Twelfth Generation

3648. Jacobus SPIRA was born about 1530.²⁰⁸ He died on 30 Nov 1603 in Sponheim, Germany.²⁰⁸ He was an Abbot.²⁰⁸ His surname was also spelled Spiera.

Jacobus Spira was the last abbot of the Benediktiner monastery Sponheim, and became the first Reformed minister to Sponheim. In 1564, the cloistered community of Sponheim consisted only of the monastery and a convent under the abbott Jacobus Spira. On 13 February, 1565, abbott Jacobus Spira, as his last official act, transferred the monastery with all goods and property to prince Friedrich III. of the Pfalz. In1565 Jacobus Spira took the office as the first reformed minister to Sponheim. He married Beatrix, after she surrendered the convent and cloister, St. Katharinen bei Braunweiler. Beatrix had been the abbess of the cloister according to information passed on.

During the thirty year war, the abbey in Sponheim was repaired under Spanish occupation. With interruptions, the monastery existed up to the time of the French revolution. The inhabitants of Sponheim, predominantly returned to the Catholic faith before 1700. The largest support found Father Elias Bingel as part of the antireformation efforts especially with a great-grandson of the abbott, Andreas Spira, who justified his efforts for the catholic cause with the behavior of his great-grandfather, Jacobus, during the turmoil of the Reformation.

The original German note is as follows:

Letzter Abt des Benediktiner-Klosters Sponheim, erster protestantischer Pfarrer zu Sponheim. 1564 bestand die klösterliche Gemeinschaft des Klosters Sponheim nur noch aus dem Abt Jacobus Spira und einem Konventualen. Am 13.02.1565 übertrug Abt Jacobus Spira als letzte Amtshandlung das Kloster mit allen Gütern und Gefällen an Kurfürst Friedrich III. von der Pfalz. 1565 trat Jacobus Spira sein Amt als erster reformierter Pfarrer zu Sponheim an. Er vermählte sich mit Beatrix, welche der Überlieferung nach Äbtissin des nahe gelegenen Zisterzienser-Nonnenklosters St. Katharinen bei Braunweiler gewesen war.

Im 30-jährigen Krieg wurde die Abtei Sponheim unter spanischer Besatzung wieder hergestellt. Mit Unterbrechungen bestand das Kloster bis zur Französischen Revolution. Die Bewohner des Ortes Sponheim selbst traten noch vor 1700 überwiegend wieder zum katholischen Glauben zurück. Die größte Unterstützung fand Pater Elias Bingel bei seinen gegenreformatorischen Bemühungen gerade bei einem Urenkel des Abtes, Andreas Spira, der seinen Einsatz für die katholische Sache mit dem Verhalten seines Urgroßvaters, Jacobus Spira, in den Wirren der Reformationszeit begründete.
Jacobus SPIRA and Beatrix /UNKNOWN/ were married about 1565 in Sponheim, Germany.²⁰⁸

3649. Beatrix /UNKNOWN/ was born about 1540 in Odernheim, Germany.²⁰⁸ She died on 5 Nov 1597 in Sponheim, Germany.²⁰⁸ She was an abbess.²⁰⁸ Children were:

	i.	Wendel SPIRA was born before 1595 in Sponheim, Germany.208 He died in Bad Kreuznach, Germany.208
	ii.	Jakob SPIRA was born in Sponheim, Germany.208 He died in Sponheim, Germany.208
	iii.	Adam (Johannes?) SPIRA.
1824	iv.	Johann SPIRA.
	v.	/Unknown/ SPIRA.