The Neuenwalde Convent (N. Low Saxon: Klooster Niewohl, ; ) is a Lutheran damsels' convent in Neuenwalde, a locality of Geestland, Lower Saxony, Germany.
Since 1683 the convent is owned by the corporation of the Bremian Knighthood and used for Lutheran conventuals and continues to function as such today. It is the only convent preserved in the Elbe-Weser triangle out of a former sample of 14 monasteries. The convent was established as a Roman Catholic nunnery in 1219, and was recorded in 1282 for pursuing the Benedictine observance. The convent relocated twice in 1282 and 1334.
Tasks and work
According to the Klosterordnung (monastic statute) of 1684, at times altered and amended, at last in 2004, the convent is owned by the . The Bremian Knighthood, established by 1300, was formerly the estate of the noble families within the Bremian prince-archbishopric and later the Duchy of Bremen. Its 20 members today are the proprietors of the landed estates registered in 1577 as knightly allods.
The Knighthood committed itself, within the limits of its financial resources, to provide for the funds necessary to fulfill the tasks of the convent. The convent is directed by the president of the Knighthood. The president is the legal representative of the convent, unless he entrusts competences to the prioress.
The convent preserves venerable, historical traditions, therefore it serves exclusively and immediately charitable, ecclesiastical and cultural purposes, such as (a) combining celibate Protestant women within the convent to form a community on a Christian basis, in order to let them serve cultural, ecclesiastical and charitable purposes for the general good (b) stewarding and maintaining the listed protected convent buildings, the convent church as well as the cloister garden, to keep the compound accessible for the general public, in as far as this is compatible with the other tasks of the convent (c) acting as a spiritual and cultural centre for the region.
Women applying for the conventual community should be physically and mentally healthy and able to make their living and to keep their household independently, as well as capable of contributing to the convent life. Each conventual, as the inhabitants are termed, has an apartment of her own. Applicants should not be older than 70 years.
Before being permanently admitted as a conventual applicant and president will stipulate a three-months novitiate. Since 2004 admittance is not restricted to women of noble descent any more. Unlike stipulated in the earlier version of the statute, today nobody is entitled to be admitted into the convent. Thus the former privilege of the 20 families, forming the membership of the Knighthood, to nominate female relatives for vacancies in the convent does not apply any more. Since May 2005 there are again several conventuals forming the community. In 2014 they were four.
The president of the Knighthood appoints a prioress for a five-year term, which may be extended several times until the prioress reaches the age of 75. Currently Veronika von der Decken functions as the prioress.
In order to broaden its cultural and spiritual activities the convent started in 2012 a coöperation with the Evangelisches Bildungszentrum Bad Bederkesa (Protestant Centre for Education at Bad Bederkesa). According to its president, , the Knighthood modernised and adjusted convent premises for about €1 million. Seminar rooms and 13 little apartments were installed, also offering guests a retreat. In the Zehntscheune (i.e. tithe barn) a modern canteen kitchen and a refectory were added.
History
In Midlum from 1219 to 1282
The oldest known deed on the convent records for 1219 that six members of the family of the Lords of Diepholz, owning estates in and near Midlum, founded the nunnery and endowed them to it. The Diepholz Lords then owned the Hollburg Castle between and Midlum on the brink of the Wesermünde Geest ridge, allowing a good view over the lower Land of Wursten, then a corporation of free Frisian peasants under only loose overlordship of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. Rather than establishing the nunnery as their proprietary monastery the Diepholz family made it over to the cathedral chapter of the Bremen archdiocese. However, the Diepholz family adopted the advocacy (Vogtei) over the nunnery, later passed on to the Knights of Bederkesa who were related by marriage.