St. Francis Xaverius (Eilenburg)
The Church of St. Franziskus Xaverius is the only Catholic church in the town of Eilenburg in the district of Northern Saxony . The former Catholic parish church of Eilenburg has been a branch of the parish of St. Klara zu Delitzsch in the Torgau deanery of the Magdeburg diocese since 2010 . The church building, the rectory and the enclosure are registered cultural monuments in the list of monuments of the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Saxony (object number 08973264).
history
As a result of the Reformation events in Eilenburg, the last Catholic priest was expelled from the city in 1525. From then on there were Protestant services. At the end of the 18th century a Catholic religious community emerged again. This consisted mainly of seasonal workers and initially celebrated their services at Zschepplin Castle , which at that time belonged to the Catholic Count Wilhelm von Mengersen . In the first half of the 19th century there was a separate clergyman for around 40 to 50 Catholics. After his departure, the Torgau pastor applied to the Bishop of Paderborn for a priest for the parish of Eilenburg. On May 17, 1852, the first Catholic service in Eilenburg took place in the city cemetery in the St. Georgen Chapel on Torgauer Steinweg . With the strong population growth in Eilenburg caused by industrialization, the Catholic community grew to around 100 believers by the middle of the 19th century. After several interim solutions, including the Anton Bernhardis residential and commercial building on the Nordring, the community asked for its own place of worship.
The community bought a plot of land in the then still independent suburb of Hinterstadt north of Eilenburg and built their church and elementary school in 1853 in today's Bernhardistraße 21 . In addition to the city of Eilenburg, the pastoral care district included the districts of Delitzsch and Bitterfeld . In 1914 an apse and a sacristy were added . In the years 1936 to 1938 the old rectory was demolished and replaced by a new one, and the church tower was built. Towards the end of the Second World War , resettled Rhinelander and refugees from the German eastern regions came to Eilenburg. As a result, the congregation grew to around 15,000 believers. The Catholic Church also fell victim to the several days of artillery bombardment by the American army in April 1945. The services were initially held outdoors, later in the former teachers' college and in the Catholic school.
With the support of the Diocese of Paderborn , the church was rebuilt from 1947 to 1949, which had been destroyed in the war. On May 29, 1949, the new church was consecrated by Wilhelm Weskamm , then provost to St. Sebastian in Magdeburg . The municipality to which the Kuratien Bad Duben and Lehelitz were, at that time numbered 2,000 members. The hostile attitude towards the churches in the GDR caused the congregation to shrink further. This development continued even after the fall of the Wall . In 2007, Eilenburg merged with the communities of Delitzsch, Bad Düben, Lehelitz and Löbnitz to form a community network, from which the parish of St. Klara emerged in 2010. At the end of the day the Eilenburg parish had 640 believers.
architecture
The church consists of a mighty tower with a hipped roof and a hall building to the west . A special feature is that, contrary to the usual arrangement , the altar does not face east but rather west and the tower is in the east. The rectory connects to the north and is connected to the nave by a garage . The spacious parish garden connects to the west of the building complex.
Furnishing
In 1855, as a gift from Clemens von Mengersen, the church received a bell cast in Leipzig , which is still rung today. In 1906 it received a Gothic altar with a tabernacle . A statue of Holy Mary Mother of God was lost in World War II.
The current organ is the op. 320 by Hermann Eule Orgelbau Bautzen from 1971. It has mechanical game and stop action mechanisms as well as 14 stops on two manuals and a pedal.
Pastor
| Term of office | Pastor |
| 1852-1857 | Arnold Krumme |
| 1857-1859 | Celestine Köster |
| 1859-1863 | Richard Knoche |
| 1863-1891 | Clemens Schulte |
| 1891-1905 | Franz-Josef Sünkeler |
| 1905-1906 | Gustav Hoffmann |
| 1906-1922 | Gustav Roderfeld |
| 1922-1934 | Theodor Visarius |
| 1934-1937 | Paul Gunkel |
| 1937-1939 | August Bode |
| 1939-1970 | Josef Schäfer |
| 1970-1979 | Josef Franke |
| 1979-1992 | Herbert Bangel |
| 1992-1998 | Norbert Kiesel |
| 1998-2010 | Ulrich Schade |
Web links
- History of the Catholic Church on the pages of the city of Eilenburg
- »St. Franziskus Xaverius «Eilenburg on the pages of the parish of St. Klara Delitzsch
literature
- Eilenburg church district (ed.): Traces in the stone - churches in the Eilenburg church district . Exhibition printing Leipzig, Leipzig 1994.
Individual evidence
- ↑ History of the Catholic Church ( Memento of the original from December 10, 2015 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. on the website of the city of Eilenburg (accessed December 7, 2015)
- ↑ https://www.kirchenmusik-eilenburg.de/Eule_Orgel.htm
Coordinates: 51 ° 27 '46.3 " N , 12 ° 37' 53.9" E