St. Boniface (Varel)

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St. Boniface, Varel
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St. Bonifatius is the Roman Catholic parish church in Varel , Friesland district . The new building was built in 1965–1967 west of the Old Catholic Church from 1858 after it had become too small for the larger community.

history

Old St. Boniface Church

The Varel Castle Church has been Lutheran since the Reformation in the county of Oldenburg . Before there was another Catholic parish in Varel, the isolated Catholic residents visited the Catholic Church in Neustadtgödens, 17 km away .

After Catholics came to Varel in large numbers in the course of industrialization in the 19th century, the first mass was held in a rented Jewish house by the missionary Gottfried Schrandt in 1851. In the same year Schrandt bought a plot of land south of the historic center of Varel for 700 thalers. The rectory was opened there in 1852 and the neo-Gothic church with the patronage of St. Boniface built. The parsonage served Pastor Schrandt not only as a residence, but also for the schooling of the Catholic boys, for which he also acted as a teacher. Since the budget that was available to him through collections and the bishop in Münster was very narrow, the parishioners, like Pastor Schrandt, had to lend a hand themselves.

Due to the strong influx of displaced Catholics after the Second World War , it was decided to build a larger church for the community. Since its completion in 1967, the old church has mainly been used as a community center. The consecration took place on February 5, 1967 by Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Baaken .

Architecture and equipment

The new St. Boniface Church is a spacious brick building on an approximately oval floor plan with low, narrow side aisles and a semicircular closing chancel. The square bell tower stands free. For the new church, the Otto bell foundry from Hemelingen / Bremen supplied two bronze bells with the striking tones f 'and as'. The bells have the following diameters: 1154 mm and 970 mm.

The altar wall is dominated by a mosaic of Christ Pantocrator , surrounded by angels.

literature

  • Karl Steinkamp: The hundred year development of the Catholic parish of Varel. 2nd Edition. Varel 1981.
  • Hans-Bernd Rödiger, Waldemar Reinhardt: Frisian Churches - Rüstringen, Friesische Wehde, Butjadingen, Stedingen and City of Wilhelmshaven , Volume 4. Verlag CL Mettcker & Söhne, Jever 1982, p. 44.
  • Willi Baumann, Peter Sieve (ed.): The Catholic Church in the Oldenburger Münsterland. Vechta 1995.

Web links

Commons : St. Bonifatius (Varel)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Willi Baumann, Peter Sieve (ed.): The Catholic Church in the Oldenburger Münsterland. Vechta 1995, p. 624
  2. ^ Gerhard Reinhold: Otto bells. Family and company history of the Otto bell foundry dynasty . Self-published, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , p. 588, here in particular 562 .
  3. ↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen . Nijmegen / NL 2019, p. 515 , urn : nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770 (dissertation at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen).

Coordinates: 53 ° 23 ′ 37.5 ″  N , 8 ° 8 ′ 25.2 ″  E