Herz-Jesu-Kirche (Weiden in the Upper Palatinate)

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Exterior view of the Sacred Heart Church.

The parish Herz Jesu is one of the eight parishes in Weiden in the Upper Palatinate in the diocese of Regensburg .

Parish history

The parish Herz Jesu was founded on February 7th, 1922 after the number of Catholics in Weiden had risen sharply. The new parish , which was separated from the parish of St. Joseph , had 4,300 believers at that time; today there are about 5,000 Catholics.

Franz Xaver Schweiger (1922–1934) was appointed as the first pastor. This pastor was not only the builder of the new parish church, but also of the Caritas home , which was inaugurated on December 30, 1931. The “Herz Jesu” kindergarten is still located in this building today. His successor Dr. Karl Käß (1934–1955) completed the parish church and on his initiative, due to the rapid increase in population, the parish of St. Johannes was founded and in 1953 a new parish church was built. The pastor Dr. Georg Götz (1955–1959) built a Trinity Chapel opposite the Ostmarkkaserne for the military pastoral care of both denominations . In 1972 it had to be demolished because it was in disrepair. Under Pastor Johann Baptist Rösch (1959–1973) the parish library (no longer exists today) was set up in 1962 and on June 25, 1966 the parish hall was inaugurated. Pastor Hermann Eichinger (1973–1999) set up a second “ Lorenz Werthmann ” kindergarten in the parish area . During his tenure, the parish church was renovated and a new organ was purchased. Since September 2007 the parishes Herz Jesu and St. Johannes have formed a pastoral care unit , which is supervised by Pastor Gerhard Pausch (since 1999 pastor in Herz Jesu).

37 chaplains have worked in the Heart of Jesus since the parish was founded. The most famous of them is Johann Maier , who later became the cathedral preacher of Regensburg . 22 new priests emerged from this parish (the last primacy took place in 2011).

Building history of the parish church

On April 24, 1921, an emergency church was built in today's parish garden. Today's Herz-Jesu-Kirche was not built until the foundation stone was laid on July 2, 1933. The client was the first pastor of the parish, Franz Xaver Schweiger, who played a major role in all questions relating to church construction and furnishings. The design came from Professor Otho Orlando Kurz and State Building Officer Eduard Herbert. Pastor Schweiger died on January 20, 1934 and did not see the completion of the church. After the death of the architect Kurz, the Düsseldorf architect Professor Fritz Becker completed the construction. On June 3, 1934, the then Bishop of Regensburg, Dr. Michael Buchberger opened the new church.

In 2009 the parish celebrated “75 years of the Sacred Heart Church”.

The church interior

Dimensions

The church building is 55.5 m long, 23.5 m wide and 12.6 m high.

Exterior

For urban planning reasons, the church faces north to south. It has a wide facade with two towers that are 22 m high and each crowned with a 4 m high tower cross. A clock is attached to each of the three sides of the east tower and there are six bells in the west tower.

Interior

View of the altarpiece and the Joseph altar
View to the Marien Altar

The nave is divided into a main and two side aisles. The aisles are separated from the main nave by six 10 m high pillars made of yellow Jura marble.

The choir is raised, 8 m wide and 10 m deep. Dominating is the large mosaic picture by Prof. Josef Eberz with its four million mosaic stones (12.6 m high and 8 m wide). Depicted are Christ crucified as King High Priest, Mary and John.

The high altar is made of Trento marble, as is the popular altar , which was erected in 1972 as part of the liturgical reform . On the right side altar Joseph is depicted with the baby Jesus and on the left side altar the Annunciation scene.

The memorial altar for the fallen has been located on the side of the passage to the lower church since 1951. Since 2007 the deceased of the parish have been remembered here.

View of the Fallen Memorial Altar.

Stained glass window

The glass windows with their composition are also impressive. The seven stained glass windows on the left represent the seven St. Sacraments:

The stained glass windows on the right depict the seven works of mercy:

In the round window of the organ loft, Christ is shown with the open heart. The baptism of the Lord is depicted in the baptistery.

The twelve apostles have been between the windows of the aisles since 1986. The figures were made by the local sculptor Wendelin Sperl.

Glance into the lower church.

Lower church

The lower church is at the end of the left aisle. The first pastor, Franz Xaver Schweiger, is also buried there. The painful Mother of God relief by Wilhelm Vierling is very important. In the middle part, Maria is depicted as the Mother of Sorrows, mourning her dead son. The side wings depict scenes from the life of Mary:

  • Top left: Escape to Egypt
  • Bottom left: Birth of Christ
  • Top right: Coronation of Mary in heaven
  • Bottom right: offering in the temple

On the right side wall there are figures of St. Brother Konrad and St. Anna attached.

View to the organ gallery.

organ

An organ by Georg Jann has been in the Herz-Jesu-Kirche since 1991 . It has three manuals , 52 sounding registers and a glockenspiel (g ° - g ″ 25 tubes). There are a total of 3920 pipes in the organ . Before the new acquisition was a three-manual salon concert organ from 1925 from GF Steinmeyer & Co. Before this organ stood on the Bockenberg castle estate near Thalmassing and was built and expanded in 1933 in the Herz-Jesu-Kirche.

Bells

On February 8, 1943, the four large bells were taken from the tower as "war victims". The smallest bell (a ′) of the old bell from the bell foundry Hamm in Regensburg remained in the tower. At Pentecost 1949, the parish received five new bells from the Otto bell foundry in Bremen-Hemelingen . The OTTO bells have the following sequence of striking notes: h ° - d ′ - e ′ - g ′ - h ′. Their diameters are: 1646 mm, 1392 mm, 1241 mm, 1090 mm, 828 mm. Together they weigh almost 7.6 tons. Since then there are six bells in the west tower:

  • Heart of Jesus bell: "Heart of Jesus, be consecrated shepherd and flock always!"
  • Marienglocke : "Bless all hearts, bless every house!"
  • Brother Konrad bell: "Brother Konrad simple and pure, may we be like you!"
  • Antonius Bell: "Help us in earthly suffering, help us to happiness!"
  • Joseph's bell: "If we struggle with death, St. Joseph wants to jump out for us!" Karl Hamm, Regensburg, poured me in the Holy Year 1933
  • Barbara Bell: "After all earthly quarrels, implore us for mercy"

The bells sound in the tone sequence h ° d ′ e ′ g ′ a ′ h ′. Bells 1–5 form the main peal, bell 6 (h ′) is used as a soloist and only rings very rarely with the other bells at full peal. The bell indicated with the strike note a ′, however, deviates strongly from the nominal tone and is actually to be classified as an a ′. It is still officially given as a ′.

Web links

Commons : Herz-Jesu-Kirche (Weiden in der Oberpfalz)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Reinhold: Otto bells. Family and company history of the Otto bell foundry dynasty . Self-published, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , p. 588, in particular pages 314, 503 .
  2. ↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen . Nijmegen / NL 2019, p. 556, in particular pp. 85, 351 , urn : nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770 (dissertation at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen).
  3. ^ A b Hermann Eichinger: Herz-Jesu-Kirche Weiden / Opf. Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1976, p. 12.

Coordinates: 49 ° 40 ′ 21 ″  N , 12 ° 9 ′ 10.9 ″  E