# Swiss Congregation > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Swiss_Congregation > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Swiss_Congregation.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Congregation > Source revision: 1314894571 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Grouping of Benedictine monasteries in Switzerland}} {{refimprove|date=August 2023}} thumb|Kloster Einsiedeln The '''Swiss Congregation''' of the [Benedictine Confederation](/source/Benedictine_Confederation) is a grouping of [Benedictine](/source/Order_of_St._Benedict) monasteries in [Switzerland](/source/Switzerland) or with significant historical Swiss connections. ==Foundation== thumb|Kloster Fischingen The congregation was founded, at the urging of the [Papal legate](/source/Papal_legate) to Switzerland, in 1602,[https://www.kloster-mariastein.ch/en/monastery/swiss-benedictines Benediktinerkloster Mariastein] with a significant reform agenda. Of the nine Benedictine monasteries in Switzerland which had survived the [Reformation](/source/Protestant_Reformation), seven had joined by 1604. [Disentis Abbey](/source/Disentis_Abbey) was prevented at first by considerations of the sensitive politico-religious situation in [Graubünden](/source/Graub%C3%BCnden), but joined in 1617. [Beinwil Abbey](/source/Beinwil_Abbey) had been dissolved in 1554, but the community was still together, and at last, after it had been decided that a re-foundation would take place at [Mariastein](/source/Mariastein_Abbey), joined in 1647. As at 1647, therefore, the congregation included all the extant Benedictine monasteries in Switzerland: thumb|Engelberg kloster *[Einsiedeln Abbey](/source/Einsiedeln_Abbey) (May 1602) *[Fischingen Abbey](/source/Fischingen_Abbey) (May 1602) *[Muri Abbey](/source/Muri_Abbey) (May 1602) *[St. Gall Abbey](/source/St._Gall_Abbey) (May 1602) *[Pfäfers Abbey](/source/Pf%C3%A4fers_Abbey) (Nov 1602) *[Rheinau Abbey](/source/Rheinau_Abbey) (1603) *[Engelberg Abbey](/source/Engelberg_Abbey) (1604) *[Disentis Abbey](/source/Disentis_Abbey) (1617) *[Mariastein Abbey](/source/Mariastein_Abbey) (1647) ==Changes== {{unreferenced section|date=August 2023}} thumb|Kloster Disentis The fortunes of [Roman Catholic](/source/Roman_Catholic) establishments in Switzerland were turbulent, especially in the 19th century. All were dissolved as a consequence of the [French Revolution](/source/French_Revolution) in 1798, but were restored by [Napoleon](/source/Napoleon)ic decree in 1803, with the exception of St. Gall, where the Prince-Abbot refused to make the necessary [political concessions](/source/concession_(politics)). The politics of the Swiss cantons brought about the dissolution of Pfäfers (1838), Muri (1841), Fischingen (1848) and Rheinau (1863), of which Muri was re-founded in 1845 at Gries in what is now the [Italian](/source/Italy) province of [South Tyrol](/source/South_Tyrol) and Fischingen not until 1977, as an independent priory. The ''"[Kulturkampf](/source/Kulturkampf)"'' caused the dissolution of Mariastein in 1874/75. The exiled community sought refuge first in France, and, exiled again in 1901, in [Austria](/source/Austria), where they settled at [Bregenz](/source/Bregenz), only to be deported yet again in 1941, by the [Gestapo](/source/Gestapo). The Swiss government then allowed them as political refugees to re-occupy their old monastery, which was however not re-established as such until 1973. thumb|Kloster Marienberg The outlook for Swiss Roman Catholics during the ''"Kulturkampf"'' was so bleak that Einsiedeln and Engelberg began a programme of establishing new religious houses in the [United States of America](/source/United_States_of_America) so that the remaining monasteries and nunneries in Switzerland would have a refuge if they were all exiled. Eventually the crisis passed, but the new foundations took on a life of their own as the '''[Swiss-American Congregation](/source/Swiss-American_Congregation)''' of the Benedictine Confederation. Political changes outside Switzerland brought the addition of [Marienberg Abbey](/source/Marienberg_Abbey) in South Tyrol, which transferred from the [Austrian Congregation](/source/Austrian_Congregation) in 1931. ==Present membership== thumb|Kloster Mariastein thumb|Murikloster The member houses of the Swiss Congregation are presently as follows: *[Einsiedeln Abbey](/source/Einsiedeln_Abbey) *[Fischingen Priory](/source/Fischingen_Priory) (re-founded in 1977) *[Engelberg Abbey](/source/Engelberg_Abbey) *[Disentis Abbey](/source/Disentis_Abbey) *[Marienberg Abbey](/source/Marienberg_Abbey) (since 1931; in South Tyrol) *[Mariastein Abbey](/source/Mariastein_Abbey) (re-founded in 1970/71) *[Muri-Gries Abbey](/source/Muri-Gries_Abbey) (since 1845 in South Tyrol; head of the congregation) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * {{in lang|de}} [http://www.ch.benediktiner.de/ Swiss Benedictines website] * {{in lang|de}} [http://www.kath.ch/skz/skz-2002/schweiz/sc26.htm Kirche in der Schweiz 26/2002: Article on the Congregation's history] * [http://www.osb.org/swissam/ Swiss-American Benedictine Congregation website] {{Authority control}} Category:Benedictine congregations Category:1602 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Category:17th-century establishments in Switzerland Category:Religious organizations established in the 1600s Category:Catholic religious institutes established in the 17th century --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Swiss Congregation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Congregation) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Congregation?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.