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

church was completed in 1751, but after secularisation from 1802 under French occupation fell into ruin.

Second foundation

In 1922 the monastery was re-founded by the settlement here of German Cistercian monks from the former monastery of Mariastern in the present

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and Pars pro toto#Geography, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of Southern Europe, south and southeast Euro ...

. The church was re-built under Abbot Vitus Recke (abbot from 1937 to 1959), and completed in 1962, and contains a famous

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

by Johannes Klais. The new abbey founded the Abbey of the Holy Cross, Itaporanga near

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, in 1936. The abbey has a museum, a book - and art shop, a café, a guesthouse and retreat-house and a fishery. The last abbot (as of 2006) is Bruno Fromme, in post since 1991. Himmelrod Abbey in ruins about 1885

Closure

On 14 October 2017, the Mehrerau Cistercian Congregation announced that Himmerod Abbey would be scheduled to close after nearly nine centuries in operation. The monastery’s head, Abbot Johannes, referred to the financial situation of the abbey as having played a key role in the decision. The monastery’s property near the village of Großlittgen would be transferred into the possession of the Catholic Diocese of Trier, while the remaining six monks at Himmerod would move on to other monasteries. Five of the six monks had left Himmerod by March 2018; Father Stephan Reimund Senge remained the last formal member of the abbey.

Publishers

The abbey also has its own publishing house, the ''Himmerod Drucke'', which to date has published over 50 works by a number of authors, especially Father Stephan Reimund Senge, a monk at Himmerod. The journal ''Unsere Liebe Frau von Himmerod'' ("Our Lady of Himmerod") appears three times a year, and the newsletter ''Himmeroder Rundbrief'' (ed. Father Stephan) about 10 times a year.

Himmerod memorandum

From 5 October to 9 October 1950, officers of the former ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

'', on the authority of the West German government, met in conference at Himmerod Abbey to prepare for Chancellor

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Dem ...

to launch the re-armament of Germany. The conference produced the Himmerod memorandum (German: ''Himmeroder Denkschrift''), which laid out the prerequisites for re-armament and suggested what Germany could contribute to the defense of western Europe. This was an important step toward the official founding of the ''

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

'' in 1955.

References

External links

*
Himmerod Abbey website
*
The Klais Organ
*
Initiative Sudan, an aid development project of Father Stephan from Himmerod
{{Authority control Cistercian monasteries in Germany Monasteries in Rhineland-Palatinate 1130s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1134 establishments in Europe Religious organizations established in the 1130s Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Religious buildings and structures completed in 1134