In the 8th century, numerous missionaries came to the German-speaking areas of Europe from England—one of these missionaries was Saint Walburga (approximately 710-779 or 780), a Benedictine nun and abbess of the Monastery of Heidenheim near Eichstätt. About a century after she died, her remains were transferred to Eichstätt, where a house of canonesses took care of them. In the 11th century, Count Liutger of Lechsgmünd and Graisbach converted the house to a Benedictine monastery for women, Benediktinerinnenabtei St. Walburg. Despite the official secularization of the monastery in 1806, the sisters remained faithful to their vows and received permission to continue their communal life. Three decades later, the monastery was renovated and granted permission to accept novices again. In 1852, they even dispatched the first Benedictine sisters to North America, some of whom established a new foundation in Central Minnesota in 1857: Saint Benedict’s Monastery (Saint Joseph, Minnesota). Still active and present on the same Eichstätt site today, Benediktinerinnenabtei St. Walburg houses a collection of manuscripts, now cataloged in Reading Room.

These 28 manuscripts date from the 14th through the 17th century and offer a range of materials that would be useful for the devotional life in a community of religious women. Fr. Jonathan Fischer, OSB, led the effort to microfilm the manuscripts at St. Walburg and other repositories in Eichstätt in 1984. Among other topics, the texts include Psalms and prayers, texts designed to help with teaching nuns and novices, commentaries on the legend of Saint Walburga and the miracles of the Virgin, dialogues, hagiographies, prayer books, rules for religious life, and sermons, many focusing on what it meant to live as a woman dedicated to a religious life. About half of the manuscripts are prayer books for personal devotions. Most of the materials are written in German, with only four manuscripts in Latin. View now