Mater Dolorosa (Samsun)

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A postcard from the Ottoman Empire with the exterior of the church
Interior of the church

The Catholic Church of Our Lady of Sorrows ( Turkish Mater Dolorosa Katolik Kilisesi ) is located in the Turkish city of Samsun . The church, built in 1861, is dedicated to the patronage of Mary as Mater Dolorosa and is located in the İlkadım district; it has four domes and two bell towers.

history

The founding of the church dates back to 1845, when Capuchins of Italian origin living in Georgia had to leave their residential area and landed halfway on the Black Sea coast , where Catholics of the Latin rite already lived in the province of Samsun but had no church.

French Marists built a school here in 1851, called priests connected with St. Joseph to help educate the children. An Italian citizen donated her own property for the church. A wooden church and a house were built on the site.

Sultan Murat V granted special permission to build a church in Samsun. At his behest, the construction of a small church measuring eight by twelve meters began. The walls of the church were painted with frescoes . The French embassy took responsibility for protecting the church. After the construction of the church was completed in 1885, a monastery was built next to the church where the friars could live, as well as an additional house in which Christian families could rent. A cemetery was also established at the same time. In 1913 the church was confiscated by the Committee for Unity and Progress . The priests had to move into two rooms, the dilapidated church was not allowed to be repaired. The secular buildings were taken over by the Young Turks , used by them or rented out. The church and monastery area of ​​the building were abandoned because of the danger of collapse and confiscated by the sultan. During this time, of the Christians who once made up 30% of the population of Samsun, only about a hundred remained. Of these, seventy were Americans, as well as Italians and 30 Armenians .

After Mustafa Kemal Pascha proclaimed the Turkish Republic , the church was reopened for worship. But in 1976, a hundred years after construction began, the mayor of Samsun, Kemal Vehbi Gül, gave the order to demolish the church. It was planned to destroy the historically significant building on Samsun and to build a park in its place. The mayor wanted to let the church slide . The historically valuable church was saved from demolition at the protest of the apostolic nuncio and the Italian consulate.

In 1998, Father Ruggero Franceschini , responsible for the churches of Anatolia , decided to renovate the church. This renovation is the first major renovation since the church was built. In 2006, the priest of the Church, Pierre François Rene Brunissen, was attacked and injured with a knife by the anti-Christian Attila Nur, and because of his advanced age, he returned to his homeland to relax. Since then, the church has been administered by the Italian-Turkish Matteoli family.

Web links

  • Tarih. In: Mater Dolorosa Katolik Kilisesi. anadolukatolikkilisesi.org, September 22, 2006, accessed January 29, 2015 (Turkish).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Çadırcı, Musa (1990). “19.YY. 2. Yarısında Karadeniz Kentleri (Trabzon ve Samsun) ”, İkinci Tarih Boyunca Karadeniz Kongresi Bildirileri (Uluslar arası l), Samsun; Mantrran, Robert. Osmanlı Imparatorluğu Tarihi. Vol. 2, Istanbul 1999.
  2. ^ "Osmanlı'nın Samsun raporu", Mümin Yıldıztaş
  3. ^ Shaw, Stanford (1985). “Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda Azınlıklar Sorunu”, Tanzimat'tan Cumhuriyet'e Türkiye Ansiklopedisi, C. IV, İstanbul İletişim Yayınları
  4. ↑ İsmail Çimen: Katolik rahibe bıçaklı saldırı. In: radikal.com.tr . Anatolia News Agency , July 3, 2006, accessed November 5, 2010 (Turkish).
  5. ↑ Samsun Katolik Kilisesi'nden Açıklama. In: haberler.com. İhlas Haber Ajansı, September 22, 2006, accessed November 5, 2010 (Turkish).

Coordinates: 41 ° 17 ′ 0 ″  N , 36 ° 19 ′ 0 ″  E