Swiss Congregation
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The Swiss Congregation of the
Foundation
The Congregation was founded, at the urging of the
As at 1647, therefore, The Congreation included all the extant Benedictine monasteries in Switzerland:
- Einsiedeln Abbey (May 1602)
- Fischingen Abbey (May 1602)
- Muri Abbey (May 1602)
- St. Gall Abbey(May 1602)
- Pfäfers Abbey (Nov 1602)
- Rheinau Abbey (1603)
- Engelberg Abbey (1604)
- Disentis Abbey (1617)
- Mariastein Abbey (1647)
Changes
The fortunes of
The "Kulturkampf" caused the dissolution of Mariastein in 1874/75. The exiled community sought refuge first in France, and, exiled again in 1901, in Austria, where they settled at Bregenz, only to be deported yet again in 1941, by the Gestapo. The Swiss government then allowed them as political refugees to re-occupy their old monastery, which was however not re-established as such until 1973.
The outlook for Swiss Roman Catholics during the "Kulturkampf" was so bleak that Einsiedeln and Engelberg began a programme of establishing new religious houses in the
Political changes outside Switzerland brought the addition of Marienberg Abbey in South Tyrol, which transferred from the Austrian Congregation in 1931.
Present membership
The member houses of the Swiss Congregation are presently as follows:
- Einsiedeln Abbey
- Fischingen Priory(re-founded in 1977)
- Engelberg Abbey
- Disentis Abbey
- Marienberg Abbey (since 1931; in South Tyrol)
- Mariastein Abbey (re-founded in 1970/71)
- Muri-Gries Abbey (since 1845 in South Tyrol; head of the congregation)[1]