Parish center St. Katharina (Büren an der Aare)

Catholic Church of St. Katharina Büren

The St. Katharina parish center in Büren an der Aare has been one of the four centers of the new regional Roman Catholic parish Seeland-Lyss since May 2017 , alongside the parish center St. Maria (Ins) , Mary's birth (Lyss) and the parish center St. Peter and Paul (Täuffelen) .

History and parish structure

On May 13, 2017, Bishop Felix Gmür established the pastoral area of Seeland, and Büren became part of the newly circumscribed parish of Seeland-Lyss. The catchment area of the parish center includes the places Arch , Büetigen , Büren an der Aare, Diessbach bei Büren , Dotzigen , Leuzigen , Meienried , Oberwil bei Büren , Rüti bei Büren , Wengi , Aegerten , Scheuren and Schwadernau .

As early as 1954, the Bürens Catholics were able to celebrate the Eucharist in a classroom and in the Reformed town church. In 1967 planning began for a church center in Büren. The two pastors Kasimir Jäggi and Anton Sigrist, who worked in the mother parish of Lyss from 1956 to 1976 , encouraged the Catholics of Büren and the surrounding villages to work for their own church. In 1971 the Parish Rectorate St. Katharina was established with Father Edmund Ramsperger SJ. With his initiative, the construction project was pushed forward. In the competitions to build a new church center in 1974 and 1975, the project by architect Robert Frank from Lyss and his consultant architect G. Grivelli from Grenchen won . After the laying of the foundation stone on November 27, 1976, the church was built the following year and consecrated on December 18, 1977 by Bishop Otto Wüst under the patronage of St. Catherine of Alexandria .

Building description

patio

Church interior

The church with its outbuildings is slightly raised almost at the end of the village on the edge of the road to Solothurn . Sufficient car parking spaces and public transport make it easier for visitors from the widely dispersed congregations to take part in church services and events. The church center meets the users' need for a functional, unspectacular building.

A small bell with the coats of arms of the affiliated congregations hangs on a low bell support at the corner of the church. The inner courtyard is surrounded by a covered walkway supported by 23 columns. Underneath, visitors get to the entrances to the church and the other buildings. On the pillars there are reliefs cast in black cement, which were designed by school children with motifs from the life of Jesus. The local artist Peter Travaglini accompanied and completed the children's work. He also designed the fountain in the forecourt and the liturgical furniture of the church as well as the painted glass windows.

The side window of the church shows a Madonna and Child in a field of lilies. In the window of the adjoining parish hall, a group of modern people with a martial appearance meets a virgin emerging from a field of flowers and carrying a cross. Depicted is a legend of St. Catherine when she faced the troops of the Roman Emperor Maxentius in order to convert him to Christianity. She presented herself to a number of scholars for discussion and convinced them with her clever arguments.

The patronage of the inauthentically guaranteed saints from the 3rd century for the Catholic Church was suggested by the President of the Reformed parish. Because St. Catherine was the patroness of the town church and the town of Büren before the Reformation. Her portrait was still in the city seal until the 19th century.

The high church space is separated from the community hall and the foyer by movable partitions. This enables expansion for up to 300 people and different uses of the rooms.

organ

In 1989 the organ with 2 manuals and pedal was installed in the church by the organ builder Erwin Erni, Stans . It has 11 sounding registers with two pre trains , mechanical play and register contracture and slider chests . The disposition is as follows:

I Hauptwerk C – g ³
Coupling flute	8th'
Principal	4 ′
Fifth (preliminary print)	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
Flageolet	2 ′
Third (preliminary deduction)	1 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
Sesquialter	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′ + 1 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
mixture	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′

II Positive C-g ³
Dumped	8th'
recorder	4 ′
Principal	2 ′
Fifth	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′

Pedal C – f ¹
Sub bass	16 ′
Dacked bass	8th'

Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P

literature

Marie-Louise Beyeler and others, Emanuel Stotzer (photos): 40 years of St. Katharina's parish center 1977–2017 . Ed .: Catholic Church of Zealand. Büren an der Aare 2017, p. 20 .
Robert Aeberhard, E. Ramsperger: Churches in the Seeland . Ed .: Verlag W. Gassmann. Biel 1980, p. 168-170 .

Web links

Commons : Parish center St. Katharina (Büren an der Aare) - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Zeeland pastoral area
↑ Grand Council resolution on the delimitation of the parishes. In: Website of the Government Council of the Canton of Bern, April 4, 2012 (PDF; 111 kB).
↑ The legend of St. Catherine in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints. Retrieved April 21, 2020 .
↑ Robert Aeberhard, E. Ramsperger: Churches in the Seeland . Ed .: Verlag W. Gassmann AG. Biel 1980, p. 168-170 .
^ Organ directory of Switzerland and Liechtenstein accessed on April 20, 2020.

47.142572 7.384052Coordinates: 47 ° 8 '33.3 " N , 7 ° 23' 2.6" E ; CH1903: five hundred ninety-five thousand eight hundred and sixty / 221,290

[1] Zeeland pastoral area

[2] Grand Council resolution on the delimitation of the parishes. In: Website of the Government Council of the Canton of Bern, April 4, 2012 (PDF; 111 kB).

[3] The legend of St. Catherine in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints. Retrieved April 21, 2020 .

[4] Robert Aeberhard, E. Ramsperger: Churches in the Seeland . Ed .: Verlag W. Gassmann AG. Biel 1980, p. 168-170 .

[5] Organ directory of Switzerland and Liechtenstein accessed on April 20, 2020.