Sankt Ottilien und seine Mission

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Hertlein, Siegfried

Ndanda Abbey, Part IV

The Abbey’s Life with the African Diocese 1973 – 2001

Ndanda Abbey, Part IV
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In 1963, the Territorial Abbey of Ndanda handed over their former mission territory to the newly erected Mtwara diocese. The agreement between the missionary Benedictines and leadership of the diocese stated that “the missionary priests of the Congregation of St. Ottilien are prepared to co-operate with the African clergy in the ordinary and extraordinary pastoration under the authority of the Bishop. The Missionary brothers will also continue their services for the Diocese.” This forth volume of Ndanda’s widespread history describes the transition period which started under the Abbot Bishop Victor Haelg and continued under Abbot Siegfried Hertlein.

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04

Hertlein, Siegfried

Ndanda Abbey, Part III

From Mission to Local Church 1950 – 1972

Ndanda Abbey, Part III

The need for change after the Second World War culminated in the Second Vatican Council. Old pagan traditions were now to be understood as African Traditional Religion, liturgy was given a new shape, catechetical teaching had to be rethought. The local Church should be given into the hands of the local hierarchy as soon as possible, thus bringing the traditional ways of mission to an end. Within the Congregation of St. Ottilien, a genuine rethinking of life within the monastic communities took place. The juridical status of the lay bothers had to be redefined as did the task of missionaries all over the world. It was certainly a heavy burden Abbot-Bishop Victor Haelg had to shoulder until the new diocese of Mtwara was born under the leadership of the first African bishop, Maurus Libaba.

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03

Schäfer (ed.), Cyrill

Stella Maris

Größe und Grenzen des ersten Erzabtes von St. Ottilien, P. Norbert Weber (1870-1956)

Stella Maris

Erzabt Norbert Weber (1870 – 1956) wird auch  der „zweite Gründer“ der Missionsbenediktiner genannt. Als er mit 32 Jahren zum ersten Abt des Klosters Emming-St. Ottilien gewählt wurde, wählte er als Wahlspruch seiner Amtszeit die Worte „Ave Maris Stella“, den Beginn des bekannten Marienhymnus. Angesichts der zahlreichen Stürme, denen die junge Gemeinschaft ausgesetzt war, bedurfte es auch wahrlich eines Leitsternes, der eine Richtung in dunklen Stunden wies. Die Bitte um Richtung und Beistand wurde nicht vergebens ausgesprochen: Als Erzabt Norbert Weber nach knapp 30 Regierungsjahren resignierte, hatte er trotz einer krisenreichen Amtszeit die zunächst wenig vertrauenserweckende Klostergründung in einem abgelegenen Winkel Oberbayerns in eine allgemein geachtete, weltweit verbreitete Missionsgesellschaft überführen können. Es zeugt von seiner Größe, dass er aufgrund des ständigen Zwanges zu Höchstleistungen seine physischen und psychischen Grenzen nicht ängstlich beachtete, sondern bereit war, sich für die gute Sache verbrauchen zu lassen.

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03

Hertlein, Siegfried

Ndanda Abbey, Part II

The Church Takes Root in Difficult Times 1932 – 1952

Ndanda Abbey, Part II

In 1932 the missionary territory of Ndanda became an independant Abbacy Nullius. The new Abbot-Bishop Joachim Ammann had to face numerous difficulties: Islam was fighting for predominance, pagan traditions challenged the mission work and developments in Germany had a negative impact on the situation in Tanganyika. The outbreak of WW II brought with it the threat of permanent expulsion of German missionaries from the Territory. Yet the Church grew: new mission stations were established, the Ndanda hospital expanded, catechetical material was published by the mission press, a congregation of African Benedictine Sisters was born, the Ndanda Art School flourished and the first African priests are ordained. The Church in southeast Tanzania has taken root.

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02

Hertlein, Siegfried

Ndanda Abbey, Part I (ebook)

Beginning and Development up to 1932

Ndanda Abbey, Part I (ebook)

The cornerstone of Catholicism in southern Tanzania was laid by the Benedictine monks of Ndanda Abbey. This first volumn of the abbey’s history explains how the Missionary Benedictines came to establish the faith in southern Tanzania. Although threatened by wars and hindered time and again by human weaknesses, the small mission stations grew into widereaching territorial abbeys and centers of a lively Church in southern Tanzania. Their early struggles to establish the first Christian communities has blossomed into three dioceses: Mtwara, Lindi, and Tunduru-Masasi.  A bbot em. Siegfried Hertlein began his missionary carrier in Tanzania in 1962. From 1976 to 2001 he was the third abbot of the Missionary Benedictine Monastery of Ndanda. Since then he has been involved in monastic formation and research into the abbey’s history.

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02

Schäfer (ed.), CyrillSieber, Gottfried

Beständigkeit und Sendung

Festschrift Sankt Ottilien 2003

Beständigkeit und Sendung

Vor hundert Jahren wurde die mächtige Klosterkirche von St. Ottilien eingeweiht. Bereits ein Jahr zuvor, am 28. Juni 1902, waren dem Kloster die Rechte einer Abtei verliehen worden. Die vorliegende Festschrift vermittelt einen Einblick in die Ereignisse dieser Gründerjahre. Entsprechend ihrem Titel umgreift sie den doppelten Aufgabenbereich der Erzabtei St. Ottilien. Beständigkeit und Sendung – das meint zugleich die Verwurzelung der Mönche in der oberbayerischen Heimat und den weiten Horizont ihrer missionarischen Aufgaben in aller Welt. Aus der Beständigkeit in der Klostergemeinschaft und der Treue zur darin geschenkten Berufung erwächst die Sendung, am Wachstum der Kirche Christi mitzuwirken und die vom Herrn bereitete Ernte einzufahren.

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02

Hertlein, Siegfried

Ndanda Abbey, Part I

Beginning and Development up to 1932

Ndanda Abbey, Part I

The cornerstone of Catholicism in southern Tanzania was laid by the Benedictine monks of Ndanda Abbey. This first volumn of the abbey’s history explains how the Missionary Benedictines came to establish the faith in southern Tanzania. Although threatened by wars and hindered time and again by human weaknesses, the small mission stations grew into widereaching territorial abbeys and centers of a lively Church in southern Tanzania. Their early struggles to establish the first Christian communities has blossomed into three dioceses: Mtwara, Lindi, and Tunduru-Masasi.  A bbot em. Siegfried Hertlein began his missionary carrier in Tanzania in 1962. From 1976 to 2001 he was the third abbot of the Missionary Benedictine Monastery of Ndanda. Since then he has been involved in monastic formation and research into the abbey’s history.

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01

Renner, Frumentius

Sheltered by God in his Service. Brother Michael Hofer's Memoirs

Brother Michael Hofer's Memoirs

Sheltered by God in his Service. Brother Michael Hofer's Memoirs

Brother Michael Hofer (1861-1937) served God both in Germany and for nearly 30 years in today’s Tanzania, then German East Africa. The third candidate to enter the new community founded in 1884 by Father Andreas Amrhein, Br. Michael was the first brother to persevere through the founding period of the Missionary Benedictines with its austerities, poverty and dangers to life and health.  He became an intimate Friend of God, feeling ever sheltered by Divine Providence. An inspiring life story of humble service and challenging experiences.

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