Abbey
MonasteryUntermarchtal
Untermarchtal Abbey
The Untermarchtal Monastery is the monastic complex used as the motherhouse of the Vincentian Sisters in the municipality of Untermarchtal in the Alb-Donau district in Baden-Württemberg. The Vincentian Sisters, from the Order of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, are dedicated to working with the elderly, the sick, the mentally ill, the homeless, drug addicts, and alcoholics. The congregation also includes well-known branches such as the Marienhospital in Stuttgart. Since 1960, they have also had mission stations in Tanzania (East Africa).
Untermarchtal Castle
Johann Ulrich Späth (also: Speth) von Zwiefalten built a castle in Untermarchtal between 1573 and 1576. In 1853, the widow, Imperial Baroness von Späth, née Princess von Oettingen Wallerstein, sold the estate to the Protestant pastor Schuster from Rottenacker. In 1886, merchant Franz Joseph Linder from Rottweil acquired the former castle and donated it to the Order Congregation of the Sisters of Charity, whose then Mother Superior, Sister Margarita Linder, was his daughter.
Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity
On September 16, 1891, the motherhouse moved from Schwäbisch Gmünd to Untermarchtal. Thus, in the late 19th century, the former Untermarchtal Castle became the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity.
The building activity of the congregation during the tenure of Mother Superior Sister Margarita Linder (1893–1918) and her successors reshaped the historic castle complex, and a monastic complex developed. The most recent church building is the Church of St. Vincent, built in 1972 according to designs by the Swiss architect Hermann Baur.
St. Agnes Castle, where the house chapel is located, serves for silence and devotion. The motherhouse convent meets there every day for prayer.
In 1946, shortly after the Second World War, the monastery, which was then called the Good Shepherd Monastery, was used by the French occupation forces to accommodate "Berlin children" who were to recover here from the hardships of the war and post-war period.
Church
The church was consecrated in 1972. It bears a certain resemblance to the famous Notre-Dame-du-Haut church in Ronchamp.
Complex+
The castle is the oldest building in the motherhouse complex and houses a stately staircase with a carved baluster railing and a high-quality stucco ceiling on the second floor, both from the early 18th century. From the 19th century, canvas wallpapers painted with views of the princely Wallerstein castles have been preserved. In the house chapel, there are early Gothic sculptures and high Baroque choir stalls from Rottenmünster.
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Source: Wikipedia · Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Untermarchtal_Pflegeheim_Maria_Hilf.jpg?uselang=de
This description draws on the facts documented in the linked Wikipedia article; Wikipedia content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Wording and editing: Mobile History.
Location: 48.2375, 9.6133