Bursfelde Congregation

The Bursfelde Congregation, also called Bursfelde Union, was a union of predominantly west and central German Benedictine monasteries, both of men and women, working for the reform of Benedictine practice. It was named after Bursfelde Abbey.

During the 15th century a strong desire for monastic and other ecclesiastical reforms made itself felt throughout Europe. One of the first Benedictine reformers was John Dederoth of Nordheim. After effecting notable reforms at Clus Abbey, where he had been abbot since 1430, Dederoth was persuaded by Duke Otto of Brunswick in 1433 to undertake the reform of the extremely neglected and dilapidated Bursfelde Abbey after the previous abbot had resigned in despair. Obtaining four exemplary monks from St. Matthias' Abbey in Trier, he assigned two of them to Clus to maintain his reformed discipline there, while the other two went with him to Bursfelde. As abbot of Clus, he was able to recruit from that community for Bursfelde. Dederoth succeeded beyond expectations in the restoration of Bursfelde and began the reform of Reinhausen Abbey near Göttingen but died on 6 February 1439, before his efforts in that quarter had borne fruit.

Although the monasteries reformed by him never united into a congregation, still Dederoth's reforms may be looked upon as the foundation of the Bursfelde Congregation. Dederoth had intended to unite the reformed Benedictine monasteries of Northern Germany by a stricter uniformity of discipline, but the execution of his plan was left to his successor, the celebrated John of Hagen.

In 1445 John of Hagen obtained permission from the Council of Basel to restore the Divine Office to the original form of the old Benedictine breviary and to introduce liturgical and disciplinary uniformity in the monasteries that followed the reform of Bursfelde. A year later, on 11 March 1446, Louis d'Allemand, as Cardinal Legate authorized by the Council of Basel, approved the Bursfelde Congregation, which then consisted of six abbeys: Bursfelde, Clus, Reinhausen, Cismar in Schleswig-Holstein, St. Jacob's Abbey near Mainz, and Huysburg near Magdeburg. The cardinal likewise decreed that the Abbot of Bursfelde should always ex officio be one of the three presidents of the congregation, and that he should have power to convoke annual chapters. The first annual chapter of the Bursfelde Congregation convened in the Abbey of Sts. Peter and Paul at Erfurt in 1446.

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