St. Francis (Hanover)

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St. Francis Church

The Catholic Church of St. Franziskus in Vahrenheide , a district of Hanover ( Lower Saxony ), named after St. Francis of Assisi , belongs to the parish of the Holy Spirit in the Hanover deanery of the Diocese of Hildesheim . Located at Dresdener Straße 29, its catchment area includes the Hanover city districts of Sahlkamp and Vahrenheide.

history

In 1958/59 the district of Vahrenheide was built in the Vahrenwalder Heide , which was previously used for agriculture and military purposes. Initially, the Catholics residing there were looked after by the parishes of St. Joseph and St. Brother Konrad in the List district . The first Holy Mass in Vahrenheide took place at Christmas 1961 in the music room of the Fridtjof Nansen School (Leipziger Straße 38). From January 1, 1962, parts of the parishes of St. Joseph and St. Brother Konrad were used to establish the pastoral care district of St. Franziskus , and Vahrenheide received the first priest, Pastor Arnold Fricke (1926–1991) . At this point in time the pastoral care district already had around 2,800 Catholics.

In September 1962 construction began on the church and the community center. The foundation stone was laid on May 23, 1963, the feast of Ascension Day . From September 7, 1963, the newly built parish hall was initially used as an emergency chapel. On January 1, 1964, the parish (Kuratiegemeinde) was St. Francis decorated in Vahrenheide, on 11 July of the same year took place the consecration of the church by Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen . It was the first church in the Hildesheim diocese to be named after Francis of Assisi. The second patron was Therese of Lisieux called, relics of her are in the altar of the church.

On July 1, 1969, the parish, which had grown to around 4800 members, was elevated to a parish. From 1973 to 1998, the St. Francis Congregation also held services in the Protestant Epiphany Church . The bell tower was built in 1997/98. From July 23, 2004, the church was closed due to the risk of the church ceiling collapsing. After the roof and ceiling were renewed and the interior was renovated, the church has been in use again since October 9, 2005. In 2006 the side chapel was consecrated as the "Theresienkapelle" by Bishop Norbert Trelle , named after the church's second patroness.

Since September 1st 2010 the church belongs to the parish of the Holy Spirit . The Friends of the Church of St. Franziskus Hannover-Vahrenheide eV supports the preservation of the church.

Architecture and equipment

The church was built in the early 1960s as part of the St. Franziskus Church Center. The church, the parsonage and the parsonage were built with a large hall, bar and youth rooms as well as an apartment for a future pastor according to plans by the architect and Hanoverian senior building officer Paul Wolters under the supervision of Manfred Hofknecht . The cross above the gable of the hall church from 1980 was designed by Claus Kilian , as well as parts of the interior, including the stained glass window with a depiction of St. Francis, and previously, in 1970, the Way of the Cross . The hanging cross above the altar was modeled in 1982 on the cross of San Damiano , from which Christ is said to have spoken down to Francis. The church's furnishings also include statues of St. Mary (mother of Jesus) , Joseph of Nazareth and Anthony of Padua . The reliefs created by Josef Franke from Obernkirchen in 1995 and 1997 show Adolph Kolping and Therese von Lisieux .

The organ was built by Gebrüder Hillebrand Orgelbau in 1970-72 and expanded in two further phases in 1975/76 and 1977/78. On the back wall of the side chapel was the cross that served as an altar cross on the 79th German Catholic Congress in Hanover in 1962.

The four bells in the 15 m high, free-standing bell tower are named after Maria, Franziskus, Therese von Lisieux and Hermann-Joseph. The carillon , comprising 24 bronze bells , was attached to the church in 2014 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the parish fair.

Further Catholic institutions in Vahrenheide

  • Carl-Sonnenschein-Haus daycare center (Chemnitzer Strasse 3). Built in 1965.
  • St. Edith Stein day care center (Tegelweg 2). Inaugurated in 1971.

See also

literature

  • Gabriela Littmann, Arnold Richter, Angelika Semme, Reinhard Tschimmel (ed.), Horst Fiedler, Peter Hoff, Christian Pilarski (collaborators, photos): Chronicle of St. Franziskus Congregation. 1962 Hannover-Vahrenheide 2005. Chronicle of the Catholic parish of St. Franziskus from the beginning until today , [Hannover 2005]
  • Willi Stoffers: Diocese of Hildesheim today. Hildesheim 1987, ISBN 3-87065-418-X , p. 31
  • 50 years of St. Francis. Catholic Church in the Hanover districts of Vahrenheide and Sahlkamp , ed. from the Friends of the Catholic Church of St. Franziskus in Hanover-Vahrenheide eV, Hanover: BenatzkyMünstermann (print), 2015

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bistum-hildesheim.de
  2. ^ Peter Haßmann: From makeshift to inauguration , in: 50 years of St. Franziskus. Catholic Church in the Hanover districts of Vahrenheide and Sahlkamp , ed. from the Friends of the Catholic Church of St. Franziskus in Hanover-Vahrenheide eV, Hanover: BenatzkyMünstermann (print), 2015, pp. 20-25
  3. ↑ KirchenZeitung No. 28/2014 of July 13, 2014, p. 12
  4. ↑ http://www.caritas-hannover.de/kita_carl-sonnenschein.html
  5. ↑ http://www.caritas-hannover.de/kita_st_edith_stein.html

Coordinates: 52 ° 24 ′ 49.5 ″  N , 9 ° 45 ′ 9.5 ″  E