St. Gertrud (Leimersheim)
 St. Gertrud Church |
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| Basic data | |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| place | Leimersheim, Germany |
| diocese | Diocese of Speyer |
| Patronage | Gertrud von Nivelles |
| Building history | |
| architect | Erwin van Aaken for the new building in the 20th century |
| construction time | 1729-1732 and 1962-1963 |
| Building description | |
| Architectural style | Choir room: late baroque, rest: modern |
| Furnishing style | Baptistery, entrance doors, bells |
| Construction type | Nave, choir room |
| Function and title | |
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Late Baroque predecessor building removed from the same place except for the choir and high altar; since 2016 exclusively branch church |
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| 49 ° 7 '29 " N , 8 ° 20' 36" E | |
The Catholic Church of St. Gertrud is located in the center of Leimersheim and is dedicated to St. Gertrud von Nivelles . In the same place there was previously a late baroque church built between 1729 and 1732 , of which only the choir and the high altar with pictures of the Last Supper and the patroness Gertrud von Nivelles are preserved.
The parish of St. Gertrud has belonged to the parish of St. Theodard Rülzheim since the structural reform in the Diocese of Speyer, which came into force on January 1, 2016 , whose district corresponds to the Verbandsgemeinde Rülzheim . The Church of St. Gertrud has been a branch church since then , although it is the largest church building in the parish of St. Theodard.
history
Early history
In the year 957 a small "Zehntkirche" (highest point in the village) is mentioned for the first time in Leimersheim; This is first mentioned in a document in 960 in an exchange of goods with Gottfried I , Bishop of Speyer . In 1270 the right of patronage was transferred to the Augustinian monastery in Hördt : The provost determined, among other things, the pastor in the community. Leimersheim forms the center of the provost villages Kuhardt , Pfotz and Winden, a submerged village near Leimersheim. In 1278 the whole parish with all its income is incorporated into the Hördt provost.
Early modern age
In 1322 the patronage of the Leimersheim parish church, St. Gertrudis , is mentioned for the first time. In the German Peasants' War of 1525, the village was plundered by peasants from the Bruhrain during Easter week , and the church was not spared. The Reformation changed after 1535 the religious and stately proportions: The church of the Reformed used while the Catholics only the choir room is given to the church. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) the church and the village were ravaged and plundered several times, at the end of the war the church was in ruins. From 1682 to 1697 the community was re-Catholicized . Since then, the church has belonged to the Catholic parish alone.
In 1729, under pastor Johann Schönwald , the construction of a new church in the late Baroque style began. Stones from the Hördt monastery are used for this. The new church was consecrated on Trinity Sunday 1731 . The splendid baroque high altar, which still exists today, was installed in 1750. Pastor Schönwald dies in 1753 and finds his final resting place in the church choir. In the storm of the French Revolution in 1790 the church almost went under. Thanks to courageous intervention, the school assistant Jakob Kirnberger saved the church from the pillaging soldiers, but the rectory became uninhabitable. Under the French annexation , public worship is temporarily forbidden, and church ceremonies are prohibited at funerals and bells are not allowed to ring.
When the late baroque church was built, the parish had 700 souls, but by the first half of the 19th century the number of believers had doubled. In 1822 the first efforts were made to enlarge the church. Although Leimersheim meanwhile belonged to the Kingdom of Bavaria , French law still applied to the church construction, according to which the political community had to take care of the construction and maintenance of the village church. Due to the poor financial situation of the community, only the church tower and the roof structure could be repaired; Furthermore, the gallery was enlarged and the staircase relocated to a new staircase.
19th and 20th centuries
In the course of the Baden Revolution of 1848/1849, there was a wave of emigration to the United States of America . In view of the soon growing population, the community created a building fund in 1913 to secure the financing of the church expansion. After the outbreak of the First World War and the subsequent inflation , however, the capital saved perished. In 1930 the high altar was restored. In August, the Leimersheim painter Berthold Marthaler paints the interior of the church.
During the Second World War , on March 25, 1942, by order of the government, the two largest of the three bells were removed from the church tower to be melted down into weapons of war. In 1950, two new bells were consecrated by Bishop Joseph Wendel with the assistance of ten priests and the great sympathy of the residents.
It was not until 1957 that Pastor Paul Steeg started planning the new church . At the suggestion of Mayor Walter Kling, the municipal council decided in October to provide 6,000 DM for each of the next five years . In the same year, the parish collected DM 1,030 from the “Kerwe” ( church fair) collection and then organized monthly “Thousands” and a house-to-house list campaign.
The episcopal building authority sent the architect Erwin van Aaken from Würzburg with the task of planning a parish center in the “Dorfäcker” building area. The local committees, however, voted for an extension with a new building on the square of the old church. After the church administration had rejected some draft plans, the architect presented a plan for church feast Sunday in 1960, which was accepted in 1961 with a few changes. In the first days of May 1962 the old church was cleared out with the participation of the population. Shortly afterwards the demolition of the church began. A pioneer unit of the US Army from the Rhineland barracks in Ettlingen helped with the removal of the masonry. The St.-Gertrudis-Straße in the east of Leimersheim was built from a part of the stones of the old church . The keystone of the demolished church was inserted into the outer wall of the neighboring rectory.
After the demolition, the construction of the new St. Gertrudis Church began: in June 1962 the pile foundation was completed. The Second Vatican Council began in Rome on October 11th, when the first bricks were laid to build the church . When the church was being rebuilt, the Holy Masses were held in the parish barn, which was renovated in 1960 and converted into a youth home. In the course of the new building, the three bells had to be removed from the church tower in order to be reinstalled in the new church tower in 1963 - supplemented by a fourth bell. In 1963 Paul Kuhn celebrated his first ceremony in the still unfinished church, which had no roof . The new church was completed on December 1, 1963, just in time for the prayer mission in Advent . Bishop Isidor Markus Emanuel inaugurated the church on January 26, 1964. The architect Erwin van Aaken writes about the church building:
“The construction of the church in Leimersheim was set by indispensable conditions from the outset, within which the planning had to move. The site of the old church, ideally located in the center of the village, but extremely cramped in view of the space requirements. Consideration for the historically most valuable part of the old church that dominates the image of the village street, the choir, incorporation of this architectural style into the new building, the standards given by the general development and other things had to be observed. "
In February 1969 the new organ with 29 registers was put into operation. In 1997 the statue of the Virgin Mary and the high altar are restored.
21st century
In 2002, Pastor Ansgar Müller retired. The name of church and parish was taken from “St. Gertrudis ”in“ St. Gertrud ”changed. Contrary to expectations and against the announcements of the diocese, Leimersheim received another pastor in the same year in the form of priest Hubert Trauth ; however, this only exercised the function of an administrator . In 2006 Alexander Metz celebrated his first class in the Church of St. Gertrud, in 2012 Dominik Geiger .
Since September 1st, 2012 the parishes of Rülzheim , Kuhardt , Hördt and Leimersheim form a parish community. Pastor Michael Kolb was introduced to the four parishes in the Kuhardter Church of St. Anna on September 30, 2012, Hubert Trauth remained as a cooperator. In 2013, the Speyer Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann agreed to the name suggestion St. Theodard for the large parish formed from 2015. The church of St. Gertrud Leimersheim kept its name.
On January 26, 2014, the parish of St. Gertrud Leimersheim celebrated the 50th anniversary of the new church.
From Corpus Christi 2019 onwards, the church was closed for around six months due to renovation work. In the meantime, the services took place in the adjacent parish hall. In the course of the renovation, a new color and lighting concept was implemented in the choir room. On the 2nd Sunday of Advent, almost exactly 55 years after the inauguration of the church, St. Gertrud was solemnly put back into service.
Church building
The Church of St. Gertrud is a modern, light-flooded house of God, which is a visible sign of the dawn of religious life in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. The church offers space for around 700 people, including around 500 seats in the nave.
The materials used include glass , concrete , wood, and light and dark marble .
Nave
The two mighty gables symbolize a walking movement, which corresponds to the motto of the Second Vatican Council: "The people of God on the way." The nave symbolizes the "tent of God among the people" ( Rev 21,3 EU ). The slate roof forms a sign of the cross towards the sky.
The two glass and concrete gables show biblical motifs. The mosaic on the south side / street shows the feeding of the prophet Elijah in the desert ( 1 Kings 19.4 EU ). The window on the north side shows Jacob's dream (Jacob's ladder) ( Gen 28.11 EU ).
Choir room
The center of the choir is the late baroque high altar from 1750. On the large altar sheet it shows the Last Supper and on the smaller upper picture the holy nun Gertrud. On the wall to the side of the high altar are two statues: St. Sebastian , patron saint against the plague , on the right, St. Rochus , patron saint against plague and epidemics. The community altar is cut from dark marble blocks. The grave slab of Johannes Conrad Vietor (pastor in Leimersheim from 1753 to 1765) is set in the wall of the choir room .
Permeable communion benches are installed in front of the choir.
Baptistery
The baptistery in the form of a semicircle has an artful glass-concrete wall in which a white dove is incorporated as a baptismal symbol. In the middle is the font made of dark marble.
Entrance doors
The entrance doors made of copper plates show Christmas motifs: On the one hand, the shepherds of the field hurrying up ( Lk 2.8 EU ) and the coming of the kings from the East ( Mt 2 EU ). The entrance doors symbolize: "Let's make our way to him too."
Bells
The four bells of St. Gertrud are housed in a roof turret.
In the parish church of Leimersheim hung from 1865 three bells made by the bell founder Georg Hamm ( Kaiserslautern ) with the chimes f sharp 1 (616 kg), a 1 (368 kg) and c sharp 2 (179 kg). The two larger bells were delivered for war purposes and melted down in 1917; they were replaced by 1921 bells with the same impact sounds, which are in turn delivered in 1942, however, for military purposes, and had been replaced by 1950 sounded same bell (fis 1 671 kg a 1 406 kg). With the church expansion in 1962/63, all three old bells, including the historic bell from 1865, were melted down and four new bells from the FW Schilling foundry ( Heidelberg ) were hung in the tower .
| No. | Surname | Casting year | Chime |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Holy Trinity | 1962 | f sharp 1 |
| 2 | Virgin Mary | a 1 | |
| 3 | St. Gertrude | h 1 | |
| 4th | St. Nicholas | c sharp 2 |
Views
Roof turret with tower clock and weathercock
inside view
Window motif "The feeding of the prophet Elijah in the desert"
High altar with pictures of Saint Gertrude and the Last Supper (restored in 1997)
Wall cross
Wooden statue "Madonna with the Child"
