Norbert of Xanten (approx. 1082-1134)
Norbert of Xanten was probably born in Xanten in 1082. As assistant deacon under the Archbishop of Cologne he enjoyed the extravagant, worldly life of the court. It was not until he was struck by lightning, threatening his life, that he is said to have experienced a change of mind. He entered the Benedictine monastery of Siegburg and was ordained a deacon and priest there. Norbert of Xanten sold all he owned and traveled to France as an itinerant preacher. He was also considered a miracle worker who was able to heal the sick.
In 1120 he settled with his students in Prémontré and founded the Order of the Premonstratensians. Norbert of Xanten died as the Archbishop of Magdeburg in 1134. He was declared a saint by Pope Gregor XIII in 1582 for his life's work.
Rome, Lateran Palace, 13 February 1211
In February 1211 Pope Innocent III placed Schussenried Monastery under his protection and confirmed its rights and freedoms.
"Pope Innocent III places the Provost Burkhard and the members of the Convent of the Premonstratensian monastery of Schussenried, the monastery itself and all the possessions which they currently possess or may purchase in the future under the protection of St. Peter and himself, and confirms for them in particular the property of Schussenried (Soreth) … as well as the long-standing freedoms and customs of the monastery".
(Summary of the Latin document of the Pope according to K. Diemer)
Secularization of Schussenried
As a result of Secularization, Countess Augusta of Sternberg-Manderscheid became the new owner of the monastery in 1803. Laurentius Loewe, later a priest at Schussenried, reported on this in the parish chronicles:
"In 1803 in the month of May, our monastery Schussenried was closed and turned over to the Count of Sternberg. Then the clergy disbanded; any clergyman could have gone and consumed his pension ... all cried for compensation. But this work began so tumultuously that the entire matter of the Secularization had more similarity with robbery than with a profitable organization. The consequences of Secularization could no longer be calculated within just a few years, and even those who had believed they would make their fortune or even believed they had made their fortune, felt cheated."
(Parish Chronicles of Loewe, Catholic Parish of Bad Schussenried)
Kaspar Mohr (1575-1625) "The flying father"
Kaspar Mohr, Doctor of Theology and all-around genius in the technical and liberal arts, was Prior of the monastery at Bad Schussenried. Father Mohr did not like to carry out his administrative duties. The scholar was more interested in devoting himself to aerodynamic and mechanical studies. He produced sketches and drafts of his numerous inventions and wanted to undertake an attempt at flying from the three-story high dormitory into the convent garden with this self-built flying machine of feather-covered wings.
"He also wanted to rise up "supra naturum vel proprietatem Loco" by flying with wings he had prepared himself from goose feathers, bound together with leather straps. In secret he had come so far that he could already float over the ground, and also wanted to risk the forbidden and float down from the upper dormitory of the old building, which has been torn down, into the convent garden, but he was forbidden to do this by his vow of obedience, and the wings were taken away from him."
(Notes of Abbot Mathäus Rohrer)