Saint-Nabor Abbey

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Street facade of the abbey church of St. Nabor with adjacent former monastery buildings
Abbey church from the historic market square (today "Place de la Victoire")
Side view of St. Nabor

The Abbey of Saint-Nabor ( Latin Monasterium Sancti Naboris ) was a Benedictine abbey in St. Avold in what is now the Moselle department in Lorraine . It existed from the 8th to the 18th century. The most important immediate neighboring abbeys were Glandern , Busendorf , Weiler-Bettnach , Fraulautern , Mettlach , Tholey , St. Arnual and Hornbach . The neighboring intellectual centers were Trier and Metz . The 18th century abbey church, a listed building since 1930, is now a parish church of the diocese of Metz . The church's patronage day is the day of remembrance of the two martyrs Nabor and Felix who were beheaded around the year 300 during the Christian persecution of Emperor Diocletian in Lodi on July 12th.

history

According to tradition, the wandering monk Fridolin , who probably came from Ireland , founded the oratorio "Hilariacum" on the terrain of today's St. Avold in the years 506 to 510 in the Rossel valley , a tributary of the Saar , on a missionary trip as part of the Irish -Scottish missionary movement . Fridolin is also the founder of the Säckingen monastery on the Upper Rhine near Basel . The St. Avolder monastery developed favorably under the protection of the Metz bishops . The Metz Bishop Sigebald, venerated as saint, renewed the abbey, gave it rich gifts and died here around the year 741. His successor in office, the Metz Bishop Chrodegang , also promoted the abbey. In 765 he brought the relics of the holy martyrs Nabor and Felix with him from Rome and handed them over to the abbey, which from then on bore the patronage title "Saint Nabor" (Monasterium Sancti Naboris). Little evidence from the high Middle Ages suggests that the monks had their own scriptorium and a higher level of education. The remote ownership of the monastery extended into Wormsgau , in what is now Rhineland-Palatinate ; The St. Stephen's Church there in Sausenheim was founded around 800 by the St. Nabor Abbey and belonged to it until 1493.

During the Middle Ages , a small town developed around the St. Nabor Abbey, which took the name of the abbey. As a result of name abrading, “Sankt Nabor” became “Santerfor” in the local Rhine-Franconian dialect. The French-speaking administration later turned the local pronunciation into “Saint-Avaux”. From 1750 it became the official spelling "Saint-Avold".

Chrodegang's successor in the episcopate, Angilram of Metz , introduced the Regula Benedicti of Benedict of Nursia in the abbey . Angilram also had a new monastery church built in the 8th century. This was replaced at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century by Abbot Adam von Ruplingen, whose grave slab can now be seen in the tower vestibule, with a new building in the Gothic style .

After the Gothic abbey church had been expanded at the beginning of the 17th century, it was replaced by the current building in the 18th century. The Benedictine monk Leopold Durand (originally François Durand, 1666–1749), who came from Saint-Mihiel in Lorraine , designed the plans for the new church, which was built between 1755 and 1769 by bricklayers and stonemasons from southern Germany, Tyrol, based on buildings in Central Minster in Alsace and in Echternach in Luxembourg . France as well as Lorraine was established. In advance, the monastery buildings with the abbot's residence were completely rebuilt between 1720 and 1745.

The history of the Benedictine abbey ended in the turmoil of the French Revolution in 1791 . The abbey was forcibly dissolved, the monks expelled and the monastery was sold as state property. Thanks to the procurator of the civil parish, Nicolas Pascal Gérardy (1714–1793), who negotiated the transfer of the abbey building to the state administration for St. Avold, the abbey church was saved. By decree of September 10, 1792, signed by Georges Danton himself, the former abbey church was given its new purpose as a parish church. It now replaced the former parish church of St. Peter and Paul, which was profaned and converted into a residential and commercial building that still exists today. At the beginning of the 20th century, the former abbey church underwent restoration in a lavish neo-baroque style with lavish paintings and altars. The US air raid on November 9, 1944 severely damaged the sacred building. The work to repair the war damage dragged on until the 1980s of the 20th century. The neo-baroque painting by Waldemar Kolmsperger the Elder , who also painted Neuschwanstein Castle , was completely removed. The building and the artworks in the church are under state since 1930 listed .

Scriptorium, library and school in the Middle Ages

The scriptorium of St. Nabor is tangible in two manuscripts that were written in the early 11th century. Only one of these two manuscripts (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Lat. 8088) is still preserved today; it contains the poems of Prudentius . The other (Metz, Bibliothèque municipale 377) burned in 1944 and contained the work De consolatione philosophiae by the late ancient Roman writer Boethius . The origin from St. Nabor can be deduced from contemporary poems that were entered in these manuscripts, including an epitaph to Bishop Adalbero II of Metz († 1005). The author of the poems is Konrad von St. Nabor, who worked as a teacher in the monastery school at the beginning of the 11th century.

The verses on the last page of the Paris manuscript are particularly instructive for monastic scholarship. In this poem the author lets the Prudentius Codex, the book itself, speak. It speaks to another book, a Lukan Codex of the Benedictine abbey Saint-Symphorien in Metz, as can be seen from the naming of the abbot Constantine of Saint-Symphorien (1004-1048). The book describes his stay in the library of St. Nabor and emphasizes the name of Konrad with learned gimmicks, as it appears once in bfk cipher and once in Greek letters . It is clear from the illustration that the book was given a splendid binding in St. Nabor under Konrad and that the verses of Prudentius were provided with learned marginal notes. There are plenty of glosses on the Prudentius text in the manuscript between the lines and in the margin.

Original Latin text:

Cum iuvenis splendens fueram, mutuatus adibam
Coenobium sanctum celso Nabore sacratum,
In quo praeclari multa et virtute probati
Insignesque viri desudant laude perhenni;
In quo pax radiat magna et sapientia regnat.
Moribus et sanctis concordia fulget in illis.
Illuc cum veni, felicem me reputavi;
Nam capite et cauda portavi tergora nuda,
Undique nudus eram; sed mox vestitus adibam.
Non te sicut me decoratum credo, Lucane,
Nec te Constantinus habens vestivit honore
Ut me Cxpnrbdxs , qui sit semper benedictus;
Cuius sic studiis signis fulgesco novellis,
Margine deque meo nunc plura problemata pango.
Quę quicumque legis, dic: Vivant semper in altis
Sancto Nabori famulantes sorte perhenni!
O quicumque libens versus aspexeris istos
Undique et adpositos, utiles et iure legendos,
Dic: ΚΟΥѠΝΡΑΔѠ sit vita salusque misello.

Translation to German:

When I was a brilliant young man, after my voice broke, I entered
the holy monastery, consecrated to the great Nabor,
in which famous
men, tried and tested in unrelenting virtue and honored with lasting praise, work,
where peace shines and great wisdom reigns.
In these the unity shines through the holy way of life.
When I came here, I considered myself lucky,
because I had a bare back in front and behind
, I was naked from all sides, but soon I came along dressed.
I do not believe that you, Lukan, are as decorated as I am,
and even Konstantin, in whose possession you are, did not dress you with an honor
like Konrad me, who is always blessed;
by studying it I shine with new signs,
and from the margins of my pages I now raise many questions.
Whoever you read this, say: “The servants of Saint Nabor shall always live high in lasting happiness!”
Oh, whoever you look at these verses,
which are supplemented from all sides with useful and worth reading,
say: “Live and Hail to the wretched Konrad. "

The question of whether the Bern Martyrologium (Bern, Burgerbibliothek 289), a manuscript from the late 8th and 9th centuries, was also written in St. Nabor has not been conclusively clarified. Henri Tribout de Morembert and Stefan Flesch stood up for the creation in St. Nabor . This view is not necessarily shared on the part of palaeography. Both for the oldest layer from the late 8th century and for the two younger layers of the 9th century, Metz is considered to be the home of scripts.

Since the connection of the Abbey of St. Nabor to the Congregation of St. Vanne in 1607, the monastery in St. Avold experienced a spiritual renewal and an increase in the number of monastery entries. In the following years the abbey opened up to the new ideas of the beginning Enlightenment . The library must also have experienced an upswing during this period. However, very few books have been preserved from their holdings. A complete library catalog no longer exists. The incomplete inventory lists from the time of the dissolution of the monastery in the French Revolution provide some information about the holdings.

Due to the decree of the French Constituent Assembly for the confiscation of all church property of November 2, 1789, supplemented on November 27, 1790, the monastery library was officially sealed and the community officials were tasked with taking stock of all library contents. In St. Avold, Joseph Becker, who had already appeared as a founding member of a patriotic committee in the summer of 1789 and was later to serve as a member of the national convention, discovered on April 28, 1790 during an inspection of the library that the seals were no longer intact. He also discovered that drawers had been stolen and book stocks in shelves had been replaced by wooden dummies. So the library had already been partially looted.

In 1791, the district commissioner Nicolas-Pascal Gérardy recorded books in the monastery library that he considered important due to their age and the subject matter. As a criterion he mentioned that he did not want to annoy the National Assembly with books that do not deserve to be read. Gérardy destroyed all the books and documents of the abbey on this subject on the grounds that the French Revolution had abolished feudal rights.

Of the 3139 books that the abbey owned in 1789, only 117 titles could be identified in the National Archives. Due to the fragmentary nature of the inventory, no final conclusion can be drawn about the subject areas of the monastery library. The minimal catalog that has survived shows parallels to the holdings of the other monasteries in the congregation. The range of titles shows great versatility in terms of the fields of knowledge represented. The main areas of the catalog are understandably theology, philosophy and works of ancient Greek and Roman authors. In addition to these religious and classical works, the natural sciences, history and linguistics also seem to have played a major role. In addition, the library contained geographical descriptions of foreign continents and countries as well as titles of legal and economic orientation. The Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers , edited by Denis Diderot and Jean Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert , was available in St. Nabor with all of its volumes, which shows that the traditional Benedictine abbey of St. Nabor on The eve of the revolution had opened the ideas of the Enlightenment.

architecture

Facade tower of the abbey church
Allegory of religion in the facade niche; the base inscription indicates the origin of the Metz cathedral facade and the transfer to St. Avold in 1898.

The east-facing abbey church is built from red sandstone , which comes from local quarries. The late baroque - classical church has the shape of a three-aisled hall church with a transept on the plan of a Latin cross .

The basic form is a regional special form of longitudinal construction . This special form is mostly found as a religious order in Lorraine and Franche-Comté as well as on today's Belgian-French border. The northern French group is based on an unbroken medieval tradition. The forms of jewelry follow the Flemish Mannerism and its Baroque rather than the classicism of France. The Jesuits in particular preferred these free column halls for their church buildings. The former Premonstratensian abbey church of Pont-à-Mousson / Mussenbrück on the Moselle, which was built from 1705 by Thomas Mordillac, was a model for the Lorraine free-column halls. Other outstanding examples are the parish church of Saint-Sébastien (1720–1732) in Nancy by Jean-Nicolas Jennesson and the Augustinian canons church of Saint-Jacques (completed in 1747) in Lunéville .

The bell tower of the St. Avolder monastery church rises above a porch of the nave. The choir with a semicircular apse is framed by two choir flank towers based on Lorraine models. The external dimensions of the building are 67 meters long and 28 meters wide. The slated church roof rises thirty meters above a wooden roof structure , the portal tower 45 meters, the two choir flank towers 53 meters. Welsh hoods rise above the towers. The hoods of the choir-flank towers are additionally equipped with lanterns and onion hoods.

The narrow tower facade is framed between the former abbot building (left) and the cloister building (right). The space of today's street was originally built over by three courtyards. The arch-shaped end of the first courtyard can still be recognized by the small oscillation of the cloister building facade to the right of the portal tower. Similar to the tower facade of the Saarbrücken basilica St. Johann , which was built around the same time, two pilasters with Ionic capitals flank the portal. The square tower floor plan on the first tower floor narrows above a cornice. The Ludwigskirche in Saarbrücken, which began a little later than St. Nabor, takes over the transition from the square to the octagon from the St. Avolder tower, but makes it higher and more elegant. In Saarbrücken, the tower is crowned by a gallery instead of a bell dome.

The central arched niche in St. Avold is framed by two pilasters that end with composite capitals made of Ionic and Corinthian elements. The niche on the first floor houses a large-scale allegory of the Christian religion. It was originally created by the sculptor Pierre François Leroy (1739–1812) from Namur for the Metz Cathedral . The classicist statue was in its first use part of the portico built between 1764 and 1768 by the royal architect Jacques-François Blondel (1705–1774) at the Metz Cathedral. The erection of the Metz cathedral portal by Blondel was the votive offering of King Louis XV. who had been attacked by a life-threatening disease in Metz in 1744 and, after his recovery, which was attributed to divine help, had solemnly praised the redesign of the cathedral. With regard to Blondel's classicist main portal, the Metz city council had already reprimanded the now unbearable break in style between the classicist mantle buildings and the Gothic cathedral in 1847 and called for the portal to be replaced with a stylish one. However, the redesign of the cathedral portal did not take place until 1898 under the aegis of Kaiser Wilhelm II. After the demolition of the classicist main portal Blondels, the two monumental portal statues came to St. Avold, where they have been the facades of the former monastery church of Saint-Nabor and the Decorate Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Basilica . The portal statue on the facade of St. Avolder Maria-Hilf-Basilica originally represented the allegory of France, but was then reinterpreted as the allegory of hope after the new installation. The octagonal bell storey with a slate bell cover is accentuated on its edges with capitals that correspond to the Corinthian style.

The interior is roofed with a barrel vault , rib vaults and cross rib vaults . The three naves are supported by unprofiled, bulbous sandstone columns with gilded capitals of the Corinthian order . The basic cubature of the St. Avolder building thus transfers the structure of a Gothic hall church into the late baroque-classicist style. An even clearer recourse to the Gothic in the region was undertaken with the new construction of the Metz Abbey of St. Clemens from 1680 to 1737, which the Lombard architect Giovanni Spinga (1641-1724) had largely directed. In Metz as in St. Avold, high columns with composite capitals support the vaults, which span three naves. The Metz Abbey Church also has post-Gothic vaults. The wide church space of St. Nabor is illuminated by wide arched windows. The central nave of the former monastery church is 10.30 m wide, the side aisles are 4.40 m wide. The intercolumnium is 6 m. The vaults rise to a height of 18 m. The nave is 35 m long without the choir area.

Furnishing

Tower porch

Inscription above the tower portal
Gravestone of Abbot Adam von Ruplingen in the tower vestibule

The Latin inscription above the portal points to the late baroque-classicist new building above the older church buildings: "Ecclesia Ad S. Naborem Reaedificata A filiis Sti Benedicti Medio Saeculo XVIIIvo" (German translation: "The church of St. Nabor was built by the sons of St. Benedict was rebuilt in the middle of the 18th century. ”). In the entrance hall of the church there is an embedded tombstone of St. Avold's abbot Adam von Ruplingen (1484–1514), who joined the St. Nabor Abbey to the monastic reform movement of the Bursfeld Congregation . The tombstone originally comes from the crypt of the church, which was used for the burial of the abbots and monks, and was inserted into the north wall of the tower in 1965.

Apart from the last line, the Latin inscription is written in elegiac distiches . In order to be able to fulfill the metrical rules of the classical verse theory , the imperial abbey of St. Maximin zu Trier is designated with the adjective “Maxmineum” (line 3) instead of “Maximineum”. The poetic form "abbe" (line 2) instead of "abbatis" as the genitive of "abbas" (dt. Abbot) was allowed by the author for metrical reasons:

Qui modo marmorea requiesco crepidi (n) e tectus,
  Lustris sex abbe pondera sustinui.
Maxmineum mystam Matthiam nomine vivus
  Sufficio, nostras et subit unbekannt vices.
Dumque magistratum posui monachosque renormo,
  Iniiciunt diras ferrea fata manus.
At peto, ne pigeat precibus pulsare tonantem,
  Adami sit mens ut bene grata deo.
Obiit a (nn) od (omi) ni 1514 die me (n) sis octobris vigesimo primo.

Translated into German:

“I, who I am now resting, covered in marble edging, have endured the burdens of an abbot for 30 years. While I was still alive, I chose a priest from the St. Maximin Abbey by the name of Matthias, and he will take over our official duties. And while I have resigned my office and rearrange the monks, iron fate lays cruel hands on. Well then, I ask you to nudge the thundering (God) without annoyance by praying, so that the soul of Adam may be pleasing to God. He died in the year of the Lord, 1514, on October 21. "

Nave

In the back of the left aisle there is an originally colored holy grave , which was created around 1500. Above this, a stone relief is set in the wall, which represents important stages in the life of the Mother of God Mary (from left to right: Annunciation , Dormition of Mary , Birth of Christ ) and was probably created around 1460. The earlier altarpiece was also originally colored. Both pieces of equipment came in 1802 to the abbey church, which is now used as a parish church.

In the immediate vicinity is an elaborately carved neo-baroque confessional, which was made in 1912 by the Colmar sculptor Theophil Klem. The carvings deal with the biblical story of King David and Bathsheba ( 2 Sam 11  EU ), according to which Bathsheba was the wife of the royal officer Uriah . King David committed adultery with Bathsheba while her husband was on a campaign against the Ammonites . Afterwards, when David found out that Bathsheba had become pregnant by him , he sneakily let Uriah die on the front line so that he could marry Bathsheba. In the Old Testament, this narrative is immediately followed by the “punishment speech of Natan ” in 2 Sam 12  EU , in which the prophet rebukes David's actions and announces the death of the newborn child as divine punishment. Theophil Klem depicts the prophet on the left and King David on the right. A second confessional from Theophil Klem's workshop in Colmar was largely destroyed in the winter of 1944. In 1965, parts of today's high altar were made from the rescued elements of this second confessional. In 1910, Klem also created the neo-baroque organ loft, which is supported by powerful angelic figures making music.

In the back right part of the aisle there are statues from the second half of the 19th century ( Holy Family and Anthony of Padua with modern lily wreaths made of burnished metal) and the second half of the 20th century (statue of St. Joseph ). The large Joseph statue was carved in 1961 by the St. Avold sculptor Helmuth Müller (* 1910 in Elversberg , † 1989 in St. Avold). In 1986, Müller also made a copy of the statue of the Mother of God with Child ("Vierge à la chaise") at St. Avolder's Marienbrunnen, which was stolen in 1973.

The large organ in the gallery above the main entrance is the work of the organ builder Barthélémy Chevreux from the Vosges , who created the work in Saint-Avold between 1770 and 1771. The carvings of the organ case with lush vegetal ornaments, putti making music , massive atlantic figures and crowning flame pots are by Jacques Gounin. Gounin, who carried out numerous sculptural work on behalf of the Counts and Princes of Saarbrücken and the Dukes of Pfalz-Zweibrücken , also carved the wall paneling of the choir and the apse of the Abbey Church of St. Nabor as well as the entrance door under the gallery between 1769 and 1770. The organ was badly damaged by US artillery fire during World War II. The restoration of the instrument by the restorer Yves Koenig was not completed until 1987.

  • Nave facing the apse

  • Nave with a view of the organ gallery

  • Holy grave and Marian retable

  • confessional

  • View from the left aisle into the transept

  • Musician angel of the organ gallery

The neo-baroque painting of the vault by Waldemar Kolmsperger the Elder. Ä. (1852–1943) happened on the initiative of the pastor Nikolaus / Nicolas Dicop and with the mediation of the Munich glass atelier Zettler. Kolmsperger's reference piece was the painting of the dome of the parish church St. Nikolaus in Murnau am Staffelsee in the years 1893 to 1895 with the depiction of the Last Judgment. Kolmsperger's son, Waldemar Kolmsperger the Elder. J. (1881–1954), painted the dome of the neo-baroque Reconciliation Church in Völklingen, a few kilometers from St. Avold, from 1935 to 1937. Waldemar Kolmsperger the Elder Ä. was supported in his work in St. Nabor by his Alsatian son-in-law Franz Xaver Dietrich . The vaults in St. Nabor, framed in lush stucco framing , based on the church entrance, addressed the following topics:

The vaults of the aisles showed angels with the instruments of Jesus' passion. In addition, Kolmsperger added four station images to the already existing St Nabor Way of the Cross from 1860. For the sacristy he painted four pictures about the life of St. Nicholas of Myra , the patron saint of Lorraine and patron saint of the pastor Nikolaus / Nicolas Dicop (“Nicholas is raised to the rank of Bishop of Myra”, “The raising of the cured boys”, “Nicholas distributes bread to the needy ”,“ Death of St. Nicholas ”). The pictures in the sacristy are the only works by Kolmsperger that have survived in St. Nabor. The bishop's room in the St. Avolder rectory was also furnished by Kolmsperger with a painting of St. Nicholas (1.75 m × 0.80 m).

Church window

The current glazing of the former abbey church with a total area of ​​420 square meters was created by the St. Avolder artist Arthur Schouler (1927–1984) in the years 1969 to 1971. Themes are flora and fauna of the divine creation, the four elements , the church and the completion of creation.

Starting from the entrance, Schouler placed the local fauna and flora on the Moselle and Saar ( espalier apples and pears, medlars , mirabelle plums , local birds) on the left and the exotic fauna and flora ( lions , tigers , lyre tails , peacocks , pheasants ) on the right. represent.

In the second yoke, the artist addressed the nocturnal animals ( mice , fox , bats , owls ) on the left and the diurnal animals ( sheep , goats , geese , day birds, bushes and plants) on the right.

The air (left) with rain , snow and swirling leaves, and the earth (right) with streams , herons , storks , frogs and water lilies are the subjects of the third yoke.

In the fourth yoke the sea with fish , mussels , starfish , seahorses , algae and corals are shown on the left and the fire with volcanoes , smoke , sun , planets , thunderstorms and lightning on the right.

The windows of the transept deal with the Eucharist on the left ( miraculous multiplication of bread , manna rain , grapes , wheat , snails , lizards ) and on the right the resurrection of Jesus Christ .

In the two choir yokes are the seed field as a symbol of the spread of the Gospel in the world (with rabbits , cornflowers , poppies , wheat) and a shepherd's scene (with squirrels , butterflies , ivy , pine cones and acorns ) as an allegory of the good shepherdess of Jesus (left) as well as the house of God made of living stones (2.4-10 EU ; with cats , roosters and hens ) and the beloved of the Song of Songs as references to Christ's love for the Christian community (right).

The apse windows depict the descent of the Holy Spirit and thus the foundation of the Christian Church (left; with angels carrying the instruments of suffering ) and the Heavenly Jerusalem (right; with angels making music).

The previous glazing with scenes from the New Testament depicting the virtues of the Gospel was made by the Munich company "Königlich Bayerische Hofglasmalerei Franz Xaver Zettler " in 1910. Zettler had furnished the chapel of the Metz seminary as early as 1907, which is what the St. Avolder priest Nikolaus / Nicolas Dicop noticed and commissioned him to re-glaze St. Nabor in 1909.

Subjects of the glass pictures were:

  • 1st yoke: The parable of the Pharisee and tax collector, ( Lk 18.9–14  EU ), virtue of humility, (left); The parable of the wise and foolish virgins , ( Matthew 25 : 1-13  EU ), virtue of vigilance, (right)
  • 2nd yoke: The parable of the prodigal son , ( Lk 15 : 11–32  EU ), virtue of penitence (left); The parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus | rich man and of poor Lazarus, ( Lk 16,19–31  EU ), virtue of mercy (right)
  • 3rd yoke: The parable of the good Samaritan , ( Lk 10.25-37  EU ), virtue of charity (left); Martha and Maria , ( Lk 10.38–42  EU ), virtue of piety (right)
  • 4th yoke: parable of the good shepherd , ( Jn 10 : 1–16  EU ), virtue of the love of God (left); Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well , ( Joh 4,1-42  EU ), virtue of the salvation of the soul (right)
  • Transept: The Wise Men from the Orient , ( Mt 2  EU ), virtue of faith (left); The resurrection of Jesus, ( Mt 28.1–8  EU ) / ( Mk 16.1–7  EU ) / ( Lk 24.1–7  EU ) / ( Joh 20.1–18  EU ), virtue of hope (right)
  • 1st choir bay: ornamental grisaille painting (left); (right)
  • 2. Chorjoch: St. Fidolin von Säckingen (left); St. Sigebald von Metz (right), made by Thomas Pierron, 1878
  • Apse: Mary and Joseph (left); St. Nabor and St. Sigebald (right), made by the Metz glass manufacturer Laurent-Charles Maréchal (1857)

The neo-baroque motifs and the glazing by Pierron and Maréchal were all destroyed by the US artillery bombardment on November 9, 1944. The window openings were then barely closed until the end of 1944. Emergency glazing made of clear glass was installed in 1946. This emergency glazing lasted until the Schouler windows were installed.

Transept

  • Crucifixion group in the transept

  • Gothic baptismal font in the transept

  • Organ in the transept

  • Nicholas Altar

In the right part of the transept hangs a colorful crucifixion group , which was created around 1500, above the Marien Altar . The cross is flanked by statues of the Virgin Mary (left) and St. John (right). The cross arms are decorated in quatrefoil medallions with the symbols of the four evangelists. The year 1624 indicates the restoration of the cross, which the St. Avold Commendatar Abbot Jean des Porcelets de Maillane , the founder of the village named after him, Porcelette near St. Avold, had commissioned. Jean des Porcelets served as Bishop of Toul from 1609 until his death in 1624, and in 1607 he joined the Abbey of St. Nabor in the monastic association of the Abbey of St. Vitonus et St. Hydulph in Verdun . In the epoch after the Council of Trent, he enabled her to experience a new spiritual and cultural upswing.

The Gothic baptismal font still comes from the former St. Avolder town church St. Peter and Paul. The niche of the left transept has been adorned since 2003 with a restored statue of St. Nicholas of Myra , the patron saint of Lorraine. This baroque wooden sculpture, which was probably made in 1773, also comes from the town church of St. Peter and Paul. At the entrance to the choir area there is part of the neo-baroque pulpit - converted into an ambo - which was manufactured in 1924 by the Boehm company in Mulhouse , Alsace .

The sculpture of the Marian altar was placed in the church in 2012. It comes from the Metz Diocesan Museum and was made in the 18th century.

Choir area

  • Modern celebration altar

  • Ambo from the foot of the former pulpit

  • Oil painting "Crucifixion"

  • Oil painting "Assumption of Mary"

  • Tabernacle door depicting Jesus as the Good Shepherd

  • Wall paneling and choir stalls

  • Detail of the paneling with putto

  • High altar

The center of the wood paneling (4.60 m high) surrounding the entire choir area with the baroque choir stalls (42 choir stalls ) is the high altar, in whose niche is the statue of St. Nabor. The entire ensemble comes from the workshop of the woodcarver Jacques Gounin. The oil painting framed on the right depicts the Assumption of Mary and is attributed to the St. Avolder painter Joseph Melling (1724–1796). The corresponding counterpart by Melling with the Resurrection of Christ, which was attached to the left of the high altar, has been lost since the war year 1944. It was replaced in 2010 by a depiction of the crucifixion based on Anthony van Dyck . The signature of the painting is CRM 1862 d´après van Dyck, the painter was Charles-Raphaël Maréchal (1825–1888) from Metz. It is on loan from the French Ministry of Justice and was in the Metz Palace of Justice from 1869 to 2001 . Under both paintings are exuberant Rococo - sideboards 18th century cherub angels between the curved table legs.

The high altar niche is crowned by an aureole of gold rays and stucco wreaths of clouds, from which seven winged angel heads peek out. In the center, flanked by adoring angels, appears the thorn-ringed and pierced Sacred Heart of Jesus as a symbol of divine love, from which flames rise. The upper part of this altar decoration was removed and destroyed during the reconstruction work after the Second World War as part of a purification measure. The crypt of the abbey church is located under the choir area.

Organs

Main organ

The disposition of the main organ restored in 1987 is as follows:

I Hauptwerk / Grand-Orgue
1. Bourdon 16 ′
2. Montre 8th'
3. Bourdon 8th'
4th Prestant 4 ′
5. Nazard 2 ′ 2/3
6th Duplicate 2 ′
7th Quarte de Nazard 2 ′
8th. Tierce 1 ′ 3/5
9. Grand Cornet V rgs
10. Fittings IV rgs
11. Cymbals III rgs
12. Trumpets 8th'
13. Clairon 4 ′
14th Voix Humaine 8th'
II Rückpositiv / Positif C – g 3
15th Montre 8th'
16. Bourdon 8th'
17th Prestant 4 ′
18th Flute 4 ′
19th Nazard 2 ′ 2/3
20th Duplicate 2 ′
21st Tierce 1 ′ 3/5
22nd Larigot 1 ′ 1/3
23. Fittings III rgs
24. Cymbals II rgs
25th Cromhorne 8th'
26th Hautbois 8th'
III Solo work / Récit
27. Flûte trav. 8th'
28. Cornet V rgs
29 Trumpets 8th'
IV Echowerk / Echo C – g 3
30th Bourdon 8th'
31. Prestant 4 ′
32. Cornet III rgs
33. Chalumeau 8th'
Pedal / Pedale C – f 1
34. Bourdon 16 ′
35. Flute 8th'
36. Prestant 4 ′
37. Bombard 16 ′
38. Trumpets 8th'
39. Clairon 4 ′

Choir organ

The disposition of the choir organ built in 1957 is as follows:

I Hauptwerk / Grand Orgue
1. Montre 8th'
2. Bourdon 8th'
3. Prestant 4 ′
4th Duplicate 2 ′
II Swell / Récit expressif
5. Flûte à cheminée 8th'
6th Flute 4 ′
7th Nazard 2 ′ 2/3
8th. Cymbals II rgs
9. Cromorne 8th'
Pedal / Pedal
10. Sousbasse 16 ′
11. Octavebasse 8th'

Bells

The former abbey church of St. Nabor currently has five bells. The quarter-hour strike occurs through the Marienglocke and Johanna von Orléans bell. The full hours are struck by the Sacred Heart Bell. The Sacred Heart Bell is the only bell that survived the requisitions of the Nazi era. It was cast on August 4, 1920 in Annecy at the "Les Fils de Georges Paccard" foundry and consecrated on November 14, 1920 by the Metz bishop Pelt. The other four bells were cast in the "Louis Bollée" bell foundry in Orléans and consecrated on July 13, 1947. The Marienglocke and Johanna bell are in the north choir flank tower, the Nabor bell and the Benedict bell hang in the south choir flank tower. Of the previous bells, 19 had been requisitioned in the French Revolution, three during the First World War in 1917 and the twenty-four-piece carillon during the Second World War in 1944 as part of the so-called metal donation of the German people .

No. Surname Nominal
(16th note) 		Weight
(kg) 		Diameter
(mm)
1 Sacred Heart of Jesus sol 2 6000 2100
2 Holy Nabor do 3 1918 1460
3 Virgin Mary ré 3 1310 1290
4th Saint Joan of Arc wed 3 962 1150
5 Saint Benedict of Nursia sol 3 518 950

Abbots

The number of abbots who headed the monastery in its millennial history includes more than 50 names. The erroneous list of abbots by Brusch (1682) was improved and continued by Calmet (1728), whose list was taken over and continued in Gallia christiana, vol. 13 (1785). Further additions to the present list, which concern the last decades of the monastery, were made after Calmet (1756), Tribout de Morembert (1979) and Auguste (1934).

  • Adelardus
  • Amandus (I.)
  • Rabigardus
  • Vasco (occupied 787-791)
  • Aldricus
  • Constantine
  • Helpradus
  • Theopertus
  • Villericus
  • Vadolphus
  • Tempertus
  • Nobility mode
  • Rudolphus
  • Albertus
  • Fridericus (I.)
  • Daniel
  • Everardus
  • Guerdinus
  • Richio (occupied 1121)
  • Albericus (occupied 1140–1150)
  • Johannes (I.) (occupied 1165)
  • Tydevinus
  • Godefridus (occupied 1175)
  • Reinerius
  • Bertrannus (occupied 1220)
  • Folmarus (I.) (occupied 1252–1257)
  • Nicolaus (I.) (occupied 1262–1283)
  • Fridericus (II.) (Occupied 1290–1305)
  • Folmarus (II.) (Occupied 1309)
  • John (II.) (Occupied 1313-1314)
  • Folmarus (III.) (Documented 1330–1357)
  • Thillemannus (documented 1363-1373)
  • Conzemanus (occupied 1383–1393)
  • Carolus (occupied 1403)
  • Colinus (occupied 1411)
  • Nicolaus (II.) (Documented 1413-1423)
  • Diedericus (occupied 1427–1457)
  • Ulricus of Vintrange (documented 1458)
  • Adam of Ruplingen (1483–1513)
  • Matthias of St. Maximin (1513–1518)
  • Nicholas of Maes (Nicholas (III) de Sainte-Aldegonde (1518–1532)
  • Henry (I) of Utrecht (until 1545)
  • Valentin du Châtelet (until 1549)
  • Amandus (II.) Of Liège (from 1549)
  • John (III.) Of Saint-Avold (from 1551)
  • John (IV.) Of Koblenz (1571–1578)
  • Johannes (V.) of Trier (from 1578)
  • Nicolaus (IV.) Peltre (from 1598)
  • Marcel Hann von Trier (from 1606)
  • Pulchrone Lavignon (1624-1660)
  • Henry (II.) Henezon (from 1660)
  • Mathieu Galliot (1666–1709)
  • André Royer (1701–1723)
  • Sebastien Mourot (from 1722)
  • Joseph Baudinot (1744–1763)
  • Henri-Ignace Chaumont de La Galaizière ( Commendatar Abbot 1763–1771, represented by Prior Jacques Haxo)
  • Claude Bonnaire (last prior)

Pastor

Since the conversion of the abbey into a parish, St. Nabor has been led by the following pastors:

  • 1802–1841: Jean Nicolas Houllé
  • 1841-1880: Lambert Poncelet
  • 1880–1906: Georg August / Georges Auguste Lemire
  • 1906–1929: Nicolaus / Nicolas Dicop
  • 1929–1930: Joseph Egloff (administrator)
  • 1930–1946: Albert Meyer
  • 1946–1961: Georges Klein
  • 1961–1970: René Stock
  • 1970–1971: François Stocklouser
  • 1971-1980: Jean Boyon
  • 1980–1980: Deniz Hantz (administrator)
  • 1980–1990: Charles Stephan
  • 1990-2001: Bernard Blum
  • 2001–2009: Emile Demmerlé
  • 2009– ad multos annos: Olivier Riboulot

Pilgrimages

The St. Avolder Maria-Hilf-Basilica (Basilique Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours), which emerged from the Walmer Chapel, is located about 600 m above the St. Nabor Abbey on the slope of the Walmer Mountain

Marian pilgrimage

In the 16th century, the St. Nabor Abbey built a chapel on the way to Walmen ("Walmer Chapel", today's Maria-Hilf-Basilika ) as thanks for the fact that the Protestant Reformation could not gain a foothold in St. Avold. The pilgrimage developed more and more, so that the abbey had a new building built by master builders from nearby Saarlouis in 1685. In the turmoil of the French Revolution, the sacred building was completely destroyed by revolutionary supporters in 1793, but the miraculous image was saved and hidden. In the years 1806 to 1806 a new chapel was built and the miraculous image was put up again with a large participation of the population. In 1901 the chapel was enlarged again and on August 31, 1932 Pope Pius XI. the Marian shrine to a minor basilica . Every year there is a Franco-German pilgrimage to St. Avold, during which the relics of St. Nabor will be exhibited in the former abbey church and a subsequent procession to the Maria-Hilf-Basilika will be organized.

Way of St. James

The former abbey church is a stop on the Way of St. James from Worms to Metz , which is organized by the St. James Society (Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland).

literature

- in alphabetic order -

  • Kaspar Brusch: Chronologia monasteriorum Germaniae praecipuorum ac maxime illustrium: in qua origines, annales ac celebriora cujusque monumenta bona fide recensentur, Sulzbach 1682, pp. 473-475.
  • Georg Dehio: Handbook of German Art Monuments, Volume 4, Southwest Germany, Berlin 1911, p. 347.
  • Pascal Flaus, Daniela Dorner, Jörg Sämann: The former Abbey of Sankt Nabor, ed. from the Office de tourisme Saint-Avold, St. Avold o. J.
  • Stefan Flesch: The monastic written culture of the Saar region in the Middle Ages (publications by the Commission for Saarland State History and Folk Research 20), Saarbrücken 1991, pp. 72–79. on-line
  • Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Poetae 5, pp. 378-386. on-line
  • André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015.
  • Henri Tribout de Morembert: Manuscrits de l'abbaye de Saint-Avold VIIIe – XIe siècle . In: Saint Chrodegang. Communications présentées au colloque tenu à Metz à l'occasion du 12e centenaire de sa mort (1967) 183–201. on-line

Web links

Commons : Saint-Nabor Abbey  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual proof

  1. ↑ Klaus Schmitt: The Catholic Church of St. Stephanus Sausenheim , Sommer Verlag, Grünstadt, 1999
  2. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, p. 15.
  3. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, pp. 9–15.
  4. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, pp. 19-20, 34-50.
  5. ↑ Eglise Saint-Nabor on Monuments historiques
  6. ↑ Monumenta Germaniae Historica , Poetae 5, pp. 378-386.
  7. ↑ Stefan Flesch: The monastic writing culture of the Saar region in the Middle Ages. Saarbrücken 1991, pp. 72-78.
  8. ^ Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France Lat. 8088, fol. 198v , accessed May 18, 2019.
  9. ↑ Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Poetae 5, p. 380.
  10. ^ Henri Tribout de Morembert: Manuscrits de l'abbaye de Saint-Avold VIIIe-XIe siècle. In: Saint Chrodegang, Communications présentées au colloque tenu à Metz à l'occasion du 12e centenaire de sa mort. Metz 1967, pp. 183-201, here pp. 185-187.
  11. ↑ Stefan Flesch: The monastic writing culture of the Saar region in the Middle Ages, Saarbrücken 1991, p. 78 f.
  12. ↑ CLA VII 861 , accessed on May 18, 2019.
  13. ↑ Bernhard Bischoff, Birgit Ebersperger: Catalog of the mainland manuscripts of the ninth century (with the exception of the wisigothic) part 1. Aachen - Lambach , ed. from the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Commission for the publication of the medieval library catalogs in Germany and Switzerland, Wiesbaden 1998, No. 570.
  14. ↑ Bernard Becker (using research by Gérard Michaux and Denis Metzger): Les livres à Saint-Avold au siècle des lumières, ed. by the Société d'Histoire du Pays Naborien (Les dossiers de la Société d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, No. 54); http://www.shpn.fr/page107/page107.html , accessed May 22, 2019.
  15. ↑ Gérard Michaux: L'abbaye de Saint-Avold au siècle des Lumières, in: Les Cahiers lorrains, No. 3, September 1997.
  16. ↑ Denis Metzger: Livres, bibliothèques et lecture à Saint-Avold au XVIIIe siècle, Académie nationale de Metz, Mémoires 1999.
  17. ^ Pierre Lallemand and Michel Noël: Pont-à-Mousson, Lyon 1968.
  18. ^ Michael Hesse: Classical architecture in France; Churches, castles, gardens, cities, 1600–1800, Darmstadt 2004, p. 49f.
  19. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, pp. 16, 35.
  20. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, p. 84.
  21. ↑ Aurélien Davrius: Metz in the 17th and 18th Centuries, Towards Urban Planning of the Enlightenment (Éditions du patrimoine, Center des monuments nationaux), Paris 2014, pp. 36–39.
  22. ↑ Georg Dehio: Handbuch der deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Volume 4, Südwestdeutschland, Berlin 1911, p. 347.
  23. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, p. 142.
  24. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, pp. 148–149.
  25. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, pp. 178–192.
  26. ↑ http://www.st-nikolaus-murnau.de/kirchen/st-nikolaus-in-murnau.html , accessed on May 24, 2019.
  27. ^ André Pichler et Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux (Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien), Merzig 2015, pp. 110–114.
  28. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, pp. 164–168, 197.
  29. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, pp. 109–110, 142.
  30. ↑ Pascal Flaus, Daniela Dorner, Jörg Sämann: The former Abbey of Sankt Nabor, ed. from the Office de tourisme Saint-Avold, St. Avold o. J.
  31. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, SS 178–192.
  32. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, SS 178–192.
  33. ↑ orgue.free.fr accessed on May 16, 2019.
  34. ↑ orgue.free.fr accessed on May 16, 2019.
  35. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, pp. 197–198.
  36. ↑ Kaspar Brusch: Chronologia monasteriorum Germaniae praecipuorum ac maxime illustrium: in qua origines, annales ac celebriora cujusque monumenta bona fide recensentur, Sulzbach 1682, pp. 473-475.
  37. ^ Augustin Calmet: Histoire ecclésiastique et civile de Lorraine, Vol. 3 (1728) Column LXIII-LXVIII.
  38. ↑ Gallia christiana, in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa, In qua series et historia archiepiscoporum, episcoporum et abbatum regionum omnium quas vetus gallia complectebatur, from origine ecclesiarum ad nostra tempora deducitur, & probatur ex authenticis instrumentis ad calcem appositis. Opera & studio monachorum congregationis S. Mauri ordinis S. Benedicti, Tomus XIII, pars secunda, ubi des provinciis Tolosa & Trevirensi agitur, Paris 1785, col. 838-841.
  39. ↑ Augustin Calmet: Notice de la Lorraine, Vol. 1 (1756), column 41.
  40. ^ Henri Tribout de Morembert: L'abbaye bénédictine de Saint-Avold sous l'abbatiat d'Henri-Ignace Chaumont de La Galaizière - 1763-1771 . Annuaire de la Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de la Lorraine 79 (1979) 115-127.
  41. ^ J. Auguste: La bibliothèque de l'ancienne abbaye bénédictine de Saint-Avold . Annuaire de la Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de la Lorraine 43 (1934) 425–437, here p. 429 f. and 437.
  42. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015.
  43. ^ André Pichler, Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux. Societé d'Histoire du Pays Naborien, Merzig 2015, pp. 205–230.
  44. ↑ Monastery route Worms - Metz

Coordinates: 49 ° 6 ′ 11.8 "  N , 6 ° 42 ′ 35.5"  E