St. Bernward (Sommerschenburg)

Exterior view

The Sankt Bernward Church is the Catholic church in Sommerschenburg , a district of the municipality of Sommersdorf in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt . It belongs to the parish of St. Marien with its seat in Oschersleben in the Egeln deanery of the Magdeburg diocese . The church, named after St. Bernward von Hildesheim , is located at Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 5.

history

In the 16th century the population in the Sommerschenburg area became Evangelical-Lutheran through the introduction of the Reformation .

At the beginning of the 20th century, the number of Catholics rose again so strongly due to industrialization that Vicar Augustinus Philipp Baumann, who worked at the Church of the Heart of Jesus (Völpke) , acquired a house in Sommerschenburg and the outbuildings were converted into a chapel. In this chapel, already named after St. Bernward, the first Holy Mass was held on May 1, 1910 by Vicar Kleffmann , and also in 1910 the pastoral care district of Sommerschenburg was established.

The groundbreaking ceremony for today's St. Bernward Church took place on September 23, 1935 , the foundation stone was laid on October 28, 1935 , and it was completed on May 20, 1936. On May 21, 1936, on the feast day of Ascension Day , their consecration took place by Auxiliary Bishop Augustinus Baumann, who once founded the Sommerschenburg congregation as vicar.

On October 13, 2007 the community association "Eilsleben - Großalsleben - Hadmersleben - Hamersleben - Hötensleben - Klein Oschersleben - Oschersleben - Sommerschenburg - Völpke" was established, to which the church belonged from then on. On November 28, 2010, today's parish “St. Marien ". The 2011 census in the European Union showed that of the 1,461 inhabitants of the political municipality of Sommersdorf, 79 belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, which corresponds to around 5%.

Architecture and equipment

View of the chancel

View to the organ gallery

The church is about 196 meters above sea level. M. and is crowned by a roof turret in which the bells are located.

The church stalls leave a central aisle free and offer space for over 90 visitors. The sanctuary is dominated by a crucifixion group . Deviating from the usual representations, next to Mary , the mother of Jesus, and John the Baptist can be seen under the cross of Jesus . He holds the Lamb of God and the flag of victory , symbols of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, in his left hand and, as with the Isenheim Altar , points with his right hand to the crucified Jesus. Above the cross, the Trinity is represented by a triangle in which the Holy Spirit is symbolized by a dove and God the Father by a hand . A relief on the tabernacle depicts the Annunciation of the Lord to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel .

A crescent Madonna is placed to the left of the chancel . On the right side another statue shows Bernward, the patron saint of the church, with a replica of the Great Bernward Cross in front of it. The interior also includes 14 stations of the cross . A statue of St. Joseph of Nazareth is attached to the organ loft with the inscription: St. Joseph, protect shepherd and flock . A small stained glass window on the stairway to the organ gallery depicts the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove with tongues of fire underneath. A plaque attached to the organ states 1944 as the year of the foundation, in 1946 it was decorated. Under the organ gallery there is a confessional , a mission cross with entries from the people's missions in 1921 and 1932, and a copy of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help .