Kornelimünster Abbey

Princely Imperial Abbey of Kornelimünster Reichsfürstabtei Kornelimünster
Imperial Abbey of the Holy Roman Empire
← 9th century – 1802 →
Coat of arms
Capital	Kornelimünster Abbey
Government	Theocracy
Historical era	Middle Ages
- Abbey founded	814
- Gained Reichsfreiheit	mid-9th century the 9th century
- Acquired reliquary head     of Pope Cornelius	875
- Joined Lower Rhenish–     Westphalian Circle	1500
- Secularised by France	1802
- Awarded to Prussia	June 9, 1815

Buildings of the Imperial Abbey of Kornelimünster

Relics at the abbey

Kornelimünster Abbey (German: Kloster Kornelimünster) is a Benedictine monastery in Kornelimünster, since 1972 a part of Aachen (as Stadtbezirk Kornelimünster/Walheim), in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.

First foundation

The monastery was founded in 814 by Benedict of Aniane, adviser to Emperor Louis the Pious, successor to Charlemagne, on the little river Inde. The monastery was at first known as the "monastery of the Redeemer on the Inde".

In the mid-9th century the monastery became an Imperial abbey ("reichsunmittelbar") and received not only great endowments of land but also the so-called biblical or Saviour's relics: the loincloth, the sudarium and the shroud.

In 875, half of the shroud was exchanged for a relic of the head of the martyred Pope Cornelius (died in 253), after which the abbey was known as Sancti Cornelii ad Indam, and later as Kornelimünster. (The full official title of the present monastery is the Abbey of the Abbot Saint Benedict of Aniane and Pope Cornelius).

In 1500, the princely imperial abbey (Reichsfürstabtei) of Kornelimünster became part of the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle.

In 1802, the territory of Kornelimünster came under French rule and the abbey was dissolved in the secularisation. The abbey church became the parish church, and the remaining abbey buildings state property, now belonging to the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia. Kornelimünster became a mairie in Kanton Burtscheid.

In 1815, Kornelimünster became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and of the district (Landkreis) of Aachen.

Second foundation

The monastery was re-founded by Benedictines in 1906 and is still in operation as a member of the Subiaco Congregation.

External links

• (German) Kornelimünster Abbey official website
• (German) History of the Reichsfürstabtei Kornelimünster with map, 1789
• (German) Monumente-Online:Aachen - Notes on the Benedictine Abbey of Kornelimünster

Coordinates: 50°43′43″N 6°10′41″E / 50.72861°N 6.17806°E / 50.72861; 6.17806