Kloster Werl

The Capuchin monastery in Werl stands in the quiet town of Werl, in the Arnsberg region. Founded in 1645 by Elector Ferdinand, it strengthened Catholic life in the area. The monastery once held the revered image of the Comforter of the Sorrowful, brought from Soest in 1661, which drew pilgrims and funded local charity. The Capuchins lived by begging, and by 1802 their community numbered 28, including French émigrés fleeing revolution. Their church, rebuilt between 1786 and 1789 by Arnold Boner, stood east of the market square. The site became a centre of pilgrimage and charity. After the Capuchins left in 1836, Franciscans returned in 1848 and cared for the shrine until 2019. During the Kulturkampf they were expelled in 1875 but returned in 1887. The present basilica replaced earlier buildings in 1904, and an exerzitienhaus opened in 1912, designed by Franciscan Brother Quintilian Borren. The Franciscans also maintained a crypt where the ashes of Blessed Kilian Kirchhoff rest; he was executed in 1944 for opposing the Nazis. Today the monastery serves as a pilgrimage centre run by the Archdiocese of Paderborn. It houses offices, a hostel with about eighty beds, two priests’ flats and the convent of the Werl Ursuline sisters. The old church, once shared with Protestants in a brief simultaneum, remains a place of quiet prayer. The surrounding town preserves the memory of centuries of devotion and service.