Mörmter Abbey

The Franciscan Monastery Mörmter is an existing monastery of the South Brazilian Province of the Franciscans in Mörmter near Xanten.

When Franciscans from Dorsten received the right to collect natural produce in the Lower Rhine region at the beginning of the 20th century, a monastery was to be founded in Xanten in the Lower Rhine region. However, the takeover of the former Carthusian Monastery Xanten failed due to the asking price for the Carthusian monastery. Thereupon, the farmers Beckmann, Seegers, and Siebers offered 19 acres of land in the district of Mörmter. On July 31, 1921, the foundation stone for the construction of the monastery was laid by the provincial leadership; from November 23, 1922, the completed Mörmter Monastery was inhabited by 7 members of the order. Soon after, the Franciscans in Mörmter were also obliged by the Bishop of Münster to provide pastoral care; in consultation with the provost of Xanten's Viktorstift, baptisms and first communions were performed, and marriages were solemnized. The planned expansion of the monastery with a retreat house was abandoned as a result of Black Friday.

During the Second World War, the monastery was repurposed for Wehrmacht billeting. In the autumn of 1944, the district administrator even decided to dissolve the monastery and have the buildings taken over by the military. However, the implementation of this decision failed due to the resistance of the mayor of Wardt, to whom Mörmter was subordinate during the National Socialist era. In February 1945, the monastery was used as a hospital for almost 800 wounded soldiers. Throughout the war, approximately 80 soldiers died there and were buried on the monastery grounds, until it was captured along with the city of Xanten by Allied troops in March 1945. In April 1945, the monastery was re-established and initially inhabited by 3 members of the order; later, the number of Franciscans living there permanently increased to 9. In the post-war years, Xanten citizens whose homes had been destroyed during the bombing of Xanten also found shelter there.

In 1977, the Mörmter Monastery was transferred to the Franciscans of the South Brazilian Province and has since served as a retirement home for the members of the order there. However, as the number of members of the order relocating from Brazil steadily decreased towards the end of the 20th century, the closure of the monastery was announced by the Brazilian provincial leadership at the beginning of 2007. Both continued use by Franciscans, who are then to be involved in pastoral care on an auxiliary basis with younger priests, and use by Cenacolo, proposed by the newly founded "Förderverein Kloster Mörmter" as one of several possible options, are considered possible future uses.

Meanwhile, the monastery is used by the Catholic community "Fazenda da esperança" from Brazil.