Minoritenkloster Lennep

As early as around 1400, but definitively by 1444, a Franciscan monastery existed in Lennep, operating a three-class Latin school from 1454. This monastery was destroyed in a city fire in 1563. During the subsequent reconstruction, the Reformation gradually took hold in the city. In 1641, Minorites from Cologne received permission from the Duke of Berg to settle in Lennep and establish a guesthouse for their brethren traveling through. On March 8, 1642, three brothers acquired a house and were granted parish rights in 1643. From 1664, income from the Catherine Foundation secured their livelihood. Construction of a three-winged monastery began on July 6, 1677, and was completed in 1681. The single-nave, late Gothic church, forming the fourth wing of the cloister, was consecrated to Saint Bonaventure on August 24, 1700. It also served as a parish church for the surrounding communities. In 1732, the Minorites successfully resolved a dispute with the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross from Beyenburg over parish affiliation. They were granted the privilege to provide school education and erected a dedicated school building around 1732. The approximately twelve brothers regarded the predominantly Lutheran and Reformed surrounding area as a mission territory, but these missionary attempts ceased after protests from the Protestant community. A city fire in 1746 spared the monastery due to its peripheral location. In 1803, the monastery was secularized and officially dissolved on July 1, 1804.

The Minorite Monastery Lennep is situated in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the present-day Lennep district of Remscheid.

The former church building of the monastery is the oldest fully preserved sacred building in Remscheid and now functions as a cultural center.

• Kreuzherrenstift Steinhaus, Beyenburg (Wuppertal) (Monastery, approx. 7071 m away)
• Schloss Hückeswagen (Castle, approx. 7380 m away)
• Jesuitenniederlassung Elberfeld (Monastery, approx. 9495 m away)
• Schloss Burg (Castle, approx. 9618 m away)