Seven Sorrows of Mary (Uckendorf)

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Parish Church of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, at Kirchweg 12
Community center in front of the church grounds

The Catholic Rectorate Church of the Seven Sorrows of Mary in Uckendorf was built between 1908 and 1909 in the neo-Gothic style . The new building was financed and realized by the former parish of the village of Uckendorf . The church of the small village is located in what is now the Uckendorf district of the city of Niederkassel in the Rhein-Sieg district of North Rhine-Westphalia . It was built to designs by the architect and Cologne cathedral master builder Bernhard Hertel . The church and parish were initially subordinate to the mother parish of St. Matthew in Niederkassel. After her consecration in June 1910, she gradually achieved complete independence in the further first half of the 20th century and today has the status of a quasi-parish .

prehistory

High Middle Ages and Electoral Cologne Period

With the emergence of the first manors - in Stockem 1003, 1143 a courtyard of the Bonn Cassiusstift - the name of the place Uckendorf appeared for the first time in a document. After further courtyards were built in the area from the 14th century onwards, day laborers and small business owners built their small, modest houses ( cottages ) in the vicinity of these large estates , which are initially on the only former military road that crosses the Rhine arc, the later Dorfstraße and today's Eschmarer Straße, lined up next to each other. This highway at that time was not only a straight trade route, but was also used militarily by troop movements of all stripes and thus exposed the small town to the arbitrariness of the respective soldiers .

Despite constant armed conflicts, from which the regions in the often involved Kurköln had to suffer, the affected residents of the towns and hamlets never gave up and rebuilt their destroyed houses or farms. This was also the case when the Uckendorf, located on the old Heerweg , was burned down by Spanish troops during the Truchsessian War (1583 to 1588) . The optimistic citizens of Uckendorf also rebuilt their village after another war, the War of Spanish Succession ended in 1714, and built a small church in 1719 for their community (consisting of around 100 people, in Oct. 218 = 452 Catholics).

Chapel to the Sorrowful Mother

Map of the chapel area around 1750

After the Capuchin monastery in Bonn was destroyed in 1689 , the monastery brothers fled to neighboring regions. In 1712 Capuchins are said to have built a chapel in Uckendorf. The monks had probably left the place, so that the residents of the village followed their wish for their own place of worship by converting or expanding the abandoned building. They probably built a larger chapel on their own and the construction costs were collected through measurement foundations, donations and their own funds. Otherwise, the costs reduced in their amount through manual work would not have been incurred.

The small church was intended to enable the elderly, the sick and mothers with small children of the parish of the time to attend the required services on Sundays and public holidays, and should also spare them a walk in all weather conditions to get to their parish church of St. Matthew in Niederkassel reach.

The wishes and plans of the Uckendorfer followed the establishment of their own chapel community and the construction of an associated chapel, which was approved by "high clerical authorities". In view of the economic conditions at the beginning of the 18th century, it was not an everyday occurrence that this succeeded. The details of the processes were described in a document from the Uckendorf parish archive as a laborious undertaking, but also as a commendable achievement by the community. The text of the handed-down deed of foundation / approval for the construction of the small church showed that the “capell was furnished with three altars, two bells and the necessary parament”. In this little church, despite its modest size, a daily early mass was held for a decade from 1720 to 1730 .

Forms of maintenance for the establishment

The chapel community soon realized that the construction of the chapel alone was not enough to make its foundation last. The few measuring foundations from the legacies of deceased patrons were not sufficient to guarantee continuous operation (measuring, Christian teaching ). As a result, the small community was forced to stop reading a regularly held early mass in 1730 for lack of a permanent foundation. In this stagnation more than 40 years passed. Help came through from Kriegsdorf originating Menden (also Gehlen) Pastor Peter Geilen. On March 10, 1773, he donated his legacy to a benefit through a bequeathed capital of 906 Reichstalers, a sum that produced 36 Reichstalers annually. Since this was still insufficient to ensure the maintenance of a beneficiary, the Uckendorfer collected among the residents. At that time there were around 34 households and a large number of occupants in various courtyards. A collection brought in a total of 505 Reichsthalers and thus an additional 20 Reichsthalers annually. In addition, the Uckendorfer committed themselves to the procurement of paraments , wax, light, hosts, etc. and built a dwelling for the beneficiary in combination with a school building. The descendants of the founder Jacob Geilen from Kriegsdorf were chosen as the collator of this benefice and in the event of their extinction the Uckendorfer community should step in. The first beneficiary and early knife was the young vicar Peter Josef Gehlen, son of the deceased founder, who had also taken on the obligation to ensure that a mass was read on Sundays and public holidays, that the children were taught and that the Niederkassel pastor attended if necessary Relief in pastoral care was supported.

Description of the chapel

The chapel was a simple, small hall building to which a small Gerkammer had been added on its north side . The east side closed under the hilted roof with a three-sided choir , and the side walls were given small windows that were later designed with pointed arches. The saddle roof had a dormer (based on a picture from 1719) and on the west end a simple one-sided roof turret adorned the chapel, the bell chamber of which had sound slots and a pointed helmet . The lintel at that time - today a listed building - is preserved in the outer wall of a private house in Uckendorf. It consisted of a rough relief of Our Lady, the inscription of which shows that the chapel was built. Since lintels and arched windows were incorporated, the small chapel should also have been built from brick and not as a half-timbered building. The text above the chapel entrance at that time reads:

“ANNO 171 9, APRIL 24, THESE GOD
'S HAVS IS BAVET WORD TO HONOR THE
PAINFUL MOTHER OF GOTE.
YOUR THINER WILL BE THE GIVE A LITTLE HER "

Local brick for church building in the parish

Brick coal kiln in the Niederkasseler Feld in 1915

Some of the churches mentioned had only small chapels as their predecessors, the space of which was no longer sufficient due to the rapidly growing population. The structures that then emerged were built from brick according to the time, which could often be produced on site as a field fire. Already in the 15th century it was explicitly regulated for Mondorf that the landlord was not only obliged to build the nave towards the church, he was also responsible for digging a clay pit. The raw material obtained from this became the local brick, which became the building material for the parish church that was built in the middle of the 19th century. So it is also handed down that the clay pit for the stones of the Lülsdorf church is to be found under the area of ​​the local cemetery. The clay pits near the hamlet of Stockem , mentioned by the author Brodeßer, supplied the building material with which, according to tradition - by locals or wandering "brick bakers" - field fire bricks were made on site. Brodeßer notes that at the end of the last century the brick houses still dominated the Eschmarer Straße. In this context it is documented that the Niederkassel family company Neff manufactured and sold field fire bricks until around 1930.

New buildings in the 19th and 20th centuries

Numerous new church buildings were erected in the parishes of the Niederkassel district in the 19th century. The new church of St. Dionysius began in Rheidt in 1834, in Lülsdorf St. Jakobus was built in 1878, in Niederkassel St. Matthäus was built until 1894 and in Mondorf St. Laurentius was built in 1896.

The new building in Uckendorf was made possible by a foundation of the Clostermann family, which brought the inheritance of their daughter Agnes into a foundation fund. The predecessor of today's Rectorate Church was also a small chapel built in 1719 in the village, which was consecrated to Mariae dolorosa .

Uckendorfer Rectorate Church

Along with the construction of the new church, there was a gradual separation from the Niederkassel mother church. In May 1909 , the Archbishop's General Vicariate in Cologne gave the rector for the school district of the two special parishes of Uckendorf / Stockem the power to baptize, bring the children to first communion, donate Easter communion and marry the bride and groom. The new clergyman, appointed in 1910, sought additional rights. Under him, the parish of Uckendorf received in October 1912 the right to be buried in the Uckendorf cemetery. In 1916, the congregation was almost complete and was completed in 1920 with the creation of a new church district.

A file of the archdiocese

Apart from the naming of the architect Hertel, there is no further information on the building of the church itself. Neither a sketch of the floor plan, dimensions of the individual building components nor a list of the total costs are mentioned.

  • The inventory "Chapel Uckendorf"

  • Seven Sorrows of Mary around 1913

There is also an existing file in the Archbishop's Archive in Cologne , despite the new building in Uckendorf, under the name “GVAI 6235” as the Uckendorf chapel in the Siegburg deanery. The bundle of files, which has suffered from the time, contains mostly correspondence, but apart from a greeting card with a picture of the new church (filed under documents from 1913) there is no reference to construction details.

description

location

The church, built in 1908/09, was built not far from the location of the former "Mater Dolorosa" chapel at the beginning of the church path that was straightened out in 1925. It is enclosed in the village center and is one of Uckendorf's listed buildings.

  • Church forecourt

  • Front

  • South side, sacristy

  • Southeast side

  • Choir window

  • Sacristy window

  • Virgin Mary statue

  • Wooden cross, painted body

  • Church Commandments window

  • Church Commandments window

West facade and tower

In contrast to most of the churches in the parish, the brick building was soon plastered - judging by the pictures - and is now painted light. The tower, which was placed slightly in front of the east-facing nave on the south-west corner, dominates the appearance of the church. Its bell tower towers above the overall slate roof of the nave with its eight-sided helmet at the height of the nave ridge. This ends in front of the slightly stepped, hilted roof of the choir in the east.

Replica of a crescent Madonna

The west facade appears compact. Above the very simple portal, flanked by stepped buttresses, there is a high, three-part window equipped with tracery, above which slits of light have been let into the gable front. The tracery as well as the cover plates of the two-tier buttresses are made of sandstone. The entrance to the right is followed by a small window and a single-storey stair tower, half of which is leaning against the church tower. With the construction of the church, a canopy-crowned corner niche was added to the tower at the base, which was provided with a stone sculpture. It was a replica of a crescent Madonna in the style of the late Gothic period. Today's copy - made in a Niederkassel stonemason and sculptor's workshop - replaced the original, which had been badly damaged over the years by environmental influences, and was consecrated by Cardinal Meisner from Cologne on the occasion of the church anniversary .

North and south side

Visitors to the north side can see a protruding aisle, which, however, only extends over the two middle bays of the nave. In addition, there is a small Mother of God Schörchen. The south side between the tower and the choir, highlighted by several additions, received a round tower with a neo-Gothic pointed helmet in the gusset of the nave, sacristy annex and choir annex, which was laid out as a five - eighth closure .

The windows on the north, south and east sides show richly designed tracery. With the two-tiered buttresses rising in between and reaching up to the roof, they have a structuring function of the overall structure.

Interior design, equipment

The high neo-Gothic tracery windows develop a colorful luminosity on bright days, flooding the nave and choir with light. However, most of the original window fittings were destroyed by the last World War and are only present as remains in the glazing on the south side.

The ceiling of the nave was equipped with a continuous net vault , the vault ribs of which rest on a total of nine consoles on the side walls. Another of the ribs rests on a pillar of the side aisle, also known as the angel choir. The reason for the naming as angel choirs are (according to Brodeßer) apparently icon paintings by the Honnef artist Heinrich Schmitt. His depictions of angels give the aisle its own character today. There are also other noteworthy items of equipment, such as a valuable lecture cross , a neo-Gothic baptismal font and a flat painted wooden cross, which due to its stylistic elements may come from the 16th century.

A simple triumphal arch separates the nave from the choir. There you will find, under the also continuous retracted net vault, tabernacle and cafeteria , which together with the altar cross and ambo form an ensemble like the traditional choir furnishings. The rounded choir wall was given colored fabric hangings below the window, in front of which a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows was placed in the southeast corner. She was described as a coarse figure with peculiar folds in her garment and is said to come from the 18th century.

The west side of the nave is adorned with an organ that was embedded in a neo-Gothic prospectus during one of the last revisions .

The Church in and after the world wars

Three bells confiscated during the First World War (one remained) were partially replaced by two new ones in February 1926. In 1931 a fourth bell was donated to complete the ringing again. However, this did not last long. In March 1942 three bells were again confiscated. At the end of the war, in March 1945, the Allied bombers had only occasionally caused damage. When Uckendorf came into the area of ​​the approaching enemy artillery, many houses, but also the school, pastorate and the church received heavy hits from constant fire. It was not until March 1958 that two new bells were handed over to the church - again through a foundation.

The former chapel and later parish of the Seven Pain Mariens Uckendorf, whose foundation will be 300 years old in 2019, fought for a long time to gain independence for its parish church. Today it is affiliated with the church association Niederkassel-Nord, a pastoral care area of ​​the parish churches in the district dean of the Rhein-Sieg district .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Brodeßer, Uckendorf and Stockem
  2. ↑ Brodeßer, Uckendorf and Stockem , reference 88: Th. J. Lacomblet, Court of Deutz Abbey, document book for the history of the Lower Rhine , Düsseldorf 1840, vol. 140 p. 87
  3. ↑ Brodeßer, note 70, with reference to Wilhelm Günther, in Codex diplomaticus Rheno-Mosellanus, Coblenz 1822, Volume I. Documents from the 8th to the end of the 12th century, No. 134, p. 280, Aeg. Müller II, p. 221
  4. ^ Paul Clemen, Bonn Kapuzinerkloster, p. 120
  5. ↑ Josef Dietz in: Topography of the City of Bonn from the Middle Ages to the End of the Electoral Period, p. 138
  6. ^ Name> Heinrich Brodeßer, Uckendorf and Stockem , school chronicle p. 232 b
  7. ↑ Heinrich Brodeßer, Uckendorf and Stockem , p. 96 ff
  8. ↑ Heinrich Brodeßer, Uckendorf and Stockem with reference to the Uckendorf parish archive, deed of foundation and approval of the foundation, adjunct I.
  9. ^ Paul Clemen / Edmund Renard, in "Die Kunstdenkmäler des Siegkreises", p. 151
  10. ^ Heinrich Brodeßer, section Mondorf , p. 128
  11. ↑ Heinrich Brodeßer, upswing and progress , p. 220
  12. ^ Heinrich Brodeßer, Uckendorf and Stockem , p. 103
  13. ^ Heinrich Brodeßer, Uckendorf and Stockem , section School Chronicle Uckendorf p. 384
  14. ^ Heinrich Brodeßer, Uckendorf and Stockem , p. 103
  15. ^ Heinrich Brodeßer, Uckendorf and Stockem , section School Chronicle Uckendorf, pp. 334 to 337

literature

  • Thomas Alois: Wilhelm Arnold Günther 1763–1843. State archivist in Koblenz, vicar general and auxiliary bishop in Trier . Paulinus Publishing House, 1957 (published by the Trier diocese archive)
  • Paul Clemen , on behalf of the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province Die Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz, in: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt und der Landkreis Bonn , Volume V, III. Druck und Verlag L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1905, reprint 1981. ISBN 3-590-32113-X , p. 120
  • Edmund Renard: The art monuments of the Siegkreis . In: Paul Clemen, Die Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz . tape 5 , Department IV. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1907, p. 151 .
  • Josef Dietz, topography of the city of Bonn from the Middle Ages to the end of the electoral era, in Bonn history sheets. Yearbook of the Bonner Heimat- und Geschichtsverein, Volume XVI, 1962
  • Heinrich Brodeßer, Uckendorf and Stockem , in the Rhein-Sieg home register . Published by Jarschel-Druck, Troisdorf, 1985, pp. 87 to 104 (1985)

Web links

Commons : Seven Sorrows of Mary  - Collection of Images

Coordinates: 50 ° 49 ′ 16.1 ″  N , 7 ° 3 ′ 59.3 ″  E