Mary of Perpetual Help (Jerxheim)

church

Mary of the Perpetual Help is the Catholic Church in Jerxheim , a community in the south of the Helmstedt district in Lower Saxony . It is the southernmost church in the dean's office in Wolfsburg-Helmstedt and named after the Marian title Mother of Perpetual Help . Today the church on Helmstedter Strasse belongs to the Schöningen parish of Maria Hilfe der Christisten in the diocese of Hildesheim .

history

From the middle of the 19th century onwards, Catholics moved to the predominantly Protestant area of Jerxheim since the Reformation, mainly workers who found employment in agriculture or in the factories that were newly built after the construction of the Jerxheim train station. From 1877, priests from Helmstedt , Hötensleben , Schöningen and Schöppenstedt held catholic services in an inn .

In 1898 efforts began to build a Catholic church in Jerxheim, and in 1913 a church building association was founded for this purpose. In 1925 the Jerxheim Vicarie was set up, and Jerxheim got its own Catholic clergyman; before that Jerxheim belonged to the pastoral care district Schöppenstedt. The foundation stone for the new church was laid on August 2, 1925, and the church was consecrated by Bishop Joseph Ernst on April 25, 1926 . At that time, almost 500 believers belonged to the Jerxheim Vicarie. From 1945 onwards, the number of community members increased significantly due to the settlement of displaced persons and refugees in Jerxheim and the surrounding area.

In 1948 , Hesse , located in the Soviet occupation zone , was removed from the Jerxheim vicarage and its own Hesse Curate was founded. In the period that followed, the economically unfavorable location of Jerxheim near the inner-German border reduced the population and thus the number of Catholics. In 1950 there were 1640 Catholics in the parish vicarie, and their number halved in the following 20 years. In 1958 extensive renovations were carried out in and around the church. In 1975 the interior of the church was redesigned again and a new altar was consecrated by Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Pachowiak . On February 1, 1987, the Vicarie was elevated to a parish ( Kuratie ). In 1995/96 an extensive exterior and interior renovation of the church took place, in 1998 new benches followed.

From 1996 there was a pastoral care unit with the churches in Büddenstedt , Offleben and Schöningen. On March 1, 1998, the Helmstedt deanery, to which the church belonged, merged with the Wolfenbüttel deanery to form the new Helmstedt-Wolfenbüttel deanery. Since November 1, 2006, the church has belonged to the parish Maria Hilfe der Christen , based in Schöningen, and to the then newly founded dean's office in Wolfsburg-Helmstedt, which arose from the dean's offices in Wolfsburg and the Helmstedt part of the dean's office in Helmstedt-Wolfenbüttel. In 2008 a support association was founded to support the preservation of the church. On March 3, 2015, the church in Offleben was profaned .

Architecture and equipment

The church stands at almost 130 meters above sea level on a former mill site. It was built from local Heeseberg limestone and has 120 seats. There are two bells in the church tower and a statue of the Virgin Mary above the entrance portal. On the back wall behind the altar there is a crucifix , below the tabernacle . To the left and right of the chancel there are statues of St. Mary and Joseph , under the organ loft another statue of Mary, a copy of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and a confessional . The chanting of the church service is accompanied by an electronic organ . The Mariengrotte in the parish garden was built in 1988. The church property at Helmstedter Strasse 62 has since been divided and the former rectory has been sold.

literature

Catholic parish of Maria from Perpetual Help Jerxheim (Ed.): 1926 - 2001, 75 years of the Church and Congregation of Maria from Perpetual Help Jerxheim. Jerxheim 2001.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Episcopal General Vicariate: Document on the abolition of the Catholic parishes Maria Hilfe der Christisten, Schöningen, Hl. Family, Büddenstedt-Offleben, Maria von der Immerwahrendenhilfe, Jerxheim and about the establishment of the Catholic parish Maria Hilfe der Christisten, Schöningen. Kirchlicher Anzeiger No. 10/2006, pp. 49–51.

52.082524 10.895386Coordinates: 52 ° 4 '57.09 " N , 10 ° 53' 43.39" O

[1] Episcopal General Vicariate: Document on the abolition of the Catholic parishes Maria Hilfe der Christisten, Schöningen, Hl. Family, Büddenstedt-Offleben, Maria von der Immerwahrendenhilfe, Jerxheim and about the establishment of the Catholic parish Maria Hilfe der Christisten, Schöningen. Kirchlicher Anzeiger No. 10/2006, pp. 49–51.