Marian pilgrimage church (Waghäusel)
The history of the Marian pilgrimage church in Waghäusel in northern Baden goes back to the early 15th century. A monastery is attached to the church, which is currently being looked after by the Brothers of Common Life . The church is located a bit outside the Waghäusel district and borders the site of the former Südzucker AG sugar factory . In addition, the Wagbach lowlands nature reserve is in the immediate vicinity .
Beginnings of the pilgrimage church
When a shepherd found a stone statue of Mary in a hollow oak near the intersection of the trade routes from Speyer to Baden and from Baden to Heidelberg in 1435 , he built a small house there and a wayside shrine in honor of the Mother of God. The people who were walking on the two streets lingered at the wayside shrine and presented their needs and intercessions to the Blessed Mother. After reports of the healing of sick people made the rounds and more and more people came to see the image of Mary, the Bishop of Speyer Matthias von Rammung had a small Gothic chapel and a small apartment built to look after the shrine. His bishop's coat of arms adorns the vault keystone of this chapel, which today serves as the choir of the entire church.
When the Reformation upset the religious order in Europe in the 16th century , this also led to changes in the Diocese of Speyer. Strong and charismatic followers of Martin Luther came from the diocese of Speyer, such as the from Bretten originating Philipp Melanchthon . In order to stop the advance of the Protestants in his diocese, the Prince-Bishop Philipp Christoph von Sötern gave permission in 1617 to build a monastery in Waghäusel and to expand the church. With this he hoped to consolidate the Catholic faith in the area. Monks of the Capuchin order settled here , but construction of the monastery did not begin until 1639 and was completed two years later.
Father Martin von Cochem , Capuchin and author of numerous religious books, spent his old age here in the monastery at the beginning of the 18th century and was buried in the crypt under the church. He has had a memorial stone there since 1912 (200th anniversary of his death).
The Philippsburg Fortress
In the late Middle Ages, tensions between the bourgeoisie and the church grew. The bishops lost more and more power, at the same time the influence of the bourgeois town councilors grew. When Speyer joined the Reformation , the Speyer bishop Philipp Christoph von Sötern had to give way and built a new bishopric in Udenheim, today's Philippsburg . There he gave the order to develop the city into a fortress in order to secure his possessions on the left and right of the Rhine. Construction took eight years and was finally completed in 1623. But the Philippsburg Fortress brought no luck to the area. Instead, it repeatedly attracted Protestant armies during the Thirty Years' War, which plundered the surrounding area, including the monastery and church. The church treasures had to be hidden in the surrounding villages several times.
The actual founding of the monastery took place in connection with the expansion of the convent by the founder and builder Caspar Baumberger. The noble Caspar von Baumberger , married to Anna geb. Dog from Saulheim, Colonel and Commander of Philippsburg, Lord of Rauenberg, Lord in Lahr, Bischweiler and Hanhofen, had the Capuchin Convent Waghäusel, cath. Build the pilgrimage church of St. Maria at his own expense. On the northeast corner of the choir of the Waghäusel pilgrimage church there is a corresponding inscription with the coat of arms of the builder, including that of the Hundt von Saulheim. The inscription reads: "ANO 1640 / P. NOBILIS STRENUUS AC GRATIOSUS DNS D / CASPARIUS BAUMBERGER A RAUENBERG DNS IN LOR / (B) ISWEILER HANHAVEN COLONELLUS ET COMEND / PHILIPSBURGENSIS ET P NOBILIS THEN ANNA / HONDT A SAULUCINOR` TUM SUIS SUMPTIBUS EXSTRUI FECERUNT ”.
The age of Napoleon
During the 18th century the church was continuously expanded and enlarged. In the course of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss , the Speyer diocese lost its independence. The bishop was deposed and had to hand over his property on the right bank of the Rhine to the Grand Duchy of Baden . The entire ecclesiastical property of the diocese, including the pilgrimage church and the monastery, were secularized. All church objects and the monastery garden were auctioned. With that, the Capuchin Order also left Waghäusel.
The time up to the Second World War
In 1835 the sugar factory in Waghäusel was founded in the immediate vicinity of the monastery and the church . 14 years later, on June 21, 1849, the battle at Waghäusel took place on their premises . It was not until 1920 that the Capuchins returned to Waghäusel at the urging of the Bishop of Freiburg and immediately began extensive and urgently needed renovation measures in the church and monastery. However, immediately after the entry of the Capuchins on the night of November 15, there was a serious fire that burned the pilgrimage church to the ground. The church could only be rebuilt through donations from the numerous believers. During the war, soldiers, prisoners of war and refugees found shelter and care in the walls of the church and the monastery. However, the adjacent sugar factory and the airfield in the Waghäusler district of Kirrlach made the place a military target. In 1944, during an American bomb attack on the sugar factory, the roof structure of the monastery was set on fire by a thrown phosphorus bomb. The fire was extinguished before it spread to the pilgrimage church, but it caused considerable damage to the monastery.
The monastery today
The Capuchins continued their work in Waghäusel until 1999 . Then the order began to restructure its German branches. As a result, the monks returned the monastery to the Archbishop of Freiburg for replacement. On the 1st Advent in 1999, the brothers from common life succeeded the Capuchins in Waghäusel and have been looking after the monastery and the Marian pilgrimage church ever since.
Picture gallery
Interior of the church
Choir
Keystone of the coat of arms of the Speyer prince-bishop Matthias von Rammung
organ
Memorial stone for the building of the Capuchin Monastery, 1640
graveyard
Mount of Olives
literature
- Father Ludger OFMCap .: The pilgrimage church in Waghäusel . Verlag Wilhelm Kempter, Ulm 1962 (24 pages)
- Friends of the Wallfahrtskirche Waghäusel (publisher): Waghäusel monastery and pilgrimage church. Pilgrimage and spiritual life through the ages . Kunstverlag Fink, Lindenberg 2004, 2nd edition 2008, ISBN 3-89870-188-3 (36 pages)
Web links
- Official website of the city
- Website of the monastery
- Monuments in the picture - pilgrimage church and monastery
Individual evidence
- ^ The inscriptions of the large district of Karlsruhe, Waghäusel,: German inscriptions online. Retrieved February 18, 2019 .
Coordinates: 49 ° 15 ′ 18 ″ N , 8 ° 30 ′ 30 ″ E