Seeon Monastery
Bavaria, Germany
August 11 to August 19, 2013

Nestled in the countryside of Benedict’s Bavaria is a Benedictine monastery that was founded in 994, grew in renown for its magnificent illuminated manuscripts, and was visited by such luminaries as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Seeon Monastery flourished until 1806 when governments in the wake of Napoleon’s revolution expropriated all Church buildings and lands throughout Europe. Now beautifully restored, it serves as a cultural center where the visual arts, music, enlightening lectures, and the restored art of calligraphy abound. Seeon will serve as our base for exploring the picturesque and culturally rich area where Pope Benedict was born, raised, educated, and formed. The facilities are clean and modern and the food outstanding.
 
From here we will visit the village where Joseph Ratzinger was born, Marktl am Inn; the town where he went to school, Traunstein; and the church where he celebrated his first mass, Sankt Oswald. Next we will visit Pope Benedict’‘s favorite Marian shrine, Altötting, sometimes referred to as the “Lourdes of Germany.” We will take a cable car to hike in the Bavarian Alps he loved so dearly and enjoy a spectacular view of meticulously kept farms and of the one of the largest lakes in Germany, Chiemsee. There will also be boat rides on the lake to visit the women’s Benedictine monastery on the “Dame’s Isle” which has been a place of prayer and praise since 740, predating even Charlemagne who is sometimes referred to as the founder of Europe.
 
Another boat ride will take us to the “Men’s Isle,” where there had been a men’s monastery, so that we can visit the magnificent castle built by King Ludwig as a replica of Versailles. We will leave Seeon and settle into the town of the fortified cathedral in Freising where Father Ratzinger studied and later taught theology. Finally, we will spend the day in Munich where Ratzinger was the Cardinal Archbishop before being called to Rome to serve as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.