Benedictine Abbey of St. Joseph – Gerleve Monastery

Many cycle paths (without car traffic) lead to the monastery: from Coesfeld, from Billerbeck, from Rorup. The monastery café-restaurant is the right place for a break.

The Benedictine abbey Gerleve is located between Coesfeld and Billerbeck in Westphalia in a southern side valley of the Coesfelder Berg at 125 m above sea level.

The monastery was founded in 1899 as a peasant gift of the court Wermelt by monks of the archabbey Beuron and raised in 1904 to the abbey. Patron is the hl. Joseph. Under Abbot Raphael Molitor, the monastery experienced a steady boom from 1906; In 1936, 100 monks belonged to him.

In 1941, the community was expelled from the abbey by the National Socialists as part of the "monastery storm" in the provinces of Rhineland and Westphalia. The Fathers Augustin Hessing (1897-1975) and Gregor Schwake (1892-1967) came to the Dachau concentration camp. The monastic buildings were used partly as a home of the NS-Volkswohlfahrt "mother and child", partly as "NS-Lehrhof der Hitler-Jugend des Gaues Westfalen-Nord". Shortly before the end of the Second World War, on February 11, 1945, an air force hospital moved into the buildings. After the liberation on March 30, 1945, this hospital was used for wounded of all nations, first under US American, then Soviet and finally Polish leadership. Many of the wounded died. 200 dead were buried in the monastery cemetery.

It was not until 1946 that the monks were able to return to Gerleve. In 1951 the community founded another monastery, the monastery Nütschau near Bad Oldesloe in Schleswig-Holstein. Several monks are scientific, others work in pastoral care, guest houses, the bookstore, the library or the garden.
As a sign of Benedictine hospitality, the abbey has two large guesthouses, for adults the retreat house Ludgerirast with 47 rooms and for youth the youth education center Haus St. Benedikt with 80 places. The monastery itself has ten guest rooms available for male visitors.

The playground in combination with the Klostercafé coffee and cake are a highlight