All Saints Chapel (Frankfurt am Main)

The All Saints Chapel on the Merian plan from 1628

The All Saints Gate with the All Saints Chapel

The All Saints Chapel was a Gothic chapel donated in 1366 in the eastern Neustadt of Frankfurt am Main . It was located near the Rieder Tor of the Frankfurt city fortifications , which was later named Allerheiligentor after the chapel . The All Saints' Gate and the Allerheiligengasse, which is also named after it, still remind of the chapel, which was demolished in 1730.

In 1922, a new Catholic parish was founded in Ostend, east of the All Saints Gate , the All Saints Parish . In 1953, the community received its own church at the Frankfurt Zoo , which was named All Saints Church .

history

In 1366 the Frankfurt patrician Jakob Neuhauß donated a small chapel with the consent of the Bartholomäusstift . It was the first place of worship in this part of the city, which after the second city expansion approved by Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian in 1333 had developed into a residential area for small craftsmen. The founder had entered the clergy three years earlier after the death of his wife at a ripe old age.

At his request, Neuhauß received on September 12, 1366 from the Bartholomäusstift the privilege, transferable to his heirs, to appoint the clergy at the chapel. Only after 12 consecutive appointments should this right revert to the pen. In 1367 the Archbishop of Mainz Gerlach von Nassau consecrated the chapel. Neuhauß died on All Saints' Day in 1369 and was buried in his chapel. The now no longer preserved epitaph was described by the Frankfurt chronicler Achilles Augustus von Lersner in the early 18th century: “He himself is carved in stone, holding the shape of the churches in the Lincken and holding a chalice in his right hand, with the inscription: Anno Domini MCCCLXIX in the omnium Sct. † Dns. Johannes dictus zum Neuenhauß, fundator hujus Ecclesiae carip "

In 1380, the Cardinal Legate Pius granted the chapel the privilege that services could be held in it in the event of a papal interdict imposed on the city , provided that the doors remained closed. Today it is no longer possible to determine which connections allowed the Neuhauß family to obtain such an unusual privilege for such a small chapel.

In 1392 the chapel was expanded and a second altar was placed inside in honor of St. Wendelin . He was the patron saint of shepherds , peasants, farmers , day laborers and farm workers . Certain conclusions can be drawn from this about the population in the new town, which was still very loosely built at the time and where mainly agricultural work was carried out. The most common occupations were gardeners and winegrowers . 1398 all was that the maintenance of the church, their altars and related hospice to contribute, a drain assured.

In accordance with the wishes of the ancestor, the following generations of the Neuhaus family also looked after the family chapel, the spiritual members of the family as priests , the secular as carers or even as builders . Only after the Peterskirche , located in the northern part of the New Town, was elevated to a parish church in 1452, the All Saints Chapel lost its importance. In the same year, the wealthy merchant Konrad Neuhaus donated two altars, one dedicated to Saints John and James , the other to Saints Barbara and Katharina . From then on, the building remained essentially the Neuhauß family's private chapel. On August 7, 1520 Georg Neuhauß was the last to be buried in the chapel according to the old Catholic rite. Soon after, most of the family members adopted the Protestant creed, which was introduced across the city in 1533. As a result, they also removed all images and objects reminiscent of Catholicism . After that, the chapel was probably only used sporadically for spiritual purposes, for example between 1555 and 1559, when it was temporarily made available as a place of worship to English Protestants who had fled.

The Neuhauß family eventually lost interest in the chapel and, much to the displeasure of the council, let it deteriorate more and more. Most recently, the patrician Nicolaus Greiff , who was married to a Neuhaus, gave the order to thoroughly repair the church in 1589 at his own expense, after it had suffered badly during the siege of 1552. This was documented with the following inscription on the outer wall of the church: Muros hos partim obsidionis | tempore demolitos, partim | vetustate consumptos | Nicolaus Greiff restau- | ravit. Anno MDLXXXIX.

Draft of the new building, which was never carried out, around 1730

During the Fettmilch uprising in 1612, the problem was discussed in public for the first time between representatives of the citizenship and the council, in 1674 and 1690 the associated quarter B, concerned about the structural condition, applied for renovation. In 1708 the council finally intervened and called on Mr. von Fischbach, who had married the last Neuhauß, to restore the church, otherwise he would confiscate it and the associated benefices . Fischbach cleverly evaded this demand by threatening to give the church to the Prussians or even the Catholic Austrians - an unacceptable idea for the council. It was not until 1721, after Fischbach's death, that a comparison with his heirs was made. The church became the property of the city, which in return undertook to renovate it and put it back into operation for Protestant worship.

However, the council did not tackle this project until 1728, when the dilapidated chapel and the surrounding area were cleared and a crack was made for the planned new building. It was demolished in 1730 and the stones were piled up in the churchyard, which had not been used for a long time . After a further ten years, the council decided to rebuild at the request of the Evangelical Lutheran Consistory , which deemed a new building to be necessary. It should be financed through a collection . Although this already resulted in the capital stock of 2,700 guilders and Justina Catharina Steffan von Cronstetten had promised another 1,500 guilders, the new building ultimately never came about. Preserved plans from 1738 show a small baroque hall church with a tower in the middle. In 1751 the money from the collection was collected by the city, and the interest was used to teach the ignorant about Christianity . Ultimately, the Katharinenkirche from 1681 remained the only baroque new building of a Protestant church in Frankfurt.

literature

• Fried Lübbecke : The face of the city. According to Frankfurt's plans by Faber, Merian and Delkeskamp. 1552-1864 . Waldemar Kramer publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1952
• Hans Pehl: Churches and chapels in old Frankfurt . Edited and reissued by Hans-Otto Schembs . Frankfurt am Main 1984. Josef Knecht Verlag, ISBN 3-7820-0508-2
• Carl Wolff, Rudolf Jung: The architectural monuments of Frankfurt am Main - Volume 1, church buildings . Self-published / Völcker, Frankfurt am Main 1896

References and comments

1. ↑ The Latin words mean "In the year of the Lord 1369 on the day of All Saints, Mr. Johannes died called zum Neuenhauß, founder of this church, whose soul may rest in peace."
2. ↑ "These walls, which were partly damaged during the siege and partly worn out by age, were restored by Nicolaus Greiff. In 1589. "

Web links

Commons : Allerheiligenkapelle (Frankfurt)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 47.4 "  N , 8 ° 41 ′ 32.6"  E