Fockenfeld Abbey

Fockenfeld Monastery is a monastery of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales in Fockenfeld near Konnersreuth (Tirschenreuth district) in the Diocese of Regensburg. The monastery houses the St. Josef School for Late Vocations (Humanistic Gymnasium) with an attached seminary for late vocations.

From 1362 to 1556, the Fockenfeld estate belonged to the extensive property of the Cistercian Waldsassen Monastery until it was secularized by Elector Ottheinrich of Wittelsbach, who had converted to the Protestant faith. Partial sales reduced the extent of the associated property. During the Thirty Years' War, the buildings were plundered and set on fire by Swedish-Protestant troops in 1645. Around 1680, during the Counter-Reformation, the dilapidated building complex and the fallow fields returned to the ownership of Waldsassen Monastery.

Abbot Alexander Vogl had Fockenfeld expanded into a castle as a summer residence starting in 1750. In 1768, under Abbot Wigand von Deltsch, the ballroom with the Last Supper designed by Elias Dollhopf was completed. After the secularization in Bavaria, Fockenfeld Castle and Estate were auctioned in 1803 and came into changing private ownership. On the initiative and with the financial contribution of Therese Neumann, before her death, Fockenfeld Castle and Estate were bought by the manufacturers Karl and Louis Bahner from Oberlungwitz in Saxony. The Roman Catholic Order of the Salesian Oblates had the castle renovated, outbuildings added, established a private humanistic gymnasium for boys and a school for late vocations for the priesthood in 1955, and founded Fockenfeld Monastery.

In April 2006, the 60th anniversary of the School for Late Vocations was solemnly celebrated. On this occasion, on Sunday, April 2, 2006, the Regensburg Diocesan Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller came to celebrate a pontifical mass with the students, staff, and friends of the house. On Monday, April 3, 2006, many former students came to Fockenfeld to celebrate a service together with Regional Dean Msgr. Johann Schober.

By its 60th anniversary, approximately 350 priestly vocations had emerged from the School for Late Vocations. Among the most famous alumni of the school are the retired Augsburg Diocesan Bishop and former German Military Bishop, Walter Mixa (Abitur 1964), and the Regensburg Auxiliary Bishop Reinhard Pappenberger (Abitur 1979).

Currently, around 50 students attend the Fockenfeld School for Late Vocations, which, since the transition to the eight-year Gymnasium, is taught in four classes by about ten teachers. The school has been led by P. Friedhelm Czinczoll OSFS since 2002. The permanent deputy headmaster is OStR i.K. Josef Siller.

Core subjects in the school curriculum are Catholic religious education and the languages Latin and Ancient Greek. However, the school education also includes new languages and natural sciences. Working groups such as choir, schola, theater, linguistics, or Hebrew complement the offerings.