{"id":689,"date":"2026-03-17T15:35:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T14:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benediktpreis.de\/the-benedictines\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T13:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:29:13","slug":"the-benedictines","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.benediktpreis.de\/en\/the-benedictines\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benedictines"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Benedictines in M\u00f6nchengladbach<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A city in the Benedictine tradition<\/strong><\/p>

Signposts sometimes show the way, even when they are wrong. The name of our city then appears in abbreviated form: M\u2019gladbach. Yet it is precisely the part that is shortened that matters, because it points to the history: M\u00f6nchengladbach!
For almost a millennium, the Benedictine monks of St Vitus Abbey shaped the fortunes of M\u00f6nchengladbach. Anyone strolling through our city will find, here and there, a stone adorned with the crook of an abbot\u2019s staff. Such boundary stones marked the sphere of influence of the Gladbach monastery. Up to this point, the abbot had the final say. This involved more than spiritual rule; tangible economic interests were at stake. Many farms belonged to the abbey and were managed on its behalf and for its profit. Through their economic enterprise, the monks shaped life in the small town. Its inhabitants depended on the abbot\u2019s skill in governance. Although, as the saying goes, life was good under the crozier, the abbot\u2019s power was nevertheless great. He was reluctant to share it with the Duke of J\u00fclich. Subjects had to swear obedience to both.<\/p>

In 974, Benedictine monks with their abbot Sandrad came to the Gladbach to found a monastery there on behalf of the Ottonian imperial house. Behind this lay political considerations. The emperor\u2019s power had to be secured in the west. The Benedictines were particularly well suited to this, as since their founding they have skilfully linked spirituality, politics and culture. The Rule of St Benedict is regarded as the foundation of Christian culture in Europe. \u201cPray and work\u201d are the key words that formed an unmistakable symbiosis. What is usually forgotten is the Rule\u2019s exhortation to read the Holy Scriptures. Those who prayed had to work. But those who worked also had to read. For this reason, the Gladbach monastery housed a valuable library and a Latin school, which offered at least one opportunity for education. After the abbey was dissolved in 1802 under Napoleon, the Minster church, the abbot\u2019s prelature, the pilgrimage, and an outstanding treasury of relics remained as testimonies to the Benedictine past. Quite rightly, the chain of office of the Lord Mayor of M\u00f6nchengladbach once described the city\u2019s development in four letters: A.M.A.I.: A Monachis Ad Industriam. Or, from the monks to industry\u2014few phrases capture the history of the city of M\u00f6nchengladbach more succinctly.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The Benedictines in M\u00f6nchengladbach A city in the Benedictine tradition Signposts sometimes show the way, even when they are wrong. The name of our city then appears in abbreviated form: M\u2019gladbach. Yet it is precisely the part that is shortened that matters, because it points to the history: M\u00f6nchengladbach!For almost a millennium, the Benedictine monks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-689","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Benedictines - Benediktpreis von M\u00f6nchengladbach<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.benediktpreis.de\/en\/the-benedictines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Benedictines - Benediktpreis von M\u00f6nchengladbach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Benedictines in M\u00f6nchengladbach A city in the Benedictine tradition Signposts sometimes show the way, even when they are wrong. 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