Franciscan monastery Kempen
The Franziskanerkloster Kempen is a secularized monastery in Kempen on the Lower Rhine . It existed from 1624 until its dissolution in 1802.
history
The history of the founding of the Franciscan monastery in Kempen is known in detail from preserved contemporary chronicles. The most important sources for this include the city history of Johann Wilmius, who himself was involved in the establishment, the Kempens parish chronicle in the Kempen city archive and the so-called provincial annals, which came to the Düsseldorf university library with the Binterims estate . The city archive of Düren also houses a chronicle of the Cologne Order , which is believed to have been written by Father Jakob Polius.
prehistory
After sporadic visits by brothers of the Franciscan Order of Strict Observance from the monastery founded in 1488 in the Westphalian Dorsten , who came to the Lower Rhine for pastoral care , a separate monastery was founded in Kempen in 1624. The observants were supported by the Archbishop of Cologne , Ferdinand , who wanted to strengthen the Counter-Reformation he initiated on the Lower Rhine with the help of the order .
The plans to found the monastery in Kempen became concrete when in February 1624 lockmaker Nikolaus Halver bequeathed his house to the Venlo Franciscan monastery, founded in 1612 . The Venlo friars found the building on Peterstrasse, which bordered the hospital , too small for a convent , and they rejected the castle maker's legacy. At the instigation of Johann Wilmius, an episcopal commissioner and confessor Halvers, and the Franciscan Father Edmundus Sylvius from the Brühl convent , who came from Kempen, contact was made with the vicar of the Franciscan monastery in Düren , Henricus Laurentius. This was commissioned in writing on May 8, 1624 by the General Commissioner of the Observants Joseph Bergaigne to contact the city council of Kempen. On May 31, 1624, Archbishop Ferdinand officially approved the founding of a monastery in Kempen, whereby Father Laurentius was also appointed first superior . Laurentius then moved into the Halver House in Peterstrasse with another Franciscan, Brother Adam Lammersdorf. The church made the hospital chapel , the Heilig-Geist-Kapelle am Buttermarkt, available to the brothers as a temporary house of prayer .
First construction phase (1624-1640)
The blacksmith's house was also too small for Father Laurentius and unsuitable for the needs of a religious establishment. The observants therefore sold the house in Peterstrasse and, with the proceeds and additional donations, bought the Katharienenhof, a more spacious house that belonged to the Gladbach Abbey, for 700 thalers on August 11, 1624 . With the help of further donations and the financial support of the Archbishop of Cologne, master builder Leonard Latom from the market town of St. Thönis, today's Tönisvorst , was commissioned to build a convent. On November 25, 1625, the day of remembrance of St. Catherine , the patron saint of the monastery, the construction of an oratory could begin. In a second construction phase, additional monastery buildings were built between 1627 and 1630 under builder Jodocus. The observants raised the financial means for this primarily from bequests and donations from wealthy clerics such as the Linner pastor Friedrich Reinsch, who supported the construction with more than 2000 thalers. On July 14, 1630, the observants were able to move out of the Katharienenhof into the new convent building.
From 1631 a third construction phase was followed by the construction of a separate monastery church , which was completed in 1640. This ended the first phase of construction of the monastery. In addition to the convent buildings with a cloister and the monastery church with sacristy , the monastery complex also included a chapter house and a guest house. Plans or drawings of this first Franciscan Observant monastery in Kempen have not survived. Information about the appearance of the convent can only be provided archaeologically .
The monastery church (Kath. Rektoratskirche St. Katharina)
At the beginning of their settlement in Kempen, the friars still used the hospital chapel on Buttermarkt for their services, but in 1631 they began building their own monastery church, the so-called Father's Church. The foundation stone was laid on May 20, 1630. Due to difficulties in obtaining materials due to the war , the construction was delayed several times. In 1638 the exterior work was finished, so that after the winter break in May 1639 the interior work could begin. On August 29, 1640, Elector Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg , Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück , consecrated the monastery church.
The Paterskirche is a single nave hall church with an elongated choir and cross vaults . In 1748 it was rebuilt in the Baroque style and provided with high-quality furnishings by Kurkölner craftsmen. The baroque inventory that has been preserved also includes the magnificent high altar , which shows a statue of St. Catherine in addition to a figure of Mary. Both statues come from the workshop of the Flemish painter and sculptor family Quellinus .
In the course of the dissolution of the convent ordered by the French in 1802, the monastery church was also secularized . Just two years later, the building was consecrated again as the Catholic Rectorate Church of St. Katharina .
Second construction phase (1746–1748)
In the middle of the 18th century, the structure of the monastery complex was in a desolate state. When Clemens August I visited Kempen on August 5-11, 1745, the elector promised financial support for the modernization of the dilapidated monastery buildings. After a partial demolition, it was completely rebuilt in the Baroque style from 1746 to 1748. The builder in charge was Hermann Bantes, about whom very little is known. The facilities of the monastery included richly decorated stucco ceilings, some of which have been preserved on the ground floor and can be seen in the rooms of the Kramer Museum.
Todays use
After the secularization by the French in 1802, the monastery buildings were first used as a hospital, later as a school, tax office and district administration. The Thomaeum grammar school was temporarily housed here. Today it houses the city Kramer Museum , the city library and the Thomas archive. In the Thomas archive there are also some volumes from Jacob Streidthoven's library. Streidthoven, who died on August 12, 1627, was pastor in Kempen and head of the hospital. He has a special role in financing the first monastery building. So he collected donations every day and donated all of his private fortune.
archeology
In the course of a redesign of the cloister courtyard in 1987 an access shaft was discovered in the center of the courtyard and archaeologically examined. The shaft led into a 4.5 x 3.0 meter walled room, which is covered by a barrel vault. Clay pipes lead to the underground space. The function of the room is unclear. A lack of a watertight base does not seem to allow an interpretation as a cistern . It would also be conceivable that this is a drainage shaft. The building is dated to the phase of the new monastery building from 1746/48.
The finds from the archaeological investigations are now in the municipal Kramer Museum and in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn .
Monument protection
The area of the monastery is a ground monument according to the law for the protection and care of monuments in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Monument Protection Act - DSchG) . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.
literature
- Georg Dehio , Ernst Gall : Handbook of German art monuments. North Rhine-Westphalia, I. Rhineland. Deutscher Kunstverlag , Munich 1967, p. 278.
- Elisabeth Friese: The Franciscans in Kempen . In this. (Ed.): Soli Deo gloria. The Museum for Lower Rhine Sacred Art in the Peterskirche Kempen . Kulturforum Franziskanerkloster Kempen, Kempen 2005, ISBN 3-89355-945-0 , pp. 13–34. With attachment: List of the guardians and monks in the Kempen Franciscan monastery as well as the Franciscans from Kempen .
- Vera Lüpkes: The former Franciscan monastery in Kempen. In: Friedhelm Weinforth (Ed.): Campunni - Kempen. History of a Lower Rhine City - Essays -. District Viersen, Viersen 1993, ISBN 3-928441-16-7 , pp. 421-442.
- Heinrich Hermann Roth: The monasteries of the Franciscan recollects in the old Archdiocese of Cologne. in: Annals of the Historical Association for the Lower Rhine 94, 1913, pp. 68-134.
- Ulrich Stevens, Friedhelm Weinforth: City of Kempen on the Lower Rhine. Rhenish Association for Monument Preservation and Landscape Protection , Rheinische Kunststätten , issue 44, Neuss 1989, ISBN 3-88094-645-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Düren City Archives, File 34
- ↑ Lüpkes 1993, p. 421f.
- ↑ Düren City Archives File 34, Sheet 1.
- ^ Kempen City Archives, Schüller Collection.
- ↑ Lüpkes 1993, p. 430.
- ↑ Bonner Jahrbücher, Volume 189, 1989, pp. 431f.
- ↑ Law on the protection and maintenance of monuments in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Monument Protection Act - DSchG)
Coordinates: 51 ° 21 ′ 56 " N , 6 ° 25 ′ 13" E