Ramsen Catholic Church
The Catholic parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Ramsen SH belongs to the Roman Catholic parish of Ramsen. Until 1985 it was the only officially recognized Catholic parish church in the Reformed Canton of Schaffhausen . The church building stands as a B object (middle of the three protection levels) under cantonal monument protection.
History of the parish
The well-known history of the parish begins in 1275, when the church and parish are first mentioned by name in the Liber decimationis (book of tithes) of the Diocese of Constance . The type of mention suggests that it was an existing parish. The place Ramsen is also much older; the first mention of it comes from the year 846. Therefore, it is assumed that the parish is older than documented.
From documents from 1370 and 1508, the affiliation of the Arlen chapel as a branch of the parish of Ramsen is known. The fact that Rielasingen also belonged to the parish is proven by a document from 1623. The two Baden daughter churches broke away from the parish at the beginning of the 19th century, when the responsibilities were adjusted to the current state borders.
In 1351, Bishop Ulrich von Konstanz bequeathed the church property with all rights and affiliations (pertinence) to the St. Georgen zu Stein church. The incorporation should serve to improve the then precarious conditions of the monastery. At that time she already had the collage for this church. As a result, the monastery moved into the large and small church tithe from Ramsen, but had to take over the pastoral care and maintenance of the church building in Ramsen.
Secular rule changed in 1465 when Austria, together with the Landgraviate of Nellenberg, also acquired high jurisdiction. At that time, the lower jurisdiction lay with the Lords of Klingenberg, who transferred the lower jurisdiction to the city of Stein am Rhein via a purchase contract of July 18, 1539 . As a result, the lower jurisdiction fell into the sphere of influence of the city of Zurich. By the religious peace supported by the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, Austria as sovereign insisted on determining which denomination should apply in Ramsen. The St. Georgen monastery was abolished by Zurich in 1525. Since the abbot had fled on imperial territory at that time and revoked his concessions to Zurich, the goods on imperial territory - and thus also those in Ramsen - remained in the possession of the convent. This settled in Petershausen near Konstanz, with whom they united in 1581.
It is true that the Steiner authorities tried between 1540 and 1543 to persuade the Ramsener to reformation. This only partially succeeded, as the controversial Catholic minister died in 1543. The pictures in the church were removed and the measurement utensils were transported to Stein am Rhein. A Reformed pastor was also appointed by Stein. This coup led to a legal dispute between Stein am Rhein or Zurich and Austria, which went without a decision.
A Catholic pastor has been recorded in Ramsen again since 1560, although since then a majority of residents have professed the Reformed denomination. Stein refrained from providing the Ramsers with a Reformed pastor, so that if they wanted to attend a Reformed church service, they had to go to Stein or Buch. In the following time there were some conflicts, but by and large the coexistence of the two denominations worked.
In 1770 Zurich bought the sovereignty from the Austrians for the sum of 150,000 guilders, but had to contractually undertake to protect the Catholic religion in Ramsen. With the French invasion of Switzerland and the dissolution of the old Swiss Confederation, Zurich rule ended in 1798. The canton of Schaffhausen now took on this function, but also the obligations from the treaty of 1770.
The Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803 meant that the patronage and the church set came into the possession of the Grand Duke of Baden. In 1817 the widow of the Grand Duke sold the patronage and the parish to the Zurich patrician Georg Escher von Berg, who only received approval because he promised to bequeath the patronage to the canton of Schaffhausen. On April 3, 1818, he sold the tithe of the citizenry of Ramsen with all the burdensome obligations. On January 30, 1819, the donation of the patronage rights was sealed. This gave the reformed Schaffhausen government the right to appoint the Catholic pastor of Ramsen. The parity situation in Ramsen was guaranteed by the cantonal constitution of 1814. The church assets of the parity parish were separated in 1838, a separate Catholic and a Reformed parish was founded. The legal recognition of the Catholic parish took place on June 14, 1883 by a resolution of the Grand Council.
Until 1968 it was the only publicly recognized Catholic parish in the canton of Schaffhausen, the other Catholic parishes were subject to association law. This also had direct consequences for pastor Ramsen, because the parish remuneration decree of 1907 made it possible to pay the pastors from the cantonal parish remuneration fund with a purchase sum. This opportunity was seized. It was only with the reorganization of the parish pay in 1985 that there were other Catholic priests who received part of their wages from the canton, but this has since been paid out to the parish as a proportionate lump sum.
The parish belongs to the diocese of Constance until it was dissolved in 1803. Then she was subordinated to the Apostolic Vicariate of the Provost of Beromünster. When Franz Bernhard von Göldin died, in 1819 the Pope appointed the Bishop of Chur to be the administrator of the former Constance territories in Switzerland. The Catholic parish of Schaffhausen was assigned to the diocese of Basel in 1840 , while the parish of Ramsen was still subordinate to the diocese of Chur . It was only with the fourth advance in 1978 that the parish of Ramsen was transferred to the diocese of Basel.
location
The church stands in the oldest part of the village of Ramsen and is surrounded by the Catholic cemetery. It is oriented to the east, but has a slight deviation to the north. The rectory is in the southeast corner of the enclosed church grounds.
History of the church building
When the first church building was built is still unclear today, as there have never been any archaeological excavations in or around the church. The sparse file situation also contributes to this, because in writing only the existence in 1275 is proven. Due to the age of the settlement, it can be assumed that this church was an older building.
The next known construction phase is also unclear. The re-consecration in 1489 requires at least a renovation. A new building is just as likely, because the probability that the church was older than 300 years when it was demolished in 1795/96 is small. In the Middle Ages the church was dedicated to Saints Nicholas of Myra and Agatha of Catania . When the church was looted during the Reformation in 1543, the altars were also removed. The consecration afterwards must have resulted in a change in the patronage , because since 1594, Saints Peter and Paul have been documented as church saints for the church .
The nave and the tower of today's church building were created when the church was inaugurated in 1804. The church was built on the old site of the St. Nicholas Church. Because of the chaos of the war at the time, the building dragged on. At that time the high altar and the crucifixion picture were taken over from the old church.
The present transept with the choir was built during the renovation in 1928/29 under the direction of the architect Otto Schweri . At that time the choir was demolished and the transept was built in its place to give more space for the faithful. The new choir adjoins the transept to the east. The sacristy is built on both sides of the choir . During the renovation, the flat ceiling of the ship was replaced by a barrel vault in the shape of a basket arch; the transept was also given a barrel vault. The chancel received a flat ceiling.
During the renovation in 1968, the two side altars and the pulpit were removed.
Description of today's church
The floor plan of the church is in the shape of a rectangle, from which the transept protrudes a little. On both sides of the choir there are low additions to the sides that house the sacristies. On the narrow sides, the tower protrudes to the west and the choir closure to the east.
Exterior
The west facade is dominated by the tower. The facade itself has only one belt as decoration, which leaves out the gable field. The wall thickness of the tower is over 1 meter at the foot. The bottom floor is decorated with pilasters in the corners and is dominated by the main portal in the Luis XVI style. This portal has a basket arch that rests on simple capitals. The middle tower floor is structured with blind niches . The tower is covered with an onion dome , which is crowned with a large cross.
The nave has four windows on each side, the transept two windows on each side. The choir a total of four windows, one window on each side and one next to the altar in the choir rounding. The church is covered with a gable roof with a continuous ridge, which has a rounded hip over the choir. The aisle has a rounded hipped roof , the transverse ridge and lower edges of which coincide with the longitudinal roof.
Interior
Today's interior goes back to the interior renovation completed in 2003. Attempts were made to adapt the church to the appearance of 1929, as one wanted to get away from the sobriety of the renovation of 1968. But a return to the colourfulness of 1929 was also not desired. So they did not choose the original colors, but a restrained ocher tone as the wall color of the ship. White was chosen for the ceiling and choir. For this, the two ceiling paintings by Albin Schweri were made visible again. Albin Schweri's Stations of the Cross were evenly distributed throughout the ship by hanging them in pairs between the windows. Above each there is a classicistic oval picture from 1796. There are a total of twelve of these; they show the twelve apostles. The picture of Peter is inserted in the crown of the altar, the rest are hung in the choir.
The niches that were walled up in 1968 were exposed behind the side altars that were removed at the time, and they are now used as figural niches. With a basket arch with a circumferential profile rod, thanks to their blue marbling, they again form a triad with the high altar. The statue of Mary that had already been erected was placed on the gospel side, and the existing but not erected statue of John the Baptist on the epistle side by the baptismal font.
A newly acquired crucifix from the 19th century was hung in the choir arch.
Some parts of the main altar come from the previous church; it was built in 1796. The main altar painting shows the crucifixion, it was painted in oil on canvas by Franz Xaver Hermann . It is with «Franz Xaveri Hermann Inv. et Pinx. 1796 »Signed in the lower left corner. The two title cartridges are incorporated into the altar in the form of wooden statues.
organ
The present organ dates from 1950 and was manufactured by the Ziegler company in Geneva. It was overhauled during the internal revision and adapted to the state of the art.
Bells
The four bells date from 1910 and were cast by the Grassmayer company in Feldkirch.
literature
- Building commission of the parish Ramsen (ed.): Parish church St. Peter and Paul in Ramsen; Festschrift for the solemn reopening of the church on Sunday, September 21, 2003.
- Reinhard Frauenfelder: The art monuments of the canton Schaffhausen Volume 2. The district Stein am Rhein. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1958, pp. 341–346. ( The Art Monuments of Switzerland, Volume 39)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ B-Objects SH 2018 . Canton of Schaffhausen KGS inventory, B objects, status: 1.1.2018 (no changes compared to previous year). In: babs.admin.ch / kulturgueterschutz.ch. Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP - Department of Cultural Property Protection, January 1, 2018, accessed on December 31, 2017 (PDF; 407 kB, 11 pages, updated annually, no changes for 2018).
- ↑ Register of documents for the canton of Schaffhausen (1906/07), p. 768 and Recesta Episcoporum Constantiensium (1895-) Vol. II No. 5040
Coordinates: 47 ° 42 ′ 30 " N , 8 ° 48 ′ 37" E ; CH1903: 702947 / 285085