St. Felix and Regula (Thalwil)

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Church of St. Felix and Regula

The Church of St. Felix and Regula is the Roman Catholic parish church of Thalwil in the Horgen district . It is the first church in the canton of Zurich to be consecrated to the Zurich saints Felix and Regula after the Reformation .

history

History and naming

According to the will of Count Kuno von Rheinfelden, the Muri monastery should actually have been founded in Thalwil in 1127, but was then built in Freiamt . The Muri monastery in Thalwil possessed inheritance rights, apprenticeship , lower court and collature . The medieval church in Thalwil was dedicated to St. Martin and was mentioned in 1179 as the first church on the left bank of Lake Zurich . It can be assumed that the church was donated by the Muri monastery, which is also supported by the fact that both churches had the same church patron .

In 1256, the church of Thalwil was exchanged from the Muri monastery to the Wettingen monastery , which exercised the right of collature beyond the Reformation until 1838. After the Reformation in Zurich from 1523, Pastor Konrad Nüppheim fought in vain against the introduction of the Reformed church service in Thalwil, which is why he moved to Wädenswil , where the "old faith" was held for longer. From then on, the medieval church in Thalwil was used for Reformed church services.

After renovations between 1578 and 1656, the old church was completely replaced by a new building from 1845–1847, today's Reformed Church of Thalwil , which is in the same place as its predecessor on the plate .

Development and construction history

For the first time since the Reformation, the Edic of Tolerance of 1807 allowed Catholic services in the Canton of Zurich, but locally limited to the city of Zurich. The freedom of settlement and religious freedom of the Helvetic Republic and, from 1848, the Swiss federal state made it possible for Catholics from central and eastern Switzerland , but also from other countries with a predominance of Catholicism, to settle in the canton of Zurich.

The first Catholic church service in the region took place in Gattikon in 1864 , because a number of Catholic factory workers and families were based there. The parish of St. Marien Langnau-Gattikon , founded in 1880, initially included the Catholics of Thalwil. Because the church of St. Marien in Langnau was too small after the separation from the Adliswil parish of the Holy Trinity and the path to the church was wide for the Thalwil Catholics, the Catholic Church Building Association Thalweil was formed in Thalwil on September 29, 1897 , which immediately provided a building site for secured its own church in Thalwil.

On June 17, 1898 the foundation stone for the construction of the church took place. This was built by the local master builder Rocco Perlatti according to plans by Johann Meyer (1820–1902), Lucerne. The church of St. Felix and Regula was built with donations and the support of the domestic mission and was assigned on June 18, 1899. The tower was only built in 1924. The church tower was built according to plans by the Zurich architect Anton Higi . The old bells of the parity church St. Agatha (Dietikon) were raised in the tower, which had to give way to a new building with new bells.

1952–1953 the church was renovated by the architect Joseph Steiner , Schwyz, and the interior was redesigned. The church was designed with a ceiling in the choir and a mural above the side altars. On November 20, 1952, the Chur bishop Christian Caminada consecrated the church. In 1959 the church tower received its current five-part peal.

1968–1969 the parish center was built and the outside of the church was renovated. In 1972 the requirements of the Second Vatican Council were implemented , with a popular altar also being consecrated. In 1983 the second major interior renovation of the church took place. The church also received the Metzler choir organ, and in 1985 the large organ with 32 sounding stops was installed in the organ loft. In 1988 the church tower was renovated, and in 1990 the parish center and church were renovated. In 2010 the parish center was supplemented by an extension.

The parish of St. Felix and Regula together with the parish of St. Nikolaus (Rüschlikon) form a parish. With its 6,579 members (as of 2017), this is one of the larger Catholic parishes in the canton of Zurich.

Daughter parish Rüschlikon

After the Second World War , the Catholic population in Rüschlikon grew, so that the desire for a Catholic church of its own arose. From 1963 catholic church services took place in Rüschlikon and from 1969 an own pastor was active there. The Catholic parish of Thalwil-Rüschlikon rejected an initial project for a church in Rüschlikon because it seemed too big and too expensive. A second, reduced concept was adopted in 1979. On February 28, 1982 Johannes Vonderach inaugurated the Church of St. Nikolaus (Rüschlikon) as Bishop of Chur . In 1997 St. Nikolaus Rüschlikon was made an independent parish.

Building description

Church tower from 1924

Church tower and exterior

The church of St. Felix and Regula is located in Thalwil on Seehaldenstrasse . Because of that subdivision and the topography of the Church is not faces east , but also shows the south. Built as a simple neo-baroque hall church from 1898–1899, it initially had neither a steeple nor a turret , only a simple gable cross on the northern front side referred to the Christian purpose of the building. The church tower, built in 1924, enhances the neo-baroque appearance of the church with its onion dome. To the west of the church is the rectory, to the east of the church the parish center was added from 1968 to 1969.

Bells 1927–1959

When the parity church of St. Agatha Dietikon was replaced by a new building, the Thalwil parish had the opportunity to purchase the old Dietikon bell. There were four bells of different ages and origins: The largest bell came from the Johann Jakob Grieshaber foundry in Waldshut . This bell, however, had the year 1658 on the yoke. This fact can be explained with the help of a chronicle from the parish of Urdorf : The bell cracked in 1705 and was then poured over. Due to their shape and inscriptions, the smallest and the second smallest bell can be dated from the 13th to the 14th centuries.

This first bell of the Church of St. Felix and Regula was in service until 1959, when it was replaced by today's bells. The three larger bells were melted down, the smallest was taken to the museum in Dietikon and is now in the abdication hall of the Guggenbühl cemetery in Dietikon.

number Weight diameter volume dedication Casting year
1 850 kg 122 cm f sharp 1 Jesus Christ 1705
2 600 kg 100 cm g sharp 1 St. Mary 1410
3 275 kg 78 cm h 1 peace
4th 200 kg 71 cm d 2 Angelus

Bells since 1959

Today's bells of the Church of St. Felix and Regula were cast by the bell foundry H. Rüetschi , Aarau on April 8th and 17th, 1959.

number Weight diameter volume dedication inscription
1 5984 kg 220 cm f sharp 0 Trinity Through my voice all people praise you, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
2 2905 kg 174 cm ais 0 Felix and Regula Holy Patrons Felix and Regula, we have dedicated this church to you; But you pray for us in the triumphant church so that we may partake of God's mercy.
3 1724 kg 145 cm cis 1 Mother of God Greetings Mary, gracious ones, through my jubilation may all sexes bless you.
4th 1215 kg 129 cm dis 1 Joseph Saint Joseph, Protector of the Holy Family, protect us and our families also now and in the last hour of death.
5 764 kg 110 cm f sharp 1 Guardian Angel Praise the Lord, all of his angels, and always protect us on the way of life.

Interior and artistic equipment

inside view

New baroque basic design

A lot of daylight penetrates the interior of the Church of St. Felix and Regula due to the large glass windows. This lighting also corresponds to the tradition of baroque churches, which the Church of St. Felix and Regula is based on. The church is brightly painted and decorated with simple stucco . Pilasters with Corinthian capitals seem to take the weight of the girdle arches of the barrel vault . The retracted choir is raised a few steps from the floor of the nave.

Interior fittings from 1899 to 1982

Over time, the interior of the church has been redesigned several times. From 1899 to 1908 the chancel of the newly built church was kept simple due to a lack of money. The main altar was flanked by two side altars, one of which was dedicated to Our Lady. From 1908, the simple first equipment was supplemented by new elements. The episcopal official and later Bishop Georg Schmid von Grüneck founded the Way of the Cross , and in 1908 the first pulpit was erected in the church. In 1909 the church received a communion bench .

After the construction debt was repaid in 1915, it was possible to place an order for a new high altar and two new side altars. These altars were made by Messmer, Basel. The tabernacle of the main altar was the previous one of the Capuchin monastery Arth SZ . The upper altarpiece of the high altar showed St. Felix, the flanking upper statues represented St. Regula and St. George . The large altarpiece showed Jesus on the cross, flanked by the two large statues of St. Martin (patron of the medieval church of Thalwil) and St. Benedict (in memory of Thalwil's ties to the Muri monastery and later with the Wettingen monastery).

In the years 1952–1953 the interior of the church was extensively renovated by the architect Joseph Steiner, Schwyz. This made the neo-baroque design of the church interior largely disappear and gave the church a gesture that appeared contemporary at the time. The neo-baroque high and side altars were dismantled and replaced by modern sandstone altars . On the choir wall, where the high altar had stood until 1952, a monumental wooden crucifixion group was attached, made by artist Lichtenstern, Zug. The artist and priest Ludwig Schnüriger (1915–1991) from the Principality of Liechtenstein created the pictures on the wall above the new side altars and on the ceiling of the choir. The ceiling painting showed God as the Creator of the world, the painting above the left side altar the St. Mary and the one above the right side altar the church patron, St. Felix and St. Regula.

After the Second Vatican Council , a provisional popular altar was set up in 1968 . In 1971 this was replaced by a stone people's altar, the front part of which had a bronze relief depicting the Lord's Supper with the 12 apostles . The altar was consecrated on January 16, 1972.

Interior since 1982

Baptismal font

In 1982 there was a second extensive interior renovation of the church. The wooden sculptures above the high altar from 1953 were removed again and the paintings by Ludwig Schnüriger covered. Since the choir was no longer used for the main services, but a weekday chapel was missing, the decision was made to turn the choir into a chapel. To separate the chapel from the church, a choir organ was installed behind the people's altar, the rear wall of which faces the church and was designed as a winged altar.

Walter Habdank from Starnberg near Munich was commissioned to paint this winged altarpiece. The five pictures show v. l. right: His love is for the poor and sick , 2. The merciful Samaritan (SIC!), 3. Gathered for the supper of love , 4: Simon helps carry the cross . 5. He proclaims salvation to the poor, joy to those who mourn . The Lucerne sculptor Franco Annoni designed the folk altar, ambo , baptismal font, tabernacle, the relief on the front of the folk altar with the representation of St. Felix and St. Regula, the Eternal Light , the Easter candlestick and the altar candlesticks . The altar was carved from alpine limestone.

The weekday chapel received the altar that had previously stood in the baptistery. A picture of the Virgin Mary was purchased as an altar decoration, and a crucifix body was attached to the choir wall behind the weekday altar. Twelve of the fourteen Stations of the Cross are from 1765, the two missing ones were added in the same style. Instead of the side altars, the tabernacle was set up on the left and the baptismal font on the right ; the latter was previously in the baptistery, in which a confessional was built. The popular altar was consecrated on October 25, 1983.

In 1986 two tapestries from the Atelier de la Martinerie , Ports sur Vienne (France) were hung over the tabernacle and the font . The carpet over the tabernacle bears the inscription «I am the bread that gives life to the world. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. " The carpet over the baptismal font bears the following sentence: "Whoever drinks this water that I give will no longer be thirsty, it will become the bubbling source of life for them."

organ

The church of St. Felix and Regula received its first organ in 1910. It was the old organ of the Reformed Church in Uster . This included 30 registers, dates back to 1878 and was originally created by the Rapperswil-based company Spaich Orgelbau. The instrument was dismantled and set up in Thalwil by the Männedorf company Orgelbau Kuhn . In 1953 this instrument was overhauled and renovated in 1970. This organ was in service until today's main organ was built in 1985.

Main organ

Metzler organ from 1985

The large organ was built on the gallery in 1985 by Metzler Orgelbau , Dietikon . It comprises 32 registers , distributed over two manuals including pedal. The work is purely mechanical. In the manuals the lower keys are made of bone, the upper keys are made of grenadilla . The free-standing pedal towers on the left (C side) and right (C sharp side) frame the main plant , the swell is set up behind the main plant.

Disposition of the Metzler main organ:

Major work C – f 3
Bourdon 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Hollow flute 8th'
Gemshorn 8th'
octave 4 ′
Night horn 4 ′
Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Super octave 2 ′
mixture 2 '
Cymbal 2 ⁄ 3 ′
Trumpet 8th'
Vox humana 8th'
Swell C – f 3
Suavial 8th'
Reed flute 8th'
Salicional 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Transverse flute 4 ′
Nasard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
mixture 2 ′
Forest flute 2 ′
third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Dulcian 16 '
oboe 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
Principal 16 ′
Sub bass 16 ′
Octavbass 8th'
Bourdon 8th'
Octave 4 ′
mixture 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
trombone 16 ′
Trumpet 8th'

Choir organ

Metzler choir organ from 1983

The choir organ was built in 1983 by the organ building company Metzler (Dietikon) based on the Italian model. Its 9 registers are distributed over a manual and pedal. It is an instrument with a mechanical action . The lower keys in the manual are made of bone, the upper keys are made of grenadilla. The action is one-armed. The choir organ is used for the accompaniment of weekday services in the choir room and is partly used for the organization of the Sunday services.

Disposition of the Metzler choir organ:

Manual C–
Principal 8th'
Dumped 8th'
Suavial (as Voce umana from c 1 ) 8th'
octave 4 ′
Pointed flute 4 ′
Fifth (split loop c) 2 2 / 3 '
octave 2 ′
mixture 1'
Tremulant
Pedal C–
Sub bass 16 ′

literature

  • Parish Thalwil (Hrsg.): Festschrift for 50 years Parish Thalwil-Rüschlikon. Thalwil 1949.
  • Episcopal Ordinariate Chur (ed.): Schematism of the Diocese of Chur. Chur 1980.
  • Alois Weiss: Small Church Chronicle. Thalwil 1993.
  • Hans Bächer: Catholic Parish St. Felix and Regula Thalwil 1899–1999. The path of change. Thalwil 1998.
  • Josef Bernadic: 150 Years of Domestic Mission. The history of IM in the canton of Zurich. In: IM Info , No. 2/2013, pp. 7–9.

Web links

Commons : St. Felix and Regula (Thalwil)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Bächer: Catholic parish St. Felix and Regula Thalwil 1899-1999. The path of change. Pp. 39 and 119.
  2. ↑ Joseph Bernadič: 150 years Domestic Mission. The history of IM in the canton of Zurich. In: IM Info , No. 2/2013, p. 9.
  3. ^ Hans Jakob Zwicky: Thalwil. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  4. ↑ Episcopal Ordinariate Chur (ed.): Schematism of the Diocese of Chur. P. 256.
  5. ^ Hans Jakob Zwicky: Thalwil. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  6. ↑ Episcopal Ordinariate Chur (ed.): Schematism of the Diocese of Chur. P. 256.
  7. ^ Hans Jakob Zwicky: Thalwil. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  8. ^ Website of the thalwil embellishment association, section Reformed Strictness in a Catholic Church: St. Felix and Regula . Retrieved December 2, 2017.
  9. ↑ Episcopal Ordinariate Chur (ed.): Schematism of the Diocese of Chur. Pp. 155-157.
  10. ↑ the parish, history section .
  11. ↑ Catholic Church in the Canton of Zurich (Ed.): Annual Report 2017. p. 84.
  12. ^ Eduard Müller and Thomas Furger: History of the parish and parish church of St. Agatha in Dietikon. Neujahrsblatt von Dietikon 1978. Dietikon 1978. pp. 18-20.
  13. ^ Website parish Thalwil, section bells. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  14. ^ Hans Bächer: Catholic parish St. Felix and Regula Thalwil 1899-1999. The path of change. Pp. 53 and 59-60.
  15. ^ Hans Bächer: Catholic parish St. Felix and Regula Thalwil 1899-1999. The path of change. Pp. 87-88.
  16. ^ Hans Bächer: Catholic parish St. Felix and Regula Thalwil 1899-1999. The path of change. P. 112.
  17. ^ Hans Bächer: Catholic parish St. Felix and Regula Thalwil 1899-1999. The path of change. Pp. 132, 135-136, 140.
  18. ^ Website parish Thalwil, section interior design. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  19. ^ Hans Bächer: Catholic parish St. Felix and Regula Thalwil 1899-1999. The path of change. Pp. 55, 89 and 109.
  20. ^ Website parish Thalwil, section organs . Retrieved October 4, 2014.

Coordinates: 47 ° 17 '50.38 "  N , 8 ° 33' 31.6"  E ; CH1903:  684.72 thousand  /  239098