St. Johannes (Lahr Westerwald)

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East side of the historic church with choir and defense tower
Romanesque pillar basilica (built at the beginning of the 13th century)

The churches of St. John the Baptist are the parish churches of Lahr in the Westerwald . The Catholic Church in the Limburg-Weilburg district in Central Hesse belongs to the Limburg diocese . The original parish , founded at an unknown time, has been documented since the Middle Ages. From 1536 to 1557 the parish was Lutheran , then Calvinist until 1630 . From 1630 the Jesuits began to recatholicize. Between 1582 and 1806 the parish was also responsible for the school. The church patron is John the Baptist . The patron saint is "Johannes Beheadung" on August 29th.

The complex consists of the old and new parish church, the massive basalt retaining walls, the rectory, remains of the old parish cemetery and the stock of old linden trees. The entire complex forms a sacred unit and has been entered in the monument book of the State of Hesse since 1985.

Building description

Old church

Floor plan of the old church (after F. Luthmer )
West side of the old church above the massive basalt retaining wall between the rectory and the new church
Baptismal font

The old church is a Romanesque pillar basilica from the early 13th century. It is possible that there was a wooden and a stone previous building on the same spot. The church has three naves in the nave . The central nave has three unequal bays with cross vaults . There is no transept. On the east side, the church has a late Romanesque tower with a square tent roof next to the choir . A clock was attached to the tower in 1910, with a dial on each side of the tower. Above the entrance portal is a presumably Gothic relief with the head of John the Baptist. The church is considered the most outstanding of the twelve medieval village churches in the Limburg-Weilburg district.

The stained glass windows of the church represent Christian motifs. The central window above the high altar shows Jesus crowned by the heavenly Jerusalem. The windows in the side aisles are in detail:

Inside, unadorned pillars support the church. The medieval furnishings were removed during the Reformation, only a Romanesque baptismal font made of Lahn marble from the 13th century remained. After the re-Catholicization, the church was furnished in the style of the "Hadamar School" . An elaborately carved pulpit and baroque figures of saints were installed in the church. In the following centuries there were repeated changes to the furnishings in the current time style:

The following statues are preserved in the church:

Two confessionals were set up in 1814 and 1824. The neo-Gothic high altar of the church was originally carved in 1890/95 for the house chapel by Karl Klein , Bishop of Limburg. In the open position it shows the birth of Jesus Christ, in the closed position it shows the preaching of the Lord

Peal

The church bell consists of three bells . Two of these bells date from the Middle Ages and were saved through numerous wars. The oldest bell is the Johannes bell (strike: b '+6, weight: 370 kg, diameter: 880 mm), cast in 1400. The bell bears a coat of arms (25 mm) on the shoulder and the inscription in capitals: JOHANNES EWANGELIST ( Johannes the evangelist ). The second is the Marienglocke (strike tone: g '+3, weight: 664 kg, diameter: 1055 mm), cast in 1447. This bell bears a one-line neck inscription in Gothic minuscule: I'm called maria al bois, neither am I master tilmann van hachenburg gvis me mccccxlvii . The bell contains figurative decorations on the flank: Madonna in a halo; Standing bishop (St. Nicholas?); Pilgrimage sign from Mary in misery; Pilgrim sign from St. Matthias in Trier. The third is the Josef Bell, cast in 1965, 250 kg; - 750 mm.

New Church

New Church (built 1964–1966)
Altar of the New Church

The New Church was built from 1964 to 1966. Since the old church should continue to shape the village, it does not stand out so strongly. The plans for the church were drawn up by the Würzburg cathedral builder Hans Skull . The octagonal building is designed as a "tent of God". The parish center is located in the basement of the church.

The interior design of the church was done by the artist Paul Grimm from Fussingen . Inside the church there is a massive altar in the middle of the room. The altar consists of a seven-ton basalt cuboid with slight niches on the side. The sacrament house is a two-part stele . Its reinforced door is covered with a bronze relief depicting a scene from the Revelation of John . The community benches are arranged around it. With the pastor at the altar in the middle of the congregation, the church is adapted to the changed liturgy of the Second Vatican Council . On the left side of the church there is a figure of Our Lady with baby Jesus from the Hadamar Baroque, which Martin Volck created around 1750. The organ, built in 1967, has 33 registers with 1588 pipes and two manuals.

Outbuildings

Half-timbered building of the rectory (built around 1500)

The former cemetery of the parish was located around the old church . Some old gravestones from the 18th century have been preserved. Part of the cemetery is a wayside shrine with a replica of the Madonna of Banneux . To the east of the church tower there is a memorial for those who fell in the world wars. It was set up in 1931 and supplemented in 1950. The former cemetery and the old church are surrounded by a basalt stone wall up to 4 meters high and 0.6 meters thick and are about 3 meters above the surrounding area.

The rectory is a half-timbered house that stands below the retaining walls of the old church. The building was originally a mill, which was probably built around 1500. In 1576 Pastor Eberhard Artopaeus had the mill converted into a rectory. During a renovation in 1927 the half-timbered structure was exposed and the slogan on the gable side: “In honor of the people, keep the work of the ancients. Power and beauty are contained in it ”. The house was renovated in 1960 and 2007.

history

Establishment of parishes in the ninth century

The Abbenkirche near Merenberg belonged to the parish of Lahr until 1532.
Only a wayside shrine in the ruins reminds of the Liebfrauenkirche at the Seeweiher .

The date of origin of the original parish beheading of St. John the Baptist Lahr is unknown. It was probably founded by the Conradin Counts of Lahngau in the 9th century . The parish was under the monastery of St. Severus in Gemünden, founded in 879 . The parish of the parish included the places of the Zente Lahr: Ellar , Hausen , Fussingen , Waldernbach Lahr and Hintermeilingen as well as the Appenkirche near Merenberg and the Liebfrauenkirche am Seeweiher near Mengerskirchen. Today's desolations also belong to the parish: Oberlahr, Bortelbach, Brechelbach, Breitenbach, Winnau , Renderode, Graleshofen, Oberndorf, Mechtelndorf, Potenhain, Obervöhl and Niedervöhl.

13th century: the first church building is built

Today's old parish church , a Romanesque pillar basilica , was built in the 13th century . The earliest known pastor was the dean Herr Dietrich , who, as a witness, sealed a certificate for the Beselich monastery on July 1, 1284 . The tithe rights and the church patronage were owned by the House of Runkel and the House of Westerburg , which also owned the bailiwick of Gemünden Abbey. When the two dynasties were divided, the patronage of the Lahr church was assigned to the Runkel house. From these it went to the third Count House Wied .

At the head of the parish was a pastor who did not necessarily reside on site, but was entitled to benefices . Often the pastor was also a member of one of the nearby collegiate colleges in Dietkirchen , Limburg or Gemünden. A pleban provided service in the church ; Pherner . Furthermore, a chaplain was subordinate to the pastor who had his seat in the parish town of Ellar. For the year 1487 an independent vicar is attested for the altar of St. Bartholomäus . A brotherhood is documented for the years 1494/95 .

Reformation, changing domains

With the onset of the Reformation in Nassau-Weilburg, Philip III. From Nassau-Weilburg 1532 the Abbenkirche out of the parish. From 1536 the Reformation began in the county of Nassau-Dillenburg . The Counts of Dillenburg took over the church patronage over the Lahr parish. The parish became Lutheran . The new pastor Joducus Schütz created a complete list of all rights and income of the Lahr parish.

Around 1557, the sovereign Johann VI. from Nassau-Dillenburg to Calvinism , which led to another change of religion.

Recatholization

When Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Hadamar returned to Catholicism in 1630, Eberhard Artopaeus retired at the age of eighty-eight, after 54 years of service. The Jesuits were charged with carrying out the re-Catholicization . The parish became part of the Catholic regional church of Nassau-Hadamar and was not subordinate to the Archdiocese of Trier . A consistory of the respective prince stood at the head of the regional church .

→ Complete overview of all pastors, chronologically

The Nassau-Hadamar house died out in 1711. The consistory was now subordinate to the Calvinist princes of Orange-Nassau, who thereby became head of the Catholic regional church. Prince Wilhelm IV of Nassau-Diez in particular wanted to promote Calvinism more intensively from 1743 onwards. The inhabitants refused to change their religion again. The Catholic pastor circumvented the ban on baptism by baptizing the children in nearby countries.

In 1806, after belonging to the Grand Duchy of Berg , the summer school was introduced. Despite the fact that the parish belonged to the Grand Duchy of Berg, the Orange-Nassau Consistory continued to claim jurisdiction. In 1809 Johann Georg Adam was appointed pastor of Lahr. The Grand Duchy of Berg then suspended the consistory. Johann Georg Adam remained in office.

In 1813 the Nassau consistory was restored. After the place fell to the Duchy of Nassau in 1815 , the parish school was taken over by the state as part of the school reform in 1817. From 1827 the parish belonged to the newly founded diocese of Limburg . In the following years, the places belonging to the Lahr parish increasingly founded their own parishes. In 1838 the parish of Ellar / Hausen was finally separated, in 1898 Waldernbach broke up. In 1921, Fussingen split up and founded a new parish with Hausen. Only Hintermeilingen remained a branch church of the Lahr parish.

1960s: A new church is built

The old basilica became too small for the growing population. Therefore, from 1964 , a new building was built by the diocesan and cathedral master builder of the Diocese of Würzburg , Hans skull . On October 30, 1966, Auxiliary Bishop Walther Kampe carried out the consecration.

Parish associations

On September 1st, 2005 the parishes of Lahr / Hintermeilingen, Hausen / Fussingen and Ellar were merged to form the “Pastoral Area Waldbrunn”. The pastor's office is the rectory in Lahr. Due to the lack of priests, these parishes had already been looked after by just one pastor. The diocese of Limburg made plans to demolish the new church. However, following protests from the population, this project was abandoned.

In addition to being a listed building, the church has received war protection status under the Hague Convention .

List of pastors

The following table gives an overview of the pastors in the parish of Lahr, as far as they are documented. Until the Reformation, a distinction was made between the Pherner / Pleban who worked on site (marked with (1)) and the pastor who did not reside on site (marked with (2)).

Surname place of birth From To comment
Lockpick (1) before 1268 after 1284 First documentary mentioned pastor in Lahr
Johann von Wydergis (Würges?) around 1352
Dietrich von Runkel (2) 1450 1473 At the same time vicar of the Georgstift Limburg
Heinrich (1) around 1471
Johann Dietrich Heyner (1) 1473 1477
Cuno grinder from Elsoff (2) 1473 1483 Member of the Lubentiusstift
Frederick (1) around 1487
Johann Walt von Lahr around 1487 Vicar of the Altar of St. Bartholomew
Friedrich Grobe from Runkel (2) around 1489
Emmerich Wolff (1) around 1490
Johann Loess 1492 1503
Johann Rorich 1511 1514
Wilhelm von Villmar around 1524
Peter von Walbach around 1538
George of oaks until 1543
Johann von Selbach 1543 1547
Johann Rendenroth 1547 before 1570
Joducus Schütz before 1570 1576 Lutheran
Eberhard Artopaeus 1576 1630 Calvinist
On April 1, 1576, Eberhard Artopaeus became the new pastor in Lahr. Initially Lutheran, he later became a staunch Calvinist and the central figure of the Reformation in the parish. As a school inspector he worked beyond the boundaries of his parish. Artopaeus arranged for a mill to be converted into a parsonage in 1576, the installation of the first tower clock on the church in Lahr in 1582, and the parish school. In the building by the church, all the children from the parish received lessons during the winter months. As he got older he was supported by his son-in-law Philipp Salbach.
Father J. Heinrich Prack SJ 1630 The Jesuit Father Prack came to Lahr on February 12, 1630 as the first Catholic pastor. The blind Eberhard Artopaeus is said to have greeted him with the following words: “If you are a servant of Jesus Christ, be my teacher; I do not refuse to be your student at this old age. "
Father Wilhelm Holthausen SJ 1630 On March 12, 1630, Father Prack was to be replaced by Father Wilhelm Holthausen SJ. On the way from Hadamar to Lahr, Holthausen near Steinbach was kidnapped. The kidnapping was organized by Philipp Salbach. Salbach demanded a large ransom from Count Johann Ludwig for Holthausen. After five weeks, Holthausen in Attendorn was liberated. Five soldiers who were involved in the kidnapping were executed, Salbach fined and expelled from the country.
Father H. Hosius SJ 1630
Rainer Uphoff 1630
Robell wheel OFM
Rutger Hesselmann SJ " Westphalia " 1636 1637

Father Rutger Hesselmann SJ, who took over the parish in 1636, was particularly important. During a plague epidemic in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), he was particularly committed to helping the sick and suffering in Lahr. When he himself died of the disease on April 30, 1637, Countess Ursula ordered a state funeral for him in the "Church of Our Lady", the main church of the residential city of Hadamar at that time. A street in Lahr was named after him in honor of Father Hesselmann.

Georg Stahl Limburg 1636 1640
Schweikardus Blomen 1640 1640
Sebastianus Weiler 1640 1649 Buried in the Lahr parish church
Jodocus deer 1649 1650
Wimmarius Berks Cologne 1650 1654
Father Frank SJ 1650 1654
Wilhelm Fiener Hadamar 1655 1657
Friedrich Wilhelm Isselbach 1657 1661
Johannes Kauppers 1661 1668
Johann Adam Vitiarius Hadamar 1668 1684
Moritz Heinrich Vosshagen Hadamar 1684 1707
Johann Friedrich Eckert Mengerskirchen 1707 1728
Johann Georg Schüssler Mengerskirchen 1728 1735
Wilhelmus Beuler Mengerskirchen 1735 1759
Johann Georg Eberlein "Bambergischen" 1759 1766
Hermanus Joseph Münker Dreis-Tiefenbach 1766 1780
Paul Egenolf Offheim 1780 1806
Johann Wilhelm Rörig Ellar 1806
Peter Hartmann 1806 1809 Again in 1811
Johann Georg Adam Hadamar 1809 1811
Peter Hartmann 1811 1811 Like 1806-1809
Jacob Lohr Heuchelheim ( Elbe Valley ) 1811 1832
Johann August Steiner Kleinheubach 1832 1834
Peter Joseph Hastrich Molsberg 1834 1839
Joseph Andreas Proff 1839
Johann Georg Rau Forest mills 1839 1852 Member of the estates of the Duchy of Nassau 1848–1851
Casper Schmalz Never 1852 1885
Karl Vossen Aachen 1886 1889
Johann Weckber Eltville 1889 1890
Johann Roth Oberahr 1890 1906 Studied in England during the Kulturkampf
Johannes monster Wirges 1906 1907
Lorenz Hellbach Filsen 1907 1932
Walter Roth Höchst (Main) 1932 1960
Arthur Reitz Hausen (Westerwald) 1960 1978
Wilfried Bandel Höchst (Main) 1978 1984
Heribert Zerwes Höchst (Main) 1984 2005
Peter Lauer Hochheim am Main 2005 2008
Martin Weber 2008 2014

literature

  • Walter Rudersdorf: Chronicle of Hausens - History of a Westerwalddorf . Ed .: The community council of Waldbrunn. 1st edition. Kissel-Verlag, Beselich 1988.
  • Bernhard Hemmerle : Preserved medieval bells in the Limburg-Weilburg district . In: District Home Office of the Limburg-Weilburg District (Ed.): Yearbook 2006 . Rekom, Wetzlar 2005, p. 259-264 .
  • Sascha Braun: A real gem . In: Diocese of Limburg (ed.): The Sunday . No. 26 , July 15, 2007, pp. 11 .
  • Falko Lehmann: Cultural monuments in the Hesse district Limburg-Weilburg . Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen. tape 1 . Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig / Wiesbaden 1994, ISBN 3-528-06243-6 .
  • Falko Lehmann: Cultural monuments in the Hesse district Limburg-Weilburg . Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen. tape 2 . Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig / Wiesbaden 1994, ISBN 3-528-06243-6 .

Web links

Commons : Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist (Lahr Westerwald)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter Rudersdorf: Attractions in our community - episode 45, in WN 21/42/96 p. 15
  2. ↑ Falko Lehmann, State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse (ed.): Cultural monuments in Hesse, Limburg-Weilburg district. 1 page 38
  3. ↑ Walter Rudersdorf: Attractions in our community - episode 59, in WN 11/22/97 p. 16
  4. ^ Bernhard Hemmerle: Preserved medieval bells in the Limburg-Weilburg district.
  5. ↑ Christoph Martin: Pre-Christmas customs in our homeland, in WN 24/48/97 page 20f
  6. ↑ Sascha Braun: A real gem.
  7. ^ Diocese of Limburg (ed.): SCHEMATISMUS 2008 . Verlag des Bischöflichen Ordinariates Limburg, 2008, p. 192 .
  8. ↑ Until 1570: Walter Rudersdorf: The clergy of the parish Lahr I in WN 20/40 , October 1, 1988
  9. ↑ Until 1984: Walter Rudersdorf: Die Geistlichen des Kirchspiels Lahr II-III in WN 21/41 , October 15, 1988
  10. ↑ From 1984: www.kirche-waldbrunn.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.kirche-waldbrunn.de
  11. ↑ Hans-Peter Schick: Lahr in the Westerwald in 1966–1986; DJK SG Blau-Weiß Lahr eV

Coordinates: 50 ° 30 '34.2 "  N , 8 ° 7' 37.7"  E