Library of the Capuchins of Schlanders
The Capuchins in Schlanders maintained a hospice there even before the foundation of the monastery. The beginnings of the Convent Library go back to 1639 when the first Capuchins moved in to the Schlanders Hospice at the St. Igenuin Chapel. This small collection of books which even today can be verified through handwritten indications of origin formed the cornerstone of the later monastery library which was established in the newly renovated Capuchin Convent in 1648. Monks of the Order of Friars Minor of Francis of Assisi were called to missionary work in Upper Vinschgau as a boll work against Calvinism spreading over the boarder from Switzerland and therefore the collection consists mainly of anti-reform, anti-protestant literature. It is remarkable that books in Romansh are hardly represented An indication perhaps that particular value was associated with pastoral care in German in order to permanently obstruct a linguistic relationship with Engadin in Switzerland.
There are a lot of curious items in the historic library, which since the renovation of the Convent at Schlanders [1979–1980] is situated in the Capuchin Provincial Convent in Brixen and consists of 2,846 works, for example books on “Galgenpastoral” [the pastoral care of people on their way to the gallows], books on the identification and hunting of witches, works on exorcism, as well as anti-Semitic, anti-protestant and anti-Turkish works etc. Various donors and contributors to the Convent Library can be identified through handwritten dedications or adhesive ownership labels e.g. Gallus Placer, Gallus Noder, Sebastian Huber, Balthasar Mathis, Johann Jakob Gölier OT, Maximillian Graf Mohr, Johann Christoph Graf Trapp etc. The collection includes eight incunabula. More than 50% of the works are from the 18th century. The majority of the works are in Latin and German, only 3% of the collection is in Italian.
Bibliography:
Rainhard Domanegg, Die Kapuzinerbibliotheken Klausen, Eppan, Schlanders und Müstair, Brixen 2007
Contact
Location: Capuchin Convent of Brixen
Library Structure
