MABIA-LAAOH
658
MABIiL-LAAOB
grandizement ; Pius IX, referring to this fact, once said:
Margotti never asked me for anything: he was nght;
for any dignity that I could have conferred upon him
would have been inferior to his merits ". By his will,
Margotti left nearly 100,000 lire for charitable pur-
poses. Besides the articles in "L'Unita", Margotti
wrote "II process© di Nepomuceno Nuytz, prof, di
Diritto Canonico nella Umversit^ di Tormo" (1851);
" Consideraasioni sulla separazione dello Stato dalla
Chiesa in Piemonte " (1855) ; *' Le vittorie della Chiesa
nei primi anni del Pontificato di Pio IX" (1857);
"Memorie per la storia dei nostri tempi" (1863, 6
vols.); "Le consolazioni del S. P. Pio IX" (1863);
" Pio IX e il suo episcopate nelle diocesi di Spoleto e
d'Imola" (1877).
. CiviiUi CaUolica (Rome), ser. XIII, vol. VI, p. 485; vol. VH,
p. 1 sq.; Della. Casa, I Nostri (Treviso, 1903), 31 sq.
U. Beniqni.
Maria-Laach (Abbatia Beat^ Mabi.c Virginis AD LACUM, or Beat^ Mari^ lacensis), a Benedictine abbey on the south-west bank of Lake Laach, near Andemach in Rhineland, Germany. It was founded in the year 1093 by the Palsgrave Henry II of Lorraine who probably was a descendant from the line of the Counts of Hochstaden (P. Adalbert Schippers, O.S.B., "The Palsgrave Henry IPs Charter of Foundation for Laach" in the "Trierisches Archiv", XV, 1909 53 sq.). In the year 1112 his stepson Siegfried of Ballen- stadt renewed the foundation (P. Ildefons Herwegen, O.S.B., "The Palsgraves of Lorraine and the Ben- edictine monasteries of the Lower Rhine" in "An- nalen der historischen Vereins fiir den Niederrhein ", LXXXIX, 1910, 40 sq.). The monastery, which was handed over to the Cluniac Benedictines from the abbey of Afflighem in Belgium, welcomed its fu^t ab- bot in the accomplished Gilbert, in 1127, and thus became independent. His memorial tablet in mosaic with portrait and epitaph is in the Rhine Provincial Museum at Bonn. A facsimile of the same has found a place in the cloister at Maria-Laach. Until the mid- dle of the fourteenth century disci})line was severe. Abbot Fulbert (1152-1177) did good work for the library and promoted scientific activity, while the Abbots Albert (1199-1217) and Theoderich II (1256- 1295) directed their energies towards the structural embellishment and artistic decoration of the church and monastery. The last named erected the tomb of the founder, one of the finest pieces of thirteenth cen- tury sculpture on the Rhine (Hasak, "Gesch. der deutschen Bildhauerkunst im 13. Jahrhundert", Berlui, 1899, page 92 sq.). He also succeeded in ti- ding over a serious economic crisis.
In the fourteenth century there began in Germany, owing to the unfavourable conditions of the time, a deterioration in the spiritual life of the Benedictine Order. Under the thirteenth ablx)t, Johannes I (1328- 1333), it came gradually into notice in Maria-Laach as well. It was only in the second half of the fifteenth centurv. through an alliance with the congregation of Bursfela, that the monastic spirit began once more to flourish. A number of the monks held out against reform, but the sagacity and energ>' of the celebrated Abbot Johannes IV of Deidesheim (1409-1491) pre- vailed finally on the side of discipline. With improve- ment in discipline there came a new literary life. The Humanities were ably represented by Siberti, Tilmann of Bonn, Benedict of Munstereifel, and above all by Prior Johannes Butzbach (1526). Most of Butzbacl/s poetical and prose works remain in manuscript in the University Library at Bonn, and have not all ])ecn published. His best known work is his " Hodoipsori- kon ", an account of his years of travel before his eutrv' into the monastery at Laach, issued by D. J. Becker (Ratisbon, 1869) as the "Chronicle of a Travelling Scholar". His "Auctarium in librum Johannis Tri- themii de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis", a supplement to the Abbot von Sponheim's "Scholars' Catalogue",
is also noteworthy. The abbey chranicle written bf
Butzbach has unfortunately been lost. The world-
famous story of Genevieve, the scene of which is at
Lake Laach, goes back, in the oldest form that has
come down to us, to Johannes von Andemach, a con-
temporary monk at Laach (BruU, "Andemach I^
gramme, 189&-97"; Idem, "Pnmun Programme,
1898-99 "). The Ablwt Johann Augustin (1562-1568)
left behind a book on "The practices and customs of
Laach" (Rituale monastics HyparchisB coenobii laoen*
sis) that is now numbered among the manuscripts in
the library of Bonn University.
Until the dissolution of the abbey in the great secularizing movement of the year 1802, Itfaria-Laach remained a centre of religious and Uterazy activity. The church and monastery went first to the Frendi and then, in 1815, to the Prussian government. In the year 1820 the monastery became private property and m 1863 was acquired by the Society of Jesus. The abbey church has remained to this day the property of the Prussian Exchequer. The Jesuits maae Maria- Laach a home of learning. It became a place of study for the scholastics and a meeting place for the leading savants of the Society Among tnem P. Schneemann distinguished himself as chief worker on the ** Collectio lacensis" ("Acta et decreta sacrorum concilionim recentiorum ", 7 volumes, Freiburg, 1870-1890), which represents a valuable continuation of the older coUee- tions of the Councils. P. Schneemann issued vols. I to VI (1682-1870); P. Granderath vol. VII (1870-1882) dealing with the Vatican Coimcil. Here also was be- gun the " Philosophia lacensis", a collection of learned books on the different branches of philosophy (logic. cosmologv, psvchology, theodicy, natural law) ana published at Freiburg, 1880-1900. The "Stimmen aus Maria-Laach", however, bore the name of the monastery farthest. Lender the direction of P. Schnee- marm the first series be^n in 1865, and appeared as occasional pamphlets. They were undertaken at the suggestion of the provincial, P. Anderledy, in defence of the Encyclical *' Quanta cura", and the Syllabus of Pius IX (1864) against the attacks of Liberalism. P. Florian Riess had a meritorious share in the publica- tion of a second series at the time of the Vatican Council. Since 1871 the " Stinmien" has been a regu- lar periodical dealing with every department of knowl- edge. The "Stimmen" retained its old name when the Jesuits were banished from Maria-La^ch during the Kiilturkampf in 1873.
The Benedictines of the Bemt)n Congregation moved into the monastery in 1892. In the year 1893 Maria- Laach was canonically raised into an abbey. The first Ablx)t, Willibrod Benzler, was appointed Bishop of Metz in 1901. Fidelis von Stotzingen succeeded nim as second abbot (1901). The community numbers (1910) 41 monks and 74 lay-brothers. The new ten- ants of the abbey have been allowed the use of the church by the state, but in return have been made responsible for the upkeep and furnishing of the build- ing stripped as it is of all its appointments. The resto- ration was inaugurated l)y Kaiser William II, in 1897, through the gift of a high altar. At the present time the monks are engaged in decorating the east apse with mosaics. The church is in basilica style witn a transept and double choir. The east choir is flanked by two square towers, while the west facade shows a square central tower with a graceful balcony supported on twin columns. This rich group of towers, to which must l>e added an imposing cupola, gives the church an exceedingly picturesque appearance. The east and west choir as well as the sides of the church end in an apse. Under the east choir lies a crypt; opening on tne west choir there is a vestibule, or paraaisus, with open arcades, the arches resting on slender twin col- umns. The doors of the church and vestibule are ornamented with sculpture. In the west choir stands the sarcophagus of the founder under a Barocco stone
