!!!Klöster

Monasteries: Following the  Christianisation of the area of Salzburg, 
monasteries were centres of the spiritual and economic development of 
the country and formed the basis for the organisation of the church 
until the late Middle Ages. From the 11%%sup th/%  century onwards 
many new monasteries were founded.

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Secular canonical abbeys and monasteries of the  Benedictines  were 
established from the 10%%sup th/%  and 11%%sup th/%  centuries 
onwards, later on monasteries were founded by the  Augustinian Canons 
Regular, the  Cistercians and  Premonstratensians, from the 
13%%sup th/%  century onwards by the mendicant orders of the  
Dominicans,  Franciscans, Friars Minor,  Carmelites,  Augustinian 
Hermits and  Carthusians. In the same way as castles, medieval 
monasteries were centres of cultural and economic life, pioneering 
agriculture, settlement, schools, hospitals and the crafts. 
Monasteries enjoyed special rights concerning customs, duties and the 
maintenance of their own churches, they also enjoyed immunity and were 
exempt from paying taxes. They were also responsible for works of 
outstanding architectural importance in the  Romanesque  and in the  
Gothic and again in the  Baroque periods. By writing ( Annals) they 
documented the news of their times. Monasteries also acted as centres 
of spiritual drama ( Religious Literature), and by copying older 
literary works they disseminated antique culture ( Book Illumination).

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Reform movements started in Cluny (France), Gorze and Hirsau 
(Germany). They came to Salzburg via Einsiedeln and Augsburg, to 
Millstatt from Hirsau, to Goettweig from St. Blasien (Germany). 
The reforms of the Benedictine order ( Melk Reform) and the 
Augustinian Canons at the beginning of the 15%%sup th/%  century led 
to the foundation of new monasteries and to an economic and scientific 
upswing in older monasteries. During the  Reformation many monasteries 
fought for their survival. Their renewal was supported by visitations 
by bishops and nuncios, as well as by the impulses of new orders like 
the  Jesuits,  Friars Minor, Capuchin,  Piarists,  Barnabites,  
Servites. During the  Counter-Reformation many new monasteries were 
founded.

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The scientific and cultural interest of monasteries during the Baroque 
period is documented in music, drama and books. Monasteries promoted 
the newly popular  Pilgrimages.  Joseph II dissolved half of all 
monasteries (that is around 140 in Austria's present area). With the 
forfeited ground and goods of the monasteries and abbeys, the  
Religionsfonds was founded, from which the clergy was to be paid. 
Numerous new orders settled in the second half of the 19%%sup th/%  
century. The Society of Jesus, dissolved in 1773, was re-established 
in 1814. In the National Socialist era (1938-1945) many monasteries 
were dissolved or seized, e.g. Klosterneuburg, Missionshaus 
St. Gabriel, Deutschordenshaus in Vienna, Goettweig, Geras, 
Altenburg, St. Florian, Kremsmuenster, Lambach, Engelzell, 
Wilhering, Schlaegl, the Archabbey St. Peter in Salzburg, 
Michaelbeuern, Wilten, Fiecht, Stams, Mehrerau, St. Lambrecht, Admont, 
Seckau, Vorau, Rein, St. Paul, Tanzenberg and 188 more, 
especially those of female religious orders. After World War II 
many orders, most of them small women's orders, settled in Austria 
again.

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Since the early orders are in charge of pastoral work in many 
incorporated parishes, few conventuals remain in the monasteries 
themselves and the conventuals make up a remarkable share of Austria's 
parish priests. Today religious orders also work in the Faculties of 
Theology in Innsbruck (Jesuits) and Salzburg (Benedictines), in 
secondary schools integrated in abbeys, in hospitals (e.g.  Brothers 
Hospitallers,  Sisters Hospitallers,  Holy Cross Sisters), in youth 
education (Piarists,  female religious educational orders,  Christian 
Brothers of De La Salle) etc.

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Several orders (Benedictines, Augustinian Canons, Capuchins) offer lay 
people the opportunity to spend a limited period of time as guests of 
the religious community in the form of retreats, which are popular 
among people seeking rest and spiritual renewal.

!Literature
Oe. Ordensstifte, in: Notring-Jahrbuch, 1977; F. Roehrig, 
Alte Stifte in Oesterreich, 2 vols., 1967; A. Schmeller-Kitt, 
Kloester in Oesterreich, 1983; F. Caramelle, Die Stifte und Kloester 
Tirols, 1985; A. Kreuzer, Die Stifte und Kloester Kaerntens, 1986; 
Kirchliches Verordnungsblatt fuer die Dioezese Graz-Seckau IV, 
1993; M. Oberhammer, Pustets Klosterfuehrer. Oe., 1998.


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