St. Johann Baptist (Simmerath)

St. Johann Baptist in Simmerath

Bruchstrasse and the bell tower

St. Johann Baptist is the Roman Catholic parish church of Simmerath in the Aachen city region in North Rhine-Westphalia .

St. Johann Baptist, interior with a view of the altar

St. Johann Baptist, view from the altar through the nave

The church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist consecrated. The parish also includes the branches of Huppenbroich with the Christ-King Chapel and Paustenbach with the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows. Bickerath and Witzerath also belong to the parish.

location

The church building is located in the center of Simmerath on the church square.

General

Simmerath originally belonged to the parish of Konzen . The place was, however, separated from Konzen before 1346 and after 1308 and raised to an independent parish . In 1554 there are around 100 followers of the Reformation and around seven Anabaptists . However, the Reformation in Simmerath could not prevail. In the visitation protocols of 1559, supporters of the Reformation are no longer reported. The Aachen Marienstift was the collator of the parish church until secularization in 1802 .

In the course of the parish registrations during the French era , the parish area of ​​Simmerath was considerably reduced. The previous branches of Dedenborn , Kesternich , Lammersdorf , Rurberg , Steckenborn , Schmidt and Vossenack were separated from Simmerath and raised to independent parishes in 1804. In addition, the parish was assigned to the newly founded diocese of Aachen . Before that, Simmerath belonged to the Deanery Zülpich in the Archdiocese of Cologne . In 1825 Simmerath came back to the Archdiocese of Cologne and since 1930 the parish has belonged to today's Diocese of Aachen.

Building history

In Simmerath there was already a church in the 14th century, but nothing more is known about it. Maybe it was a Gothic church. In 1661 this church received a new choir . On June 30, 1684, a new baroque high altar and two associated side altars were consecrated.

In the middle of the 19th century the church became too small and a new building was necessary. So around 1840 the nave and the choir were demolished. Only the bell tower remained. A new church was finally built between 1840 and 1847 according to plans by the Aachen municipal master builder Christian Wilhelm Ulrich . The consecration was carried out by the Cologne Auxiliary Bishop Johann Anton Friedrich Baudri on June 25, 1850.

As a result of the Second World War , the Simmerath parish church was almost completely destroyed. In 1944, the mighty Gothic bell tower was blown up by German troops and then the rest of the church was destroyed by bombs and grenade hits. Only the basement of the bell tower remained.

After removing the rubble and securing the remains of the wall of the bell tower, today's church was built between 1950 and 1952 according to plans by the Düsseldorf architect Hans Thoma . The consecration of the new church took place on December 13, 1952 by the Aachen auxiliary bishop Friedrich Hünermann .

Building description

St. Johann Baptist is a single-nave hall building in the modern arched style. The choir is rectangular and faces east. Inside, the nave and choir are spanned by a flat wooden ceiling. The bell tower has moved in to the west and has three floors. The lower one dates from the 14th century and is spanned by a groin vault, the two upper ones were built in 1952. The nave, choir and tower have gable roofs . The exterior is plain and plastered in white. The church has 210 seats.

Furnishing

The interior has modern equipment from the post-war period. Only a mission cross from 1750 and a statue of Peter from the 18th century survived the war. The stained glass windows are works by the Hinsbeck glass painter Johannes Beeck from 1963. The organ from 1958 has 26 registers distributed over two manuals and a pedal and is the work of the Aachen organ building firm Karl Bach .

Pastor

The following pastors have been pastors to St. Johann Baptist so far:

from ... to	Surname
1917-1950	August Offermann
1950-1979	Anton Moritz
1979-1995	Franz Matzerath
1995-2010	Herman van Gorp
Since 2010	Michael Stoffels

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Handbook of the Diocese of Aachen 3rd edition, published by the Episcopal General Vicariate, Aachen 1994, p. 611.
2. ↑ Handbook of the Diocese of Aachen 3rd edition, published by the Episcopal General Vicariate, Aachen 1994, p. 612.
3. ^ Simmerath, Catholic Church St. Johann Baptist. In: Forschungsstelle Glasmalerei des 20. Jahrhundert eV Accessed on October 9, 2017 . 

Web links

Commons : St. Johann Baptist (Simmerath)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 36 '24.8 "  N , 6 ° 17' 58.7"  E