The Carmelite friary in Lienz was founded in 1349 by the Countess Euphemia of Görz and her two sons. Although it burned down several times in the following centuries, it always received enough in donations to be able to rebuild. In about 1450 a theological college for the Carmelite Order was housed here. In the early 16th century the prior, Lucas Zach, introduced a reform to ensure that the Carmelite rule was better followed.
From 1748 to 1773 the Carmelites took on the serving of the parish of Tristach. From 1775 they also taught in the ordinary town school and from 1777 worked as professors in the Gymnasium of Lienz. Nevertheless, the friary was unable to avoid the wave of monastic suppressions under Joseph II. On 21 March 1785 the community were instructed to vacate the premises to make way for a Franciscan community previously displaced from their friary in Innsbruck. The conventual buildings, the church and all possessions passed to the state 'religion fund'. Most of the inventory was sold to the profit of the fund, including the valuable library of 4,640 volumes and 168 manuscripts.
Some works of art remain from the Carmelite period, like Gothic frescoes (15th century), cloister, with pictures from 1705 and the chapter room.
Today few Franciscans look after the parish, which has about 4,200 Catholic residents.
References:The historical centre of Briançon is a strongly fortified town, built by Vauban to defend the region from Austrians in the 17th century. Its streets are very steep and narrow, though picturesque. Briançon lies at the foot of the descent from the Col de Montgenèvre, giving access to Turin, so a great number of other fortifications have been constructed on the surrounding heights, especially towards the east.
The Savoyards made two raids into French territory in 1691 and 1692. As a result, Vauban was dispatched to inspect the frontier defences, which had been ill-equiped to deal with the attack from Savoy. He returned to the area in 1700 to check on the progress that had been made since his first visit. When Vauban visited Briançon, work on the defences had already started under a local engineer, Monsieur d"Angrogne in 1692.