Oeventrop Abbey

The Oeventrop Monastery (officially Herz-Jesu-Missionshaus Oeventrop) was a branch of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Between 1902 and 1969, it served as a starting point for missions and as a theological training center for aspiring priests.

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus had settled in Hiltrup near Münster after the end of the Kulturkampf. Soon the order needed another training center.

At the suggestion of Dean Caspar Berens, pastor in Rumbeck and responsible for Oeventrop, the order sought the possibility of settling near Arnsberg. The construction finally took place on the outskirts of Oeventrop. There, the order acquired a plot of land, originally consisting of 5 hectares of arable land and 5 hectares of forest, and erected an imposing building on it. The building, constructed of red clinker brick, was inaugurated in 1902. An originally existing tower was not rebuilt after a fire in 1946.

The training center accepted high school graduates who first studied philosophy and then theology. After completing the five-year course, they were ordained as priests. In 1938, there were 93 students and 18 university lecturers. In addition, there were 10 priests, 12 lay brothers, 6 nuns, and some secular servants.

By 1969, the institution had established missions in what is now Papua New Guinea, China, Africa, and Peru.

With the beginning of World War II in 1939, the heyday of the institution ended. The building was confiscated, and the seminarians were moved to Kleve. Only a few fathers and lay brothers remained in the monastery's outbuildings. The main building became a military hospital. It served as a healing and care facility for soldiers with lung diseases. Of the patients, 1300 died in the monastery. They are buried in the Oeventrop military cemetery. After the war, the house served as accommodation for old and sick people from Dortmund.

Furthermore, after 1945, the reconstruction of teaching activities began. The accompanying "Thomas Academy" was able to attract significant lecturers. Among them was Josef Ratzinger, who at that time taught theology in Münster. The library consisted of about 45,000 volumes. There was also a mission museum "Treasures of the South Seas."

The order's seminary was closed in 1969. The seminary's library is now located in the archiepiscopal Academic Library in Paderborn. In 1975, a new order building was erected in Oeventrop, which served as a retirement home for former missionaries and older fathers.

The "old monastery" became a home for difficult-to-educate children. Later, a addiction clinic was housed there. This will cease operations in October 2009. The further use of the building is unclear. The building is listed under number 553 in the monument list of the city of Arnsberg. This contradicts statements by the current owner, who is currently looking for buyers for the property.