Franziskanerinnenkloster St. Maria de Victoria

A special feature of the former imperial city is that a men's monastery was never able to maintain itself within its city walls for a long period of time. Instead, two women's convents are historically documented: a Dominican convent in 1283 and later a Franciscan convent, which probably existed since 1365. The Great and Small Council of the city affirmed in 1477 "to ensure that no monastery grows here and that the monks gain no rights here". The Holy Spirit Hospital, which had been under municipal sovereignty since 1320, and the parish church of St. Maria and Martin, built in 1365, were not to fall under the control of the Upper Swabian abbots of the surrounding area. The brother and sister convents belonging to the hospital existed for less than 100 years, from 1239 to 1320. Donations and legacies, tax-exempt wax trade, and weaving served as the basis for the livelihood of the sisters of Sta. Maria de Victoria. The sisters "went to all sick, dying people, whoever desired them. To those who wanted to die, they prayed and spoke to them," states the chronicle of Joachim von Pflummern († 1554). The citizen Adelheid Schnell, widow of Conz, founded a "special" (own) dwelling in 1365 for a convent that was limited to five sisters. The Franciscan Johann Schönbenz, who served as commissioner of the Bishop of Constance Marquard von Randeck, gave the sisters the rule of the Third Order of Franciscans on October 28, 1406. The convent flourished despite all the constraints imposed on it by the city. In 1467, a larger house was acquired. In 1477, the convent numbered eight sisters. A dispute developed within the community, which the city council settled, ending with the appointment of a new superior by the city. In 1490, the sisters acquired an adjacent farmstead, thereby improving their economic basis. In 1524, the Biberach patrician woman Barbara Lamparter bequeathed them a "small estate" in Langenschemmern as an anniversary foundation.

During the Reformation, the sisters remained true to their faith. Therefore, they were expelled from the city and found refuge in the nearby Buchau Abbey for noblewomen. In 1546, the Schmalkaldic League, a defensive alliance of Protestant princes and imperial cities led by Electoral Saxony and Hesse, to which the imperial city belonged, suffered a defeat. In the course of 1546, the imperial troops of Charles V relatively easily reconquered almost all Protestant territories in Southern Germany and initiated the Counter-Reformation. As a result, the sisters were forcibly brought back into the city. In 1647, the convent was able to lend the city three thousand guilders. On June 27, 1697, the foundation stone for a new convent and a church was laid. On July 2, 1699, Dean Georg Schwab read the first Holy Mass in the newly built convent church. The Ulm Imperial Postmaster Bernhardin von Pichlmayer donated the high altar to the convent church, which was erected on September 30, 1704. The sisters tried to acquire all surrounding houses in Seel- and Gerbergasse. This sparked a dispute with the Protestant magistrate, which was even brought before the Imperial Court Council in Vienna. Also challenged before the Imperial Court Council were the purchase of the Biberach Steigmühle and the conversion of the chaplaincy of the women's convent into a preceptorate chaplaincy in connection with the founding of a higher Latin educational institution by the Catholic magistrate in 1775.