Maria Frieden Abbey

The Abbey of Maria Frieden is a Benedictine convent in Kirchschletten in the Archdiocese of Bamberg, belonging to the Federation of Bavarian Benedictine Abbeys.

The Maria Frieden Monastery in Kirchschletten was founded by the Benedictine Abbey of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Vigan, Philippines. To establish the monastery, the sisters acquired an estate in Kirchschletten from Niederaltaich Abbey in 1953. After Archbishop Joseph Otto Kolb and the Bamberg Cathedral Chapter approved the new foundation and settlement of the sisters, they officially took possession of the monastery on June 23, 1953. The monastery, inhabited by Filipino, Japanese, and German sisters, was elevated to an abbey in 1973, thereby gaining independence from the Philippine mother abbey.

Due to the international composition of the convent, the sisters see themselves as a living sign of the coexistence of different cultures and languages. The sisters earn their living through an agricultural operation based on organic farming, a guesthouse, a candle workshop, and a monastery shop.

Sister Mechthild Thürmer OSB was elected abbess on October 21, 2011.