Capuchin monastery Bremgarten

The Bremgarten Capuchin Monastery is a former monastery of the Capuchin Order . It is located in Bremgarten in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland and existed from 1621 to 1841. Since 1889, there has been a curative education service, a curative education school as well as housing for children and adults with primarily cognitive disabilities and other developmental disorders and an outpatient clinic in the convent building and in the adjacent properties set up for psychomotor skills, which are operated by the St. Josef Foundation .

history

On August 29, 1617, the city council asked the General Chapter to build a monastery in Bremgarten. Hospital owner Johannes Bucher donated the building site. The foundation stone was laid on May 3, 1618, but the main work could only be started two years later because a site foreman was initially missing. The monastery church was consecrated in 1621, the convent building was ready to move into in 1622.

The Capuchins devoted themselves to pastoral care in Bremgarten and the neighboring villages. From 1673, the monastery also had a fulling mill , in which the cloth for the entire Swiss ecclesiastical province was produced. In 1750 and 1760 the monastery church was extended by a side altar each, the convent building had to be rebuilt in 1760/61 because of its poor condition. After the Great Council of the Canton of Aargau decided on January 13, 1841 to abolish all monasteries and thereby triggered the Aargau monastery dispute, the monks had to leave the monastery within 48 hours. After that it stood empty for almost 50 years.

On January 10, 1889, the St. Josefs Aid Association opened a children's home for the mentally handicapped, which was run by the Ingenbohl Cross Sisters. In 1948 a foundation replaced the aid association. A technical college for socio-educational professions has been affiliated since 1974, and since 1983 there have also been residential groups for severely disabled adults.

Since 1988 the Capuchins have been working in Bremgarten again. Two Capuchins lived in a Capuchin house near the former monastery. They were primarily responsible for the religious accompaniment of the mentally handicapped children of the St. Josef Foundation. They also took on religious services and pastoral care in the area and were active in the pastoral care of farmers.

building

The former monastery is located in the lower suburb, at the southern bridgehead of the Bremgarten Reuss Bridge . The monastery church is considered a prime example of a church in the Swiss Capuchin Province, the design of which was strictly adhered to down to the last detail. The building designed by master builder Victor Martin from Beromünster combines late Gothic and early baroque elements. The nave and choir are united under a continuous gable roof . The choir in turn is divided into the outer altar house and the inner monk choir. The latter cannot be seen from the ship.

The wooden altars are largely unpainted. In the high altar, which was renewed in 1784, a picture from 1621 is integrated that shows Christ being deposed from the cross. The high altar is flanked by figures of Saints Charles Borromeo and Francis of Assisi . The side altars contain statues of Francis of Assisi and Our Lady. In 1965/66 the monastery church was extensively renovated. During the renovation of the town church in the 1980s, it served as a replacement for the Catholic parish.

The two-story convent building is connected to the monastery church on its southern flank. The Franciscan Father Lorenz from Baden was in charge of the construction. Before it was taken over by the children's home in 1889, the interior of the building, which was also built in the late Gothic style, was completely rebuilt. A comprehensive renovation took place a hundred years later.

literature

Eugen Bürgisser, Karl Grundler: Heimatführer Bremgarten (pp. 82–84). Ed .: Cultural Commission City of Bremgarten and City Council Bremgarten

Web links

47.348706 8.340002Coordinates: 47 ° 20 '55.3 " N , 8 ° 20' 24" E ; CH1903: 668109 / 244597