Friedrich Bernard Christian Maassen
United Sees of Macerata and Tolentino
Vicariate Apostolic of Mackenzie
Marie-Edmé-Patrice-Maurice de MacMahon
Joseph-Anna-Marie de Moyria de Mailla
François-Pierre-Gonthier Maine de Biran
Françoise, Marquise de Maintenon
Joseph-Marie, Comte de Maistre
Marcellinus of Civezza, O.F.M.
Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament
Prefecture Apostolic of Mariana Islands
Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill
Sts. Maris, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum
Lucius Perpetuus Aurelianus Marius Maximus
Vicariate Apostolic of Marquesas Islands
Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage
Diocese of Marseilles (Massilia)
Vicariate Apostolic of the Marshall Islands
Diocese of Marsico Nuovo and Potenza
Luigi Ferdinando, Count de Marsigli
Missionaries of the Company of Mary
Servants of Mary (Order of Servites)
Society of Mary (Marist Fathers)
St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus
Richard Angelus a S. Francisco Mason
Devises and Bequests for Masses (United States)
Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus
Caius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax
Prefecture Apostolic of Mayotte, Nossi-Bé, and Comoro
Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod
Abbey and Congregation of Melk
Vicariate Apostolic of Méndez and Gualaquiza
Francisco Sarmiento de Mendoza
Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
Frédéric-François-Xavier Ghislain de Mérode
Delegation Apostolic of Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, and Armenia
Metal-Work in the Service of the Church
Prince Klemens Lothar Wenzel von Metternich
Francis, Joseph, and Paul Mezger
Military Orders of St. Michael
Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola
Congregation of the Sisters of Misericorde
Prefecture Apostolic of Misocco and Calanca
Congregation of Priests of the Mission
Congregation of Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo
Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales of Annecy
Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle
Mission Indians (of California)
Catholic Indian Missions of Canada
Catholic Indian Missions of the United States
François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno
Diocese of Molfetta, Terlizzi, and Giovinazzo
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière
Principality and Diocese of Monaco
Canonical Erection of a Monastery
Monophysites and Monophysitism
Monothelitism and Monothelites
Montagnais Indians (Chippewayans)
Charles-Forbes-René, Comte de Montalembert
Marquis de Louis-Joseph Montcalm-Gozon
Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
Anne, First Duke of Montmorency
Alexis-François Artaud de Montor
Antoine-Jean-Baptiste-Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon
Dioceses of Mostar and Markana-Trebinje
Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary
Toribio de Benavente Motolinia
Congregations of Mount Calvary
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Karl Ernst, Freiherr von Moy de Sons
Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
St. Clair Augustine Mulholland
Baron Eligius Franz Joseph von Münch-Bellinghausen
Archdiocese of Munich-Freising
Mariannhill is located in Natal, near Pinetown, 15 miles from Durban, and 56 from Pietermaritzburg. In 1882 the Rev. Francis Pfanner, then prior of the Trappist (Reformed Cistercian) Monastery of Mariastern (Bosnia), at the invitation of the late Bishop Ricards, and with the consent of the general chapter of that branch of the order called the Congregation of De Rancé, volunteered to establish a monastery in Cape Colony, in order to try to adapt their rule to the missionary life. He landed at Port Elizabeth with thirty-one companions in July, 1880, and settled in a place he called Dunbrody, after an old Irish monastery. This he had to abandon in 1882; and at the solicitation of the late Bishop Jolivet, O.M.I., transferred his community to Mariannhill. Upon arrival there he set to work with indefatigable energy in the missionary field, and was blessed with such success that in 1885 Mariannhill was erected into an abbey, and Father Pfanner was unanimously elected its first abbot, receiving the abbatial blessing on the third anniversary of the founding of the monastery, 27 Dec., 1885. The same year Abbot Pfanner had started a branch of missionary sisters called "Sisters of the Precious Blood" to take charge of the native children and women; this congregation flourished abundantly, and was approved by Rome in 1907.
Mariannhill was too restricted for the zeal of Abbot Pfanner, so in the course of a few years, he founded seven mission stations, scattered over Natal, from Transvaal (Ratschitz) to Cape Colony (Lourdes) in Griqualand. Each of these stations had a small community of monks, and another of sisters, with church, school, etc., according to the needs of the natives. In 1892 Abbot Pfanner, who was then sixty-seven years of age, resigned and retired to Emmaus, one of the stations, where he died on 24 May, 1909. He was immediately succeeded by Dom Amandus Schoelzig as administrator, and in 1894 as abbot. Under his wise administration nine stations were founded in Natal and Cape Colony, and two houses in German East Africa. Abbot Amandus died in January, 1900, a martyr to the great work and its many cares. In Sept. of the same year he was succeeded by Abbot Gerard Wolpert, who had spent the greater part of his missionary life at the Czenstochau Station. He founded a station in Mashonaland, Rhodesia, and two more in Natal so that his activity was divided between German East Africa, Rhodesia, Natal and Cape Colony. This, however, was too much for his strength; his health gave way, and being anxious to return to his mission life at Czenstochau, he resigned his position in 1904.
During the general chapter of the order held that year at Citeaux, the Rt. Rev. Edmond M. Obrecht, Abbot of the Abbey of Gethsemani, U.S.A., was appointed, with the approbation of the Holy See, Administrator of Mariannhill. His principal labour was to enquire into the adaptability of the Cistercian to the missionary life; after three years of work in Africa the Abbot of Gethsemani submitted his report to Rome and the general chapter, from which it was decided that Mariannhill should become an independent congregation, as otherwise either the monastic observances or the missionary labour had to suffer. Consequently Propaganda delegated Rt. Rev. Bishop Miller, O.M.I., Vicar-Apostolic of Transvaal, to arrange for such independence, according to the wishes of the Reformed Cistercians, and the members of Mariannhill. Finally the Congregation of Regulars, on 2 Feb., 1909, issued a decree separating Mariannhill from the Order of Reformed Cistercians, forming of it the "Congregation of the Mariannhill Missionaries" and erecting their church into a Collegiate Church, under the guidance of a provost. The members of the congregation take simple, but perpetual, vows; and are exempt from the jurisdiction of the Ordinary of the diocese. They at present number about 60 priests, with 260 choir-religious and lay-brothers. From its foundation until 1 Jan. 1910, nearly 20,000 persons, the greater number adults, have been baptized in the 55 churches and chapels scattered throughout the 26 missions and stations.
Trappisten Missions Kloster Mariannhill (Freiburg, 1907); Vergissmeinnicht, Zeitschrift des Mariannhiller Mission, 1883-1910; Mariannhiller Kalender, 1883-1910; Acta S. Sedis, 20 Dec., 1909; Actes du Chapitre Gén. des Cisterciens Réformés (1904-1907); Trappisten und ihre Mission in Mariannhill; Abt Franz Pfanner (1885); BOEKEN, Um und in Afrika (Cologne, 1903).
EDMOND M. OBRECHT.