Yesterday, the German Cistercian order had an important day: 4 monks from Heiligenkreuz Abbey, in Lower Austria, went to Neuzelle monastery, in the German Brandenburg diocese of Görlitz (formerly East Germany): with the support of the great Austrian Cistercian abbey, the ancient Benedictine abbey of Neuzelle will be reborn after 200 years of closing down. Abbot Maximilian Heim from Heiligenkreuz gave his blessing to his brethren for the reopening of the monastery. The members of the “pioneer group” are father Simeon Wester, formerly prior of the Austrian abbey, who is expected to take the same post in Neuzelle, father Kilian Müller, the bursar, father Philemon Dollinger, who will be in charge of the house and will teach religion in the local schools, and father Aloysius Zierl, sexton and household staff member. “It’s hard for us to let four brethren leave, but at the same time the fact a monastery will be lived in again, thus reviving a spiritual centre, is a pleasure and a sign of hope”, Abbot Heim said. According to plan, another four monks will arrive, so the total will be eight, by September 2018, the month the solemn canonical erection of the “Neuzelle Priory” will take place.
While waiting to find a private place of the big monastic estate, most of which currently hosts a museum and some academic institutions, the monks will live in the Neuzelle parsonage, and from today they will celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours and Mass in the abbatial church. The official welcome of the bishop of Görlitz, mgr. Wolfgang Ipolt, with a diocesan pilgrimage, has been planned for 3rd September.