Aachen seminary

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Aachen seminary
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Seminar type Clerical seminary
address Leonhardstrasse 10
52064 Aachen
state North Rhine-Westphalia
country Germany
carrier Diocese of Aachen
founding year 1932
Rain Stefan Dückers
Spiritual Georg Lauscher
Website URL Homepage of the seminar

The Aachen seminary is a training and further education facility of the Roman Catholic diocese of Aachen for candidates for priesthood . It was set up in 1932 in a seminar building specially built for this purpose in Aachen's Mozartstrasse and currently comprises the two-year part of the professional introduction after studying theology .

history

As in the time of the first diocese of Aachen (1802–1825), priestly training for the newly founded diocese in 1930 also took place in the Archdiocese of Cologne . The great rush to become a priest made it necessary to set up a separate training facility in Aachen in 1932 , which initially found its place in a part of the Aachen motherhouse of the Alexians . The priestly formation took place in addition to the study of Catholic theology and was supposed to offer those areas of priestly formation that were not the subject of scientific theology.

As early as 1933, Franz Wildt and Peter Salm made the first plans for the construction of their own seminar building in Aachen's Mozartstrasse, based on the architectural tradition of the Aachen Werkkunstschule . The laying of the foundation stone on July 14, 1935 was followed by the inauguration on June 29, 1937 by Bishop Joseph Heinrich Peter Vogt . The first rain of the seminary was until 1937 Herbert Busch, who was followed by the future Bishop of Aachen Johannes Joseph van der Velden until it was temporarily closed due to the war in 1942 ; he was there at the same time as a professor of pastoral and moral theology .

MISEREOR headquarters

Work in the Aachen seminary was resumed after the Second World War . However, the decreasing number of candidates for the priesthood in the Diocese of Aachen after the war made it necessary to convert the large building. As a result, the Misereor Episcopal Relief Organization moved into the rooms at Mozartstrasse 9 in 1960 , which is why the building itself is referred to as a “former seminary” in some sources. Other areas were made available to the Episcopal Academy of the Diocese of Aachen , especially the chapel, and for the storage of holdings in the diocesan library. In addition, the complex was expanded to include the August Pieper House (Leonhardstrasse 18-20) in the form of a seminar and conference building for the Diocese of Aachen and the Bischof Hemmerle House (Friedlandstrasse 2) for the Episcopal Academy. Finally, after completing their theology studies at a state or church theological faculty, a block of buildings at Leonhardstrasse 10 with its own chapel was made available as a residential, work and administrative area for the time of their introductory years.

education

Before the candidates for the priesthood of the diocese of Aachen can begin their introductory years at the Aachen seminary, they must have completed a degree in theology. Interested parties with a high school diploma are recommended by the diocese either to the Collegium Borromaeum Münster in the diocese of Münster or to the Philosophical-Theological University of Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt am Main . Study willing without high school diploma, however is the study house St. Lambert on the castle Lantershofen in the municipality County in Rhineland-Palatinate are available.

The two-year "Professional Introduction Part I" at the Aachen seminary that builds on this includes a three-month diaconate course with subsequent deacon ordination and a one-year diaconate period in a parish of the diocese of Aachen, a six-week presbyterate course , a pastoral course , a week of religious education and homiletic training over the two years Exercises and spiritual evenings. Finally, the graduates receive their priestly ordination in Aachen Cathedral .

Subsequently, the new priests take up a four-year position as chaplain , during which they will continue to be looked after by the seminary as part of the "Vocational Introduction Part II" with study days, practical support, supervision , spiritual support and retreats.

Well-known graduates and lecturers

Original seminar building

Original seminar building

The original building complex of the seminary, built according to plans by Peter Salm and Franz Wildt and inaugurated in 1937, is an important work of ecclesiastical architecture of the 20th century, inspired by the Bauhaus . Through the conspicuous inclusion of the building sculpture, he reveals features of Expressionist architecture , but the influence of the New Objectivity is also clear. Striking components on Mozartstrasse are the main entrance to the seminary with an elaborately designed portico and the library wing adjoining it to the north with a round tower as well as the quadrum and the large chapel on Leonhardstrasse.

The chapel, which was clearly influenced by Rudolf Schwarz , is now part of the Episcopal Academy of the Diocese of Aachen. The tabernacle on the main altar and the altar crosses there were designed and made in 1937 by the goldsmith Anton Schickel .

Most of the building sculptures come from Peter Terkatz and the extremely valuable glass paintings from Anton Wendling and Peter Hecker . After the war, Ludwig Schaffrath was particularly influential in the design of the seminary in the field of glass painting and he created the windows in the foyer (1951/52), in the seminar room (1966) and in the chapel (1951, 1962, 1970/71 and 1982). Ernst Jansen-Winkeln contributed ten ornamental round windows in antique and lead glass . The stairwell is adorned with the granite relief Visitation by the Aachen sculptor Klaus Iserlohe from 1970.

  • Main entrance

  • Side wing with chapel

  • Chapel and rear wing

literature

  • Building commission for the establishment of the seminary (ed.): The new seminary in Aachen. Festschrift . Design by Anton Wendling. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1937.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stained glass in Ludwig Schaffrath's episcopal academy

Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 3.8 ″  N , 6 ° 5 ′ 7.5 ″  E