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Mont Sainte-Odile Abbey, also known asHohenburg Abbey, is anunnery, situated onMont Sainte-Odile, one of the most famous peaks of theVosges mountain range in theFrench region ofAlsace.[1]
It was founded about 690 byAdalrich, Duke of Alsace for his daughter,Odile, who was its firstabbess.[2] SaintEugénie d'Alsace (died 735) was its second abbess. On the eastern slope of the Mont Sainte-Odile the first abbess built a hospice calledNiedermünster or Nieder-Hohenburg, which afterwards became a house for ladies of nobility until it was destroyed by lightning in 1572.
Originally Hohenburg seems to have been occupied byBenedictine nuns who were replaced bycanonesses in the 11th century. Devastated by fire several times, the abbey church was rebuilt in 1050 and consecrated byPope Leo IX. When in the first half of the 12th century the monastery began to decline, its discipline was restored byAbbess Relindis ofBergen nearNeuburg an der Donau, who became abbess of Hohenburg in about 1140. During her rule Hohenburg became famous for its strict discipline as well as the great learning of its nuns.
She was succeeded in 1167 byHerrade of Landsberg, under whose rule the fame of Hohenburg continued to increase. She built thePremonstratensian monastery ofSaint Gorgo on the slope of the mountain in 1178, and theAugustinian monastery ofTruttenhausen at its foot. Herrade was the author ofHortus deliciarum, a collection of short treatises on theology, astronomy, philosophy, and other branches of learning, also containing some original Latin poems with musical accompaniment, and some beautiful drawings. (The work was destroyed at the conflagration of theStrasbourg library in 1870).[3] One noteworthy tradition of the abbey is the production ofunicorn images; illustrations of unicorn hunts were particular to female orders.[4]
Hohenburg Abbey was destroyed by fire in 1546. Some of the nuns returned to their parents, others becameProtestants and married.
In 1661, Hohenburg was rebuilt and occupied byPremonstratensians. During theFrench Revolution it was confiscated by the government and sold as national property in 1791. In 1853Andreas Räss,Bishop of Strasbourg, purchased the buildings for his diocese.
Perpetual adoration has been practiced at the convent since 1931.[5]
Between August 2000 and May 2002 more than 1,000 ancient books went missing from the monastery library. Stanislas Gosse, a book collector and local teacher, stole the books after finding an old map in the city archives showing a secret entrance into the library. The route was not easy, however, involving climbing up exterior walls, a steep staircase and a secret chamber. A mechanism then opened the back of one of five cupboards. The disappearance of so many books over such a length of time confused the librarian, the monks and the police, with Gosse finally being caught byclosed-circuit television cameras in 2003. Gosse received a fine, a suspended prison sentence, and was assigned community service of helping catalog the books in the library at Sainte-Odile.[6][7]
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."Hohenburg".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
48°26′16″N07°24′17″E / 48.43778°N 7.40472°E /48.43778; 7.40472
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