Author: Maarten Koning

The existence of Wilhelm Tell can be questioned, although this story fits into the historical, political and religious context of resistance to a sovereign and the formation of local alliances.

However, the other Swiss hero, Niklaus von Flüe (1417-1487), is a historical figure whose person, way of life and (political) deeds were already recognised and recorded during his lifetime.

Fluëli-Ranft and the Fluëli-Chapel (1618), dedicated to St. Borromeus

Nothing in his younger years pointed to a life as Bruder Klaus. Niklaus was born in Flüe, a small village near Sachseln, an Ort in the present-day canton of Obwalden, then referred to as Unterwalden and Nidwalden.

The old Eidgenossenschaft (Confederation) consisted of eight Orte and towns (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Lucerne, Zurich, Zug, Glarus, and Bern). It was not yet a close-knit Confederation. On the contrary, diverging economic, political, and geographical interests regularly led to tensions and conflicts.

Discussions and disagreements were as numerous and great at the religious and international levels as the Council of Constance (1414-1418) and the religious reform movements show.

The house of Niklaus and Dorothea (around 1446)

Niklaus was a child of his time and place of birth. He was a peasant who took part in armed conflicts. He married Dorothea Wyss (1430-1495) when he was 29. He was a father, farmer and politically active.

Around age 50, however, farmer Niklaus became Bruder Klaus. He withdrew from worldly life and began a new life as a hermit on the banks of the  Melchaa in the Ranft Gorge, just a few hundred metres from his home in Flüe.

The bridge over the Melchaa and the Ranft Gorge (Ranftschlucht)

He did not cut off contact with his family and extended family. On the contrary, Dorothea supported him and his new way of living. The inhabitants of Flüe gave him a small wooden house and, later, even a stone chapel. The bishop of Constance consecrated this chapel in 1469, indicating his great prestige in the early stages of his new life.

The wooden cell and the Upper Ranft Chapel (obere Ranftkapelle), on the left; the wooden house is a centre of information

Bruder Klaus was not the only hermit at this time. All over the (Christian) world, women and men dedicated themselves to a life of seclusion, poverty, contemplation and prayer.

This tradition dates back to the first centuries of Christianity in the Middle East. Pastors of Bruder Klaus in Switzerland include St Gallus in St Gallen, St. Wiborada in St. Georgen (St. Gallen), and St Meinrad in Einsiedeln; successors in Switzerland include the Einsiedelei St Margarethen in Räsch (canton Fribourg/Freiburg).

Bruder Klaus, however, distinguished himself by his political commitment. In this respect, he had both feet in the world despite his seclusion and intense devotion.

The Lower Ranft Chapel (untere Ranftkapelle), built in 1501

He was well-informed about local, confederal and international politics and discussions. As Bernardo Imperiali, a diplomat in the service of the Duke of Milan, put it when visiting the oft-frequented Bruder Klaus, “Io trovato informato di tutto” (I met him with knowledge of all issues).

This diplomat of a powerful duke did not consult him in vain. For years, Bruder Klaus had been a name in local, regional and international conflicts. He was what we today call a ‘mediator’ or ‘arbitrator’. Poor and rich, farmers or politicians from Sacheln, Stans or Flüe, representatives of Orte or cities of the Eidgenossenschaft and international diplomats consulted him.

Bruder Klaus protects Switzerland, 1940

However, his diplomatic highlight is his (presumed) mediating role in the conflict between members of the Eidgenossenschaft. According to a 1507 chronicle (the Lucerne Chronicle by Diepold Schilling (1460-1515)), Bruder Klaus was one of the founders of the Stanser Verkommnis of 22 December 1481.

The eight members of the Eidgenossenschaft were on the brink of civil war after victories over the Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold (1433-1477) in the years 1476-1477.

Bruder Klaus mediated, and at the Tagsatzung of Stans, the Stanser Verkommnis came about. Since then, he has been a kind of ‘Father of the Fatherland’.

Pope John Paul II visited the place in 1986

Although he could not be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Bruder Klaus was beatified in 1649. It was followed by canonisation by Pope Pius XII (1876-1958) on 15 May 1947. The citizens of Obwalden and four continents had recognised his merits much earlier.

Sachseln’s Book of Churches and many other contemporary documents and written sources discuss mysticism, devotion, fasting, and his role as a ‘mediator’ and peacemaker.

Today, hundreds of churches, chapels and schools are dedicated to Bruder Klaus on four continents. Swiss poet Heinrich Federer (1866-1928) put it as follows in 1921: “Bruder Klaus ist viel zu gross, um nur Schweizer zu sein. Er gehört der ganzen Welt“.

Bruder Klaus’s remains are interred in Sachseln’s pilgrimage church (Wallfahrtskirche, 1684) 

The Bruder Klaus museum in Sachseln and the village of Fluëli-Ranft are dedicated to this person, his wife Dorothea and their reception.

(Source and further information: Bruder Klaus Museum; W. Signer, G. Appius, Niklaus von Flüe, ein politischer Mystiker, Bazel 1989)

Commemoration of the citizens of Budapest and their bravery in 1956 in the Ranftschlucht

The city, canton and abbey of St. Gallen have been a symbol of division and conflict of interests in the Swiss Confederation for centuries, before the Reformation in 1526 and afterwards. The relationship between the governments of the cities of Chur, Constance, Basel and Geneva and their bishops is similar.

Until the Reformation, these divisions had nothing to do with religion but with economic, dynastic and political interests. These conflicts of interest and religious division were common in Europe; remarkable is that the Confederation and the cantons survived it, with 1848 as the constitutional fundament of today’s Confoederatio Helvetica of sovereign republics (unless the constitution provides otherwise).

Canton, City and Abbey of St. Gall

The Reformation introduced the religious dimension. However, economic and political motives also played a (significant) role in the choice of the other faith.

Access to rich abbeys, monasteries, and episcopal property was attractive, and the political role of the bishop in the city was finished (Basel, Constance and Geneva) or was less important (Chur). Sitten (Sion) was also the residency of a bishop with a tense relationship between the bishop and the seven Upper Valaisan Zenden, but there was no Reformation.

Therefore, the relations between economy, politics, and religion played an essential role in the city and canton of St. Gallen for centuries. The canton and town of St. Gallen are known for their textiles, the famous abbey, and its library.

Far less well known are the industrial histories of other products, including chocolate, among others, and the long schism between the Catholic and Protestant communities in the city of St. Gallen and the canton.

 St. Gall Abbey

The city of St. Gallen

Industrialisation and religious division are closely linked in St. Gallen. In 1526, the city converted to the new (Protestant) faith, and the abbey and the town lived separately for centuries after that.

A wall separated the abbey from the city, and the monks and the abbot were only allowed to cross this wall under strict conditions, a Berlin Wall avant la lettre. Nevertheless, the abbey was the most important landowner in the region until 1798 (French invasion and the founding of the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803). Many villages and towns, though not all, therefore, remained Catholic.

St. Georgen

St. Georgen

This situation changed with the expropriation of the monastery in 1805 and the beginning of industrialisation outside the city. A good example is St. Georgen, part of the former municipality of Tablat.

This village is in the Mülenen Gorge, a few kilometres from St. Gallen’s centre and the Abbey. As so often in the Middle Ages, the village of St. Georgen developed around the church of St. Georgen (founded in the 9th century) and the monastery of St. Wiborada (dissolved in 1834).

The former church of the monastery

Until 1798, Tablat (and St. Georgen) was a subject territory of the prince abbey of St. Gallen and thus Catholic. As early as the Middle Ages, many mills provided the mechanical drive and water supply for blacksmiths, bakers and other small artisans.

The textile industry did not develop in the village until after 1800. The Müleggweier, the moor on Dreilinden, the Steinach and other small springs provided a constant water supply, even in dry times.

The moor today and around 1900

In 1885, the chocolate manufacturer Maestrani opened a factory in St. Georgen, having already started producing chocolate in St. Gallen in 1849. Maestrani remained in St. Georgen until 2003, when the factory moved to Flawil (Canton St. Gallen).

Until industrialisation around 1820, St. Georgen’s population was predominantly Catholic. The immigration of Protestant workers increased the population from about 4,400 in 1850 to over 12,000 in 1900. This led to the building of separate Catholic and Protestant schools and the settlement of Catholic and Protestant bakers, butchers, grocers, doctors, and other service providers.

St. Georgen also became the centre of the religious culture war (Kulturkampf) in Switzerland. Several buildings (including school buildings) in St. Georgen still recall this period of solid industrial growth and religious division.

The Evangelical Reformed school Bach around 1900

Although religious division in Switzerland did not lead to the violent excesses of other European countries (except for some conflicts in 1529, 1531, 1656, 1712 and 1847), it was a political reality until 1848 and a social reality until the 1960s.

Notkersegg Monastery

The nearby Notkersegg convent for women, founded in 1381, remained largely unaffected by these developments. At first, it was not formally a monastery but a residential facility for Beguines.

By 1602, the number of Beguines was so large that the Beguines formally joined the Capuchin Order (a branch of the Franciscan Order) as Capuchin nuns. The complex consisted of several buildings and the church of 1453, but the powerful Benedictine Abbey of St. Gall was never far away and even took over the supervision in 1610.

1727 and 1757 were important years for the monastery. Due to the Vatican dogma of enclosure for nuns, the monastery built a wall to seal off the nuns from the (evil) outside world. The wall still stands today. In 1757, the convent received a gift from Italy: a statue of the “Madonna di buon consiglio“. Since then, the monastery has borne the name “Maria vom guten Rat”.

The monastery still exists and functions despite the difficult years following the dissolution of the abbey in 1805, the Kulturkampf and today’s low enthusiasm for joining. The convent still has six nuns and mainly lives from agriculture.

(Source and further information: St. Georgen; Notkersegg monastery)