Odile had acquired a taste for letters at the Abbey of Baume. She had a
thorough knowledge of the Latin language, the Holy Scriptures, and
ecclesiastical history. Her last will and testament, which has been
preserved, proves that she was as enlightened as holy.(70) The monasteries
she founded did not degenerate in this respect. They were the asylums of
learning. In the XIIth century, says Grandidier, while a large part of
Europe was plunged in ignorance and barbarism, the love of literature and
the sciences was to be found among some women of Alsace. Hohenbourg was
inhabited by canonesses equally learned and regular. Three abbesses were
especially distinguished for their taste for poetry and literature in
general. The first, Ricklende or Kilinde, reformed the monastery in 1141.
Some of her Latin verses, and the fragments of other works in that
language, have been preserved. Herrade de Landsberg, who succeeded her in
1167, became still more celebrated. Grandidier, speaking of her, says:
“The polite arts, painting, music, and poetry, charmed the leisure of this
illustrious abbess.” A collection of poetry in Latin, composed for the
instruction of her community, under the title of _Hortus Deliciarum_,(71)
is still preserved. Gerlinde, her sister or cousin, succeeded her, and
equalled her in taste and knowledge.
The first abbesses after S. Odile were her two nieces, S. Eugénie and S.
Gundeline. They divided the authority. The first was Abbess of Hohenbourg,
the second of Niedermünster. The revenues, which had hitherto been in
common, were divided by Odile before her death. Only Oberehnheim remained
undivided, that there might be a common tie between them.
Regularity of monastic life and observances was maintained till the XIth
century. The church was accidentally destroyed in 1045, but was rebuilt
and consecrated to the Blessed Virgin by Bruno, Count of Dagsbourg, Bishop
of Toul, and Landgrave of Alsace, a descendant of Odile’s brother Etton. A
few years after it was again destroyed by the Hungarian invaders, and
again Bruno, who had become the Sovereign Pontiff in 1049 under the name
of Leo IX., had it rebuilt. This pope, called to Germany by the interests
of the church, went himself to Hohenbourg to consecrate the edifice and
reassemble the dispersed sisterhood. He did not leave this place, so dear
to his heart, till he had re‐established the monastic discipline.
About a hundred years after this the community of Hohenbourg greatly
relaxed its fervor, the number of its subjects diminished, their revenues
decreased, and the buildings were decaying. The monastery would perhaps
have been abandoned had not Frederick Barbarossa, in his quality of Duke
of Alsace, interfered to save so celebrated a house from falling. He sent
to reform it Ricklende or Kilinde, whom he took from the Convent of Bergen
in the Diocese of Eichstadt, and to whom he gave the title and rights of
Princess of the Holy Empire, and also bestowed on her large sums of money
for the reparation of the monastery. Ricklende, whom we have already
mentioned, joined great zeal and piety to an enlarged mind and much
information. Sustained by the authority of the emperor, she re‐established
discipline in less than two years, as her successor, Herrade de Landsberg,
formally testifies. The religious habit worn in this house was white,
_albens quasi lilium_, says the _Hortus Deliciarum_. The bull of Pope
Lucius III. says they followed the rule of S. Augustine. Ricklende had
under her thirty‐three choir Sisters. In Herrade’s time there were forty‐
seven and thirteen lay Sisters. It was in the time of Herrade that the
Emperor Henry VI., disregarding his oath, had Sibylla, the widow of
Tancred, and Constance, her daughter, arrested and conducted to Hohenbourg
to take the veil.
In 1354 the Emperor Charles IV. visited S. Odile’s tomb, Agnes de
Slauffenberg being the abbess. He had the saint’s body exhumed, and Jean
de Lichtenberg, Bishop of Strasbourg, detached a part of the arm to be
deposited in the Cathedral of Prague. But, at the request of the
sisterhood, Charles IV. drew up an act which forbade any one, under the
severest penalties, from ever opening the tomb again. The bishop
pronounced the sentence of excommunication on whomsoever should violate
this decree of the sovereign.(72)
The Abbey of Hohenbourg, or of S. Odile, as it was also called, was
destined to terrible disasters. It was sacked in the XIVth and XVth
centuries by the _grandes Compagnies_ by the Armagnacs and the
Burgundians. It was still more unfortunate in the XVIth century.
Niedermünster was burned in 1542, and Hohenbourg on the 24th of March,
1546. The canonesses and prebends then dispersed, and Jean de
Manderscheidt, Bishop of Strasbourg, fearing the Lutherans would seize the
property belonging to the two abbeys, obtained permission from the Holy
See to annex it to the episcopal domains by paying the canonesses an
annual pension. The monastery, rebuilt in 1607 by Cardinal Charles de
Lorraine and the Archduke Leopold, Bishops of Strasbourg, was burned anew
in 1622 by the Lutheran army of the Count de Mansfeldt. The church was
repaired in 1630, but again devastated by the Brandenburg soldiers in
1633. They removed the lead from the windows and organs for ball.
Subsequent wars were also disastrous for Hohenbourg, and on the 7th of
May, 1681, the whole convent was again burned. Only the Chapel of Tears
and that of the Angels remained standing.
The Premonstratensians of the ancient observance established themselves at
Hohenbourg in 1663, converting it into a priory. They began to rebuild it
in 1684. Two of the monks, Father Hugues Peltre and Father Denys Albrecht,
carefully collected all the ancient accounts of S. Odile, and wrote
biographies of the saint, which we have freely made use of in this
account.
Niedermünster, which was given to the Grand Chapter of Strasbourg in 1558,
is now only a heap of ruins. Rosine de Stein, who died in 1534, was the
last abbess.
The French Revolution had also its effect on Hohenbourg. A few days after
the decree of the National Assembly on the 13th of February, 1790,
suppressing the monastic vows, the Convent of S. Odile was vacated.
Nevertheless, pilgrimages to the shrine of the holy Patroness of Alsace
continued to be frequent.
Nearly all that could nourish or excite the piety of the pilgrim had
disappeared from the antique cloister of Altitona, but Odile’s tomb still
remained and sufficed to attract a great number from all the surrounding
countries.