Smuggler in a habit

sv

View of St. Veit from 1649: today's convent church on the right foreground(Bild: Merian Landesarchiv Kärnten)

A good 300 years ago, the Franciscans in St. Veit had a similarly stressful time to priests today: they had many churches to look after and had to travel for weeks to collect cider and candles.

In the 1640s, the town of St. Veit wanted a religious order to provide pastoral care and was able to recruit the Franciscans. The monks were to rebuild the convent, which had fallen into disrepair after the Poor Clares had left 100 years earlier. Not an easy task for a mendicant order that was not allowed to own anything! So the monks asked for donations for the renovation.