St. Petrus Church (Wolfenbüttel)
The St. Petrus Church is the Catholic parish church of Wolfenbüttel (Harztorwall 2). It was from 1889 to 1891 according to plans of the Hildesheim architect Richard Herzig built and on August 5th 1891 by Bishop William Sommerwerck ordained . The parish belongs to the deanery of Braunschweig in the diocese of Hildesheim .
construction
St. Peter is a representative neo-Romanesque basilica on cross floor plan with eintürmigem West bars and Vierungs - Roof skylights , in approximately 77 meters above sea level located. The massive square tower and the outer walls are structured with blind arcades and pilaster strips .
Inside, the original stained glass windows and the wood carvings of the pulpit are noteworthy, as are the tabernacle stele and other modern furnishings, as well as the large organ from the last quarter of the 20th century. The three stained glass windows in the choir show the holy Bernward of Hildesheim , Simon Petrus and Godehard of Hildesheim .
history
After the Lutheran Reformation was carried out in the Duchy of Braunschweig in 1568 , there were only a few Catholics and Catholic families in the region. Duke Anton Ulrich allowed them to celebrate mass in a private setting in 1700 , and the services were held by Franciscan fathers from Halberstadt . From 1705, Father Laurentius Rolff OFM was a permanent Catholic pastor in Wolfenbüttel. In 1707 an emergency chapel was set up in an already existing building on Krummen Strasse. When the Duke himself converted to Catholicism in 1710 , he appointed the Franciscan court preacher .
This episode ended with the death of Anton Ulrich in 1714. However, the Franciscans continued their pastoral work in Wolfenbüttel until around 1818, when secular priests took over this task. The hope of a church of its own remained unattainable for the small community. However, the Napoleonic period brought recognition as a parish in 1813.
With industrialization , Wolfenbüttel grew beyond the ramparts that had been razed since 1804 , and at the same time the number of Catholics increased. After preliminary interim solutions and against the opposition of the city council of the Church was finally able to start in September 1889 on a 1887 Wall acquired land, the construction of which Petrus - patronage should build a bridge to Rome. The saints Maria and Bernward became secondary patrons .
The world economic crisis and the time of National Socialism with the large number of deportees and forced laborers and the planned industrial development in the Salzgitter area brought major challenges for the community . Due to the influx of many Catholic workers into the development area of the Reichswerke AG for ore mining and ironworks "Hermann Göring" , which was founded in July 1937 and which largely belonged to the Wolfenbüttel parish, St. Petrus was already the largest parish in 1937 with over 26,000 members Diocese of Hildesheim. Two years later, St. Petrus was the largest parish in what was then the German Empire with around 55,000 Catholics .
Wolfenbüttel survived the Second World War largely undestroyed. After that, however, the task of integrating the expellees , many of whom were Catholic, arose. This was achieved not least through the work of the association since the 1950s.
In 1973 the St. Ansgar Church was built as a curate .
From 1979 to 1981 the community center Roncalli -Haus was built next to St. Petrus ( Florian Thamm , Wolfenbüttel).
In 1988 the church underwent a comprehensive restoration and artistic redesign, during which a newly furnished main altar was consecrated by Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Machens .
Since 2004, St. Peter Parish to include as a subsidiary church St. Ansgar (Wolfenbüttel) and St. Joseph (Schöppenstedt), since November 1, 2006. Moreover, even St. Bernward (Börßum, 2011 profaned ), Holy Cross (Dorstadt) and St Peter and Paul (Heiningen) with a total of 9074 Catholics (2008).
See also
literature
- Parish of St. Petrus (ed.): Consulted. 100 years St. Petrus Church in Wolfenbüttel. Wolfenbüttel 1991.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Once the largest parish in the diocese. In: KirchenZeitung , issue 37/2016 of September 11, 2016, p. 14
Coordinates: 52 ° 9 ′ 35.6 ″ N , 10 ° 32 ′ 6.7 ″ E