St. Gottfried (Butzbach)

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St. Gottfried from the southwest

St. Gottfried is the Roman Catholic parish church in Butzbach in the Wetterau district . The Hessian cultural monument was built from sandstone in 1952/53 by Jan Hubert Pinand . The block-like structure is architecturally based on a Romanesque basilica , but develops the structural form independently. The inventory includes a late Gothic St. Mary altar from the period after 1514.

history

Butzbach is first mentioned in a document in a deed of donation to Lorsch Abbey in 773 ( botisphades ). A first church in Butzbach is assumed to be in the 8th century. In 1232 a church patronage is proven in Butzbach. A Romanesque font from the first half of the 13th century has been preserved. In 1303 a pleban is mentioned and in 1342 the Butzbach parish. The parish church of St. Markus was built in the early 14th century. Until the founding of the Butzbacher Kugelherren donation, the patronage right lay with the Propstei Petersberg in the diocese of Fulda . With the foundation of the monastery at the Markuskirche in 1468, the administration and supply of all spiritual institutions in Butzbach passed to the Kugelherren. In the late Middle Ages, the city had four other places of worship in addition to the parish church, several religious offices and two hospitals. Ecclesiastically, Butzbach belonged to the dean's office in Friedberg to the archdeaconate of St. Mariengreden in the diocese of Mainz and formed its own broadcasting district .

With the introduction of the Reformation in 1535, the congregation changed to the Evangelical Lutheran creed. At the end of the 18th century, the number of Jews in the Landgraviate of Hessen-Darmstadt exceeded the number of Catholics. In 1803 there were 13 Catholics and 11 Jews. The Enlightenment promoted the toleration of Catholics in the Protestant areas. In the course of secularization , the Hessian state administered the Catholic church assets. From then on, the Catholics in Starkenburg and Westphalia were subordinated to a sovereign spiritual supervisory authority, the "Church and School Council", which had a Protestant and a Catholic department. For the year 1821, the Catholics have received a petition to the city's church and school council, requesting that Catholic services be held. The Protestant citizens allowed the use of the Wendelinskapelle under the condition of a share in the building maintenance costs. Due to the lack of funds of the applicants and because a state salary for the chaplain in Rockenberg was not granted, the plans were not implemented. Another submission in 1851 was also unsuccessful.

Former church of St. Joseph on Griedeler Straße, today cemetery chapel

In the post-Reformation period, a Catholic mass was celebrated in Butzbach for the first time in 1857. A prayer room in Solms Castle was given to the faithful . Since the rooms were to be used by the Butzbach District Court since 1878 , plans were made to build a new church. On October 24, 1880, the new chapel was consecrated to St. Joseph . She received the St. Mary's altar as a gift from the evangelical Markus parish, with the condition that it must never leave the town of Butzbach. In 1894 Butzbach was promoted to parish curate.

From 1946 onwards, numerous Silesian and Sudeten German expellees and refugees came to Butzbach and the surrounding area. The Catholic community comprised around 10,000 believers in the post-war period. They were cared for in 18 locations in an area that extended as far as Lang-Göns , 10 km away . Services were held in halls and Protestant churches. The establishment of local chaplainies in Lang-Göns and Gambach in 1946 led to partial relief. Lang-Göns was elevated to a parish curate in 1968 under the name of St. Josef .

Since 1946 collections have been carried out for a new church building. In addition to volunteers, inmates of the Butzbach correctional facility helped with the excavation work and inmates of the Rockenberg juvenile detention center with the dismantling of the sandstones in the Rheinbay mine in Rockenberg. The local civil community provided the building sand free of charge. The foundation stone was laid by Dean Winkler from Bad Nauheim on November 30, 1952, the topping-out ceremony at the turn of the year 1952/1953 and the consecration of St. Gottfried by Bishop Albert Stohr on October 18, 1953 . The architect was Jan Hubert Pinand from Darmstadt, who resigned the management before completion because he was not satisfied with the stone carvings and their decorations. The construction costs amounted to almost 350,000 DM . Seven branches were assigned to the parish. In 1954 the tower was rung for four people. In the same year the rectory was built and connected to the church by a narrow corridor. St. Joseph and its rectory were sold to the city of Butzbach on May 26, 1954 and will serve as a cemetery chapel. In 1962/1963 a kindergarten and a new sister house were built for the sisters of the Butzbach Mission Society Queen of the Apostles . The meeting house was inaugurated on October 11, 1975.

architecture

Church from the west

The east- facing church is built to the west of the old town center from yellow sandstone that was quarried in nearby Rockenberg. The block-like structure in the style of the basilica is based on the Romanesque church building without being historicizing. The nave is a shallow pitched roof completed. A slender church tower on a square floor plan is built on the north-west corner with four sound holes with flat arches at the top . The flat pyramid roof reaches a height of 20 meters and is crowned by a simple, gold-plated cross. The bell chamber houses a four-person bell. A Nikolaus bell was donated by the Obertshausen community in 1954 . The company Andreas Hamm from Frankenthal cast three new bells in the same year (Ave Maria, St. Joseph, St. Bonifatius). The bells sound on the notes f sharp 1 , a 1 , b 1 and d 2 . In the northeast there is a connecting corridor to the rectory.

The church is illuminated on the northern long side in the manner of an upper aisle through high-seated windows with flat arched arches and on the southern side through tall, narrow arched arched windows. On the north side, the walls in the lower part have been withdrawn, creating a low aisle with two confessionals. A sacristy is built in the northeast . The church is accessed in the west through a portal with an arched arch, above which a ten-part window rosette is embedded, which Karl-Heinz Krebs had carved out of sandstone and which Josef Plum from Mainz had filled with colored glass. The two small leaded glass windows with arches flanking the west portal show the two namesake of the church, Gottfried von Cappenberg and Bernhard von Clairvaux , and were also designed by Plum. On the south side, two square extensions with south gable and gable roof surround the widespread south side. The western of these extensions has a semicircular apse and serves as a baptistery; three small windows above it. The colorful window depicting the baptism comes from Josef Plum. In contrast to the low structure in the north, the southern part, which extends up to the gable ceiling on the inside, appears like a side aisle: It was specially designed for the installation of the Marien Altar.

Furnishing

Interior facing east

The simply designed interior is completed by a wooden beam ceiling with a flat gable. The eastern altar area is raised by six steps. Behind the altar the cube-shaped tabernacle is placed on a yellow sandstone substructure that Karl-Heinz Krebs had carved. The mighty altar plate rests on three massive sandstone supports. Are turned Lowers relics of four saints (St. Pius, St. Vigilans, St. Aucta and St. Gottfried). The tabernacle originally stood on the altar until it was advanced in 1978 as a result of the liturgical reform. Sister Agape Thielen from the Abbey Herstelle created the tabernacle in 1954. Its two front doors are made of copper and silver plates and show Elias with an angel. He hands the prophet a loaf of bread with the words: "TAKE AND EAT, YOUR WAY IS FAR", which here are related to Holy Communion . The Hermann Josef Abs family donated a modern monstrance with a corresponding chalice to the diocese of Mainz , which the bishop gave to the community. Behind and above the altar, the east wall is dominated by a larger-than-life wooden crucifix of the three-nail type , which the sculptor Heinrich Wohlfahrt from Steinheim made for the new church. Pulpit, baptismal font, holy water font, stone bowls and parts of the communion bench were carved out of sandstone by Karl-Heinz Krebs. On the pillars of the central nave there are modern, carved wooden sculptures with the Stations of the Cross (1953), which, like the Christmas crib (1956) and Fatima Madonna (1957), were carved by Wohlfahrt. The simple wooden church stalls from the Albrecht Ebner joinery leave a central aisle free. Inmates of the Butzbach JVA who were gifted with handicrafts designed various items of inventory made of wrought iron and carried them out: railings, candlesticks, wall arms of the twelve-apostle candles and the side candlesticks with the biblical words from Joh 8,12  VUL in Latin.

On the eastern front of the north aisle is a Pietà of unknown origin, possibly a good, successful imitation. In the side aisle there is also a bronze sculpture of "Ritter Gottfried". The church has a baroque figure of St. Agatha (around 1700), who shows her breasts severed in martyrdom on a plate. In the sacristy there is a 0.50 meter black crucifix with a silver body. The base inscription on the back reads: “The Catholic. Community of Butzbach von Mathilde, Grand Duchess of Hesse , b. Princess of Bavaria, June 21, 1857 ”. A figure of Joseph donated in 1942, a statue of the holy brother Konrad and a figure of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were created by the sculptor Philipp August Müller from Heppenhaim.

Mary Altar

Mary Altar
Martyrdom of St. Erasmus with a bindweed

The late Gothic St. Mary's altar on the eastern front side in the south aisle probably dates from the period after 1514, when Leonhard Bracht was provost of the Butzbacher Fraterherrenhaus (1514-1539). This is indicated by the scenes with St. Leonhard , the patron saint of the provost, who was venerated in Bavaria and Austria, but not in Hesse. It originally stood in the Markuskirche and after a renovation in Mainz was given to the newly founded Catholic community in 1880 on the condition that it was never allowed to leave Butzbach. The shrine box shows the queen of heaven on a crescent moon in the elevated center field . It is flanked by Saint Barbara and Saint Margaret . All three figures are crowned and stand on painted pedestals. They are separated from each other by two twisted golden columns. The two side figures come from the collection of the Frankfurt cathedral pastor Ernst Franz August Munzenberger and probably replace the lost figures of St. Nicholas and St. Catherine . They were already missing when the altar was moved to the Josephskirche in 1880 and were provisionally replaced by a statue of Joseph and a praying angel. The middle pedestal depicts the Holy Family : The Child Jesus holds an open book with two psalm verses ( Ps 45.2  VUL and Ps 72.1  VUL ) in Latin. The picture under Margareta shows St. Nicholas, who with his wallet saves three girls from the threat of slavery, and the picture under Barbara shows the burial of St. Catherine. The background of the shrine box is painted with four angels holding a gold curtain. In the center stands God the Father, who raised his hand in a blessing.

The outer wings are painted on both sides and show three helpers inside . On the inside left you can see St. Blaise in the bishop's robe in prison, to whom a woman brings the head and feet of a retrieved pig on a plate. Below the martyrdom of St. Erasmus is depicted by means of an intestinal wind. The right inside shows scenes from the life of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Leonhard of Limoges. While in the upper picture the crucified one leans towards Abbot Bernhard, in the lower picture Saint Leonhard frees three prisoners whose feet are tied in a block of wood. The outer sides show the Annunciation scene based on the Liesborn Altar . On the predella , the Jesse root appears on a gold-plated background. The secondary added neo-Gothic structure is made of fine, openwork carving with keel arches , finials and pinnacles , in the middle of which is a small figure of Elisabeth of Thuringia from the second half of the 17th century.

organ

Jehmlich organ from 2001

For the previous building, the parish acquired a used organ from Franz Riederer from Landshut in 1906 , which had seven registers . The instrument was replaced in 1937/1938 by a new building by Johannes Klais Orgelbau (Opus 912) with eleven stops on two manuals and a pedal behind a free pipe prospect. It was moved to the new church in 1953 and, in the process, was rebuilt by Erich Breitmann. The previously pneumatic cone drawers were now controlled electro-pneumatically and the disposition was expanded to 17 voices. In 2001 created Jehmlich Orgelbau Dresden a new organ with mechanical for 525,000 DM slider chests , electric key action and 27 registers, spread over two manuals and pedal. The swell is designed in a French-romantic way. The disposition is as follows:

I main work C – a 3
Drone 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Reed flute 8th'
octave 4 ′
Pointed flute 4 ′
octave 2 ′
Cornet V 8th'
Mixture IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Trumpet 8th'
Tremulant
II Swell C – a 3
Double flute 8th'
Salicional 8th'
Voix céleste 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Flute octaviante 4 ′
Nasard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Octavine 2 ′
third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
Mixture III-IV 8th'
Trompette harmonique 8th'
Hautbois 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
Pedestal 16 ′
Subtle bass 16 ′
Octave bass 8th'
Flood 8th'
octave 4 ′
trombone 16 ′
Trumpet 8th'

literature

  • Karl-Heinz Beck, Günter Bidmon: 50 years of St. Gottfried Church in Butzbach. In: Butzbacher Geschichtsblätter. No. 175, July 8, 2003, pp. 105-108 (part 1), No. 176, July 22, 2003, pp. 109-112 (part 2), No. 177, July 31, 2003, p. 113 –116 (Part 3), No. 178, August 9, 2003, pp. 117-120 (Part 4), No. 179, August 13, 2003, pp. 121-124 (Part 5), No. 180, 19 August 2003, pp. 125-128 (part 6).
  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments . Hesse II. Darmstadt administrative district. Edited by Folkhard Cremer and Tobias Michael Wolf. 3rd edition Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-422-03117-3 , p. 128.
  • Peter Fleck: History of the new Catholic parish Butzbach. In: Peter Fleck, Dieter Wolf (eds.): Catholic life in Butzbach in the Middle Ages and modern times, commemorative publication for the 100th anniversary of the Catholic parish of Butzbach. Butzbach 1994, pp. 71-159, notes pp. 217-232.
  • Ludwig Hellriegel: 75 years of Catholic parish Butzbach, St. Joseph, St. Gottfried, 1894–1969. Catholic Parish Office St. Gottfried, Butzbach 1969.
  • Ludwig Horst: On the history of Butzbach, from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. City of Butzbach, Butzbach 1971.
  • Angela Kappeler: The Marian retable in the Sankt Gottfriedskirche. In: Butzbacher Geschichtsblätter. No. 268, July 16, 2012, pp. 1-4.
  • State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.), Heinz Wionski (edit.): Cultural monuments in Hesse. Wetteraukreis II. Teilbd. 1. Bad Nauheim to Florstadt. (= Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany ). Theiss, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-528-06227-4 .
  • Gail and Winfried Schunk: Chronicle Butzbach. Timeline for Butzbach and its districts. 2nd Edition. History Association for Butzbach and the Surrounding Area, Butzbach 2007, ISBN 978-3-9809778-3-8 .
  • Dieter Wolf : On the church history of Butzbach in the pre-Reformation period. In: Peter Fleck u. Dieter Wolf (Ed.): Catholic life in Butzbach in the Middle Ages and modern times. Kath. Pfarrgemeinde St. Gottfried, Butzbach 1994, pp. 11–70, notes pp. 207–217.

Web links

Commons : St. Gottfried  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Katholische Pfarrkirche St. Gottfried In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse , accessed on July 5, 2019.
  2. ^ Wolf: On the church history of Butzbach. 1994, pp. 15, 25.
  3. ↑ Schunk: Chronicle of Butzbach. Timeline for Butzbach and its districts. 2007, p. 12.
  4. ↑ Butzbach. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on May 15, 2019 .
  5. ^ Wolf: On the church history of Butzbach. 1994, p. 47.
  6. ^ Gerhard Kleinfeldt, Hans Weirich: The medieval church organization in the Upper Hessian-Nassau area. (= Writings of the institute for historical regional studies of Hesse and Nassau 16 ). NG Elwert, Marburg 1937, ND 1984, p. 19.
  7. ^ Fleck: History of the new Catholic parish in Butzbach. 1994, p. 75.
  8. ^ Fleck: History of the new Catholic parish in Butzbach. 1994, p. 72.
  9. ^ Fleck: History of the new Catholic parish in Butzbach. 1994, pp. 77-82.
  10. ^ Fleck: History of the new Catholic parish in Butzbach. 1994, pp. 84-85.
  11. ^ Fleck: History of the new Catholic parish in Butzbach. 1994, p. 98.
  12. ↑ bistummainz.de: Butzbach, St. Gottfried , accessed on May 15, 2019.
  13. ↑ Beck, Günter Bidmon: 50 years of St. Gottfried Church in Butzbach. 2003, pp. 106-107.
  14. ↑ Schunk: Chronicle of Butzbach. Timeline for Butzbach and its districts. 2007, p. 56.
  15. ↑ Beck, Günter Bidmon: 50 years of St. Gottfried Church in Butzbach. 2003, p. 117.
  16. ↑ a b c Beck, Günter Bidmon: 50 years of St. Gottfried Church in Butzbach. 2003, p. 110.
  17. ↑ Presence in the Diocese of Mainz , accessed on May 15, 2019.
  18. ↑ Hellriegel: 75 years of the Catholic community of Butzbach. 1969, p. 80.
  19. ↑ Beck, Günter Bidmon: 50 years of St. Gottfried Church in Butzbach. 2003, p. 107.
  20. ↑ Beck, Günter Bidmon: 50 years of St. Gottfried Church in Butzbach. 2003, p. 121.
  21. ↑ Parish Letter 1/2009, p. 10.
  22. ↑ Beck, Günter Bidmon: 50 years of St. Gottfried Church in Butzbach. 2003, p. 116.
  23. ↑ a b Hellriegel: 75 years Catholic parish Butzbach. 1969, p. 62.
  24. ↑ Beck, Günter Bidmon: 50 years of St. Gottfried Church in Butzbach. 2003, p. 122.
  25. ↑ Angela Kappeler-Meyer: Medieval Retable in Hessen , p. 3, accessed on May 15, 2019 (PDF file; 324 kB).
  26. ↑ Kappeler: The Marienretabel in the Sankt Gottfriedskirche. 2012, p. 3.
  27. ↑ Kappeler: The Marienretabel in the Sankt Gottfriedskirche. 2012, p. 1.
  28. ↑ Hellriegel: 75 years of the Catholic community of Butzbach. 1969, p. 60.
  29. ↑ Angela Kappeler-Meyer: Medieval Retable in Hessen , p. 8, accessed on May 15, 2019 (PDF file; 324 kB).
  30. ↑ Kappeler: The Marienretabel in the Sankt Gottfriedskirche. 2012, pp. 2, 4.
  31. ↑ Hellriegel: 75 years of the Catholic community of Butzbach. 1969, p. 61.
  32. ^ Franz Bösken , Hermann Fischer : Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine. Vol. 3: Former province of Upper Hesse (=  contributions to the Middle Rhine music history 29.1 . Part 1 (A – L)). Schott, Mainz 1988, ISBN 3-7957-1330-7 , p. 220-221 .
  33. ↑ Organ index: Organ in St. Gottfried, Butzbach , accessed on May 15, 2019.

Coordinates: 50 ° 25 ′ 58.4 ″  N , 8 ° 39 ′ 59.3 ″  E