Untermarchtal Abbey

Johann Ulrich Späth (also: Speth) von Zwiefalten built a castle in Untermarchtal from 1573 to 1576. In 1853, the widow, Imperial Baroness von Späth, née Princess von Oettingen Wallerstein, sold the estate to the Protestant pastor Schuster from Rottenacker. In 1886, merchant Franz Joseph Linder from Rottweil acquired the former castle and gave it to his daughter Josefine, who – by then called Sister Margarita – was secretary to the Superior General Arcadia Scholl.

On September 16, 1891, the motherhouse moved from Schwäbisch Gmünd to Untermarchtal. Thus, in the late 19th century, the former Untermarchtal Castle became the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in Untermarchtal. The building activity of the congregation during the tenure of Superior General Sister Margarita Linder (1893–1918) and her successors reshaped the historic castle complex, and a monastic complex developed. The most recent church building is the St. Vincent Church, erected in 1972 according to designs by the Swiss Hermann Baur. St. Agnes Castle, where the house chapel is located, serves for silence and devotion. The motherhouse convent meets there every day for prayer. In December 1943, Villa Haus Buchenrode was destroyed in an air raid on Frankfurt. The musical grammar school located there then moved to Untermarchtal Monastery. According to contemporary witnesses, they made music until French troops stood at the gates of the monastery in April 1945. In 1946, shortly after the Second World War, until the end of the year, the Haus Guter Hirte was used by the French occupation forces to accommodate 200 "Berlin children" who were to recover there from the hardships of the war and post-war period.

A modern new building was to replace the monastery church completed in 1909, the so-called Rosary Church, in the spirit of the conciliar awakening. The choice for the design of the monastery church dedicated to St. Vincent de Paul fell to the Basel architect Hermann Baur. The foundation stone was laid in 1970 and the consecration took place on September 27, 1972.