About Kloster Saint Magdalena in Speyer, Germany:
The monastery here was founded in 1228. The century that followed was a century of afflictions. The sisters had to leave the convent four times and finally returned to Speyer in 1797.
In 1802 the monastery was secularized. The sisters were forced to take off their religious habit and leave the convent again. This was auctioned. However, the sisters were able to buy it back in 1807 with financial help from relatives, but were only allowed to live there secretly – in secular dress – as a spiritual community .
In 1828 the monastery was officially rebuilt by King Ludwig I of Bavaria. With the permission of the re-establishment he combined the obligation to take over the catholic education of girls in Speyer. The sisters gradually opened different school From 1923 to 1931, Dr. Edith Stein as a teacher at the schools of St. Magdalena in Speyer.
In 1937/38 all schools in the monastery were closed by the rulers of the Third Reich. The sisters were looking for a new field of work.
In this emergency situation, bishops from Brazil and Peru requested German nuns. Many of our sisters were willing to respond to the bishops’ request. In 1937 three sisters traveled to Brazil and in 1938 22 sisters followed to Peru. They opened schools there.
In 1829 the monastery started educating girls, a tradition which continues until today. The monastery is perhaps best well known for the fact taht Edith Stein, who taught here from 1923 to 1931. She was a Roman Catholic philosopher and nun from Jewish origin, regarded as a martyr and saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Her name in Speyer was Saint Teresia Benedicta of the Cross. She died in Auschwitz concentration camp. There is a memorial place in this monastery which can be visited.
After the end of National Socialism, the sisters were able to resume their educational work in Germany in 1945 and open various general and vocational schools. Due to a lack of young people, however, all schools had to be given up again over the years or handed over to another sponsorship
In August 2013 we, the Dominican Sisters of St. Magdalena, opened an all-day elementary school for girls and boys from Speyer and the surrounding area.
We are thus taking up an old tradition: since 1829 there have been the “Klosterschule” (primary school) and the monastery
St. Magdalena in the old town of Speyer for many generations of Speyer children a formative place of education and upbringing.
The high altar
The altarpiece of the baroque high altar shows the apparition of the Mother of God in Soriano / Calabria, which took place in 1530: the Blessed Mother, accompanied by Mary Magdalene and Catherine of Alexandria, appears to a Dominican brother and presents him with an image of the
St. Father Dominic.
On both sides of the high altar stand the life-size statues of the
St. Rosa of Lima and St. Thomas Aquinas.
The side altars
Since 1810 there has been a life-size statue of Mary on the left side altar in a so-called shell niche. It is a replica of the cathedral’s statue of Mary, which was destroyed in 1794. It was redesigned by Peter Anton Linck based on copper engravings of the earlier Cathedral Madonna.
In this side altar are relics of St. Guido von Pomposa kept visible.
The altarpiece of the right side altar shows the death of St. Joseph.
In the choir room of the church the sisters pray Lauds in the morning and Compline in the evening.
Traveling to Kloster Saint Magdalena in Speyer, Germany:
Address:
Kloster St. Magdalena
Hasenpfuhlstraße 32
Speyer, Pfalz Germany, 67346
Tel.: +49 06232 25081 Fax.: +49 06232 24388
E-Mail: st.magd.sp@t-online.de
Click here for the official website of Kloster Saint Magdalena (in German)