St. John the Baptist (Kirchhellen)

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Church of St. John the Baptist (May 2018)

The Roman Catholic parish church of St. John the Baptist is located in the former community and today's Bottrop district of Kirchhellen in North Rhine-Westphalia . The parish belongs to the Dorsten deanery in the diocese of Münster. The current church building was consecrated on October 12, 1925

history

Old church

The origins of a church in Kirchhellen go back to 1032. There, the Archbishop of Cologne Pilgrim donated several churches to Deutz Abbey. Kirchhellen is initially not mentioned by name, but a later sexton of the abbey, Aedituus Theoderich, mentions in a manuscript that the Kirchhellen church is among them. The church in Kirchhellen is mentioned in a papal bull from 1147. On May 11, 1161, Kirchhellen is listed in a document from Pope Viktor IV. Pope Innocent III also mentions. on April 2, 1207 the church in Hillen as property of the Deutz monastery.

The oldest part of the old church was built between 1200 and 1250. This church was located where the memorial on the old church square is today. The church was expanded for the first time in the years 1595 to 1605. There is a document from 1602, which suggests that the first church tower was built around this time. In 1605 the church received its first bell. Between 1844 and 1847 the church was expanded a second time. During this time, the previous church door was also removed and reinstalled in the Brabeck sheepfold, where it is still located today. In 1843 the old church tower was also demolished because it was already fluctuating strongly when the bells were ringing and was therefore considered to be dilapidated. In 1844 the foundation stone of the new church tower was laid and in 1846 the construction of the tower was completed.

In 1880 an expansion of the church to the east was planned, as the space requirement had increased due to the growing village. However, this project was rejected by the diocese in 1882.

On June 12, 1917, around 11:30 a.m., a fire broke out in the church and spread rapidly. With the help of the Kirchhellen and external fire brigades, it was possible to prevent the flames from spreading to the neighboring buildings, but the church building itself burned out completely. The interior of the church and the bells were completely destroyed. The cause of the fire could never be clarified.

Old church burned down in 1917

After the fire, the service was held for a while in the hall of the Schulte-Wieschen inn until the church ruins were poorly restored. Since the insurance only paid 14,000 gold marks for the new building after the fire in the old church, the church was not rebuilt, but decided to build a new church and the church ruins were demolished in 1932. In the meantime the use of the old church as a parish home with a kindergarten was considered. However, the planning was rejected again.

New Church

On May 19, 1924 the foundation stone for the construction of the new parish church was laid. The land for the construction of the church was made available by a Kirchhellen farmer. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated in October of the same year. The new bells were consecrated on October 5, 1925, and the new parish church was consecrated by Bishop Johannes Poggenburg on October 11, 1925 . The architect was Wilhelm Sunder-Plassmann .

In 1938 the high altar was extended with the installation of a crucifixion group and in 1940 a new pulpit was installed. In 1942, the parish had to give up five of the six bells because they were melted down for war purposes. In addition, the copper tower roofing had to be removed. The church survived the war with relatively little damage; only a few windows were destroyed and the roof damaged.

In 1947 the tower was re-covered with copper plates and most of the broken windows were replaced. In 1950 a second bell was purchased. In 1952 the interior of the church was repainted and the last window that was destroyed, the large round window above the main entrance, was replaced. In 1953 a new organ was installed. In 1953 a third bell was consecrated.

In 1957, lightning struck the church tower and set the woodwork on fire. The rapid intervention of the fire brigade prevented major damage. In 1964 the choir was redesigned and from 1981 to 1984 the church was extensively renovated. In 1983, the three missing bells were cast and handed over to their destination.

Since January 1, 2007, St. Johannes no longer exists as a community, as it merged with the other two communities in Grafenwald and Feldhausen . The parish church kept its name.

Pastor since 1605

  • until 1605: Lambertus Stübbe
  • 1605: Höffgen
  • 1619–1620: Johannes Westhoff
  • 1620–1631: Johannes Paell
  • 1631–1669: Johannes Rommeswinkel
  • 1669–1681: Theodor Otterbeck
  • 1681–1687: Henning Dunker
  • 1687–1689: Hermann Dunker
  • 1689–1708: Johannes Gülicher
  • 1708–1715: Wilhelm Heinrich Graffweg
  • 1715–1760: Theodor Bergmann
  • 1760–1776: Franz Clemens Winckler
  • 1776: Theodor Hemming
  • 1776: Bernhard Reckmann
  • 1776–1799: Karl Josef August Maria Jungeblodt
  • 1799–1810: Johann Heinrich Alterauge.
  • 1810–1833: Lukas Dieffenbach
  • 1833–1869: Wilhelm Feldmann
  • 1869–1890: Bernhard Hermes
  • 1890–1900: Adolf Lohmann
  • 1900–1910: Klemens Termöllen
  • 1910–1932: Adolf Schlöter
  • 1932–1937: Anton Schälting
  • 1937–1957: Theodor Albers
  • 1958–1972: Wilhelm Kersten
  • 1972–1982: Hans Kleemann
  • 1982–2005: Heinrich Bischof
  • 2005–2006: Manfred Stücker and Klaus Klein-Schmeink
  • 2007–2014: Manfred Stücker, Klaus Klein-Schmeink and Gerhard Kaußen
  • 2015–2019: Manfred Stücker, Klaus Klein-Schmeink and Periya Madalaimuthu
  • 2019: Klaus Klein-Schmeink and Periya Madalaimuthu
  • 2019–2020: Ulrich Witte and Periya Madalaimuthu
  • since 2020: Periya Madalaimuthu

Community activities

Parish merger with the Holy Family and St. Mary's Assumption

On January 1, 2007, St. Johannes dT merged with the Grafenwälder Heilige Familie and the Feldhausen parish of St. Mariä Himmelfahrt. By December 31, 2006 the congregation had 8,000 souls (out of 14,000 core Kirchhelleners), by merging with Grafenwald (3,000) and Feldhausen (1,000) there were 12,000 members at that time. Today the community has 11,600 members. The Holy Family and the Assumption of Mary are subsidiary churches of the parish church of St. Johannes dT

Nativity scene

Every year in the Advent / Christmas season, a nativity scene is set up in front of a magnificent mural with motifs of the Orient at the time of the birth of Jesus . From the center of the crib, the stable with the Holy Family , the shepherds and the angel as well as the Three Wise Men in the background, set up on the left in the area of the chancel, the crib landscape extends into the left aisle. Here we find a recreated rural idyll that could reflect the old village of Kirchhellen. This "Alt-Kirchhellen" flows over into the picture motifs with the parish church and half-timbered houses on the back wall of this beautiful nativity scene.

organ

The organ of St. John the Baptist was built in 1956 by Franz Breil (Dorsten) with 29 registers on two manuals and a pedal. In 2004 the organ building company Siegfried Sauer (Höxter) expanded the instrument to 45 registers , which are now distributed over three manuals and pedal . The organ has electric playing and stop actions .

Pedal C – f 1
1a. Sub double bass 64 ′ S.
1b. Pedestal 32 ′ S.
2. Principal (No. 22) 16 ′ S.
3. Sub-bass 16 ′
4th Principal 8th'
5. Dumped 8th'
6th Chorale bass 4 ′
7th Flautino 2 ′
8th. Mixture V
9. trombone 16 ′ S.
10. Trumpet 8th'
I Rückpositiv C – g 3
11. Dumped 8th'
12. Salicional 8th'
13. Principal 4 ′ S.
14th Concert flute 4 ′
15th recorder 2 ′
16. Sesquialter II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
17th Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
18th Zimbel III 1'
19th Dulcian 16 ′
20th Bach trumpet 8th' S.
21st Krummhorn 8th'
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
22nd Principal 16 ′ S.
23. Praestant 8th'
24. Double flute 8th' S.
25th Gemshorn 8th'
26th octave 4 ′
27. Reed flute 4 ′
28. octave 2 ′
29 Cornett III S.
30th Mixture V 2 ′ S.
31. Trumpet 16 ′
32. Trumpet 8th' S.
III Swell C – g 3
33. Violin principal 8th' S.
34. Drone 8th' S.
35. Gamba 8th' S.
36. Vox coelestis 8th' S.
37. Principal 4 ′
38. Transverse flute 4 ′ S.
39. Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ S.
40. Octavin 2 ′ S.
41. third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ S.
42. Fittings IV 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ S.
43. Trumpet harm. 8th' S.
44. oboe 8th'
45. Clairon 4 ′ S.
Tremulant S.
  • Pairing :
    • Normal coupling: I / II, II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
    • Super octave coupling: III / III, II / II, P / P
    • Sub-octave coupling: III / III, II / II, P / P
  • Playing aids : Electronic setting system
  1. ↑ acoustically from 32 '+ 21 1 / 3 ' extensions from 1b.

literature

  • Parish of St. Johannes d. T. Kirchhellen (Ed.): 1000 years of St. Johannes Kirchhellen, 1985
  • Büning, Hans: Kirchhellen. History and Stories, 1972

Web links

Commons : St. John the Baptist  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet (ed.): Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine . tape 1 . Düsseldorf 1840.
  2. ↑ Barbara Grütjen: Kirchhellen - your bells . In: Association for Orts- und Heimatkunde Kirchhellen (Hrsg.): Series of publications of the Association for Orts- und Heimatkunde Kirchhellen . No. 48 , 2017.
  3. ↑ Detailed information on the history of the Breil / Sauer organ (PDF; 22 kB)

Coordinates: 51 ° 36 '13.2 "  N , 6 ° 55' 3.4"  E