A Returned Volume – with Important Entries from the Point of View of the History of the Order

On March 21, the feast of Saint Benedict, at a ceremony held in the library, Parish Priest Tihamér Majlát, head of the Celldömölk-Alsóság Saint Nicholas Parish, presented a volume that had left Pannonhalma at least 240 years ago. The work of the Bavarian Jesuit Matthias Faber, who also worked in Hungary, Concionum Sylva nova seu Auctarium (Cologne, 1695), was acquired in 1715 for the Pannonhalma convent, according to the possessor entry. The registrar also recorded another piece of information in the publication: the sermon volume was used by Father Villebald. In the 1710s, Grasso Villebald – who soon became the abbot of Tihany – bore this monastic name. From him it may have come to the Benedictines of Dömölk, who played an important role in the pastoral ministry of the nearby Alsóság during the 18th century.

 In October 1791, a Benedictine monk noted on two blank pages at the beginning of the book where the scattered members of the order, dissolved by Joseph II, were at that time. He immortalized 59 monks, most of whom undertook pastoral work, but several continued to teach at the Komárom secondary school. Since few sources about the monastic community have survived from the time of the dissolution, this entry provides us with an important contribution to the history of the order.