Einsiedeln Abbey () is a Roman Catholic monastery administered by the Benedictine Order in the village of Einsiedeln, Switzerland. The abbey is dedicated to Our Lady of the Hermits, in recognition of Meinrad of Einsiedeln, a hermit Catholic saint. The monastery is not under the jurisdiction of a diocese or a bishop because it is a territorial abbey. Pope Pius XI granted a pontifical decree of canonical coronation towards its venerated Marian image on 21 March 1934. The rite of coronation was executed by the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, coinciding with the abbey’s millennium on 14 September 1934. The abbey has been a major resting point for centuries for pilgrims travelling to Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain on the Way of Saint James. The abbey operates a private high school along with a winery, sawmill, restaurant and other small businesses in order to support itself. History The history of Einsiedeln Abbey starts with Meinrad of Einsiedeln. Born in 797 to an aristocratic German family, he was educated at the abbey school on Reichenau Island in what is today Germany. Meinrad became a monk and was later ordained a priest. After gaining public attention for reportedly performing miracles, Meinrad established a hermitage in 829 in the Einsiedeln forest of Switzerland, searching for privacy. He was murdered by two robbers in January 861. Over the next 80 years, other hermits occupied Meinrad's hermitage. In 934 Eberhard, previously Provost of Strassburg, built the Einsiedeln abbey and church on the hermitage site, becoming its first abbot. According to legend, the church was consecrated in 948 in person by Jesus Christ the Four Evangelists, St. Peter, and St. Gregory the Great. Pope Leo VIII investigated and confirmed the miracle. It was last ratified by Pope Pius VI in 1793, who confirmed the acts of all his predecessors. In 965 Gregory, the third Abbot of Einsiedeln, was named a prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Otto I. His successor abbots would hold that title until the dissolution of the empire in 1806. In 1039, Meinrad's relics were transferred from Reichenau Island to Einsiedeln for enshrinement. In 1274, the abbey and its dependencies were incorporated into an independent principality by Rudolf I of Germany. This gave the abbot political jurisdiction over the abbey lands. During the early 16th century, the standards of discipline at Einsiedeln started to decline, but Ludovicus II,