LAMBACH, ABBEY OF

Benedictine abbey near the former Diocese of Passau, now Linz, in upper Austria, founded c. 1040 by Count Arnold II of Wels-Lambach for 12 secular canons, and placed under the patronage of the Assumption. In 1056 Arnold's second son, Bp. adalbero of wÜrzburg (1045–90), summoned benedictine monks from Münsterschwarzach. Lambach became a reform center that influenced admont, melk, sankt lambrecht, etc. In the 12th century Lambach developed a distinguished school of painting, writing, music, and theater that flourished into the baroque period. The monastery was a transshipment center for salt. In the 15th century the Melk reform was introduced at Lambach, Pontificals were granted to the abbot (1459), and Lambach monks were made abbots of Schotten in Vienna and niederaltaich. The abbey enjoyed close relations with the new Universities of Vienna and Salzburg. It suffered loss of holdings and decline of discipline because of schism and wars (especially in 1626 and 1632), despite generally competent abbots from 1585 to 1725. The Lambach monk Florentius Müller worked among London Catholics while chaplain to Prince Starhemberg. The extant abbey church dates from 1652–56, the monastic buildings from 1664. Lambach artists included Altomonte and the brothers Carlone and Koloman Felner (1818). Lambach was dissolved for two months in 1784. However, by the second half of the 19th century it was once again flourishing. It was dissolved by the National Socialists (1941–45). Today it conducts both a middle school and a school of agriculture and administers four parishes.

Bibliography: l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 1:1542–43. k. hallinger, Gorze-Kluny, 2 v. (Studia anselmiana 24–25; 1951). w. luger, Die Benediktinerabtei Lambach (Linz 1952). s. leidinger, 900 Jahre Lambach (Linz 1956). n. wibiral et al., "Die Freilegungsarbeiten im ehemaligen Westchor der Stiftskirche von Lambach," Oesterreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege 14 (1960) 1–24.

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