SANKT LAMBRECHT, ABBEY OF

In the Diocese of Graz-Seckau, Styria, Austria, belonging to the Austrian congregation of Benedictines. The Bavarian Count Markward of Carinthia c. 1076 began the foundation which his son Duke Henry III completed in 1092, the rich endowment of lands on the right bank of the Isar River being jointly administered with the bishops of Regensburg. (St. emmeram's martyrdom is depicted on an altar in Sankt Lambrecht.) The abbey, under papal protection after 1109, contested its quasiepiscopal rights with the bishops of Salzburg and was represented in Rome in 1226 by the famous lawyer Albert the Bohemian. It was in charge of missions in western Austria (1652–1786) and had a famous philosophicaltheological school (1684–1783) before its suppression by Joseph II (1787). It was restored (1802) and again suppressed (1939–47). The early Romanesque church, now richly baroque, collapsed in 1328, was restored in 1430 as a Gothic hall church, and in 1644 was enlarged. In the Middle Ages the abbey was strongly fortified. The famous pilgrimage center Mariazell (12th century) is a foundation of Sankt Lambrecht. Scholars from the abbey taught in Salzburg and Graz. There was a boys' choir school (1838–1932).

Bibliography: Mansdorf Chronicle and Peter Weichsler's Chronicle, Beiträge zur Kunde steiermärkischer Geschichtsquellen, 32 v. (1864–1902), v.1 and 10. l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 2:2755–56. o. wonisch, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. m. buchberger, 10 v. (Freiburg 1930–38) 6:353–354. j. ploner, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 9:155.

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