St. Stephen's Abbey, dedicated to Saint Stephen, was founded in 969 by Saint Ulrich, Bishop of Augsburg, and used by Augustinian canonesses. It was dissolved in the secularisation of Bavaria in 1803, and the premises passed into the possession of the town. The army used the site for a few years as a quartermaster's store.
In 1828 King Ludwig I of Bavaria founded a grammar school here, as a successor to the former Jesuit college of St. Salvator (1582–1807). In 1835 he established the Benedictine monastery and entrusted it with the running of the school. The buildings were entirely destroyed in 1944 but have been re-built.
The monks continue to run the school and boarding house, and are engaged in pastoral and youth work.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.