Tholey Abbey
Tholey Abbey (Abtei Tholey) in Tholey, in the district of Sankt Wendel in Saarland, is a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Maurice. It is part of the Beuronese Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation.
History
As early as the 5th and 6th centuries a group of clerics had established themselves here in the Roman ruins. On the instructions of Magnerich, bishop of Trier from 566 to 600, these hermits formed themselves into monastic communities. One of the earliest of such communities, at the foot of the Schaumberg, is said to have had Saint Wendelin as its head, who is thus counted by tradition as the first abbot of Tholey.
The Benedictine history of Tholey is thought to begin in about 750. At the end of the 15th century the abbey joined the Bursfelde Congregation.
In 1794 during the French Revolution the abbey was plundered and burnt down, and dissolved the same year. In 1798 the remaining buildings were auctioned off. In 1806 they became the property of the municipality, as the parish church and priest's house.
The present abbey was established by the Benedictines in 1949 and settled in 1950 by monks from St. Matthias' Abbey in Trier. The monks work in pastoral care and run the guesthouse and book shop.
Abbots since 1949
| 1949 - 1976 | Dr. Petrus Borne |
| 1977 - 1981 | Hrabanus Heddergott |
| 1985 - | Makarios Hebler |
References
- Manfred, Peter, 2005. Der heilige Wendelin - Die Geschichte eines faszinierenden Lebens. Otzenhausen: Verlag Burr. ISBN 3-9806866-5-5