In Nomine

How often has something been justified, proclaimed or blessed "In the name of..."? 
How can it be that "In the name of...." weapons and opponents of war are blessed? This is a recurring theme in the history of various faiths. Good things have been created but evil things have also been done and all "In the name of....". We also find this in the history of the Premonstratensian Abbey of Wadgassen. In the 12th century, an abbey was built on barren, desert land in the middle of a moorland landscape, which would later develop into the most powerful religious community in Saarland. Under the motto "Desertum florebit quasi lilium" (The desert will blossom like a lily), incredible things were created, but also cracked down on wrongdoers. The abbey had its own school where children were taught the seven liberal arts (which included music as well as geometry and astronomy), but also the poor, who had to starve outside the abbey gates and were only allowed to eat from the friars' leftovers on feast days. The medieval witch trials took their toll and the victim was a group of ecstatically dancing people who moved exuberantly to music, which was interpreted as the work of the devil. What happened next: a show trial condemned the dancers to death by fire. All "In the name of...." The year is 1789: Abbot Bordier is in the tenth year of his reign; he does not yet realise that he will be the last abbot in a tradition that goes back almost 700 years. Not far from the abbey is the French border, which has been making its presence felt for a long time with gunfire and is eyed with unease by the friars. The harbingers of the French Revolution are on the horizon, but nobody really believes them. Until the French knock on the door, storm the abbey and enter the monks' chambers through the portal. In a blind rage, all the organ pipes were torn out, icons were beheaded with swords, monks were beaten to death and numerous buildings were set on fire. The monastery church is in flames. A wild and unprepared escape begins. Through a secret tunnel, Abbot Bordier and a handful of brothers are able to flee across the Saar (a neighbouring river) to the neighbouring town of Bous. They are alive, but their livelihood, the Premonstratensian abbey, is destroyed. While they escape to an abbey (Strahov Monastery) in the direction of Prague, Wadgassen Abbey is razed and used as a quarry. But the desert blossoms anew. A few decades later, new life is created on the foundations of the abbey in the form of a glassworks, which provides the people of the region with jobs and new visions once peace has been restored.