A Benedictine abbey 30 miles southeast of Constance, Switzerland. Established c.613by Charles Martel, Pepin, and Othmar, its first abbot, on the site occupied by the cell of Gallus, disciple of Saint Columbanus. Its schools and library were numbered among the most celebrated of Europe. The 13th century saw a period of decline at the monastery, and the abbots became princes of the empire. The library suffered at the hands of the Humanists (14th century) and the Calvinists (16th century) who removed many valuable manuscripts and books, but in 1530 Abbot Diethelm instituted a noteworthy restoration. Pillaged by the Swiss in 1711, and again rebuilt. In 1798 it was secularized. The abbey church became the cathedral of the Diocese of Saint Gall in 1846.
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