Thomas Pirot

Brother Stephan

Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, 2023

The Himmerod monastery in the Eifel is closed. But one last monk still lives there: 89-year-old Brother Stephan. He is faced with a question that also concerns the entire church: What happens when a religious community slowly dissolves?
In October 2017, the order decided to dissolve Himmerod Abbey. Monks live their faith in community, but this seemed to have become too weak. When the abbot president - the head of the order - traveled to tell the six remaining monks to join other monasteries, he did not find the eldest. Brother Stephan had just been on vacation for a week. He overlooked the registered letters that the order sent afterwards.

Picture editor: Jakob Feigl
Writer: Roland Schulz

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Brother Stephan walks to the monastery church in the rain

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Plastic plant in the monastery

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No monk has eaten in the monastery dining room for years

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Stephan poses for a portrait in the cloister

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During the evening mass in the monastery church

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Brother Stephan organizes his correspondence and tasks by means of paperwork in his small office.

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Benches in the monastery church

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A star hangs from the ceiling in the gate chapel

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Brother Stephan sits for a portrait in the gate chapel

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Everywhere work lurks in the abandoned monastery

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View of the monastery and monastery church

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Brother Stephan extinguishes the candles after the morning mediation in the gate chapel

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Brother stephan has been bathing in the lake every day for 65 years – even when it's raining

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Decoration in the guest house

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Stephan changes for mass in the sacristy

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In the sacristy

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View of the cloister from the sacristy

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Stephan stands ready for mass in the sacristy

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Cheerful and refreshed, the 89-year-old climbs out of the lake

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Bropther Stephan holds evening mass in the monastery church

Brother Stephan
Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, 2023

more information

The Himmerod monastery in the Eifel is closed. But one last monk still lives there: 89-year-old Brother Stephan. He is faced with a question that also concerns the entire church: What happens when a religious community slowly dissolves? In October 2017, the order decided to dissolve Himmerod Abbey. Monks live their faith in community, but this seemed to have become too weak. When the abbot president - the head of the order - traveled to tell the six remaining monks to join other monasteries, he did not find the eldest. Brother Stephan had just been on vacation for a week. He overlooked the registered letters that the order sent afterwards.

Picture editor: Jakob Feigl

Writer: Roland Schulz