Disibodenberg Cloister

In the seventh century, an apostle from Ireland named Disibod traveled through France to Germany. As the story goes, he received a prophesy that he would build a hut there. He would plant his walking stick into the ground there and it would grow and flourish. He and his friends moved from place to place preaching. Disibod became older and older, and there was no sign of the prophesy being fulfilled. One day, as he arrived at the place where the Nahe and the Glan come together, the old man knelt on the grass and prayed. His walking stick, which was stuck into the ground near him, immediately started sprouting green. A white deer came out of the woods and grazed where a spring of clear water rippled through the grass. Disibod stood up and called out: "This is the holy place, let us build our huts here!" The later Disibodenberg monastery, which in the following centuries, played a great role in the development of the Nahe valley, began with this group of huts.

Except for this legend, there is very little source material covering the history of the Disibodenberg. This much is known: around the year 675, the Irish monk Disibod, along with his three companions Gisbald, Clemens and Sallust, settled in the former Celtic and Roman cult site of Disibodenberg. The archbishop Willigis of Mainz, (975-1011), awarded important lands to the abbey and promoted expansion and building of the Augustinian monastery there.

Photo: The hospice of the Disibodenberg monastery from the 14th century.