St. Gertrud (Herzogenrath)
St. Gertrud in the Afden von Herzogenrath district is a Catholic parish and a church with an eventful architectural history. It belongs to the dean's office Herzogenrath / Merkstein in the diocese of Aachen . The patroness of the church is St. Gertrude von Nivelles . St. Gertrud, together with the Assumption of Mary and St. Antonius, today forms the parish association Herzogenrath-Mitte.
History of the parish
St. Gertrud, along with St. Lambert in Kerkrade and St. Willibrord in Merkstein, is one of the oldest parishes in the area. Possibly originated in the 9th century, the first mention of a church is in the annals of Rolduc in a process that is assigned to the year 1116. From 1178 until the secularization , the parish of the Rolduc Abbey was incorporated, which is why clergymen of the monastery were often pastors in Afden. On the other hand, the border between the diocese of Liège and the archbishopric of Cologne ran along the Wurm , and so Afden was always part of the archbishopric, while the monastery was a key center of the diocese of Liège.
At that time, the parish of St. Gertrud, along with Afden, included the districts of Noppenberg , Ruif, Bierstraß, Römer, Rìtzerfeld (partly) and the suburb of Herzogenraths Kleik (east of the Wurm). It was not until 1795 that the allocation of the diocese changed through the political and ecclesiastical incorporation of the areas on the left bank of the Rhine into the French state and, associated with this, through the establishment of the Aachen diocese. This changed again with the takeover of the area of today's city of Herzogenrath by the Kingdom of Prussia in the Agreement of Aachen in 1816 and the papal bull De salute animarum , through which the Diocese of Aachen was abolished in 1821 and the Archdiocese of Cologne was re-established. During this time nothing changed at the local parish boundaries.
Only when St. Antonius in the Niederbardenberg district became an independent parish in 1923 did it take over the districts of Jüd, Kämmerhöf and Feldgen. Since 1929 the parish has belonged to the re-established diocese of Aachen. In 1942, Thiergarten, Ritzerfeld and Bierstrasse were assigned to the Herz-Jesu-Kapelle in Thiergarten and other smaller parts of the Christ-König-Congregation in Alsdorf-Busch .
Building history
Nothing is known about the appearance and the exact location of the predecessor churches up to 1683. At that time the community began a new building, a single-nave, vaulted baroque brick building with smooth walls inside and outside, a 3/6 choir and a low tower in the west. On both sides of the choir there were low extensions, the baptistery to the north and the sacristy to the south. It was inaugurated in December 1686.
This church, including the choir, had a floor area of 140 m², and so the steadily growing community soon found no more space. The following building history is a constant sequence of additions and extensions. In 1835 a transept and a new choir were added to the east under government master builder Johann Baptist Cremer. In 1912 the rectory was first built by the Aachen architect Heinrich van Kann , before a radical change took place in 1913/14 according to the plans of the diocesan architect Heinrich Renard with the conversion of the church into a basilica and the turning of the orientation of the building. The existing nave resulted in the central nave, which was supplemented by two aisles. In the west a new choir was designed with the planning for a side tower and a sacristy. As a result, the eastern front also had to be adapted to the new orientation. Due to lack of money, the tower could only be partially built and the sacristy was omitted. The building is essentially in this form today. In 1958/59 the sacristy was added and in 1965/66 a free-standing campanile made of exposed concrete was built.
Furnishing
In 1913 a baroque high altar with a picture of Mary was purchased, which was made in 1728 for the Teutonic Order Church in Rachtig on the Moselle. The painter Josef Renard organized the move and construction and also did the first painting of the church. He completed the current version shortly before 1925 with the help of Hans Schaffrath from Aachen. The altarpiece, however, was not well received and was replaced by a depiction of Jesus on the cross by Heinrich Brey from Geldern . This was reversed in 1938 and Brey's picture now hangs in the east transept.
organ
The organ builder Wilhelm Koulen (the father of the organ builder Heinrich Koulen ) from Waldfeucht built an organ on the basis of a contract from 1843 to 1846:
- Manual: Praestant 8 ′, Bourdon 16 ′ B / D, Hohllaut 8 ′, Gamba 8 ′ B / D, Dulcian 8 ′, Octave 4 ′, Flaut 4 ′, Quinte 3 ′, Superoctave 2 ′, Mixture 4-fold 1 1/2 ′, Claron 4 ′ Bb, trumpet 8 ′ Bb / D, Fernflaut 8 ′ D, Gamba 4 ′ D
- Positive: Praestant 4 ′, Bourdon 8 ′ B / D, Fernflaut 8 ′, Salicional 8 ′ B / D, Bassoon / Clarinet 8 ′ B / D, Flaut 4 ′
- Pedal attached, C-f0
Due to the defects found during acceptance and a series of subsequent repairs, it was not completed until 1861.
In 1911 the organ was dismantled in preparation for the renovation work and stored at the organ builder Dautzenberg in Linnich . When it was installed, it had to be extensively revised in 1967 due to age damage. Organ builder Hans Lorenz from Merkstein restored it and in 1977 the renewed and expanded organ sounded:
- 1. Manual Oberwerk: Bordun 16 ′ (old), Principal 8 ′ (partly old), Dolce 8 ′, Hohllaut 8 ′, octave 4 ′, flute 4 ′, fifth 1 2/3 ′ (old), octave 2 ′ (old), third 1 3/5 ′ (old, from Salicet 4 ′), Mixtur (new), trumpet 8 ′ (new), Clairon 4 ′ (new)
- 2. Manual Unterwerk (Schwellwerk): Gedackt 8 ′ (old), Fernflaut 8 ′ (old), Praestant 4 ′ (partly old), Flute 4 ′ (partly old, partly 1950s -Nachthorn foreign pipes), flute 2 ′ (partly old), cymbal 3-fold 2/3 ′ (new), Dulcian shelf 8 ′ (new)
- Pedal : subbass 16 ′ (1913), octave bass 8 ′ (1913), drone 8 ′ (1913), choral bass 4 ′ (new), quintade 2 ′ (new), Rauschpfeife 2 2/3 ′ (new), bassoon 16 ′ (New)
In 1990 Hans Lorenz made another change: Quintade 2 ′ and Rauschpfeife were replaced by Clairon 4 ′ and trumpet 8 ′
For smaller occasions, Alfred Wild from Saverne built an organ that was inaugurated in 1992:
- 1. Manual: Bourdon 8 ′, Prestant 4 ′, Flute à cheminée 4 ′, Doublette 2 ′
- 2. Manual: Bourdon 8 ′, Nasard 2 2/3 ′, Tierce 1 3/5 ′
literature
- Frank Pohle, Louis Augustus (ed.): Roda Pastoralis - 900 years of pastoral care in Kerkrade, Afden and Herzogenrath - The Klosterrath Abbey and its patronage parishes. einhard, Aachen 2004, ISBN 3-936342-38-5
- Frank Pohle (Ed.): From the treasure house of history - 900 years of the parish of St. Gertrud Herzogenrath . Catholic parish of St. Gertrud, Herzogenrath 2016
Web links
- Dean's office: list of parishes
- Parish: Parish of St. Gertrud
Coordinates: 50 ° 51 '56.1 " N , 6 ° 5' 44.2" E