Church of the Assumption of Mary (Auw an der Kyll)
The parish church of the Assumption of Mary in Auw an der Kyll near Bitburg is one of the oldest and most beautiful churches in the southern Eifel region. It has always shaped the image of the small town in the Eifel with its central, high position in the middle of the village in the Kylltal .
history
Its roots go back to the 14th century: at that time the St. Maximin Abbey in Trier was the landlady in Auw. Your list of goods from the 12th century mentions the small town as ouve for the first time . The Taxa generalis , a register of ecclesiastical property ( monasteries , churches, etc.) of the Archdiocese of Trier , recorded a church in Auw as early as 1330. The collature , d. H. the right to name the pastor belonged to the Abbot of St. Maximin. A document in the diocese archive of Trier also states: “On the ancient church was the French coat of arms, three lilies and a rose”. This indicates that this little church was built during the time of the Frankish kings (approx. 9th century).
Since the old church was probably too small and dilapidated, it was decided in 1738 to build a new, larger church at the same place. In the same year the old church was torn down and construction of the present church began. As was customary in the feudal era at that time, the Abbey of St. Maximin had the duty to build the nave , the congregation had the tower and the priest the choir . The architect was Friedrich Sieberger , who came from Tyrol . During the construction work (1738–1746) excavations on the foundations of the new church discovered many bones in stone coffins. One of these sarcophagi was presumably kept, the others smashed and the stones reused in the construction of the church. The bones were buried in the new church under the pulpit and in front of the Anna altar.
After eight years of construction, the Auwer parish was able to celebrate St. Celebrate mass in the new church.
description
The keystone of the ceiling in the choir area probably shows the coat of arms of the abbot and tithe lord of St. Maximin, Willibrord Schefter. The church with a three-sided choir is 17 m long and 8.85 m wide. Its west portal with cornice and gable end contains a niche for the wooden figure of St. Johann von Nepomuk (due to weather damage today in the rectory). The church has three arched closed windows on the north and south sides. The simple quarry stone building is simply plastered on the outside in a pale yellow tone. On the roof is crowned by a roof turret . Inside the tower there are two church bells , both cast by the Mabilon bell foundry in Saarburg. You are the St. Nicholas and St. Consecrated to Mary. Since the cemetery used to be around the church (churchyard), there are still many old gravestones on the church wall. There are three very special tombstones right next to the entrance.
Gravestones and herbal priest Anton Clemens
- First the gravestone of the well-known “Auwer Her”, Anton Clemens . On the heavy shaft is a sandstone slab, which is decorated with foliage on the side and on which is the no longer legible Latin inscription:
- “O pie viator, ne abhorreas ossa mea. Etiam Tu fui in vita, etiam Ego eris post morten ”. ("Pious wanderer, do not be frightened of my bones. In life I was like you; what I am now, you will be after death too"). On top of it the pointed neo-Gothic tombstone, decorated with flower and leaf ornaments that are carved out. Its end is a jagged roof-like bar.
- It used to be widely believed that many clergymen could help with witchcraft if they only wanted to. Anton Clemens was one of the most famous of them according to folk legend. He dealt a lot with natural science and medicine . Some time ago, remedies were known in the Eifel that went back to the "Auwer Her". The priest's medical interests alone would have been enough to give him the reputation of a great witch and magic banner. There was also the report that at the beginning of the 18th century devils had been driven out in Auw, and since then Auw has been a place of pilgrimage. The tombstone also shows a missal with a goblet on it . He is still today, 150 years after Clement's death, at St. Mass used and probably goes back to the time before the herbal priest .
- Second, a small sandstone cross with a legible inscription about who was buried there in 1844.
- The most valuable cross is also the smallest. It measures only 50 cm, but is richly decorated with hearts, hands and other symbols and is one of the oldest grave crosses in the area. The year 1723 can be seen on it.
Gravestone of Anton Clemens: “ANTON CLEMENS b. died March 16, 1782, November 28, 1855 in the 36th year of his appointment. "
Gravestone of Jakob Kappes von Wellkyll, b. 1828, d. October 30, 1844
The smallest cross from 1723
Gravestone of Johann Aloisius Delges, "Pastor in Auw April 30, 1881 - April 5, 1908 - May 31, 1947"
Interior of the church
When you step into the interior of the church through the massive oak door, the first thing you notice is the main altar , which takes up the entire height of the choir. The altar, created around 1770, shows a painting of the Lamb of God at the foot , holding the victory flag in the colors of the diocese of Trier . Above that is the celebration area and slightly set back, the golden, two-part tabernacle (in the lower part there are hosts, in the upper part the Gothic, richly decorated monstrance from 1900), accompanied on both sides by rich column architecture. The figurative representation of kneeling, worshiping angels in front of the corner pillars. Above the tabernacle is the metallic-looking wooden figure of a pelican who, according to the ancient physiology, feeds his children with his own blood . This has been interpreted as referring to Christ and the Eucharist since the Middle Ages , hence the place above the tabernacle. In the central niche above the sculpture of the Assumption of Mary . Four angels sit a little raised above the end of the column, in front of an image of St. Family from which several "sun rays" emanate. On the side doors of the altar, which lead to the bell ropes and the technical systems, are the almost life-size figures of Saints Joseph and Nicholas of Myra .
To the right of the high altar is the Mother Anna Altar from around 1750, with a simple niche structure and side columns. At the end of the column on the left stands St. Blaise , on the right St. Charles Borromeo . In the central niche St. Mother Anna and the childlike Maria. There is also a small tabernacle at this altar, which suggests that it was once the main altar or was taken over by another church.
In the interior of the church, the left side altar, the Marien's altar, is more striking than the Annen-Alter . It dates from around 1700, which makes it older than the church; it is believed that it was the main altar of the previous church. In the central niche is the figure of the Queen of Heaven with a scepter and child, accompanied by twisted double columns, which are entwined with grapes and vine leaves. Angel heads can be seen on the front pillars above the capital. In the niche above the miraculous image there is the figure of St. Matthias , on the right St. George , on the left St. Margaret . This altar has been the center of the pilgrimage to the Auwer Mother of God for centuries .
The door to the sacristy is located between this and the high altar . Above her is the strange figure of a donkey. He is carrying three women, one of whom is blindfolded. This portrait from the 16th century goes back to a legend that was told in Auw for a long time. According to this, the three virgins Irmina, Adela and Klothildis, fleeing from their father, jumped from a cliff over the Kyll and landed safely at today's Auw. As they hoped for the intercession of Our Lady when they jumped and arrived safely in the valley, they built a little church there in honor of Our Lady. In 1952, the well-known Eifel poet Bernhard Lemling staged an open-air play based on this legend under the title “The Three Virgins of Auw”. The proceeds from the performances were used to repair war damage to the church.
The wall to the left of the Mother of God altar bears the beautifully designed pulpit from the 18th century . It is designed from five fields separated by columns, which show the four evangelists with Jesus in the middle. On the canopy is the figure of the Archangel Michael who is fighting a dragon.
To the left and right of the entrance a staircase leads to the gallery built in 1747 . On it is a small organ from 1926 with 5 registers and two plaster figures (St. Sebastian and Donatus). Furthermore, the church interior has a figure of St. Wendelinus and St. Donatus . In a central niche in the ship is a very old, still beautiful Pietà (Mary with a dead Jesus in her arms). Also worth mentioning is the massive baptismal font, carved from sandstone, with a multi-part base and the widened basin, whose gold-plated dome is only opened for baptisms .
In 2005, a new gas heater was installed in the parish church, which replaced the old and inefficient heating pipes under the benches. From January 2007 the interior of the pilgrimage church was completely renovated. In addition to a new edging of the interior, it received new windows and a new gallery structure. The entire electrical system was rebuilt, the church tower straightened again, and the organ, benches and altars restored.
View to the main altar
Pulpit, Marian altar and main altar
Main altar and Mother Anna altar
Mary Altar
organ
Rectory
The rectory right next to the church was sold by the parish of Assumption in 2006 after it was no longer used as a parish seat and the renovation costs would have become too high for the parish. Since the beginning of 2007 the rectory has been rebuilt in several steps. Initially, a beer garden will be built in the front area by August 2007. Later the former barn will be converted into a restaurant. After this phase of construction, the 2nd floor will be renovated, in which later a guesthouse with 8 rooms will be housed.
Pilgrimage to the "Krautwischtag"
In 1712, on the initiative of Pastor Nikolaus Dicher, a pilgrimage brotherhood was founded, but it has been historically proven long before that Auw was and is a much-visited Marian pilgrimage site for centuries. This was already the case between 1650 and 1700, as the old pilgrimage brotherhood book shows. From 1700 to 1794 whole monasteries made pilgrimages to Auw to the Refugium peccatorum (“Refuge of sinners”). In 1714 even the elector Karl Joseph von Lothringen came to Auw as a pilgrim and entered manu proprio (“handwritten”) in the pilgrim book that is still preserved today. He called Auw "a really holy and awe inspiring place" ( vere locum sanctum et terribilem dictum ). The pilgrimage site was visited by pilgrims from Trier, the Wittlich , Bernkastel-Kues , Luxembourg , Hunsrück and Eifel regions . From the year 1727 the pilgrimage book reports that "16 noble ladies under the direction of Maria Anna von Beeck, abbess of the noble church Ören" came to Auw from the noble church in Ören, Trier.
In 1712 the already mentioned pilgrimage brotherhood "Refuge of sinners in Auw" was founded. However, this was lifted by Emperor Joseph II and all processions over an hour were prohibited. The internal unrest that followed the French Revolution (1789–1799) and the occupation of the Eifel by the French in 1794 finally brought the pilgrimage to a standstill. It was only when these difficult times were over that the old tradition revived. The historical processions for 250 years are on the first Sunday after "Krautwischtag" (August 15th, Assumption of Mary ) followed by an outdoor sermon .
In the procession, the miraculous image of Our Lady, which otherwise stands on the Marian altar, is carried through the town. Marian songs are heard, but also the Auwer pilgrimage song:
- "A little church stands in the valley, venerable, simple and quiet /
High mountains tower up around the ring, the Kyll rushes at the foot /
A lot of pilgrims wave today, from far away from the country /
From rough Eifel mountains, from the beautiful Moselle beach /
//: Oh Maria, greetings, also help us in Auw: // "
- "A little church stands in the valley, venerable, simple and quiet /
The name Krautwischtag comes from the fact that in the past, as now, everyone brings a "herbal wesch", a bouquet consisting of herbs and flowers, to the church, which are then blessed. At home, the mop is then kept as a drying bouquet until the next year. It is supposed to protect against lightning, illness and all kinds of adversity. It used to be a tradition that a deceased family member would put the herb in a coffin under the head. But not only the bouquet of herbs is blessed on the Assumption Day, the eye water is also consecrated, which is supposed to protect against eye diseases. This goes back to the fact that allegedly a blind man got his eyesight back through the water blessed on Krautwischtag.
The three maidens from Auw
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When you enter the baroque pilgrimage church, you will probably notice a strange figure above the sacristy door: There are three women - one with blindfolded eyes - sitting on a donkey . This sculpture tells of an old legend that has been told in the village for centuries: it is the legend of the three maidens of Auw, Irmina, Adele and Chlothilde. It was at the time when Franconia ruled the Eifel and Moselle regions. Many of them were already Christians, but - according to the legend - the Frankish king Dagobert still clung to the old paganism .
He led a dissolute life at his court. Unlike her brother, however, his three sisters were converted by Christianity and lived in a monastery. The king wanted to prevent this and tried with all his might to drive them back to his court. When that failed, he sent a group of soldiers to the monastery to arrest them and bring them back to the court. When the sisters Irmina, Adele and Chlothilde found out about this, they fled from Dagobert's approaching troops on a packhorse. On their escape they finally came to the Kyll, where no jetty or bridge led to the other side. When they heard the approaching soldiers on the ledge, they offered a prayer to the Virgin Mary and asked for advice. She advised them to sit on the donkey and jump over the Kyll , which rushed fatally 35 m below them. On the donkey - the middle virgin blindfolded her eyes out of sheer fear of jumping (blindfolding her eyes means having a special function, as in the case of Justitia, which speaks impartially but is also the sign of a seer) - this stopped a huge jump over the Kyll and they arrived unharmed on the other side, today's Auw. The troops, however, fell into the Kyll and drowned. To thank Maria, they built a chapel in honor of Mary in the beautiful valley basin, and gradually the Marian pilgrimage site of Auw an der Kyll is said to have emerged.
There is a cross in the place as a reminder of the place where the donkey is said to have arisen. On it is a picture of the three virgins on the donkey just before the jump.
On the ledge from which the donkey is said to have jumped, there is a cross today, the so-called donkey cross on the Eselslay. On the back the legend is carved in stone:
- Be "Hie to see Wundermahl
Se hindering read dazumahl
Since the holy virgins three
persecuted were here vorbey.
The donkey on which they sat. Would
n't want to leave them
And win their life,
Immediately jump over the Kyll thut
themselves sit down on the bank, completely uninjured. "
The open-air play
Bernhard Lemling , a local poet from neighboring Sülm , wrote the home play of the "three virgins from Auw", which the Auw village community premiered in July 1953 together with the parish. The director had taken priest Felix Mertens. The first performance was already attended by 530 guests. The press said: “The colorful costumes stood out from the forest and rocky landscape. The picture looked like a folk festival on the painting by an old Dutch painter ... Everyone who witnessed this game was able to take a little strength and relaxation with them into their everyday lives, an experience that will certainly have an effect on every participant for a long time to come. ”In eight Performances were counted around 6000 spectators. The performance on Krautwischtag, the traditional pilgrimage day in Auw, was the most popular. After the performance on that Sunday, the actors and spectators set out for the procession through the village.
The proceeds of the play, around DM 5,500 , went to the parish churches to repair war damage and to buy new missals, liturgical vestments, etc. For the local poet Bernhard Lemling, it was his greatest success.
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 54 ′ 6.8 ″ N , 6 ° 36 ′ 54.7 ″ E