An idyllic spot in the middle of Hochsauerland (495 m above sea level), nestled in a beautiful wooded mountain landscape, Kloster Brunnen has always been one of the region's most historic places.
Once a healing spring with the oldest bathhouse in the Sauerland, hermit's cave, Capuchin monastery, vicarage and dwarf school, today a diocesan center of the KJG in the archdiocese of Paderborn.
1705: The hermit Johannes Fölling from Werl builds a hermitage at the healing spring. After a few years, Anton Tripmann from Attendorn joins him. They build a permanent house and look after the guests who come to the spring.
1716: The Stockum parish priest reports: "Duo Eremitae habent aediculam cum oratorio ad fontem medicinalem" (Two hermits have a small building with a chapel at the medicinal spring).
1722: The Cologne Province of the Capuchin Order (OFMCap) takes over the hermitage as a monastery residence. Father Gerhardinus from Essen becomes the first superior.
1729: The monastery is built with the support of Counts Bernhard and Ferdinand von Plettenberg zu Lenhausen.
1748: Consecration of the monastery church on May 5 by the Abbot of Arnsberg-Wedinghausen with the support of the sovereign, the Cologne Elector-Archbishop Clemens-August of Bavaria (1700-1761). Church patron saints: St. John the Baptist and St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen. Fidelis of Sigmaringen. Interior decoration based on plans by Johann Conrad Schlaun (1695-1773) according to Roman models. Altar coat of arms by Johann Christoph Manskirch (U1762), high altar painting "Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan" by Johann Anton Koppers (1704-1762) from Münster.
1801: Baron Friedrich Leopold von Fürstenberg zu Herdringen donates an organ with 10 stops, built by Johann Georg Fromme from Soest.
1802: The new Hessian government in Darmstadt declares the monastery extinct in the course of secularization. It existed until the departure of the last Capuchin friar in January 1835, after the monastery was finally abolished by Prussian cabinet decree on July 4, 1834.
1968: End of the school founded by the Capuchins. In 1833, for example, it had 52 (!) schoolchildren shortly before the monastery was dissolved.
1975: The former monastery building is leased to the Thomas-Morus-Kreis e.V. Paderborn. It is used as a diocesan center for the Catholic Young Community.
1984: The former Capuchin church of St. John the Baptist/St. Fidelis is entered in the list of monuments of the town of Sundern. It is the center of the parish vicarage Kloster Brunnen, which belongs to the pastoral area of Sundern. Most of the parishioners live in Brenschede and Röhrenspring.
1995: Foundation of the association "Freundeskreis Kloster Brunnen e.V." in the former Gasthof König, Sundern-Brenschede. Among other things, this was a prerequisite for the restoration of the church and organ.
2005: Several anniversary events under the title "300 years of Brunnen Monastery", including a commemorative lecture by P.Prof. Dr. Leonhard Lehmann OFMCap, artists see Brunnen Monastery, Brunnen Monastery in word and writing. A remarkable exhibition was also held in the town gallery.
2013: Pastor Michael Schmitt declares in a press release in January that the organ restoration begun in 2002 is complete.
2019: Construction of a limestone fountain opposite the church entrance, made by Sundern sculptor Johannes Dröge, which is fed by a spring.
The monastery fountain is still an important pilgrimage site today. The chapel with its historic organ is particularly worth seeing.
Concerts are held several times a year in Kloster Brunnen. The dates can be found in the Sundern events calendar or in the local daily press.