Oranna Chapel

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View of the Oranna Chapel
Entrance area
Inside of the chapel
Choir and altar area with a small hagioscope to the right of the statue of Oranna
Wall grave of St. Oranna and her companion Cyrilla in the Oranna Chapel

The Orannakapelle is a church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Überherrner district of Berus . She is St. Oranna consecrated.

history

The Oranna Chapel was originally the parish church of today's deserted Eschweiler. From 1220 the parish was independent and until 1750 the new Berus parish included Altforweiler, Bisten, Felsberg and Neuforweiler. Eschweiler itself was destroyed in the Peasants' War in 1566.

The chapel takes its name from the burial place of Oranna and Cyrilla, who were buried in a single sarcophagus in the church. In the late Middle Ages, the small church developed into a place of pilgrimage. The Auxiliary Bishop of Metz had the sarcophagus of the chapel opened on May 3, 1480 after checking the legitimacy of the pilgrimage. Two women's skeletons were found. In 1719 the bones were transferred to the town church of Berus.

In the period that followed, the chapel was hardly used and only poorly maintained. The chapel was destroyed and rebuilt several times. During the French Revolution , the Oranna Chapel was auctioned under the condition that the dilapidated church be torn down. But the new owners from the place continued to hold services. They were reported and the roof of the chapel was torn down. In the following years the chapel fell into disrepair. In 1814 it was makeshiftly secured with donations, but as early as 1829 the chapel was in danger of collapsing again and use was prohibited by the newly responsible Bishop of Trier, Josef von Hommer . In the same year, however, the chapel was permanently restored.

The interior was destroyed in an Allied attack in 1940, but the building remained largely intact. In 1946 the building was renovated by the Saarbrücken architect Rudolf Güthler (1906–1984) and a new roof turret with a bell was added. The spring in front of the chapel was redesigned as an Oranna fountain with an initially clay, then bronze figure of the local saint in a gesture of blessing by the artist Martin Fröhlich in 1952. On Easter Sunday 1946, the pilgrimage site was rededicated by Archbishop Franz Rudolf Bornewasser of Trier . An extensive renovation took place in 1951. The bones of the saints were solemnly transferred back to the chapel from the Berus parish church in 1969. The Beruser Church of St. Martin received a relic as a replacement.

architecture

The oldest surviving parts of the Oranna Chapel are high Gothic remains in the area of ​​the choir from around 1230. The walled up former axis window behind the current Oranna statue in the rectangular choir area, whose late Gothic tracery can be seen in the masonry of the outer building, presumably comes from a late medieval renovation. Outwardly, the church is divided into a higher and wider part and a lower, narrow one. The higher part forms a small rectangular hall inside, the smaller one accommodates the rectangular choir . The large windows are designed with segmental arches. There are also smaller square windows. The church was enlarged around 1480 and widened to the west in the 17th through the 19th centuries. The sacred building, which was affected by the fighting of the Second World War, was restored from 1946 onwards.

The plastered building has two window axes in the hall and one in the choir. A roof turret with a bell rests on the gable roof . Mighty buttresses on the sides and the straight end of the choir have been placed in front of the walls and give it a defiant appearance. The portal of the church is kept simple. The double wooden door is framed by a round arch with a sandstone reveal.

Furnishing

Sculpture of St. Oranna with cross and auricle in the chapel

The painter Fritz Zolnhofer created the triptych "I call from the depths" in memory of the Saarland miners who died in the firedamp explosion in the Luisenthal mine on February 7, 1962 in the Alsbachfeld mining area. The metal sculptor Harry Leid (1933–1999) made a copper relief in 1969 as a cover plate for the wall grave of Oranna and Cyrilla.

The choir with ribbed vault has niches on both sides. The apse is adorned above a simple altar block with a colored figure of St. Oranna with cross and auricle. Until the destruction of the Second World War, there was a neo-Gothic shrine-like altar with a central dwelling , which was flanked by two statues of saints and above which a crucifix rose. You enter the choir through a color-contrasting basket arch with an accentuated keystone and a profiled cornice .

window

After the destruction of the Second World War in 1952, the Alsatian artist Tristan Ruhlmann (1923–1982) from Hagenau created new windows with scenes from the life of St. Oranna, a coat of arms window (the coat of arms of the Wadgassen Abbey with the motto "Desertum florebit quasi lilium" surrounded by 13 noble coats of arms) and depictions of saints.

Coat of arms window

The arched window on the south-east side of the ship (1.20 m × 1.03 m) shows the coats of arms of aristocratic rule, which had an influence on the places Eschweiler and Berus over the course of history. In the center is the coat of arms of the Premonstratensian Abbey of Wadgassen (Wadegotia). From the beginning of the 13th century until the abbey was dissolved in 1792, the Wadgassen monastery had provided pastoral care to the Oranna Chapel. The Latin inscription means in German translation: "The desert land will blossom like a lily."

13 further feudal emblems are grouped around the Wadegotia coat of arms:

  • At the top is the Beruser lion coat of arms.

Follow clockwise:

  • The eagle coat of arms of the Duchy of Lorraine , to which Berus historically belonged.
  • The bar coat of arms of the Counts of Isenburg , who had ruled Berus since the 16th century.
  • The lion coat of arms of the noble family Flörchingen recalls the transfer of property rights to the Wadgassen Abbey in the early 13th century.
  • The coat of arms of the Wadgassen abbot Michael Stein (term of office 1743 to 1778) commemorates the construction of the nave of the Berus parish church in the years 1749 to 1750 and the transfer of the bones of Oranna and Cyrilla there.
  • The cross coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Trier , to which the Oranna Chapel was subordinated in 1821.
  • The coat of arms of Wadgassen abbot Hermann Mertz (term of office 1705 to 1743), who in 1719 reburied the bones of Oranna and Cyrilla from Eschweiler to Berus in the Heilig Kreuz chapel (today the cemetery chapel).
  • The cube coat of arms of Philipp von Flamborn commemorates the election of the Eschweiler pastor in 1381 as Abbot of Wadgassen.
  • The cross coat of arms with the label "Metz" shows the coat of arms of the diocese of Speyer. It stands for Konrad von Scharfenberg , who was also Bishop of Speyer (1200–1224) and Metz (1212–1224) and Chancellor of the Roman-German Empire . In 1223 he reorganized the legal and pastoral conditions in Eschweiler.
  • The coat of arms of the dynasty d'Haraucourt commemorates one of the noble families who resided in Berus.
  • The coat of arms of the noble family Hattstein and the coat of arms of the noble family Metternich are reminiscent of the establishment of mass foundations and regular alms donations by Gutta von Hattstein and Maria Margaretha von Metternich in the 17th century.
  • Saarbrücken's lion coat of arms commemorates the Counts of Saarbrücken , who founded the Wadgassen monastery in the 12th century, and their connections to Berus.

Orange window

Four arched windows in the chapel nave show episodes from the life of St. Oranna and her companion Cyrilla in the 6th and 7th centuries (each 1.65 m × 0.85 m).

  • St. Oranna and her companion proclaim the message of Christianity to the Celtic-Franconian inhabitants of the Saargau.
  • Oranna rescues a stray Frankish nobleman and heals his deafness .
  • Oranna is saved from the pursuit of a knight by a corn miracle.
  • The opening of the Oranna sarcophagus in 1480 and the transfer of the remains to Berus in 1719.

Descent from the Cross

The rectangular window in the south wall of the connecting yoke shows the lamentation of Jesus in the lap of his mother Mary with St. John and St. Mary Magdalene (1.10 m × 0.90 m)

Choir window

The two basket-arch windows in the choir show St. Oranna (south wall) and St. Barbara of Nicomedia (north wall) (each 1.30 m × 0.63 m).

Hagioscope

To the right of the Oranna statue in the altar area is a small window, grilled from the inside. It is rectangular on the inside and shaped as a round oculus on the outside and served either as a funeral lamp for the adjacent churchyard or as a sacrament shrine or hagioscope through which one could see the altar and the saint's grave from outside. In the Middle Ages, this made it possible for infectious people to attend church services without exposing the congregation to the risk of infection. Hagioscopes became particularly widespread from the 12th century, when Europe was ravaged by leprosy . Especially in sparsely populated areas, where there were no leprosories with their own chapels, but where the sick had to live as non-residents, the hagioscopes made it possible for them to take part in the celebration of Holy Mass . The hagioscopes made it possible for the sick standing in the churchyard, who were viewed as "living corpses", to have a look into the area of ​​the altar and at the elements of the Lord's Supper, bread and wine, transformed in the Eucharist . The hagioscopes were paid for by charitable donors for the lepers to do something like this for their souls. Most of the leprosy cracks were bricked up after the great waves of infection had subsided at the end of the 16th century. The hagioscope window in the Oranna Chapel is therefore not only an interesting testimony to the architectural, but also the medical and social history of Europe.

environment

Oranna fountain

Oranna fountain in Berus , bronze sculpture by Martin Fröhlich, first version in terracotta in 1952, dimensions of the statue: 1.30 × 0.40 × 0.60 m, height with fountain: 2.90 m

The chapel stands on a slope with a slope to the northwest. An embankment wall was built in the north and west. There is a small round fountain in the forecourt of the chapel. The well basin consists of rubble stones and tapers downwards. Behind it stands a metal sculpture of St. Oranna by the Beruser artist Martin Fröhlich (* 1930). Above the chapel, on the other side of the street, there is a larger parking lot for visitors to the chapel.

Crucifixes

There are three crucifixes on the south side of the chapel . In front of it is the grave of Wilhelm Kornelius (1905–1978), who was pastor here from 1941 to 1978.

Former lookout tower

During the Saar referendum campaign (1933–1935), National Socialist propaganda tried to exploit the cross-border importance of the Oranna cult for their own purposes. In 1934, a 28 m high observation tower was built near the Oranna Chapel, which was initially given the name “St. Oranna Tower ”. However, this name was only used as a religious cover name, because the building, as a Hindenburg tower, was supposed to document a close political connection to National Socialist rule. However, there were still fears of sanctions from the International Government Commission of the Saar region. The laying of the foundation stone for the tower in Berus was celebrated on June 24, 1934. After the NSDAP came to power in the Saar area following the referendum on January 13, 1935, the tower was immediately renamed the Hindenburg tower and opened to the public on March 1, 1935. The Hindenburg tower was intended to manifest the territorial claim to the nearby Moselle region in Lorraine and Luxembourg. Its position near the border was above all a political provocation for France. The tower soon developed into a popular excursion destination in the region, so that in 1936 an inn was added. But on September 23, 1939, the tower was removed so as not to provide a point of reference for the French artillery.

Religious cult

Oranna crowns inside the chapel; The putting on of the crowns and the performing of prayers are said to heal the believer from internal and external ailments.

The Oranna cult experienced an upswing in the 20th century in connection with the impending or already started world wars. He expressed himself particularly in two pieces of music. Shortly before World War I enrolled in Metz teachers Theodor Lerond -Queuleu from cookers in Forbach (text) and Michael Zurluth from St. Johann in Saverne (tune) the so-called Orannenlied at the request of the faithful wife of workers employed in Queuleu main teacher Beining. The song of the Oranne has been an integral part of the pilgrimage to Berus since its first public lecture in 1918. In 1944/1945, the Saarlouis publisher Hans Hausen wrote two more stanzas to the song. Various elements of the Oranna song recur in the Orannamesse, which the cathedral music director of Luxembourg, JP Schmidt, composed in 1942 at the request of the Beruser pastor Kornelius. The mass was only completed after the end of the war and premiered on Oranna Day in 1952. The oranna cult remained a tradition largely rooted in popular piety. The annual pilgrimage on the third Sunday in September has united the faithful in the border area for centuries, and the Berus burial church embodies an area of ​​positive relations between the Saarland and Lorraine to this day.

literature

  • Hans Peter Buchleitner: Church reconstruction in the state capital as in the Saarlouis and Merzig-Wadern districts . (= Volume 1, Cultural Reconstruction in Saarland 1945–1955 ), Saarbrücken 1955, pp. 44f.
  • Hans Caspary, Wolfgang Götz, Ekkart Klinge (arrangement): Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland , (= Georg Dehio (†): Handbook of German Art Monuments ). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1984, p. 102
  • Oranna Dimmig: Oranna Chapel Berus . Kunstlexikon Saar series, Saarbrücken 2016
  • Gerold Kratz: Modern stained glass in St. Oranna . In: Local history yearbook of the Saarlouis district, 1960 . Working group for local history of the Saarlouis district, Saarlouis 1960, pp. 182–191
  • Walter Oehling: Three Altforweiler churches 2: The Oranna Chapel near Berus . In: Our home, newsletter of the Saarlouis district for culture and landscape , 19th year, 1994, pp. 1–12
  • Saar Research Association (Ed.): The art monuments of the Ottweiler and Saarlouis districts . edited by Walter Zimmermann, Saarbrücken 1976, pp. 159–161

Web links

Commons : Orannakapelle  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gernot Karge: Family history sources in the district of Saarlouis and the family history holdings of the Saarlouis district archive from Saarland, Lorraine, Rhineland-Palatinate and other areas . (= Volume 9 of publications by the Association for Local Studies in the Saarlouis District: Special Volume), District Archives, Saarlouis 1996
  2. ↑ http://www.kunstlexikonsaar.de/artikel/-/ueberherrn-froehlich-brunnenfigur/ , accessed on January 8, 2016.
  3. ^ Pilgrimage Church of St. Oranna , Parish of St. Oranna
  4. ↑ http://www.kuenstlerlexikonsaar.de/artikel/-/leid-harry/ , accessed on May 6, 2016.
  5. ↑ http://www.kunstlexikonsaar.de/kunst-im-sakralen-raum/artikel/-/kirchenbau-und-kunst-im-sakralen-raum-nach-1945-im-saarland-katholische-kirchen-landkreis-saarloui -3 / , accessed January 8, 2016.
  6. ^ Gerold Kratz: Modern glass painting in St. Oranna, in: Heimatkundliches Jahrbuch des Kreis Saarlouis, 1960, ed. from the study group for local history of the Saarlouis district, Saarlouis 1960, pp. 182–191.
  7. ↑ Oranna Dimmig: Oranna-Kapelle Berus, Art Lexicon Series, ed. v. Jo Enzweiler, Saarbrücken 2016, pp. 20–47.
  8. ↑ Saar Research Association (Ed.): The art monuments of the Ottweiler and Saarlouis districts. edited by Walter Zimmermann, Saarbrücken 1976, pp. 159–161, p. 161.
  9. ^ Ingeborg Nöldeke: Hidden treasures in East Frisian village churches, hagioscopes, rood screens and sarcophagus lids, disregarded details from the Middle Ages, Oldenburg 2014.
  10. ↑ Oranna Elisabeth Dimmig: Inventory of art in public space, in: Art in public space, Saarland, Volume 3, Saarlouis district after 1945, essays and inventory, p. 177-S. 383, here p. 360.
  11. ↑ Gerhild Krebs: Oranna-Kapelle, Berus, on: http://www.memotransfront.uni-saarland.de/orannakapelle.shtml , accessed on January 29, 2016.
  12. ↑ http://www.saarland-lese.de/index.php?article_id=290 , accessed on January 29, 2016.
  13. ↑ Gerhild Krebs: Oranna-Kapelle, Berus, on: http://www.memotransfront.uni-saarland.de/orannakapelle.shtml , accessed on January 29, 2016.

Coordinates: 49 ° 16 ′ 18.1 ″  N , 6 ° 40 ′ 33.7 ″  E