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18-449: After its foundation in 741 by Duke Odilo of Bavaria , the monastery, dedicated to Saint Maurice , was settled by monks from Reichenau Abbey under Saint Pirmin . Eberswind, the first abbot, is considered the compiler of the " Lex Baiuvariorum " , the first code of law of the Bavarian people. The monastery brought great areas of Lower Bavaria into cultivation as far as the territory of

36-464: A legacy from the theology professor Franz Xaver Knabenbauer, a native of Niederalteich, a monastery was re-established here and settled from Metten Abbey . In 1932 the monastery church received from the pope the title of " Basilica minor ". In 1949, under Abbot Emmanuel Maria Heufelder, the monastery became once again an independent abbey. In 1946 the St.-Gotthard-Gymnasium ( "St.-Gotthard-Grammar School" )

54-466: A renewed golden age. Saint Gotthard, who along with Duke Henry of Bavaria, later Emperor Henry II , was a key supporter of contemporary monastic reform, was probably the abbey's best-known abbot. He later became Bishop of Hildesheim , where he was buried. The abbey was granted by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to the Bishop of Bamberg in 1152, and as a consequence lost its reichsunmittelbar status. In 1242

72-649: The Agilolfing dynasty was Duke of Bavaria from 737 until his death in 748. He had the Lex Baiuvariorum compilation edited, the first ancient Germanic law collection of the Bavarians . Odilo by his Agilolfing descent was an Alemannic nobleman, a son of Duke Gotfrid (d. 709) whom he succeeded in Thurgau until 737, when with the death of Hugbert of Bavaria the older line of the dynasty became extinct and he inherited

90-730: The Benedictine Confederation consisting (with one exception) of monasteries in Bavaria , Germany . It was founded on 26 August 1684 by Pope Innocent XI (1676-1689). Until the secularisation of Bavaria in 1803 the following abbeys belonged to the congregation: All these monasteries were dissolved in 1803, however, and the congregation lapsed at that point. The congregation was re-established by Pope Pius IX on 5 February 1858, comprising to begin with three monasteries re-founded by Ludwig I of Bavaria : Metten; St. Boniface's Abbey, Munich, with Andechs Priory; and Weltenburg. As of 2013

108-524: The Benedictine Confederation since its re-foundation in 1918. In 1924 Pope Pius XI gave the Benedictines the task of making the theology and spirituality of the east known in the west. Niederaltaich, as a consequence of these ecumenical goals, has since been a monastery of two ecclesasiatical traditions or rites, one part of the monks living and praying according to the Roman rite, the other part according to

126-621: The Frankish Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel . In 741, Odilo married Charles Martel's daughter Hiltrud , but upon the death of her father found himself at war with her brothers Carloman and Pepin the Short . He rebelled to support the Alamans with the support of Hunald I of Aquitaine in 742/43 against Frankish rule after persuading him to attack Neustria to burn down Chartres . He

144-508: The Thirty Years' War the foundations of the economic prosperity of the abbey in the Baroque period. Under Abbot Joscio Hamberger (1700–1739) the creation of the Baroque abbey and church took place, as well as the construction of the school. The church was the first commission for the later famous Baroque architect Johann Michael Fischer , who worked on it from 1724–1726. The abbey

162-672: The Wittelsbachs inherited from the Counts of Bogen the office of Vogt ( lord protector ) of the abbey. Important abbots from this time on were Hermann (in office from 1242 to 1273), the author of the "Annales Hermanni", and the Reformation abbots Kilian Weybeck (1503 to 1534) and Paulus Gmainer (1550 to 1585). Construction of the Gothic monastery church was begun in 1260 under Abbot Herman. Vitus Bacheneder, abbot between 1651 and 1666, created after

180-586: The 1960s. Its boarding facilities, however, were shut down in 1994 and converted in 1999–2001 into the St. Pirmin Conference and Hospitality Centre. In 2006 and 2007 the school building of the St.-Gotthard-Gymnasium was refurbished. The school itself is now a Ganztagschule , which provides obligatory lessons from 7.45 a.m. until 4.00 p.m.. Niederaltaich Abbey has been a member of the Bavarian Congregation of

198-844: The Byzantine rite. The Eucharist and the Divine Office are celebrated by the monks in the German language in both rites, and in addition, liturgical texts from Church Slavonic and Greek have also been translated. In 1986 a church and a chapel, both dedicated to Bishop Nicholas of Myra (Saint Nicholas), were set up for the celebration of the Byzantine rite in the buildings of the former monastery brewery. 48°45′58″N 13°01′40″E  /  48.76611°N 13.02778°E  / 48.76611; 13.02778 Odilo, Duke of Bavaria Odilo , also Oatilo or Uatilo (died 18 January 748) of

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216-453: The monarchy itself). By the end of the 9th century over 50 monks had become abbots in other monasteries or been appointed bishops. The 10th century however brought the turmoil of the Hungarian incursions , and between 950 and 990 the abbey was a collegiate foundation ( Kollegiatstift ). Under Abbot Gotthard or Godehard of Hildesheim (996–1022), better known as Saint Gotthard , the abbey entered

234-451: The next year he was defeated by Pepin the Short who installed seven-year-old Tassilo III as Duke of Bavaria. Odilo is accepted as the founder of the abbeys of Benediktbeuern (in 739), Niederaltaich (741), and Mondsee (748), as well as a number of others. He was buried at Gengenbach Abbey in Alamannia . Bavarian Congregation The Bavarian Congregation is a congregation of

252-580: The present Czech Republic , and founded 120 settlements in the Bavarian Forest . In the reigns of Charlemagne and Louis the German the abbey extended its possessions as far as the Wachau . Abbot Gozbald (825-855) was the latter's arch-chancellor. In 848 the monastery received the right of free election of its abbots, and in 857 became reichsunmittelbar (that is, free of all territorial lordship except that of

270-556: The rulership of the Duchy of Bavaria . Odilo presided over the establishment of bishoprics in Bavaria in 739, when the four dioceses of Regensburg , Freising , Passau , and Salzburg were established by St. Boniface , who in 741 also founded the Diocese of Würzburg in adjacent Franconia . His measures sparked a revolt by Bavarian nobles and the duke temporarily had to seek refuge at the court of

288-505: Was dissolved at the secularisation of Bavaria in 1803. A fire in the church in 1813, caused by a bolt of lightning, signalled the beginning of the demolition of the Baroque complex. The monastery buildings were sold off to private individuals. The side chapels of the abbey church, the Gothic cloisters and adjoining buildings, as well as the parish church, were demolished. In 1918, with the help of

306-586: Was finally defeated in 743 after a battle at the river Lech , and had to accept Frankish overlordship over Bavaria, but remained duke. He further consolidated his rule, when he came to the aid of Prince Boruth of Carantania against repeated Avar incursions and was able to vassalize the Slavic principality in the southeast. After his death in 748, Grifo , a younger son of Charles Martel and half-brother of Odilo's widow Hiltrud, sought to establish his own rule in Bavaria and abducted Odilo's son Tassilo III . However,

324-552: Was refounded after having been closed by the Nazis. The remaining parts of the Baroque buildings were incorporated into new buildings in 1953–1954 and gradually renovated. In 1959 the Katholische Landvolkshochschule ( "Catholic State Secondary School" ) was established here, and between 1971 and 1973 a new school building was erected for the St.-Gotthard-Gymnasium because the number of pupils had continually risen in

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