Monday, October 16, 2017

900 Year Old Cistercian Abbey Closes in Trier

The only remaining six monks will move to another monastery of their choice.

Trier (kath.net) After almost 900 years the Cistercian abbey Himmerod is dissolved. The decision to dissolve came from the Mehrerauer Congregation to which the abbey belonged. The only remaining six monks will move to another monastery of their choice. The abbey property will be passed on to the Diocese of Trier.

The abbey was founded in 1134 by Bernard of Clairvaux. In secularization, the Abbey was abolished and rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century and in Baroque style. The Abbey church is currently not renovated after a fire under the organ and therefore can not be used at the moment, kath.net has reported

The Heiligenkreuz Abbey - a Cistercian Abbey in the Vienna Woods - commented on their Facebook page with this message "very, very sad". The Heiligenkreuz monk continued to write: "We are thinking in prayer of the remaining confreres of Himmerod, whose convent is now being dissolved because there were simply too few new vocations. Please pray with us together for many new spiritual vocations and for a renewal of the faith in us in Europe, so that more monasteries will not have to be closed, but on the contrary, new ones can be founded and revived! May God, through such sad news, move our hearts, so that we may be more energetic and courageous in our faith and in the Church!" 

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

31 comments:

JBQ said...

Look closely at the "handwriting on the wall". It is graffiti. The Church as we know it, the traditional vision of right and wrong, is dying. Francis knows it. You and I know it. He is trying a new approach to save a devastated Church with such as the "pedophile" crisis. This will be a world Communist Church in which the laity make the rules and Scripture and morality are no longer part of the solution.

plinthos said...

Traditional Latin liturgy and solid Catholic faith and morals attracts vocations. I would be happy to go help our friends of Trier re-found their Cistercian Monastery along traditional lines.

Prayerful said...

Fruits of Vatican 2. It was surely open to them to become genuinely Catholic, that is, become traditional under Ecclesia Dei. The failed Council needs to be condemned. Some day...

Anonymous said...

Prayerful:
You are 100% right. While it is obvious that Vatican II has been a disaster for the Catholic Church, the reign of Pope Francis and his "Francis Effect" has accelerated the decline in vocations to religious life, the priesthood, and Mass attendance by ordinary faithful Catholics alarmingly. It is as if we are experiencing the collapse of the Church from 1967-78 all over again(the years of Paul VI when the declines really kicked in).
I do a lot of research into religious Orders and their stats (originally to help an elderly priest compile a book on the disaster of Vatican II, which was published but is so obscure and scholarly not many people can get thru it). But I kept an interest in religious Orders (might seem a little weird for a 29 yr. old who has a lot of other outside interests too) but the declines since Francis took over (usurped the Papal throne from Benedict XVI), have been astounding. World wide diosecean seminarian enrollments have plunged over 30,000 since he took over! Some religious Orders which suffered massive defections immediately after Vatican II and for a decade after but stabilized with only meager losses and a trickle of new vocations now are bracing themselves for more huge declines since Francis. The Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, Redemptorists and Salesians are back to 100-250+ yearly losses,,,,the same as right after Vatican II and until 1978. With losses like that, and now another collapse of vocations thanks to the "Francis Effect", even the one-time "huge" Catholic religious Orders could face extinction in 10 years. An example are the Christian Brothers( de La Salle), which right after WW II all the way to 1962-64 had about 20,000 brothers. Today, they have barely 3,000. The Franciscans (OFM---Friars Minor), migh well sink below 10,000 members in a few years (they had 28,000 before Vatican II). In five years, the Jesuits too, could be below 10,000 (BUT CONSIDERING WHAT THEY HAVE BECOME AND NOW HAVING A JESUIT POPE, THAT IS A GOOD
THING!!!)
In general, Catholic Mass attendance in Europe, Latin America, and the USA has declined significantly since 2013 when Francis came in.....despite how the media says how much he is loved in the USA! Here in my Archdiocese of Philly, only about 18% of Catholics go to Mass on either Sat.or Sunday. (it was 86% on Sundays in Philly before Vatican II !).
So, yes, Vatican II is the root of the evil and the collapse. But the true evil of Francis and his Vatican has accelerated the declines, re-awaked them to a more pronounced level than before....which is a sure sign of evil.
Damian Malliapalli

Catholic Mission said...

The monks are using the irrational intepretation of Vatican Council II.

There are two interpretations of Vatican Council II today and the magisterial one is a scandal : Catholic writers are not asking the Vatican the right questions
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.it/2017/10/there-are-two-interpretations-of.html

susan said...

JBQ...I usually agree with you, but dude!

'francis' is..."trying a new approach to save a devastated Church with such as the "pedophile" crisis" ?????

yeah, absolutely, the Church is in flames, but bergoglio "trying a new approach to save (it)"?...He's one of the chief arsonists!...has been since THEY recruited the bouncer with no religious affinity or interest to enter the seminary, as a plant and wrecking ball. He turned out to be one of the best 'investments' they ever made. He destroyed his diocese....total shambles, in direct opposition and insubordination to the middling efforts of PBXVI to restore at least a modicum of orthodoxy.

"This will be a world Communist Church in which the laity make the rules"....wrong. Way wrong. Just as in every other Godless, tryanical, system, the 'laity' will have no voice. All the rules will come from the mouth of the beast(s) in charge, and the somnabulent masses will be conditioned to love it. The ones who go along with it and indeed clamour for it will be their useful idiots....for a time. Those who fight them will be shuttled to the allegorical hinterlands....until the beasts have full license to do more with them...and they always end up 'doing more' with them.

I love the picture of him on a bus in Argentina; a young mason making the masonic hidden-hand sign with the cold eyes and cock-sure attitude of a worker daemon attentive to his mission. The young priest who even with fit knees refused to kneel before the God of Heaven in front of him, immolated on the Altar of Sacrifice. The same guy who turned the Sacred Mass into an outdoor carnival with giant puppet show; and watched a tango in the sanctuary, performed for his pleasure, barely a meter away from the altar.

He's a snake. And his ilk are the very reason why the Church is in her death rattle. But ultimately the joke's on him....the fact that he doesn't believe in Christ and His promises has no bearing on the fact of their reality. Won't he be surprised......genuinely shocked.

No JBQ, he's not trying to save anything. He is the destroyer of St. Francis's last prophecy. And isn't it just diabolically rich that he would choose that name under which to see through the final assault.

susan said...

excellent analysis Damian.

JBQ said...

Before something new can be built, the old must be destroyed. Even the Phoenix rose from the ashes. The Marine Corps tears down the candidate and then rebuilds in their image. So too, it is with Francis and his Communist image. He is not just destroying. He has a view of what will rise out of the destruction.

JBQ said...

Many liberal dioceses no longer want vocations. They already have a structure in place and are just waiting for the maestro to begin the symphony (sym-phony).

susan said...

On this point we certainly agree....and the view he has of what will rise out of the ashes, is his own image. But like I said before.....

Won't he be surprised......genuinely shocked.

Bill O'Malley said...

The authentic interpretation is that which is provided by the 2800 bishops who attended the Council, debated and wrote its documents and then implemented those reform elements in the conflicted theologies and ecclesiologies in those documents which they, in consultation with their priests and people, determined were for the good of their dioceses. All of these bishops, including the Popes, were students of the Tridentine scholastic theologies and had celebrated nothing but the unreformed liturgy of Pius V but 85-90% of them voted for and implemented reforms which clearly broke with the past.
As for the massive decline in membership of the Catholic Church, drastic decline in Mass attendance and associated fall off in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, it wasn't Vatican II that precipitated it. Try the Reformation.
The more modern acceleration in the participation rates dates from just after WW II. It's important to ask the right questions of history.

Anonymous said...

It will be condemned, lock, stock, and barrel, "saints", and all. All thrown in the GARBAGE because that's what it's ill conceived fruits are GARBAGE.

If you think from this perspective and live from this perspective and comment in com boxes from this perspective you tend to have your thoughts dissapeared into the ether such as on the 1P5 site. Hey folks, I don't have time to mess around with fake crap, real Catholic or nothing.

susan said...

Great....O'Douche is back.

Douche (dooSH)
1. a shower of water; "a daily douche"
2. an obnoxious or contemptible person, typically a man: "that guy is such a douche"

Anonymous said...

The Reformation, religious wars after that, the anti-Catholic legislation and rulings of Austrian Emperor Joseph II(patron of Mozart), and similar degrees by Napoleon around the same time caused tremendous declines in religious Orders. First the Reformation caused a huge decline in religious life as thousands of monasteries and dozens of Orders closed up and went extinct in a heartbeat....
The huge, established Orders like the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians etc suffered tragic losses. BUT, by the tme of Emperor Joseph II initiated his round of anti-Catholic "reforms", many of the Orders had bounced back....only to be dealt another blow by him, and Napoleon....and later in the 1880's-90's by Bismarck in German speaking countries (He was a notorious anti-Catholic).
While it is true that all these events in Europe caused huge declines , some of the Orders such as the Franciscans , Dominicans, and Jesuits (which had even been suppressed at the end of the 1700's and restored in the 1820's), were recovering. The Jesuits were at their peak in 1964 with 36,100 (they had never been higher), and while the Dominicans with 10,100 were still over 10,000 down from what they were in 1520, they had made a huge recovery from the barely 1,000 remaining in the 1840's. The Franciscans(OFM) at 28,000 before the Council were still over 20,000 down from what they were at the time of the Reformation. But the point is, they were growing.
I'll close with 2 examples.
The Sisters of Charity(Mother Seton) nuns were founded in the very early 1800's in Baltimore, Md. They began with 3-4 sisters, but by the time of Saint Elizabeth Ann Bailey Seton's death in 1820, there already were close to 100 sisters, and they were well established in New York City in addition to Baltimore. By the time of the Civil War, there were over 250 sisters, with the NYC and Baltimore branches becoming independent congregations. By the time of Vatican II, the Baltimore branch of the Sisters of Charity had nearly 4,000 sisters, and the NYC branch close to 1,600. There were also 2-3 other branches smaller in number, but each nearly 1,000. All from a beginning of 3-4 women. The inspiration for this growth was both the holy example and teachings of Mother Seton, who wanted to establish teaching sisters in the USA, but especially the traditions of religious life and the Tridentine Latin Mass and Graces which come from it.
Proof that the Tridentine Latin Mass is the great impetus for vocations can be demonstrated by by Orders founded with the Vatican II Mass. There are dozens of them, some founded 45 years ago with 4-5 members...and today they still only have a handful...maybe still 4-5, perhaps 10 at most.
So if you want to see what inspired vocations, and in general, the Catholic Faith, you need look no further than the Tridentine Latin Mass. It's obvious...the stats don't lie. But people like Pope Francis and company do. :)
Damian Malliapalli

Anonymous said...

That's true. Too bad for us.:(

Thank you Susan for your compliment about my analysis of this sad situation in Germany further up on the comment column. I didn't see it 'cause I was teaching all day. I post either at 6:30 am before off to school, lunchbreak...or now (8:25 pm) 'Course I do lots of things other than this, of course...but I do like the posts that are here. Would never have heard about this German monastery on any other site:)
Damian Malliapalli

Bill O'Malley said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Bill said...

That could well be explained by the fact that the place no longer rated because people outgrew nostalgia and neurotic archaism.

susan said...

"because people outgrew nostalgia and neurotic archaism."

....yeah, like deep love for that old, dead, white guy Jesus of Nazareth...who, let's be real here, never existed in the first place, eh?

O'Douche.

JBQ said...

@susan: The only argument that I would have about your comment would be from an Irish perspective. His "O" should be removed and he should just be called a "douche".

susan said...

how about "A'Douche"?.....nah, people wouldn't get it. How 'bout if we just keep calling him feybriel.

susan said...

nope....just thinking about it still makes me laugh. I think "O'Douche" has to be the new replacement for putz/jerk/idiot/wanker/tosser/slag/arsemonger.....you know, eveyrthing that perfectly sums up feybriel.

Sorry JBQ....avert your eyes next time....if it makes you feel any better, my last name begins with 'Mc'.....offer it up and take one for the team.

Bill said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Prayerful said...

Is Bill back defending the poisoned fruits of some failed Council from fifty years ago?

It would have been open for the Abbot to turn from the failed and defective Office and liturgy (edited by Concilium to remove Catholic teaching) and place the house under the Ecclesia Dei agency.

JBQ said...

Today's OnePeterFive profiles a family day being set up in Ireland. The gay married are invited. This is accelerating. Wuerl of DC at 76 submitted his mandatory resignation. McElroy of SD is already penciled in.

Tancred said...

When you're on the dole, you have lots of free time. I don't think he's sincere or good willed, so I delete his little roaches where they invade.

Frankly, he probably needs to be gassed. Maybe the NHS will determine he's lived too long and recommend against a treatment vital for his continued existence?

Carl J said...

A good Nazi would say that, wouldn't you, Heinrich?

Bill O'Malley said...

It's a clear as a bell that His Fickleness gets the terminal jitters when he is faced with an argument his ideology can't process or defeat. He’s really got something bad on his liver, so here we go again:
As I suggested, it is vitally important to ask the right questions of history. For the most part you don't ask questions, just give answers to questions that flow from flawed presuppositions.
Hint: read some sociology and demographics in Western countries since WW I. A whole world of potential insight might open up to you.

Bill O'Malley said...

McEvoy would be an outstanding successor to Cardinal Wuerl in Washington.

susan said...

yeah, no doubt...he's an even BIGGER reptile.

O'Douche.

Joe R said...

The Lush from Moonshine Hollow slurs again.
YYYYeeeeehaaww.

susan said...

And the multi-monikered psycho from Sodom slithers back in.

O'Douche.