Coesfeld Cross (crucifix)
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The Coesfeld Cross is a forked cross that is located in the Coesfeld parish church of St. Lamberti .
It is the largest of its kind in Germany and is particularly impressive because of the particularly clear representation of the suffering . The cross is 3.24 m high and 1.94 m wide, while the Christ figure is 2.09 m tall with an arm span of 1.84 m. The body of the crucifix, created in the 14th century by an unknown artist, is carved from walnut wood; from a single trunk at least 48 cm in diameter, while the artist used oak wood for both arms, cross trunk and cross beam. The surface, which is now smooth, was originally much more three-dimensional with veins or wounds formed from primer and also colored. The head looks a bit smaller today, as the hair modeled from tow and glue is no longer there. In the left chest as well as in the head there are cavities to accommodate various relics , including a cross relic , so that the Coesfeld Cross was considered “miraculous” from an early age and became a destination for pilgrimages . A cross relic is still the center of the cult today. In addition to the costumes of the cross, the decoration of the streets or houses with flags and pennants, which is customary elsewhere on comparable occasions in regions characterized by denominational Catholicism, can still be found on some sections of the processional path.
The historical development of the cult around the Coesfeld Cross
A letter of indulgence dated July 1, 1312, in which the participants of the cross dress are granted a special indulgence, is considered an early testimony to the veneration of the cross in Coesfeld . As a result, the pilgrimage experienced a significant upswing, so that donations and offerings in favor of St. Piled cross. In 1359 an annual pension of 2 shillings, with which votive candles in honor of the Coesfeld Cross were to be financed, was donated and since 1425 a " Brotherhood of the Holy Cross" can be proven. Even in the religious turmoil of the 16th century, reformatory -minded pastors did not succeed in preventing the common people from worshiping the cult image. The temporary decline only began with the attacks by Spanish and Dutch mercenaries on the western Münsterland at the time of the Eighty Years War and the associated plundering and impoverishment of the population. The occupation of Coesfeld by the (Protestant) Hessians in 1633 brought a low point, which brought cult and pilgrimage to a standstill. On February 25, 1634, Hessian ( Calvinist ) soldiers came into possession of the Coesfeld Cross and "used it to make fun of the officers". Only a year later did it come back into the possession of the citizens of Coesfeld, who from then on hid the cross in the attic of a house on the market. Four years after the end of the Thirty Years War , the Hessians remained in the city as occupiers until they agreed to withdraw in 1652, after Prince-Bishop Christoph Bernhard von Galen bought this with a large sum of money.
Folk tradition about the hiding place of the Coesfeld cross in the Hessian era:
According to tradition, the Coesfeld cross is said to have been hidden “in the attic of the Höcke house on the market” . Note: The exact location cannot be proven anywhere, but the house at Markt 3, which is dated 1744 but has older buildings in the rear, had an inscription / reference to a shop or a craft business in photographs from the immediate prewar period "Höcke". Whether this or this was in that house or whether the reference was made to the neighboring building (which was demolished today) cannot be proven either. Nor is it known whether the name "Höcke" refers to the owner of the house at the time of the Thirty Years' War, or whether it refers to the house that was called "Haus Höcke" in the recent past and this inscription at that time wore. Since the term "Haus Höcke" is only found in more recent literature on the Coesfeld Cross, the latter will probably be meant and so the traditionally traditional place can be at least roughly localized, even if not with absolute evidence.
The prince-bishop supported the pilgrimage financially and ideally by personally taking part in the costumes of the cross and arranging a large, solemn annual thanksgiving procession ("Hessenutjacht") on Whitsun around the ramparts of the city of Coesfeld, donating a new cross altar in St. Lamberti and the so-called " Great Way of the Cross ”. After the death of Galens, another decline set in, fire disasters again impoverished the citizens, so that at this time probably no more processions took place and although Pope Benedict XIII. on June 23, 1727 granted a perfect indulgence to all admirers of the Coesfeld Cross, it was rarely visited as a pilgrimage destination. Only the great jubilee of the cross in 1756 initiated an upswing again. The other jubilees of the cross in 1806, 1850 (!) And even more so the jubilee in 1902 after overcoming the Kulturkampf in the context of political Catholicism or Catholic. Milieus caused the number of foreign pilgrims from the area to rise again sharply. Even the National Socialism was initially unable to push back participation in the cross costumes and processions, until on May 12, 1940 all processions were forbidden "for air protection reasons". The first cross celebrations after the war took place again at Whitsun 1945, however, due to the destruction of Coesfeld in March 1945, there was still no cross dress; there was only one such again in 1946. The next anniversary in 1950 could again be celebrated unmolested, but since that time the Coesfeld Cross is no longer the destination of external processions as it was in 1902. Since 1982 the Coesfeld Cross has remained in the Lamberti Church for conservation reasons; a replica was made for the processions. The last jubilee of the cross took place in 2000, taking into account changed social conditions and ecumenical contacts.
The cross in an upward perspective.
Relic compartment in the chest.
St. Lamberti with the Coesfeld Cross in the choir.
Devotional note on the anniversary of the Cross in 1806.
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The "Little Cross Costume"
The "Small Cross Costume" is the procession with the Coesfeld Cross, initiated by Christoph Bernhard von Galen, in memory of the Hessians' departure ("Hessen-Utjagd") and takes place on Whit Monday to this day. In contrast to the Great Cross costume, it is a procession with the Holy of Holies and leads over the promenade surrounding Coesfeld city center (former fortress walls ), with blessing altars being erected at four former city gates . The blessing altars are at the Walkenbrückentor, where the procession leaves the old town and turns onto the ramparts, at the former Letter Gate, the former Süringtor and the former Neutor, from where the procession ends again through the old town. While this procession was a splendid staging in the times of the prince-bishops, the exterior is rather simple nowadays, for example the accompaniment by a music band, which is "normally still obligatory" for processions, is dispensed with.
The "Great Cross Costume"
The "Great Cross Costume" was originally a procession with the Coesfeld Cross, which led along the borders of the farmers belonging to Coesfeld. It lasted two days and covered a distance of about twenty kilometers before the Way of the Cross, built for this purpose by Prince-Bishop Christoph Bernhard von Galen, could be used. Until the middle of the 17th century, the Great Cross costume took place on Whit Monday . Then the bishop arranged for it to be rescheduled to Pentecost Tuesday. This date lasted until 1996, in 1997 the Great Cross Costume took place for the first time on the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14th). In earlier years the Coesfeld Cross was hung with silver votive offerings on the occasion of the cross costumes. This is now only practiced in exceptional cases on special occasions, such as B. 1997 in connection with the 800th anniversary of the city of Coesfeld, the jubilee of the cross in 2000 and the 350th anniversary of the Great Cross of the Cross in 2009. Also for the Great Cross costume in 2012, due to the anniversary of the 700th first documentary mention of the Coesfeld Cross, the Processional cross hung with the silver votive offerings. In some years the Great Cross costume is accompanied by a band. A festive mass is held at the small chapel; in earlier years a sermon was held there and a high mass was held at the large chapel. In the times of the prince-bishops, when the cross costume returned to the city, the Ludgerusburg salute was fired.
The "Great Way of the Cross"
In 1659, Christoph Bernhard von Galen donated the Great Way of the Cross as a processional way for the Great Cross costume but also as a classic Way of the Cross , as is still common in the Catholic Church today, but with eighteen instead of the normal 14 stations. The path forms a square and is probably around ten kilometers long. The cornerstones form the St. Lamberti Church in the center of the city, the so-called "White Cross" (Baroque, around 1720) on Borkener Straße ( K 46 ), from there the Way of the Cross is its own path ( avenue ) to "little chapel" in the peasantry Sirksfeld and the "big band" to it via the Holtwicker road ( B 474 back) to Coesfeld. In between are the individual stations of the cross made of Baumberger sandstone , the older ones with triangular gables come from the workshop of Peter Pictorius (17th century) and the younger ones with a curved gable from 1705 were created by masters of the Rendeles-Sasse workshop. Unfortunately, not all stations have been preserved, the station on the corner of Wertchenstrasse and Borkener Strasse fell victim to the bombing of March 23, 1945, and the station on Holtwicker Strasse, which was also destroyed in World War II, was restored in 1995.
St. Lamberti am Markt is the start and end point of the Great Way of the Cross (first and fourth corner points).
Newer station from the Rendeles-Sasse workshop (Borkener Straße)
White cross - first corner point.
The Way of the Cross avenue
The small chapel - second corner point.
Older station of Pictorius
Large chapel outside - third corner point.
Big chapel inside.
particularities
- From April 2 to July 1, 1968, the Coesfeld Cross was one of the few pieces from Germany that was part of the exhibition “L'Europe Gothique. XIIe - XIVe Siècles. Douzième Exposition du Conseil de l'Europe ”in the Musée du Louvre , Paris 1968. Afterwards, a thorough restoration financed by the lender was carried out.
People in connection with the Coesfeld Cross
- Christoph Bernhard von Galen (had the Great Way of the Cross built)
- Anna Katharina Emmerick and Clemens Brentano
- Clemens August Graf von Galen (took part in the cross costume in 1935 as a demonstrative political commitment)
Web links
- Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe: Great Way of the Cross Coesfeld in LWL geodata culture
Literature and Sources
- Daniel Hörnemann: The Coesfeld Cross . Dialogverlag , Münster 2000, ISBN 3-933144-29-9 .
- Hüsing, Pastor: The Holy Cross in the St. Lamberti Church . 7th edition. J. Fleißig, Coesfeld 1950.
- Photography (from the time of the Third Reich) in the Coesfeld City Museum
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.lamberti-coe.de/images/Publikandum/A17-0987_A17-0987_Kath._Kirchengemeinde_St._Lamberti_Pfarrbrief.pdf 2017: accompaniment of the Coesfeld town band
Coordinates: 51 ° 56 ′ 45.4 ″ N , 7 ° 10 ′ 7.5 ″ E