Max Emanuel joined the
Order of Saint Benedict in 1923 and became a member of
Neresheim Abbey. For his religious name, he chose
Emmeram after
Saint Emmeram of Regensburg, patron saint of St. Emmeram Castle (previously a monastery), the residence of the princely family. In 1951, Max Emanuel received the papal concession for the reestablishment of the former monastery
Prüfening Abbey. Later in the 1950s, he established the
Liturgiewissenschaftliche Institut Regensburg-Prüfening (). For over 30 years of his life, Max Emanuel resided isolated at the family-owned
St. Emmeram's Abbey in Regensburg. His desire to revive the monastic life was not fulfilled, however, so he opened Prüfening Abbey as a meeting place and home for the youth and poor. Max Emanuel died in 1994 and was buried at
Neresheim Abbey. ==Ancestry==