St. Meinrad (Pfäffikon SZ)

St. Meinrad Church Pfäffikon

View from the southwest

The Roman Catholic Church of St. Meinrad is located in the village of Pfäffikon in the canton of Schwyz .

history

History and naming

The document that Pfäffikon SZ mentions by name for the first time comes from Emperor Otto the Great , who donated the island of Ufnau , the lands of Pfäffikon, Uerikon and the church of Meilen to Einsiedeln Abbey by means of this document . The church of St. Peter and Paul on the island of Ufnau was the parish church of all the surrounding lake communities. The large parish of St. Peter and Paul extended from Altendorf to Wädenswil and from Feldbach and Hombrechtikon to Erlenbach , but had its administrative seat on the mainland in Pfäffikon ( Phaffinchova = court of the priest). Because attending church services on the island of Ufnau was difficult in stormy weather, chapels were built on the mainland early on: the St. Anna chapel in Pfäffikon and the St. Adelrich chapel in Freienbach in 1158. This area became an independent parish in 1308. With the construction of the St. Meinrad church in Pfäffikon in 1965, the parish of Freienbach got a second church center.

The patronage of the Catholic Church of Pfäffikon to St. Meinrad (Meginrad) reminds us that he had lived as a hermit on the Etzelpass for some time before he moved to the dark forest (i.e. to Einsiedeln ). The St. Meinrad on the Etzel Pass, the place where the hermitage of Saint had stood. Meinrad.

Chapels and churches of the parish rectorate St. Meinrad

• Chapel of St. Martin on the Ufnau (9th / 10th century)
• Church of St. Peter and Paul on the Ufnau (1141)
• St. Anna Chapel in Pfäffikon (1132–1963, demolished due to the construction of the new St. Meinrad Church)
• Trinity Chapel in Hurden (1497)
• Palace chapel in Pfäffikon, Unterdorf (1566)
• Chapel of the Three Confederates, Pfäffikon (1594)

Development and construction history

In 1927 the Pfäffikon church building association was founded in Pfäffikon with the aim of having its own parish church in the village. When economic development began in Pfäffikon after the end of the Second World War , the population doubled from 1950 to 1970. Pfäffikon then had 1,700 Catholics, which is why the establishment of a separate parish in Pfäffikon was imperative. In 1958, Einsiedeln Abbey sold the Mühlematte property to the Catholic church building association . In 1962 seven well-known architects were invited to a restricted architecture competition. On July 3, 1962, the project was awarded a prize by architect Walter Moser , Zurich, and recommended for further development. On September 6, 1963, the parish assembly unanimously approved the construction loan of four million francs for the construction of the church, parish rooms, rectory, church tower and additional secular buildings such as apartments, kindergarten and shops, because the building of the Catholic church was supposed to create a real village center . The groundbreaking ceremony took place on December 7, 1963 . The abbot of Einsiedeln, Raymund Tschudi laid the foundation stone for the construction of the church on the feast of the Assumption in 1964 . In a decree of September 10, 1965, the Bishop of Chur , Johannes Vonderach , established the Pfäffikon parish rectorate and inaugurated St. Meinrad's Church on the Christmas festival on October 31, 1965.

Today the Parish Rectorate St. Meinrad Pfäffikon has around 3,900 members.

Building description

Steeple

Exterior and steeple

The St. Meinrad church is located in the center of Pfäffikon on the Mühelmatte hill . On this elevated point, architect Walter Moser, Zurich, built the St. Meinrad Church between 1963 and 1965. At the foot of the church, the architect Moser built shops, restaurants, offices, practices, a kindergarten and apartments at the same time. In this way a central village square was created. The catholic church can be reached via a wide outside staircase of eight times eight steps. At the top, the staircase leads into a church forecourt, which is formed by a wall surrounding the inner courtyard . Both the church and the rectory can be reached from the forecourt. The church wall is decorated with a relief by the sculptor Hans Christen, Basel. It shows the symbols of the three divine persons and is the cornerstone of the church. The church is optically set apart from the rest of the building complex by the cladding with glazed white porcelain tiles. The church interior consists of a cubic concrete structure, the eastern corner of which is rounded to create a circular wall. From the village it is the front side of the church, from the inside it encloses the chancel as a choir wall. In the inner courtyard there are bronze plaques on the extensive wall, which depict scenes from the Bible and are on loan from the Pfäffikon corporation.

The free-standing, 35-meter-high church tower takes up the round shape of the choir wall and is made of white-painted concrete. The tower is completed by a gilded Greek tower cross and shows a clock on each of the four sides. The church tower hides a six-part bell in its bell chamber. The bells in the tone sequence ges ° b ° des 'es' ges 'as' were cast in the H. Rüetschi bell foundry in Aarau . The Trinity Bell (tone ges °) is one of the largest bells in Switzerland. The five big bells were donated by the Pfäffikon corporation , the small one by the Blauring girls' association . The abbot of Einsiedeln consecrated the bells on the feast of the Assumption in 1965.

Trinity Bell (Ges °)

No.	Surname	Casting year	Foundry, casting location	Weight (kg)	Nominal	inscription
1	Trinity Bell	1965	Rüetschi , Aarau	7000	ges 0	With your only begotten Son and the Holy Spirit you are one God
2	Marienbell	1965	Rüetschi, Aarau	3550	b 0	Virgin mother, you grant that I will always keep your Son's teaching
3	Meinrad bell	1965	Rüetschi, Aarau	2100	of the 1st	With all my heart I look for you, never alienate me from your statutes
4th	Adelrich Bell	1965	Rüetschi, Aarau	1450	it 1	Your word is light to my feet and a lamp to my path
5	Brother Klaus bell	1965	Rüetschi, Aarau	900	ges 1	Fried is all in God
6th	Angel bell	1965	Rüetschi, Aarau	620	as 1	He offers his angels for you to protect you on all your ways

Interior and artistic equipment

inside view

The interior of the church has a square floor plan, which is divided by smaller cubic and semicircular segments. The main room with the pews forms a segment of a circle inscribed into the square and the chancel on the northeast side of the church is closed off by the rounded choir wall. Daylight penetrates between the outer walls and the church ceiling through windows, which are designed in the tradition of the Lichtgaden and separated from each other by vertical slats . The wooden ceiling and the benches in the nave direct the view to the raised choir . There, the sculptor Hans Christen from Basel created the folk altar , ambo , priest's seat, tabernacle , Easter and altar candlesticks and the baptismal font made of Belgian marble. The floor of the church is covered with the same black stone. Using the same material for the floor and the elements of the chancel, architect Walter Moser and artist Hans Christen achieved the unity of the celebrating community with the ruler, but also the unity of word and sacrament through ambo and altar. The liturgy constitution of the Second Vatican Council demands both . The Gothic wooden cross from the 13th century and the Maria carved around 1500 in Fulda (Germany) complete the original furnishings of the altar area. In the rear area of ​​the church, under the gallery, there is a gallery around the nave, in the outer walls of which glass windows by Bernhard Schorderet, Friborg are embedded. There is also a holy water dispenser and holy water font by Hans Christen in the vicinity. The weekday chapel is located on the northwest side of the church interior. Here is a sculpture that shows St. Meinrad. The two historic bells of the former St. Anne's Chapel are also set up by the weekday chapel. The Way of the Cross on the church walls was made by artist Franco Giacomel, Zurich, in 1998. As a special feature, the Way of the Cross does not have 14 but 16 stations. Iron steel, gold, tin and Murano glass were used as materials. Each station is designed as an independent work and is 150 cm high and 65 cm wide. The 15th station Jesus is risen from the dead is designed as an altarpiece: A large steel plate carries an abandoned shroud made of solid pure tin; next to it stands the forged lance with a blood-red tip.

organ

Späth organ from 2003

In 1967 the church of St. Meinrad received its first pipe organ. It was an instrument from the company Cäcilia-Orgelbau Luzern with 27 sounding registers and three extensions. The organ with its 1864-sounding pipes was presented to the population on January 20, 1967 as part of a collaudation. After 30 years, deficiencies in this organ became apparent, so that today's organ was built in 2003. It is an instrument that was designed by Bernhard Isenring and built by the organ building company Späth in Rapperswil. The organ has 35 registers, divided into three manuals including pedal, a total of over 2300 pipes.

Disposition:

I Rückpositiv C – a 3 Wooden dacked 8th' Praestant 4 ′ recorder 4 ′ Flageolet 2 ′ Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ Vox humana 8th' Tremulant

II main work C – a 3 Bourdon 16 ′ Principal 8th' Reed flute 8th' Viol 8th' octave 4 ′ Pointed flute 4 ′ octave 2 ′ Mixture IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ Cornett V 8th' Trumpet 8th'

III Swell C – a 3 Violin principal 8th' Hollow flute 8th' Salicional 8th' Unda maris 8th' Principal 4 ′ Transverse flute 4 ′ Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Duplicate 2 ′ Mixture IV 2 ′ third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ Basson 16 ′ Trompette harmonique 8th' Tremulant

Pedal C – f 1 Principal 16 ′ Sub bass 16 ′ Octave bass 8th' Bourdon 8th' Choral bass 4 ′ trombone 16 ′ prong 8th'

• Pair : III / II, I / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
• Electronic typesetting system with sequencer

Web links

Commons : Church of St. Meinrad Pfäffikon SZ  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the parish of St. Meinrad Pfäffikon SZ
• Organ music in the Meinradskirche Pfäffikon
• Bells of the church and bells of the church (recorded in the bell chamber) on YouTube

literature

• Roman Catholic parish Freienbach (ed.): Festschrift for the inauguration of St. Meinrad's Church in Pfäffikon SZ on October 31, 1965. Freienbach 1965.
• Pfäffikon Parish Office SZ (Ed.): St. Meinradskirche. Pfäffikon 1967.
• Episcopal Ordinariate Chur (ed.): Schematism of the Diocese of Chur. Chur 1980.
• Catholic Parish Office St. Meinrad (Ed.): Way of the Cross in the parish church St. Meinrad Pfäffikon SZ. Pfäffikon 2013.
• Catholic Parish Office St. Meinrad (Ed.): Parish St. Meinrad 1965-2015. Live the church - celebrate the church. For the 50th anniversary. Pfäffikon 2015.
• Catholic Parish Office St. Meinrad (Ed.): How the Catholic Church in Pfäffikon was built. Memories after fifty years. Pfäffikon 2015.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Peter Ziegler: History of the island of Ufnau
2. ↑ Episcopal Ordinariate Chur (ed.): Schematism of the Diocese of Chur. P. 233.
3. ^ Parish archive St. Meinrad Pfäffikon.
4. ↑ Einsiedeln Monastery website. Pilgrimage section. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
5. ^ Roman Catholic parish Freienbach (ed.): Festschrift for the inauguration of St. Meinrad's Church in Pfäffikon SZ on October 31, 1965. pp. 3 and 7.
6. ^ Website of the parish of Freienbach. ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Section Pfäffikon parish, parish church St. Meinrad. Retrieved December 24, 2014. 
7. ^ Website of the parish of Freienbach. ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Section Pfäffikon parish. Retrieved December 24, 2014. 
8. ^ Roman Catholic parish Freienbach (ed.): Festschrift for the inauguration of St. Meinrad's Church in Pfäffikon SZ on October 31, 1965. P. 9.
9. ↑ Pfäffikon Parish Office SZ (ed.): St. Meinradskirche. Pfäffikon 1967. pp. 10-11.
10. ↑ Roman Catholic parish Freienbach (ed.): Festschrift for the inauguration of St. Meinrad's Church in Pfäffikon SZ on October 31, 1965. pp. 7 and 12.
11. ^ Roman Catholic parish Freienbach (ed.): Festschrift for the inauguration of St. Meinrad's Church in Pfäffikon SZ on October 31, 1965. P. 11.
12. ↑ Pfäffikon Parish Office SZ (ed.): St. Meinradskirche. Pfäffikon 1967. pp. 10-16.
13. ^ Website of the parish of Freienbach. ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Section Pfäffikon parish, parish church St. Meinrad. Retrieved December 24, 2014. 
14. ↑ Pfäffikon Parish Office SZ (ed.): St. Meinradskirche. Pfäffikon 1967. p. 18.
15. ^ Website of the parish of Freienbach. ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Section Pfäffikon parish, parish church St. Meinrad. Retrieved December 24, 2014. 
16. ^ Organ directory Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Section Catholic Church St. Meinrad Pfäffikon SZ. Retrieved December 24, 2014.

Coordinates: 47 ° 12 ′ 1 "  N , 8 ° 46 ′ 40"  E ; CH1903:  701,466  /  228569