In Germany the attempt at reform was somewhat different, and much more in accordance with the spirit of the Rule. Monks were professed for monasteries, the superiors held office in perpetuity, while the union ordered by the Lateran decree and Pope Benedict's Bull was not allowed to interfere with the autonomy of each monastery. Bursfeld indeed, was the chief abbey of the Congregation, and in a sense the "Mother House," but the discretion of her abbots rendered this one repugnant feature practically innocuous.
Greater success than it actually achieved might have distinguished the Bursfeld union but for the extremely disturbed state of the country both in politics and religion; and the Reformation of the sixteenth century put an end to its existence. One of its monasteries however, Lambspring, continued as an abbey for English Benedictine monks from 1644-1802.
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Saint Benedict