As its name suggests, the Benediktushof is a former Benedictine monastery. It was founded in the 8th century. The first monks cleared the forest there, erected the monastery buildings and planted fields, gardens and vineyards. As well as celebrating mass and observing regular times of prayer, daily work played a central role in their spiritual life. They also worked for the benefit of the wider community; caring for the poor and sick, founding schools, supporting learning and the arts. Monastery life reached its zenith at the beginning of the 12th century, however only two hundred years later, at the end of the 13th century, it had begun to decline. During a heavy attack on the monastery, many of the buildings were burned to the ground, and consequently the monks had to live out among the wider community. During the Reformation, in 1552, the monastery was completely dissolved. It took two hundred years, and many failed attempts, for monastic life to be re-established. Yet in 1802 this revival also came to an end, due to the movement towards secularisation.
After this period, the Benediktushof was used only as a farm, with its buildings falling into an ever greater state of disrepair. In 1961, there was an official campaign to ‘Save Holzkirchen Monastery’. Using the funds donated for this purpose, the buildings, notably the cloisters, were not only renovated, but new apartments were also added on. The monastery building was turned into a public house and then a hotel, but by 1995, the Benediktushof stood empty once more.
Gertraud Gruber, a business woman, and associate of Willigis Jäger for many years, acquired the property in 2002,. She had the entire Benidiktushof fully restored and renovated. By December 1. 2003, the first course was already being held there. On March 5th 2004, the Benediktushof was officially opened as a spiritual centre.
As both a seminar and conference centre it offers a wide range of courses and events of a spiritual nature, as well as holding seminars for business people and managers. It also hosts conferences on subjects such as philosophy, theology, psychology, and natural science.
The Benediktushof represents an integrated spirituality. It is not a denominational institution, but rather offers a home to all those who are on the spiritual path. Through its wide range of seminars, it teaches and supports pathways towards transpersonal experience. The spiritual practice of both Zen and contemplation are two of the cornerstones of its teaching and philosophy.
As well as holding seminars and conferences, the Benediktushof offers both short and long-term accommodation for guests, providing them with peaceful surroundings in which they can meditate and reflect.
The spiritual aims of the Benediktushof
• represents a spiritual practice which seeks to provide people with contemporary answers relevant to their modern lives, incorporating the latest information from science and research.
• promotes an integrated spirituality. People from all religious traditions, as well as those who are not aligned with any denomination, are invited to accompany each other on their spiritual journey.
• teaches pathways to transpersonal experience through its wide range of seminars. The aim of all the courses on offer is that participants experience a sense of union with divine energy, the energy which is the basis of all existence.
• sees itself as a source of impetus for social change. This impetus for change is informed by a deep awareness of being, and an expansive level of consciousness.
• extends an invitation to all those who are seeking to find the core of wisdom in life. aims to show religion as a manifestation of being, and something which can be experienced in the present moment of every day life.
