Monastery of Maria Engelport

The Maria Engelport monastery is located in the scenic Flaumbach valley, about 9 km from Treis-Karden. The founder of the monastery, Emelrikus von Montreal-Eltz, is known to have been a knight around 1220, who must also have been the bailiff of the nearby Moselle village of Fankel at that time. It is certain that Engelport was settled for a few years by the Cistercian convent of Kumbd near Simmern. However, the sisters returned to their mother monastery because of inadequate living conditions. The neglected building was restored in 1260 by the nobleman Philipp von Wildenburg near Treis. He and his wife, Irmgard von Braunshorn, are regarded as the actual founders of Engelport. In 1262 they had three of their daughters, among them Beatrix, the first prioress of the monastery, enter here together with several Dominican nuns. In 1272 they turned to the Premonstratensian Order and placed themselves under the authority of the Abbot of Steinfeld in the Eifel. In 1275 Engelport was handed over to the supervision of the Abbot of Sayn (Bendorf). During the 30 Years' War, the monastery was destroyed by Swedish and French troops, but was rebuilt in 1661. The latter convent women fled from the French revolutionary troops who entered the Cochem area in October 1794. The convent was auctioned off on the express condition that the church and buildings were to be demolished. Maria Engelport became a ruin for a century. In 1903, the German religious province of the "Hünfelder Oblaten" acquired the former monastery property and erected a completely new building, which initially became a training centre for brother missionaries in the then German colony of Southwest Africa, today Namibia. From 1919 to 1968 Engelport was a clerical novitiate and the seat of a people's missionary group, and since 1974 it has served as a retreat and conference house, undergoing a thorough renovation for this task in 1997/98. Since 2014, the monastery has been run by the Adoration Sisters of the Royal Heart of Jesus. The young community of sisters will lead the venerable place of prayer Maria Engelport into the future. The sisters are supported by the Christ the King and High Priest Institute, which provides the house chaplain. The daily Holy Mass, adoration, choir prayer and all other liturgical celebrations are open to locals and pilgrims. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)