Augustinus Winkelmann

Augustinus Winkelmann (born April 23, 1881 in Amelsbüren , † December 26, 1954 in Marienthal near Hamminkeln ) was a Catholic priest and founder of a center for contemporary sacred art in Marienthal Abbey on the Lower Rhine .

Life

Augustinus Winkelmann was born on Gut Köbbing in Amelsbüren in the Münsterland. After graduating from high school Paulinum in Münster , he began to study philosophy at the University of Innsbruck in 1902 . He became an active member of the KStV Rhenania Innsbruck in KV . Winkelmann, whose grandmother was French, continued his philosophy studies in 1902/03 at the Sorbonne in Paris at the Faculte des Lettres . Here Winkelmann was shaped by the work of the French poet Paul Claudel .

In 1903 he began studying theology in Münster, which he soon continued in Würzburg with Professor Herman Schell , whose writings , some of which were indexed, kept Winkelmann busy for life. He also corresponded intensively with the employees of the magazine Hochland, founded by Carl Muth in 1903 .

In 1906 Winkelmann entered the seminary in Münster (Westphalia) and was ordained a priest on May 25, 1907 in the cathedral in Münster. After pastoral work in Kleve , Kaplan Winkelmann was transferred to Nieukerk near Geldern on the Lower Rhine in 1920 . Here he established contacts with the Arts and Crafts School in Krefeld to Heinrich Dieckmann , he organized for the young artists in the Nachkriegsnotzeit holiday stays on farms.

In 1924 Winkelmann was appointed pastor of St. Maria Himmelfahrt in the rural Marienthal (today a district of Hamminkeln ). Here he was able to achieve his two great goals, the development of church youth work and the renewal of contemporary sacred art, for over a quarter of a century.

Winkelmann retired on September 2, 1950. He stayed in Marienthal, where he died of heart failure on December 26, 1954. According to his request, he was buried to the right of the entrance to the Marienthal parish church.

Life's work

One of Winkelmann's concerns was church youth work and the renewal of the forms of worship, strongly influenced by the writings of Romano Guardini and the Catholic Quickborn movement . The activity radiated into the region and Marienthal became a popular attraction for Christian youth groups, especially during the National Socialist era. This was forbidden by the Gestapo from 1941 , whereby the cell wing of the former monastery, which served as accommodation for the youth groups, was sealed. After the war, young people and evacuees from the destroyed Wesel found accommodation here.

The second focus of Winkelmann's work was the introduction of contemporary artists to sacred space and the renewal of church art. The basis for Winkelmann's success was the patronage of the Prussian state over the former monastery complex and parish church in Marienthal and the support of the Prussian Ministry of Culture. This gave Winkelmann more freedom to design the church and cemetery than in a normal community.

Contacts with Professors Jan Thorn Prikker , Heinrich Nauen and Heinrich Campendonk from the Art Academy in Düsseldorf ensured that numerous young artists, especially those of Rhenish Expressionism, came to Marienthal and created works in the church, in the former monk cells and in the cemetery. The artistic tombs show that the parish also supported Winkelmann's ideas. During the time of National Socialism , Winkelmann offered jobs to artists who had been banned from working.

In a quarter of a century Marienthal developed into an important place of sacred art on the Lower Rhine.

Artists and works of art in Marienthal

Thanks to his connections, Winkelmann was able to attract many young artists to Marienthal, who created expressive works of art in the parish church, in the monastery building and in the cemetery:

• Heinrich Dieckmann's choir window The Risen One (1926)
• the cloister window Crucifixion by Heinrich Campendonk (1926/27)
• Church window (Descent from the Cross and Annunciation) on the north wall by Anton Wendling (1927)
• Mural by Josef Strater: Entombment of Christ in the cell wing (1926) and Tau cross in the choir (1930/31), scenes from the Vita of Augustine in a monk's cell (1927)
• Skylight window in a cloister cell by Jan Thorn-Prikker (1928),
• the wrought iron cemetery gate by Georg Hertel (1929),
• the grave reaper with sickle and sheaf (1929–31) and portal sculptures by Jupp Rübsam (1939)
• Eugen Senge-Platten with the angel at the entrance to the church (1937)
• the head of Christ in the church wall by Johann Tefert (1937)
• a tapestry in the choir by Trude Dinnendahl-Benning (1940/41)
• the glass window Expulsion on Paradise (1949) and the bronze portal to the church by Edwin Scharff (1945–1947)

He encouraged Hildegard Bienen on her way to becoming a visual artist. She created many tombs and the door of the funeral hall in the monastery cemetery.

Trivia

The village street leading past the parish church is called “Pastor-Winkelmann-Straße”.

literature

• Johannes Ramackers: Marienthal. History and art of the first German Augustinian monastery. Rhenish picture book No. 6, Augustinus-Verlag, Würzburg 1954.
• Augustinus Winkelmann: On the history of the New Art and its symbolism in Marienthal. In Johannes Ramackers: Marienthal. Wuerzburg 1954.
• Bernhard Roßhoff : Augustinus Winkelmann. In: home calendar of the Wesel district . Wesel 1981, pages 69-76.
• Robert Jauch in Siegfried Koß, Wolfgang Löhr (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon des KV. 2nd part (= Revocatio historiae. Volume 3). SH-Verlag, Schernfeld 1993, ISBN 3-923621-98-1 , p. 122f.
• 650 years of the Marienthal Monastery Church of St. Mary's Assumption 1345-1995. Festschrift. Marienthal, undated
• Ekkart Sauser :  WINKELMANN, Augustine. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 1401-1403.
• P. Robert Jauch OFM (Marienthal): Pastor Augustinus Winkelmann. In: Xanten lectures on the history of the Lower Rhine 1996–1998, Duisburg 1998, pp. 9–36.
• Heinrich Janssen / Udo Grote (ed.): Two millennia history of the church on the Lower Rhine. Munster 2001.
• Diethelm Röhnisch: Selected examples of glass painting in the XX. Century in the Wesel district - from Johan Thorn-Prikker to Wilhelm Buschulte . In the yearbook Wesel District 2002; Mercator-Verlag Duisburg 2001, pages 190-198
• Martin Segers: The cemetery at the Marienthal monastery church. Schnell und Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2003.
• Martin Segers, Peter Schröder: Marienthal. Schnell and Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2009.
• Matthias Brenken: The real light came into the world - the windows of the monastery church Marienthal , Verlag Schnell und Steiner, Regensburg 2010.

Web links

• City of Hamminkeln - churches - Marienthal monastery church
• www.edwin-scharff.de