- Säben Abbey
Säben Abbey (Italian: "Monastero di Sabiona"; German: "Kloster Säben") is a Benedictine nunnery located at Klausen in the
province of Bolzano-Bozen (northernItaly ). It was established in 1687, when it was first settled by the nuns ofNonnberg Abbey inSalzburg .History
Säben (Italian and Latin "Sabiona"), situated on the "holy mountain", for centuries a centre of pilgrimage and now an extensive religious precinct, above the town of Klausen, was already inhabited in the
New Stone Age . On the site of the present nunnery there was once a late Roman settlement.Between the 6th century and about 960 there was the seat of a bishopric here, to which belonged the church "im Weinberg", the remains of which have been excavated, and a large burial ground. Bishop
Ingenuin is documented as a participant in theSynod of Grado in 579.On
13 September 901 KingLouis the Child granted Bishop Zacharias the farm of "Prichsna", later to becomeBrixen , to which the bishops had moved by, at the latest, 960 under BishopRichbert .Säben later became a fortress of the bishops. In the 14th and 15th centuries Säben Castle ("Burg Säben") was the seat of the judges of Klausen and the centre of administration of the southern territories of the Diocese of Brixen. The castle was struck by lightning and fell derelict in the years following.
A community of Benedictine nuns was established here in 1686 by the local priest, in premises at the foot of the mountain. The abbey church was dedicated by
Johann Franz, Count Khuen von Belasi , thenBishop of Brixen .Although the nunnery was repeatedly looted during the
Napoleonic wars and stripped of its assets during the secularisation ofBavaria in 1803, the community survived in an impoverished state through the 19th century until it gradually revived from about 1880, when, during the period of the "Kulturkampf " inGermany (1871–1878), the monks ofBeuron Abbey were in exile in theTyrol and were in contact with the nuns at Säben. At this time new premises were built in the ruins of the castle on the mountain. The nuns of Säben adopted the Beuronese mode of life, although the abbey was formally accepted into theBeuronese Congregation of theBenedictine Confederation as late as 1974.External links
* [http://www.comune.chiusa.bz.it Website of the town of Klausen]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
