Parish Church of St. Anthony of Padua (Vienna)

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Parish Church of St. Antonius v. Padua Vienna XV. today

The Antoniuskirche is a former Roman Catholic and since 2014 Romanian Orthodox parish church consecrated to St. Anthony of Padua in Pouthongasse in the 15th  Viennese district of Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus .

history

On November 27, 1894, the church built by Ludwig Zatzka was consecrated to St. Anthony of Padua and was part of the St. Antonius asylum for the poor and sick. The asylum was run by the Sisters of Mercy and, in addition to the buildings still in existence today (parish church and rectory), comprised a building complex including gardens, which extended to Hütteldorfer Strasse in the north and was bordered by Tannengasse and Pouthongasse in the east and west. Both asylum and gardens no longer exist today.

In 1904 the church building was expanded, whereby the church received its two bell towers that still exist today and thus lost its external appearance of a monastery church.

On September 1, 1939, a separate parish assigned to the Antoniuskirche was cut out of the existing parish area of ​​the " Neuffunghaus " parish surrounding the Antoniuskirche. This measure made it possible for Theodor Cardinal Innitzer to appoint another priest as pastor of a parish and thus to protect against access by the German armed forces. Since then, the parish area has been delimited by the following streets: Schweglerstrasse, Hütteldorfer Strasse, Beingasse, Felberstrasse.

Until 1972, the Sisters of Mercy were busy looking after the sick and the elderly in addition to the parish. Then the monastery community was dissolved. In addition to monastery life, a parish community that was very active at the time was formed. Many different groups and associations with a Catholic background were or are still located in the parish today. Examples include: Marian Women's Congregation, Legio Mariae and Vinzenverein. There was also an active choir and several music groups until the early 1980s. Then, as now, the focus was on the street apostolate, caring for the sick and disadvantaged as well as a strong understanding of the liturgy in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the parish on September 1st, 1989, the rectory was completely renovated. After that, the church was completely renovated outside and inside until the 100th anniversary of the church's consecration on November 27, 1994. The last major change was the relocation of the altar in the middle of the church space in order to take sufficient account of the requirements of the second Vatican Council for the liturgy.

In December 2013 the Archdiocese of Vienna announced that the parish of St. Antonius was to be dissolved and the church building would be given to the Romanian Orthodox Church . The actual handover of the church building took place on April 21, 2014. In the course of this handover, the Roman Catholic parish of St. Anton was granted a room to be designed as a prayer niche and the possibility of continuing to celebrate services in the church as well as the further maintenance and use of the organ. In the course of the diocesan restructuring process, the parish of St. Anton is to be merged with the parish of Neu-Hildegard-Burjan, which has yet to be founded, together with the parishes of Rudolfsheim , Neuffunghaus , Schönbrunn-Vorpark and Akkonplatz .

The Catholic parish of St. Anthony of Padua was abolished on March 31, 2016 and the area was assigned to the parish of Rudolfsheim .

Exterior

The church was built in the neo-Romanesque style . It was common practice towards the end of the 19th century to erect sacred buildings in Romanesque and / or Gothic styles. Only the west facade of the church with its two towers is visible to the public. The north and south sides are built directly (today there is a rectory to the south and a residential building to the north). The church building fits into the street line almost unnoticed and is also considered a special gem of sacred architecture in the 15th district of Vienna. The facade is dominated by a rose window , in the center of which is a representation of St. Spirit is in the form of a dove . The two tower clocks have been out of service for several decades. The two towers each have a bell. One of them (from 1655) is tuned to the nominal C sharp +3, which is an extremely rare chime for bells from this period. The second bell ("Poor Souls Bell") was donated on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the parish and consecrated by Franz Cardinal König .

Interior

Former interior view of the parish church St. Antonius v. Padua

The interior of the church is dominated by both the neo-Romanesque architecture and the artistic design of the church interior typical of the late 18th century. In terms of construction, the architecture follows the principle of a basilica . All the holy figures are lavishly painted, both the side and the former high altar are made of white marble. The church achieved particular regional fame for its diverse collection of relics as well as its extensive equipment of liturgical implements and paraments , which are still used today on solemn festivals, based on its monastery past .

Altars

Antoniuskirche inside - Ambo

As is customary in pre-conciliar churches, the Antoniuskirche has several altars . In addition to the former high altar, which in addition to the tabernacle also contains the relics of several saints (for example: St. Antonius , St. Leopold , St. Stephen ), there are still side altars that depict St. Our Lady of God and St. Joseph are consecrated. A special close relationship exists due to the history of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Theresia v. Children of jesus . In addition to the “poor soul altar”, the cross altar originally decorated with a Riemenschneider cross still exists today . In the course of the abandonment of the monastery and the asylum, the Sisters of Charity took the original cross back to their mother house. Today there is only one replica in the Antonius Church. However, this is no longer above the cross altar, but in the rear area of ​​the church, in which a Catholic prayer niche was created when the building was handed over to the Romanian Orthodox Church in Austria. The cross forms the center.

At the top of the former main altar, under a canopy, there is a statue of St. Anthony with the baby Jesus in his arms and a lily in his hand. There are other representations of this saint in the church because of the patronage .

The actual altar (previously called the people's altar ) has been placed in the center of the church since the last changes to the church interior. A celebration gathered around the altar has been possible since then. Due to the fact that this altar does not meet the liturgical requirements of the Orthodox Church, it was replaced by a transportable altar, which is only placed in the place of the previous altar for Roman Catholic services. The Romanian Orthodox services are celebrated on a separate altar in the former presbytery of the church. An iconostasis to separate the orthodox chancel and the area for the people was erected in March 2015, two icons before that served as a temporary iconostasis.

Particularly noteworthy is the still existing communion grille made of white marble and partly gilded cast iron elements.

Statues of saints

Due to the lively donation activity of the community in the past 100 years, the Antoniuskirche has an above-average number of saints figures and representations. The following saints are represented in the Antoniuskirche:

organ

Prospectus of the organ

The organ was built by the Viennese organ builder Johann M. Kauffmann in 1913 after the old organ was transferred to the parish and pilgrimage church of Maria Gugging . The organ has 2 manuals and pedal as well as a free-standing brochure .

pulpit

The remains of the pulpit in the Antoniuskirche show a neo-Romanesque wooden pulpit with ornamental carvings. The sound cover of the pulpit has unfortunately disappeared. Its filigree design is still clearly recognizable on pictures in the parish chronicle.

Web links

Commons : Parish Church of St. Anthony of Padua  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vincent Group
  2. ↑ Chronicle of the parish St. Anton v. Padua Vienna XV Development of the church and asylum buildings
  3. ↑ Chronicle of the parish St. Anton v. Padua Vienna XV Extension of the sacred building
  4. ↑ Chronicle of the parish St. Anton v. Padua Vienna XV founding document of the Archbishop of Vienna
  5. ↑ Chronicle of the parish St. Anton v. Padua Vienna XV Current situation
  6. ^ ORF religion: Archdiocese of Vienna gives away church ; Retrieved Nov. 5, 2013
  7. ^ Parish of St. Anthony of Padua. (No longer available online.) Web presence of the Archdiocese of Vienna, archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; Retrieved July 19, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.erzdioezese-wien.at
  8. ↑ Diocesan Gazette of the Archdiocese of Vienna April 2016
  9. ↑ Chronicle of the parish St. Anton v. Padua Vienna XV Festschrift "50 Years Parish St. Anton of Padua Vienna XV."
  10. ↑ Bundesdenkmalamt (Ed.): Dehio-Handbuch. The art monuments of Austria. Lower Austria, south of the Danube , part 2. Berger publishing house, Horn / Vienna 2003, page 1318, ISBN 3-85028-365-8

Coordinates: 48 ° 11 ′ 57.8 "  N , 16 ° 19 ′ 47.7"  E