St. Josef and St. Wendelin (Diefflen)

St. Josef and St. Wendelin (Diefflen), view from Dillinger Straße

St. Josef and St. Wendelin (Diefflen), view from the Zipp, behind the 360 m high Limberg

View of the church and rectory from above

Historical photo of the neo-Gothic parish church and the rectory

Historical seal of the parish with St. Joseph as the patron saint of the Catholic Church

St. Josef and St. Wendelin is the Catholic parish church of Diefflen , a district of Dillingen / Saar . The parish belongs to the parish community Hl. Sacrament , St. Johann , St. Josef, St. Maximin , Maria Trost . The church is assigned to the diocese of Trier . Patronage Day is the ecclesiastical solemnity of St. Joseph of Nazareth (March 19, St. Joseph's Day ). The second day of the patronage is the feast day of St. Wendelin ( October 20 ).

history

Diefflen belongs to the parish of Nalbach

middle Ages

Nalbach, Church of St. Peter and Paul
Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius in Tholey
Archdeaconate Tholey; The dashed line shows the approximate boundaries of the Untersaargau; The dash-dotted line indicates the boundaries of the Archdeaconate Tholey, insofar as they deviate from the boundaries of the Untersaargau
St. Simeon Abbey in the Porta Nigra, Trier, engraving by Caspar Merian 1670

The first written mention of Diefflen dates back to 1324. The name, which has been spelled differently over the centuries (Dieffendail, Diffendahl, Tiefenthal) originally meant “settlement in the deep valley”. The current spelling goes back to a specification in the royal Prussian decree of June 16, 1858.

Since its foundation in the Middle Ages, Diefflen formed a political unit with the neighboring town of Nalbach until 1858 and a church unit until 1919. The Nalbach parish church of St. Peter and Paul is the mother church of the six surrounding villages in the Nalbach valley: Diefflen, Piesbach , Bettstadt , Bilsdorf and Körprich .

Nalbach, which was mentioned as a parish for the first time in the 11th century, belonged in the Middle Ages to the Archdeaconate of St. Mauritius Tholey and to the deanery or regional chapter of Merzig in the Archdiocese of Trier . The area of the Nalbach Valley was originally an imperial territory before it became the Electorate of Trier . The Nalbach Petrus Patronage (fisherman patron) could point to the emergence of Nalbach as a fishing settlement on the then fish-rich Prims . A reference to the Petrus patronage of the Trier cathedral is also conceivable. The Petrus or Petrus and Paulus patronage counts to the typical Franconian patronage of the Saarland.

A donation from Archbishop Eberhard of Trier in 1048, a letter of protection from Heinrich III. from 1098 and a letter of protection from Pope Hadrian IV. from 1155, as well as by acquiring the rights of the Nalbach knight family in 1331, the St. Simeon Abbey in Trier in the Nalbach Valley had the basic jurisdiction , the right to levy taxes and the right to fill the parish. The Trier ore monastery still held the middle and high jurisdiction. In exercising jurisdiction, the archbishopric was represented by the barons of Hagen zu Motten .

Early modern age

The upheavals of the Reformation era led a pastor from Nalbach to turn to the new confession. However, he could only do his secret service in Korprich for a short time. In the turmoil of the 30-year war , a pastor from Nalbach had to flee and the congregations were devastated. A report to the Elector of Trier for the period from 1664–1665 about the Nalbacher Valley says: "In times of peace the entire Nalbacher Valley with its associated villages was 130 Haußgefäß strong, now these are no longer the 47th."

From France to Prussia

In 1747 a new church was built in Nalbach at the old location. The Nalbach Valley came under French rule during the French Revolution in 1794 and became part of the Saar Department . Through the Concordat signed by Napoleon Bonaparte with the Catholic Church of July 15, 1801 , supplemented by the Organic Articles of April 8, 1802, the villages of the Nalbach Valley became parishes of the newly founded Diocese of Trier and were thus assigned to the Archdiocese of Mechelen in today's Belgium . With the Congress of Vienna , the Nalbach Valley became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and was ecclesiastically assigned to the diocese of Trier in the bull " De salute animarum " on July 14, 1821. First the parish was assigned to the dean's office in Saarlouis ( St. Ludwig (Saarlouis) ), then from 1869 to the dean's office in Lebach ( Holy Trinity and St. Mary's (Lebach) ). The parish of Nalbach was around 1800 with 1540 people larger than that of the neighboring parish Dillingen / Lenten with 1150 people.

Diefflen, which belonged to the Nalbach mayor, was no longer part of France after the first peace in Paris . It was subordinate to an Austrian-Bavarian regional administration commission that was installed on January 16, 1814. This was intended as a temporary measure, as it had not yet been conclusively clarified which power Diefflen would fall to as part of the regained German territories on the left bank of the Rhine. This meant that the eastern ban border of Dillingen and Lenten and the western ban border of Diefflen were also the state border for more than a year.

Diefflen, as part of the Nalbach Valley, came under Prussian administration on July 1, 1816 from the Ottweiler district to the Saarlouis district. According to the 1821 census, Diefflen had 83 houses, 89 households and 455 inhabitants.

From 1821 to 1829 Diefflen was administered by the mayor's office in Fraulautern in personal union, as the Nalbacher Tal community, consisting of six villages (founded as a legal form in 1815), could not raise the administrative costs for the mayor's office. From 1830, the administration of the mayor of the Nalbach Valley passed from Fraulautern to Saarwellingen (personal union) and lasted until December 31, 1899.

Parish separation

On April 25, 1854, the three Dieffler members of the Samtgemeinderat of the Samtgemeinde Nalbacher Tal applied for the dissolution of the Samtgemeinde and the separation of their lands. This was also justified by a request to the district president in Trier: “The poverty of the localities has become the mockery and proverb of the area. Because everything is still communal, there is no ennobling of the land and the profit is therefore very small, and there is no blessing on it (...) Because wealth is the highest blessing in life, it would drive poverty out of the country and thereby morality and morality refined and the place Diefeln (sic!) put in the situation to rise from the dust "

The community separation was then decided on September 1, 1854 with 7 against 2 votes of the Nalbacher joint council members and approved on June 16, 1858 by the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm IV. , At Babelsberg Castle. The mayoral administration remained in Nalbach and until 1899 in Saarwellingen. (It was not until 1969 that the mayor's office separated from Nalbach and became part of the city of Dillingen Saar.)

First chapel in Diefflen

Baroque statue of St. Wendelin from the former Wendelin chapel on Kirchenweg (today Nalbacher Straße)
The old tower of the Mettlach Abbey, former burial chapel of St. Lutwinus
Wendalinusbasilika, Tumba with the bones of St. Wendelin

Diefflen had its own small chapel , which was located on the Kirchenweg to Nalbach (today: Nalbacher Straße No. 103). The inhabitants of the small village gathered here for prayer and occasionally masses were held . The age of this chapel is uncertain. The patron saint was St. Wendalinus . A document from Mettlach Abbey from 1488, which is itself a copy of a document from 1460, is named by Pope Pius II , who appointed the clergyman to Mettlach Abbey under its Abbot Wilhelm von Helmstett from Senis in Sardinia for the town of Diefflen:

“Pope Pius II approves and confirms to the Mettlach monastery all collations of churches and chapels that are attached to us (meaning the Mettlach Abbey), as well as villages and tithes, farms and goods, which are listed in the bull. Given to Senis in the second year of our pontificate in 1460. "

The right of collation refers to the right to propose a candidate when filling a new spiritual office. Often monasteries or monasteries had the right of collation for pastoral positions in their pastoral care area. Usually this proposal had to be confirmed by one or more higher authorities, usually the respective bishop or sovereign . Likewise, the collator could not decide on a final investiture . The right of collation was tied to further connections to the respective parish office. The collator was often obliged to take care of the structural maintenance of the church building in question. The document from 1460 was drawn up at the request of the Mettlach abbot Wilhelm von Helmstett, who was in dispute with noblemen over tithe and property rights.

In addition to Diefflen, 13 other places with churches or chapels were named. It remains unclear, however, whether Mettlach Abbey held the service in Diefflen in a residential building, a barn or in an existing chapel.

From the old Wendalinus chapel there are still a corpus of Christ from the 19th century (today private property), a statue of St. Wendalinus around 1750 (today in the Dieffler rectory) and a Pietà from the period between the 15th and 17th centuries (today in the Saarland Museum in Saarbrücken). The chapel also served as a classroom for Diefflen's school children.

The community grew in the 19th century

After the population of Diefflen and the surrounding villages had grown rapidly in the course of industrialization in the 19th century, the Nalbach church was rebuilt and enlarged several times (1828 and 1890). A further enlargement of the Nalbach parish church was no longer possible without further ado, as there was a cemetery around the church and the surrounding residential and commercial buildings would have been affected by a possible expansion.

In 1895 the Wendalinus Chapel in Dieffler was thoroughly renovated again and received a new bell . It was only demolished in 1904 after the Dieffler parish church was completed.

Plans to build a new church

Pastor Johann Lamberty (November 9, 1857 in Metterich - March 2, 1928 in Ettal Abbey , pastor in Nalbach from 1897 to 1901, from 1901 to 1902 in St. Lutwinus (Mettlach) )

On June 4, 1865, the Nalbach church council dealt with the plan to build its own church in Diefflen. When Diefflen had become the numerically strongest municipality in the Nalbach Valley, alongside Nalbach, with over 1700 inhabitants, the matter became more and more urgent.

After a big meeting of all Dieffler heads of households on November 7th, 1897, the church council decided under Pastor Lamberty on November 14th to purchase a building site for the new Dieffler church and the new parsonage to be built. In order to deal with the matter more quickly, a church building association was founded and the Nalbach church board members Johann Bach and Johann Thiery from Diefflen were given a general power of attorney for church building.

On January 1, 1898, the church council in Nalbach decided to purchase 63 ares of building land for 2,515.96 marks. On January 20, 1898, the episcopal authority in Trier approved the building project. Exactly one month later, on February 20th, the various construction plans were examined. A church building project by the architect Wilhelm Hector , who came from the neighboring village of Roden in Dieff , was selected, who at that time was building numerous churches in the near and distant area. Hector was the busiest church architect of historicism in Saarland and presented numerous designs at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Hector had already built churches in almost all of the localities bordering Diefflens:

in Nalbach the church of St. Peter and Paul with a transverse ship extension and a tower elevation (1891-1892)
in Dieffler neighboring leases the church of St. Maximin (1891-1892)
in the nearby Düppenweiler the church of St. Leodegar (1897–1899)
in Roden the parish church of the Assumption of Mary (1898 to 1900)

So it made sense to entrust him with the planning for the Dieffler church.

The plans were handed over to the Trier district government, which only reacted to a repeated reminder on November 6, 1898. On November 20, 1898, the individual trades were awarded and on January 8, 1899, the contracts with the respective companies were signed.

Construction of the parish church

Architect Wilhelm Hector (around 1890)

Neo-Gothic parish church of St. Josef and St. Wendelin, Diefflen, around 1900

Church interior with a view of the apse at the beginning of the 20th century

apse

Neo-Gothic high altar

The excavation work began on January 16, 1899, and the ritual "first groundbreaking" ceremony in honor of St. Joseph took place on March 13, 1899 on the building site.

The foundation stone was then laid on May 4th as part of a grand ceremony. The church to be built was awarded the title "Patrocinium Sancti Josephi" (Protection of St. Joseph) by the Nalbach pastor Lamberty. Saint Joseph had been chosen as the first patron saint of the new church for several reasons. Pope Pius IX had St. Joseph on 8 December 1870 the wake of the dogma of the Pontifical infallibility (Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus on the First Vatican Council on July 18, 1870) at the time of incipient culture war in the recently newly established and strong Protestant dominated German Reich to Declared patron saint of the Catholic Church. Pope Leo XIII. In his encyclical Quamquam Pluries of August 15, 1889, he emphatically praised the outstanding devotion to St. Joseph as the heavenly protector and defender of the Church of Christ.

Especially in the farming village of Diefflen, which was shaped by industrialization, St. Joseph should be given to the part-time farmers, who increasingly earned their livelihood in the steel industry and in mining, as a figure of identification. Saint Joseph was to serve as a model for the workers who, in the view of the Church, lived in constant danger of succumbing to the lure of atheistic socialism and communism. Consequently, Pope Pius XII. in 1955 as a church counterpart to the world-wide celebrated Labor Day (May 1st), the commemoration day of Joseph the worker. In the biblical tradition, Joseph worked as a builder and is traditionally the patron saint of workers, especially carpenters and lumberjacks. The inclusion of the day of remembrance in the liturgical calendar was a response of the Church to the spread of socialism and the social movement. In addition, even after the end of the Kulturkampf, the Catholic veneration of Joseph was in a certain way inherent in an anti-Prussian-anti-Protestant character. The Joseph iconography played an important role in historicism : just as the foster father of Jesus had saved the baby Jesus from death by fleeing to Egypt ( Mt 2 : 13-21 EU ), he was also interpreted as the savior of the Catholic Church, which was endangered in Bismarck's Kulturkampf .

The patronage of St. Wendalinus was taken over from the old Dieffler chapel as a second patron. Wendelin is the patron saint of shepherds and country people, farmers, day laborers and farm workers. The legend has it that the from Ireland or Scotland native prince in 6th century in the diocese of Trier have been missio alternately operate. Wendelin's grave is located in the Wendalinus basilica in the town of St. Wendel named after him , which is about 35 km to the northeast from Diefflen.

The newly constructed Dieffler sacred building was to be 27 m long and 17 m wide. In response to an objection from the state authorities, the length of the planned church had to be shortened and, for reasons of cost, a tower should be dispensed with entirely. In the course of the construction work, it was decided to build at least a small bell tower . If the church needed to be enlarged, the apse should be demolished and a transept with a new choir room added.

The choice of the medieval-early Gothic style forms used was not only of an aesthetic nature, but was intended to be a signifier who wanted to strengthen the self-confidence of the community and to remind of the centuries-old tradition of the Catholic Church in the Nalbach Valley. With its forms that strive upwards, towards the sky, the symbolic power of the new church should not escape any viewer. The architect Wilhelm Hector in Diefflen and many of his other neo-Gothic churches oriented himself towards medieval mendicant churches with their Gothic forms, which were reduced to the essentials and with regard to the renunciation of building sculptures . However, Hector always arched the Dieffler church and his other neo-Gothic churches not only in the choir area, but also in the nave, which was often omitted in the original mendicant churches for reasons of economy.

Architecture of the neo-Gothic church

Exterior

Hector planned the new Dieffler church as a three-aisled staggered hall in the forms of the early Gothic. While the wall surfaces were plastered, buttresses , cornices and the walls were made of red sandstone . The roofs were slated. The central nave facade with its high gable stepped slightly in front of the aisles. In its base it opened to the main portal adorned with eyelashes . Above it was a three-lane tracery window . The facade gable was formed by a wall beam made of ashlar, which rested on stepped consoles. A cross rose from the top of the gable.

The corners of the portal facades of the side aisles were polygonally bevelled to accommodate side portals. The front end of the left aisle was preceded by a small stair tower on a square floor plan. At the height of the eaves of the side aisles, the stair tower merged into the octagon . This opened in lancet-shaped sound windows, behind which a small belfry lay. The top of the tower consisted of a pointed eight-sided pyramid helmet with three dormers .

The structure of the outer wall by buttresses corresponded to the yoke division inside . The walls of the aisles opened in slim two-lane tracery windows. The side aisles began at the entrance with a polygonal bevel and closed flat towards the choir. All corners of the building were studded with buttresses. While the three rear aisle bays were covered with pent roofs , the two portal-side bays had covers on the left and right with a low hipped roof .

The roofs of the aisles ended at the top below the stepped eaves of the central nave. The choir with three single lancet windows on the front wall as well as on the two sloping walls was designed as a 5/8 polygon and took up the width of the central nave without reducing heels. A first sacristy was located in the corner between the apse and the left aisle.

Interior

The nave had four rectangular yokes. The three rear yokes on the choir side were arched lengthways and rectangular. All yokes had ribbed vaults . Except for the six-point vaulted choir and the five-point vaults on the portal side aisle bays, the rest of the room was vaulted with cross ribs. The vault rested on round pillars with pointed arch frieze capitals , the arcades of which separated the central nave and side aisles, and on pilasters on the outer walls. The pointed arches on the choir side of the two separating arcades rested on corner pilasters in the direction of the polygon apse. The choir area opens under a belt arch. At the height of the sills of the choir windows were consoles from which the ribs of the apse rose.

Possible final expansion phase of Dieffler Church using the example of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Besseringen)
Hector planned the final external expansion phase of the Dieffler church using the example of the Sacred Heart Church in Besseringen
Hector planned the final internal expansion phase of the Dieffler church using the example of the Herz-Jesu-Kirche in Besseringen

The Dieffler sacred building was designed by architect Wilhelm Hector to be enlarged later. The choir area and the front walls of the side aisles would have been torn down in order to add a crossing with transepts and a new apse. A larger church tower would then have stood in front of the portal facade. In the final construction phase, the Dieffler Josefskirche would have had a strong resemblance, for example, to the architectural design of the neo-Gothic Hector's Sacred Heart Church in Besseringen .

First equipment

The Dieffler church building received three altars ( high altar and two side altars for private masses ), a pulpit with the representation of the four Latin church fathers Gregor , Hieronymus , Augustine and Ambrosius on the pulpit, a communion bench decorated with tracery , a baptismal font , a confessional , statues of saints on the pillars and a way of the cross with 14 stations. The costs for this amounted to 60,923.56 marks .

The high altar, richly decorated with Gothic cracks , had a stone altar substructure with columns and arcades, a predella zone with medallions and a tabernacle . In the reredos zone was an exposition niche in the middle ; therein a crucifix flanked by worshiping angels. In the two side niches there were statues of St. Joseph with child and St. Wendelin as shepherd. In the niche above was a statue of the Sacred Heart . To the left and right of the high altar stood luminous angel statues .

On May 6, 1900, two bells were consecrated to the two patron saints of the new church, St. Josef and St. Wendelin, and hung in the tower. The bells were cast in Saarburg by the Mabillon company . On 25 May 1900, the Church by the Bishop of Trier was Michael Felix Korum consecrated . Almost all of the costs were borne by donations from the Dieffler population, which had already grown to 2,000 souls. The previous chaplain of Nalbach Richard Brenner was appointed vicar in Diefflen by the Trier episcopal authority.

In 1903 a Gombert organ was installed in Trier. For cost reasons, they had been put together from old parts of the factory. Just a few years later, in 1912, the organ had to be removed and replaced with a new one.

On August 21, 1904, the civil parish of Diefflen bought a piece of land on the Babelsberg above the church to create a denominational cemetery . A special area has been set up for deceased non-Catholics, unbaptized people and suicides. The cemetery was inaugurated on October 4, 1905 and the first female Dieffler was buried there on the same day.

On November 27, 1907 the vicarie Diefflen was granted the status of a chapel parish with its own asset management by the episcopal authority in Trier , which was approved on December 4, 1907 by the royal Prussian government in Trier.

Way of the Cross from Dieffler Church to the cemetery on Bawelsberg

On the way between the church and the cemetery, a way of the cross made of sandstone, donated by Johann Scherer-Schamper and other donors, was erected and ceremoniously inaugurated on May 2nd, 1909. The stations were created by the sculptor Josef Hewer from Haustadt .

In 1915 the church and the rectory were connected to the power grid (cost 855 marks). In the same year a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a statue of the Heart of Mary were carved and colored by the Trier wood sculptor Karl Frank (1868–1942) for 900 marks.

First World War and elevation to an independent parish

As a result of the First World War , the parish had to deliver its big bell. It was melted down for war purposes. The parish received 1,367 marks as remuneration.

On December 17, 1918, the Trier Bishop Michael Felix Korum officially elevated the Diefflen chapel community to an independent parish with effect from New Year's Day 1919. The government in Trier confirmed this on December 27, 1918. Interestingly, the letter of the young Weimar Republic is still sealed with the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia and labeled “Royal Prussian Government of Trier”.

The application to convert the Diefflen parish, which had grown to over 3,000 souls, had already been submitted by the Trier bishop to the Ministry of Culture in Berlin on July 30, 1915. With reference to the war situation of the First World War, however, the ministry rejected the request of the bishop. 112 parishioners were killed in the First World War.

Further development up to the Second World War

Gebhard Fugel, self-portrait 1903, creator of the Joseph cycle

Gebhard Fugel: panel "Flight to Egypt", template for the Dieffler Joseph cycle

Since the church had only been covered with gray cement plaster since it was built, Pastor Nikolaus Klein tried to create an artistic design for the interior of the church. In 1921 the interior was painted ornamentally by master painter Geyer from Fraulautern at a price of 48,000 marks. The painting of the choir with scenes from the life of St. Joseph in Nazarene style was done by a painter from the Fugel School of Munich. Gebhard Fugel , co-founder of the German Society for Christian Art , provided the drafts for the pictures . In addition, the nave was decorated with symbols of the eight Beatitudes .

At the same time as the painting, new windows were installed that had been designed and manufactured by the Binsfeld glass painting studio from Trier. The nave windows were donated by Dieffler associations.

In the same year, on November 29, 1921, the bell that had been confiscated during the war was replaced. The new bell was dedicated to the “Sacred Heart of Jesus”. Your inscription read: "Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on us and our guided into error brothers." The inscription may be related to the political turmoil in the German Empire after the First World War and the rise of aggressive-atheistic Bolsheviks under the leadership of Lenin after October Revolution in Russia can be interpreted.

Due to the growth of the Dieffler population, the pastor Johannes Rath began planning an expansion of the church. While the Trier bishops' authority gave its approval, the Saarland government set up by the League of Nations rejected the extension because of the extremely poor economic situation and rising unemployment.

A Marienkapelle built in 1902 next to the main entrance to the church was demolished in 1929 and replaced by a war memorial chapel for the Dieffler men killed as soldiers in the First World War in the style of crystalline expressionism for 40,000 francs. After the Second World War, the building site for the chapel was included in the extension of the church. The resurrection Christ from the chapel was placed on an altar next to the church portal.

Access to the church from Beckinger Strasse was widened and redesigned in 1929, and access from Dillinger Strasse was given a wide flight of stairs with retaining walls in 1932. In 1937, the side altars were moved back into niches by the Dillinger architect Prior (brother of Saardom pastor Mathias Joseph Prior ). A baptistery was built on the left, a Sacred Heart Chapel on the right.

A new sacristy and a parish hall with a library room were also built by the architect Prior.

The foundation of the Herz-Mariae-Kloster

On the initiative of Pastor Brenner, the Herz-Mariae-Kloster in Diefflen was founded in 1909 by a donation from parishioner Johann Schamper. The monastery was colonized by the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood . Thanks to a donation from parishioner Franz Schwarz (* 1871), a larger monastery building could be moved into in 1914. In 1914 the monastery chapel was inaugurated and equipped by numerous foundations from Dieffler Bürger.

The monastery was the first branch of the mission order in the German Reich and from 1914 to 1921 it provided the German postulate of the mission order. The nuns were active in social charities. The monastery ran a farm, a wafer bakery and a domestic training facility. With the construction of a new branch of the order in Bous (Saar) ("Haus Bergfriede") the nuns were withdrawn from the Dieffler Herz-Mariae-Kloster in 1972. After an initiative by the parish to repopulate the monastery by other sisters failed, the monastery building with the associated land was sold to the city of Dillingen. The monastery building was demolished immediately.

Effects of the Second World War

Bell confiscation

Since Germany was an importing country with regard to certain raw materials, it was considered in times of war that the non-ferrous metals copper, brass, tin and zinc, which could no longer be procured due to broken trade contacts or a lack of foreign exchange, were important raw materials for the armaments industry (e.g. for the manufacture of bullet cases). and to procure iron elsewhere in Germany.

Justified with the upcoming birthday of Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal Hermann Göring issued on March 27, 1940 the call for donations by the German people on the birthday of the Führer , the so-called " Metal donation of the German people ". A corresponding decree to the Reich ministers had already been issued on February 23, 1940. As in the First World War, the aim was to procure essential raw materials. Metal objects, mainly made of brass, copper, bronze, iron and tin were accepted and brought down to be melted down in collection points set up across the empire. As a thank you, the donors received a certificate from the Führer. The highlight of the metal collections was the collection and dismantling of bronze church bells across the empire. They were taken to the bell cemetery in Hamburg, melted down there and separated into their basic components, copper and tin. As part of this action, Diefflen also had to give up his 160 kg bell on February 27, 1942 and be satisfied with the remaining small bell.

Evacuations

The Dieffler population had to be evacuated from the beginning of the war in 1939 until the summer of 1940 and from autumn 1944. During the second evacuation, Diefflen was already under fire from the enemy artillery, so that around 30% of the buildings had to be categorized as total loss. However, a not inconsiderable part of the population did not go to the evacuation, but tried to seek protection from the attacks in the rock cellars on Babelsberg, the Zipp and on the Düppenweilerstraße. In 1944, for example, Christmas mass was no longer celebrated in the church, but in such a rock cellar.

Destruction

In December 1944, during the fighting of the Second World War, the church was severely damaged. The tower with the remaining small bell, the roof and most of the nave vaults were destroyed. The apse wall was torn open about halfway and the high altar was smashed. All of the church windows were shattered by shock waves. Grenade strikes had devastated the area around the church and affected most of the stations of the cross on the way from the church to the cemetery. On March 19, 1945 Diefflen was finally captured by the troops of the US Army. 305 parishioners were killed in the Second World War.

Emergency churches

Distribution plan for church visitors from 1947

In the immediate post-war period in 1945, the service was celebrated in the chapel of the Dieffler Herz-Mariae-Kloster, founded in 1909. After clearing up, the first services could be held in the right aisle.

Since the side aisle of the church was no longer sufficient after the return of numerous Dieffler from the evacuation, the large dance hall of the Dieffler Gastwirtschaft Heckmann was rented for 500 marks per month in 1945 and was converted into an emergency church by October 1948 . On October 8, 1948, the church could be used again.

Reconstruction in the post-war period

The church was rebuilt from 1948 onwards. The parish church, which was poorly repaired, was consecrated on October 8, 1948. In view of the difficult financing of the upcoming construction work, Pastor Johannes Josef Rath addressed himself in a letter of appeal dated May 2, 1950 to General Director Josef Roederer (1882–1969, term of office: 1920–1924 and 1946–1954) of the Dillinger Hütte for donations to acquire:

“Dear General Manager!

Based on the promise made by its predecessor, General Manager Bombard s. Has given me at present that he will help me build the church, and in grateful remembrance of the tangible support on the part of Dillinger Hüttenwerke in the construction of our memorial chapel for the fallen in 1928 and in the extension to our parish church for the purpose of installing air heating in 1937 I also today, on behalf of my church council, urge you to help us now with the expansion and reconstruction of our church, which was almost completely destroyed by the war.

The necessary realization of our building project, which is supported by the building permit from the Bischöfl. Authority as well as the government of the Saarland, demands from the parish a cost of CHF 10,000,000, which is borne solely by the Diefflen taxpayers, who are almost exclusively workers, employees and pensioners of the Dillinger Hütte.

In this case, humility may forbid giving you a hint as to the nature of your help; However, I would like to point out to you, dear General Director, that my parishioners keep asking me whether we will buy a bell that corresponds to the size of the church and parish. Since bronze bells are currently are too expensive and there is also the risk that they will have to be given back in the next war, only steel bells can come into question for us. "

The Dillinger Hütte then supported the construction work primarily by donating building materials.

Expanding redesign

Architecture comparison and construction plans
Wallerfangen-St.Barbara, St. Salvator Church
Wallerfangen-St. Barbara, church tower of St. Salvator
Wallerfangen-St. Barbara, Church of St. Salvator
Tower of Dieffler Church

This was followed by work on expanding the church by two yokes according to the plans of the Saarlouis architect Alois Havener and the Saarbrücken architect Rudolf Güthler. At the same time, the two architects built the Catholic parish church of St. Salvator in St. Barbara (drafting of the plan: 1949, laying of the foundation stone: September 17, 1950, inauguration: August 1, 1954) as a hall with Romanizing or late antiquing elements of abstraction historicism. If one compares the church buildings in St. Barbara and Diefflen, the parallelism of both buildings becomes clearly visible. In particular, the design of the wide, embossed rectangular tower with round arched acoustic arcades and a gently sloping tower roof is very similar in both buildings. The wheel window, which was fitted into the gable facade of the nave in Diefflen, is located above the church entrance in the tower facade of the smaller church in St. Barbara. Both churches have arched windows and flat interior ceilings. Both churches by Havener and Güthler, St. Salvator and St. Josef and St. Wendelin, seem to be oriented in an abstract form to the late antique church building with a ravennatic character.

On September 7, 1949, the work on the Dieffler parish church was transferred to the Jager-Rupp company and lasted until 1951. The formerly neo-Gothic building in Diefflen was completely redesigned in the style of neo-Romanizing or late antique-style abstraction-historicism. Instead of the neo-Gothic vaults, the room was closed off as a stepped hall with a flat wooden beam grid ceiling. The side aisles each have 50 rectangular fields, the central nave is divided into 130 fields. The ceiling supporting the gallery is designed in the central nave with transverse beams, in the right aisle a square coffering was used and in the tower hall and in the upper ends of the gallery the structure of the flat wooden cladding in the concrete remained visible and was only painted white. Only the apse was provided with a round-arched Rabitz vault with sharp ridges. The vault construction is similar to that of the east apse of the Trier cathedral , whereby in Trier round ribs were used instead of ridges. Instead of the previous six pointed arched nave windows, the extended church building now has ten round arched windows.

On October 1st, 1951, a new main altar was inaugurated by Auxiliary Bishop Bernhard Stein .

The change in the neo-Gothic building in favor of an antique or Romanized building fits in with the ideas of the period between 1945 and approx. 1970, when architecture from the Romanesque era was generally valued much more than that of the following times, including the Gothic. At that time, the works of the historicist 19th century received the slightest respect from art historians and architects. With morally and aesthetically underpinned rigorism, remnants that had been spared from the war were now "eradicated", as they put it back then - still caught up in the language of the fallen National Socialism. The favoring of the early Romanesque architectural era was entirely in line with the conservative, traditionalist building professionals in the church building sector, provided they were skeptical of Expressionism and Bauhaus Modernism. The interior fittings of late historicism were characterized as "kitschy" and "untruthful" as well as "artistically worthless" and destroyed. Furthermore, after the collapse of the anti-church Nazi system, Rhenish Catholicism in the first post-war years, to whose ecclesiastical sphere of influence Diefflen belonged, felt as the undisputed winner in ideological terms. "Romanesque", "Occident", "Reconstruction of a Europe united in the spirit of Christianity" were also political concepts of battle against the spreading materialism , communism and atheism in the newly founded Saar state under Prime Minister Johannes Hoffmann ( Christian People's Party of Saarland ) . The book "Preserved and Promising" by the Saarland priest and writer Johannes Kirschweng can be seen as the programmatic writing of this period . After the fall of National Socialism and the German Reich in the Second World War, which he described as a divine criminal court, he demanded the rebirth of a converted, pious, purified Saarland in the heart of Europe, whose strong pulse should be powerful church buildings. With sacred buildings that were as bulky as possible and were to be understood as "consecration offerings to God", this new direction could be given additional shape. At the same time, the Heiligenborn Monastery in Bous on the Saar, built by György Lehoczky in place of a Hitler Youth home, was built in similarly massive forms as in Diefflen . Here, the foundation stone document of September 30, 1951 says programmatically with regard to the new church building:

“(...) as the peoples gradually recovered from the horror of the terrible Second World War and rebuilt the largely destroyed houses and cities - and when they began to fear again, worried about a new world fire, the powers of godlessness would ignite - this foundation stone was laid for the construction of a new church, so that it would stand as a stronghold of God in the storms of godlessness, that as a symbol of faith on the mountains it would remind people of what is necessary and be a bright light for them in the darkness of the Error and godlessness and from here the rivers of divine teaching and the redemptive work of Christ may pour into the land for the true good of men. "

Construction costs of the extension

The costs for the extension of the parish church totaled FF 17,521,949.

Masonry work (shell construction): FF 9.225.545.00
Building materials: 321.096,00 FF.
Carpentry work: 323.205.00 FF.
Roofing work: FF 284,943.00.
Heating work: 550,000.00 FF.
Plumbing and installation work: FF 220,773.00.
Electrical installations: FF 146,819.00.
Interior plaster: 724,549.00 FF.
Artificial glazing of the church windows: 205,000.00 FF.
Staircases: 1,185,000.00 FF.
Bell cage: 419.440,00 FF.
Bells (including customs and fees): FF 1,178,497.00.
Carpentry work for the production of 16 new pews: FF 670,200.00.
Cladding cabinet of the church tower clock: FF 44,200.00.
Sound shutters and tower balcony grilles: FF 763,016.00.
Repair and rebuilding of the organ: FF 631,692.00.
Carpentry work: 351,000.00 FF.
various handicrafts: 276.974,00 FF.

Dimensions

The current church structure has the following dimensions:

Total length of the church building: 54.20 m
Inside length of the church building: 45.70 m
Total width of the church building: 25.40 m
Inner length of the nave without apse and without vestibule: 30 m
Inner width of the nave without the tower hall: 17.20 m
Width of the side aisles to the arch: 3.60 m
Width of the central nave to the arch: 8.15 m
Width of the apse arch: 8 m
External width of the portal front: 10.00 m
Yoke width in the central nave: 9.00 m
Yoke length in the central nave: 6.08 m
Aisle width to the middle of the divider: 4.10 m
Intercolumnium : 5 m
Internal height of the arcade: 9.15 m
Pillar diameter: 0.80 m
Interior height of the central nave: 11.80 m
Interior height of the aisles: 9.75 m
External dimensions of the tower floor plan: 7.40 m × 8.90 m
Wall thickness of the tower: 1.20 m
Height of the roof structure over the central nave: 6.70 m
Inner diameter of the rose window: 3.26 m
Outside diameter of the rose window: 4.40 m
Ridge height: 18.90 m
Tower height without tower cross and weathercock: 30.00 m
Total height of the tower: 33 m

The interior space with the gallery offers space for around 500 people.

New bells

St. Josef and St. Wendelin (Diefflen), bell room
St. Josef and St. Wendelin (Diefflen), bell room
St. Josef and St. Wendelin (Diefflen), bell room, flywheels
St. Josef and St. Wendelin (Diefflen), counterweights suitable for the person when ringing the hand
St. Josef and St. Wendelin (Diefflen), time hammer on the Wendelin bell

Two weeks after the altar was consecrated by Auxiliary Bishop Bernhard Stein, the church received four new steel bells cast in 1951 with a plate crown suspension with a total weight of 3244 kg from the Bochumer Verein bell foundry :

No.	Surname	Nominal (16th note)	Weight (kg)	Diameter (mm)	inscription
1	St. Joseph	d ′	1402	1510	"+ St. Joseph + patron of the church + pray for us +"
2	Heart Mariae	f ′	862	1210	"+ Sweet Heart Mariae + be our salvation +"
3	St. Wendelin	G'	598	1110	"+ Protect cattle and fields + St. Wendalin + The souls direct towards the Eternal +"
4th	St. Agnes	a ′	382	920	"St. Agnes + virgin and martyr + in faithfulness lead us to virtue + "

The Joseph Bell is dedicated to the main saint of the church. The Marienglocke reminds of the patronage of the former Dieffler monastery. In addition, the naming of the Marienglocke is related to the papal encyclical Auspicia quaedam of May 1, 1948. Pope Pius XII. had in this circular for the month of May called for public prayers for world peace. As the armed conflict over Palestine escalated, the pontiff also called for peace prayer in all dioceses, parishes and domestic communities for the solution of the Palestine problem. These prayers for peace should be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary , as they might restore peace in the world and in Palestine.

The Wendel bell (written in the bell inscription "Wendalin") is reminiscent of the former Wendelin chapel in Dieffler Kirchenweg (today Nalbacher Straße) and refers to Diefflen's agricultural past by referring to the "cattle patron". In a time of social upheaval, the Agnes bell was intended to call for moral stability. When a Dieffler parishioner dies, the Joseph bell is rung.

The first two bells (h´, 313 kg; cis´´, 220 kg) of the neo-Gothic church tower destroyed in the war were cast in 1899 by the Mabilon bell foundry in Saarburg . In the war year 1917, the larger bell was recruited, the smaller one stayed in Diefflen. In 1922 Mabilon cast a new bell (h´, 320 kg, ⌀ 73 cm) to replace the old one. The bell of the Dieffler monastery was cast by Mabilon in 1919 and weighed 90 kg.

Striking mechanism and tower clock

The time is rung in Wiener Schlag . A single beat sounds at the quarter of an hour, at half an hour two, at three quarters of an hour three, and at a full four beats. In the lower pitch, the hours that have passed are counted. First of all, the Wendel bell strikes four times at a full hour, followed by the Joseph bell. The civil parish donated 464,891 francs for the newly acquired tower clock, which was put into operation on January 27, 1953.

In total, the expansion of the church, which had been destroyed in the war, cost CHF 17,521,949.

Artistic post-war furnishings

In 1954 the church was provided with a loudspeaker system. In the same year, the sculptor André Lacomé (1918–2008) from Lourdes created a five meter high cross with a two meter high corpus in the choir area. The following year Lacomé also carved the wooden reliefs of the Way of the Cross. The matching frames in the shape of a cross were made by the Dieffler carpenter Konz. The figures of Maria and Johannes under the cross were created by the carver Franz Rapold (1921–2011) from Neunkirchen (Saar) based on the crucifixion scene of the Beuron art school in the Maurus chapel near the Beuron Archabbey . (The crucifixion group originally only darkly glazed and varnished was painted in color in the course of the renovation of the church in the 1980s. The statue of Mary and John were provided with consoles.)

window

St. Josef and St. Wendelin (Diefflen), right aisle, signature of the windows from 1955; Design: R (ichard) Eberle; Atelier: J (osef) Frese (Saarbrücken)

In 1955 the church could be re-plastered. Also this year, shortly before Christmas, ten new glass windows by the Saarbrücken glass painter Josef Frese were installed. The window motifs were designed by Richard Eberle , who also created the chip carving pictures in the Dillinger Memorial. The window motifs of the Dieffler parish church show in bold colors scenes from the life of St. Joseph in front of a weakly colored background made of rectangular glass surfaces with interspersed rectangular glass strips, the colors of which were arranged seemingly at random. In a similar design mode, Eberle designed the church windows of the Protestant Church in Elversberg and the Catholic Church in Göttelborn at the same time . The Dieffler windows are arranged according to a chronological cycle of the life of St. Joseph and form a tour from the apse through the right aisle to the three-arched main entrance and through the left aisle back to the apse:

Right aisle from the apse towards the entrance:

The marriage of St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary

The legendary form of the marriage of Joseph and Mary is based on the Bible passages Mt 1.18 EU and Lk 2.5 EU , where Mary and Joseph are referred to as " betrothed ". The proto-Gospel of James from the second half of the 2nd century tells that Mary lived as a consecrated virgin in the Jerusalem temple until she was twelve. Then the high priest received the instruction from the angel of the Lord to call all widowers of Israel. Everyone should bring a stick. That is how Joseph appeared at the temple. The high priest put the sticks in the temple and then distributed them again. When Joseph was the last to receive his staff back, a pigeon had slipped from the staff and sat on Joseph's head. Thereupon the high priest Joseph announced that he had been chosen by God to bring the Virgin Mary home to protect her virginly. Josef hesitated at first because he was old and already had sons, but then consented and brought Mary home.

The pseudo-Matthew Gospel (around 600) offers a version of the narrative based on this, which in turn has become literarily fruitful .

The most effective was the version of the Legenda aurea (around 1260), according to which Mary was 14 years old and the high priest did not call together the widowers of all Israel, but all marriageable men from David's descendants . As a sign, the angel announces with reference to Isa 11 : 1-2 EU that the staff of the chosen one will begin to bloom and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove will sit down on the staff. In this version too, Josef is already old and at first reluctant.

The legend reports nothing about a ritual act of engagement, nor about a wedding ceremony in connection with the home. The legal status of the union of Mary and Joseph was therefore the subject of scholarly disputes in the Middle Ages and was ultimately decided in favor of a real, if not sexually consummated marriage .

Richard Eberle depicts the legendary scene in a simple form. Although he gives Joseph older facial features than Maria, he omits the blooming staff that is common in iconography. Josef, dressed in a beige robe, red shoes and a blue throw cloth, turns to Maria with an encouraging look. His left arm seems to be gently resting on Maria's shoulder as he invites the young woman to place her hand in his open right hand. Joseph's head is surrounded by a green halo. Maria's gaze is directed towards the hand offered to Joseph. While she takes her heart with her left hand, she trustingly lowers her right hand into the hands of her bridegroom. The virgin is dressed in a purple dress that is lined with red. She has covered her head with a white veil and is wearing red shoes. A yellow halo shines around her head.

Joseph and Mary's search for a hostel in Bethlehem

Richard Eblerle designed the hostel search , the unsuccessful search by Mary and Joseph for accommodation in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus Christ ( Lk 2.7 EU ), as a nocturnal scene. Abstractly shaped golden stars and a silver crescent moon in front of a night sky covered with wispy clouds indicate the temporal situation. Maria seems bent over in the pain of the onset of labor and crosses her forearms in front of her chest. Your gaze is lowered. She is dressed with a dark blue robe and a light blue veil. Only the collar of the robe glows red. She wears simple sandals on her feet.

Joseph is dressed in a shorter green robe. His legs and feet are covered by light brown leggings that indicate the travel situation. A brown cover sheet is supposed to protect the saint from the night cold. Josef has placed his left hand protectively on Maria's shoulder. The halos of the holy couple shine golden. Richard Eberle has positioned a basket arch window above the heads of Maria and Josef. A man in a green and red turban and a turquoise robe with a white collar and ruby sleeves looks out. The figure can be interpreted as a well-dressed hostel owner. With upraised forearms and a negative look, he rejects the two hostel seekers, although Josef looks up at him pleadingly and with his right hand indicates the imminent birth of Mary.

The birth of Jesus in the stable of Bethlehem

The Lukan history of the birth of Jesus in the New Testament Lk 2.1–20 EU , especially verse 7, in which it says: "And she (Mary) gave birth to her son, the firstborn. She wrapped him in diapers and put him in a manger because there was no room for her in the hostel. ", Richard Eberle portrays in his Christmas window. The Bethlehemitic scene shows the Virgin Mary, clad in a blue robe with red lining and a white veil, as she sinks down with her right hand To straighten the cloth wraps for the newborn, diapered baby Jesus in the straw-filled manger. Maria holds her left hand at the side protectively over the peacefully sleeping child with a green nimbus, whose little hands touch over the chest. A ruby red nimbus shines around the head of Mary. Richard Eberle has positioned St. Joseph with his legs apart behind them. He is dressed with dark brown leg wraps and an orange robe with a red fabric lining. He holds his wide, turquoise-colored overcoat over his mother and child with his left hand. His right hand is high. A gold-colored nimbus surrounds the head of Jesus' foster father, whose gaze rests on the newborn Jesus. The artist has positioned the heads of an ox and a donkey above Josef's outstretched left arm . The two animals do not appear in the Gospel of Luke. Only the pseudo-Matthew Gospel , which was probably created after 600 , an embellishment of the birth stories of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, reports about it in chapter 14:

“On the third day after the birth of the Lord, Mary left the cave and went into a stable.
She put the boy in a manger, and an ox and a donkey worshiped him.
What was said by the prophet Isaiah came true:
«The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s manger.»

Mediated by the Legenda aurea (13th century), the pseudo-Matthew Gospel had a great influence on Christian iconography . The ox and donkey at the manger are older than the pseudo-Matthew Gospel. They appear in the earliest surviving pictorial representations of Christmas events from the 4th century and are based there directly on the typological interpretation of Isaiah 1,3 EU and on the writings of the church fathers : The apparently incomprehensible animals ox and donkey , which have been living since the 4th century . Century are part of the Christmas picture, know their master and the place of their nourishment. They are smarter than people who, despite their reason, are blind to it. “The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's manger; Israel, however, has no knowledge, my people have no understanding. ”( Isa 1,3 EU ) In the interpretation of the late antique church, the motif is interpreted even more specifically allegorically: the ox stands for the people of Israel, the donkey for the heathen. Judaism, while recognizing its Lord, does not recognize him in the newborn child, while pagans begin to turn to the right faith.

The presentation of Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem

Biblical background of the presentation of Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem is a story in the Gospel of Luke ( Lk 2,21-23 EU ):

“When eight days had passed and the child was about to be circumcised , he was given the name Jesus, whom the angel had named, even before the child was conceived in its mother's womb. Then came the day of purification prescribed by the law of Moses. They brought the child up to Jerusalem to be consecrated to the Lord, according to the Lord's law, which says, Every male firstborn shall be consecrated to the Lord. They also wanted to offer their sacrifice as prescribed by the law of the Lord: a pair of lovebirds or two young pigeons. "

The two rites mentioned here have their roots in prescriptions of the biblical book Leviticus . The sequence described in Luke (circumcision - cleansing of the woman - sanctification of the firstborn) corresponds to the time scheme prescribed by the Torah .

According to the biblical law of Moses , women are valid for 40 days after the birth of a boy (seven plus 33 days; ( Lev 12,2–4 EU )) and after the birth of a girl 80 days (14 plus 66 days; ( Lev 12, 5 EU )) as unclean ( Lev 12.1–8 EU ). At the time of the temple cult, after these days she had to give a sheep and a dove to a priest as a cleaning sacrifice, and in case of financial difficulties two lovebirds or other doves ( Lev 12.8 EU ) as a substitute .

In addition, in memory of the Passover night , the first-born son was viewed as the property of God ( Ex 13.2.15 EU ) and given to him in the temple (“represented”), where he was to be redeemed by a monetary offering ( Num 18.16 EU ). The story of Luke about the portrayal of Jesus tells of this consecration of the firstborn, but not of the redemption that is still practiced in traditional Judaism today.

Richard Eberle depicts the holy couple with the baby Jesus in the situation where they ascend to the temple. The artist indicates this with a step on which Mary's right foot sits. The mother of Jesus wears a turquoise dress, red shoes and a dark blue veil. A purple nimbus surrounds her head. Maria has pressed her little son in front of her breast, her gaze is fixed on the child. The baby Jesus with a golden yellow head nimbus is wrapped in a blue-gray robe and playfully raises his left arm.

Josef, dressed in a brown robe with a yellow lining and collar as well as a dark red wrap, is holding a wicker basket in his left hand, in which two white sacrificial pigeons are sitting, which indicate the precarious financial background of the young family. A green halo surrounds the head of the foster father of Jesus. Joseph's right hand and his line of sight show the preceding Mary the way to the temple.

The dream of Joseph in which the angel orders him to flee from Herod to Egypt

The scene depicted by Richard Eberle deals with a passage from the Gospel of Matthew ( Mt 2.13 EU ), in which it is told that the newborn Jesus is in mortal danger, but can be saved through the intervention of an angel:

“When the magicians had left again, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said: Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt; stay there until I tell you something else; for Herod will look for the child to kill. "

Eberle shows Joseph, who fell asleep from exhaustion, in a night-black robe, under which the bare feet of the father of Jesus peek out. His left hand has sunk in his lap while his right hand is holding his head. The saint's elbow is supported on a stone block, in front of which there is a blue jug and a bundle of straw. The bundle of straw locates the scene in the stable of Bethlehem. An angel in a light green robe with a blood-red lining seems to be about to fall from the heights to wake the sleeper. The posture of his wings structured in a red-brown gradient - one wing is in the rest position, one in landing position - and the straight, backward-falling blond hair of the Heavenly Messenger reinforce the drama of the plot. With a worried expression, the angel grabs Joseph's right shoulder with his left hand, while he tries to force the nursing father of Jesus to leave with the index finger of his right hand by clearly indicating the direction of the flight.

Left side of the entrance towards the apse:

The Flight into Egypt

With the flight to Egypt Richard Eberle depicts an event from the childhood of Jesus, described in the Gospel of Matthew ( Mt 2,13-23 EU ). After the wise men had left the Orient , an angel appears to Saint Joseph in a dream according to Matthew. He orders him to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus because Herod wants to kill the child. Once there, he should wait for more news. After Herod's death, the angel reappears and orders Joseph to return. But since Herod's son Archelaus is now ruler of Judea , Joseph is afraid of further persecution. According to divine direction, he and his family move to Nazareth in Galilee .

The evangelist relates the return of Jesus to the exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt : there they remained until Herod's death. For what the Lord said through the prophet was to come true: I called my son out of Egypt. ( Mt 2.15 EU ). It refers to a verse in the book of Hosea : When Israel was young I loved it, and from Egypt I called my son. ( Hos 11,1 EU ) Originally, "Son of God" meant the people of Israel .

Eberle depicts Saint Joseph in light brown leggings, dark brown robes and dark blue overalls. His nimbus shines in green. He is holding a walking stick in his left hand. His right hand the bridle leading a donkey on which the Virgin Mary in the sidesaddle has taken with the Jesus child. The donkey turns its long ears confidently towards the child. Maria is dressed in blue robes with red lining. A golden yellow halo surrounds her head, a pale pink nimbus shines around the head of little Jesus. With both of her hands the Blessed Mother has pressed the sleeping baby Jesus, wrapped in pale green wraps, to her and turns her gaze to him. The confident gaze of St. Joseph is turned towards the viewer, yes, he seems to want to give the viewer the reins of the donkey in order to ask him to take sides with the refugees himself. The scene of the flight to Egypt was discussed more frequently in Christian art in the period after the Second World War, as it hit the nerve of the people of that time, who had often experienced flight and expulsion through war and defeat themselves. The star of Bethlehem shines in intense yellow and orange over the entire scene . The lead rods that grasp it carry the light rays on. The glow of the divine miracle star, which shows the refugees the way to rescue, casts a night-black shadow on the ground on which the group passes.

The Holy Family in Nazareth

The Holy Family is represented by Richard Eberle in a triangular structure of the figure constellation. Saint Joseph forms the highest point in the picture. Dressed in a brown robe and a gray-blue work apron, he planes a workpiece on a simple workbench construction . The sleeves of the boss of the woodworker are rolled up to the elbow. A golden halo shines around his head. Next to the workbench, Maria has sat down on a brownish block to do textile handicrafts. The mother of Jesus is dressed in a blue robe with a red lining and a lilac-colored veil. A turquoise halo surrounds your head. While she seems to be sewing or embroidering on a white cloth, her gaze is directed to her son Jesus in the foreground of the picture. The gently looking little Jesus with a red nimbus is clad in a simple, light robe and helps his carpenter father by shouldering a small wooden beam. The representation can be interpreted as an indication of Jesus' death on the cross.

In the Catholic tradition, veneration of the Holy Family only begins in modern times and takes off in the 19th century. Especially in the time of the industrial revolution and the associated rural exodus , the dissolution of traditional village family and social structures and rampant pauperization , the Holy Family should be contrasted with Catholic working-class families as a model. The worship was given by Pope Leo XIII. especially promoted. In 1893 he prescribed the feast of the Holy Family for the whole Church and placed it on the third Sunday after Epiphany . After Pope Pius X deleted it, it was replaced by Pope Benedict XV. placed on the first Sunday after the apparition of the Lord in 1921 . Since the liturgical reform of 1969, it has been celebrated on Sundays in the octave of Christmas . In the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th century, inexpensive prints with depictions of the Holy Family hung in numerous apartments of Catholic families and were intended to serve as a model for family harmony and budgetary care.

Joseph and Mary find the twelve year old Jesus in Jerusalem

The depicted scene, which in art history is also referred to as " The twelve year old Jesus in the temple ", is an event from the life of Jesus, which is described in the Gospel of Luke ( Lk 2,41ff EU ). It is the only incident from his youth recorded in the canonical Gospels :

“Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover every year. When he was twelve years old, they went up again, as was the festival custom. After the festive season ended, they started on their way home. But the young Jesus stayed in Jerusalem without his parents noticing. They said he was somewhere in the pilgrimage group and traveled a day's distance; then they looked for him with relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem and looked for him there. After three days they found him in the temple; he sat among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were very upset and his mother said to him: Child, how could you do this to us? Your father and I looked for you in fear. Then he said to them: Why did you look for me? Didn't you know that I have to be in what belongs to my father? But they didn't understand what he meant by that. Then he returned with them to Nazareth and obeyed them. His mother kept everything that had happened in her heart. But Jesus grew up and his wisdom increased and he found favor with God and men. "

Richard Eberle depicts the adolescent Jesus, clad in white, sitting on a brownish square with a scroll. His left hand holds the narrow tape on his lap, while his right is raised in a gesture of blessing . The finger position, in which the thumb, index finger and middle finger are stretched out, can be interpreted iconographically as an indication of the Trinity . The other two fingers are bent back and can be interpreted as a reference to the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ . The little Jesus with a red nimbus looks calmly and directly at the viewer in Eberle's depiction and seems to be interpreting the writing. In the background, his parents Joseph and Maria rush to their son, looking worried, which is expressed by the puffy fabric of their clothes. Mary in a dark blue nimbus, medium blue robe with red lining and red shoes holds her waving white veil with her left hand, while her right hand is stretched out towards Jesus. The palm, which is open upwards, and the fearful expression on his face convey to the viewer that the mother Jesus, in reproachful concern for her child, expects an explanation from her son for his behavior. In the popular piety of the Catholic Church, the biblical pericope shown is significant in connection with the veneration of Mary : The loss of the twelve-year-old Jesus is one of the Seven Sorrows of Mary , which is commemorated on September 15 of the church year . Richard Eberle also depicts Saint Joseph in a raised posture. He seems to be supporting Mary with his right hand, while his left is half raised in excitement. With a worried look, dressed in a brown robe, a green robe and a yellow hiking bag and shoes, he looks at the seated Jesus, while a golden nimbus shines around his head.

The death of St. Joseph

The saint, who is considered the heavenly advocate of a good hour of death, lies dying on a brown couch. On his right a lily branch with three calyxes sprouts from a lawn, which can be interpreted both as a symbol of his marital chastity and as an indication of the mysterious presence of the divine Trinity at the moment of his death. The artist depicts the halo as a sign of mourning in midnight blue. Josef's robe consists of a violet outer fabric with a green fabric lining. A brownish blanket reveals the dying person's bare right foot. Josef's hands are on his chest, his eyes are closed. An angel in light robes with two red borders seems to rush headlong out of heaven to the dying man. He looks compassionately at the saint and holds out a simple golden crown as a sign of perfection. The representation relates on the one hand to a biblical quote from the Book of Wisdom ( Weish 3,1–6 EU ):

“But the souls of the righteous are in God's hand, and no torment touches them; they appear to be dead in the opinion of the fools, their passing is seen as a calamity and their separation from us as annihilation; but they are at peace. For even if people believed that they were punished, their hope was still entirely filled with a belief in immortality; and after having endured a short period of suffering, they will be blessed with great happiness, for God has only tested them and found them worthy of Him. He has tried it like gold in a furnace and accepted it like the gift of a whole offering. So they will shine brightly at the time of their grace and travel like sparks through dry reeds. "

On the other hand, the crown circlet also refers to the biblical quote from the seven letters of the biblical apocalypse of John . The church in Smyrna , Asia Minor , is given the admonition in the last New Testament book: “Do not be afraid of what you still have to suffer. (…) Be faithful to death, so I will give you the crown of life. ”( Rev 2,10 EU ) The artist has renounced the usual presence of Jesus and Mary in the iconography of the dying of St. Joseph.

Saint Joseph as the patron saint of the Dieffler parish church

The saint, whose head is surrounded by a green halo, wears a brownish robe with a red-brown thrown shawl and turquoise-colored shoes. He looks benevolently at the model of the Dieffler parish church on his right. Both the portal arcades and the sound arcades of the tower on the main entrance side are missing in the representation. The lining and collar of the robe of Jesus' foster father are dyed red. While Joseph grasps his heart with his left hand as a symbol of the loving bond with his sanctuary, he holds his right hand protectively over the parish church.

The window cycle was originally introduced in the late 1950s by the oil painting "The Archangel Gabriel proclaims the birth of Jesus to Mary" above the right side altar by Heinrich Faißt. The window cycle originally came to an end with Faißt's oil painting above the left side altar, which depicts the adoration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As the patron saint, Joseph practically recommends the Dieffler parish to be cared for by Jesus.

However, by hanging the two oil paintings and placing them on the organ gallery, this connection was lost.

Structural changes in the late 1950s

In 1957, the interior was repainted in a simple color composition (walls: white, columns: light gray, galleries: dark gray). With this measure, the ambones built after the war were removed again, the choir was lowered by three steps and instead of the previous combination of short stairs and long ramp, the civil parish created a wide staircase between the church and the church square. Deep landings should allow public theater performances, as various groups in the parish held several performances in the period after the Second World War. B. had presented the mystery play " The Great World Theater " by Pedro Calderón de la Barca in public.

A new altar made of black marble was delivered in 1958 by the Dillingen company Sommer and inaugurated on November 6th by Vicar General Weins. In keeping with this, the Sommer company delivered a large font, also in black marble, which was placed under the organ gallery. On this occasion, the company also laid natural stone slabs in the main corridor and the side corridors. The two chapels at the front of the aisles were bricked up again and the resulting walls were decorated with large-format paintings by the Dillingen painter Faißt. In 1963, the church was completely outfitted with new Oregon Douglas fir pews and confessionals. The work was carried out by the Dieffler carpenter Servatius Müller.

Youth home on the Zipp

St. Josef and St. Wendelin (Diefflen), a former youth home converted into a residential building on the Zipp

On the initiative of the Catholic parish youth, the construction of a new youth home began on August 17, 1952 on the hilltop opposite the church front in the area "Auf der Zipp" in the immediate vicinity of a Siegfried Line bunker . The plans for this were provided by the Saarlouis architect Alois Havener, who, in collaboration with Rudolf Güthler, had already been responsible for the plans for the post-war church building. The first symbolic groundbreaking ceremony was held by the Siersburg pastor and Dillinger dean Michael Held (* 1875; † 1957, dean of the newly established dean's office in Dillingen 1923–1957) in the presence of the monastery rector Father Terstegge, pastor Johannes Josef Rath, school principal Martin Baumann and Mayor Jakob Jost. The Dieffler parish youth carried out the construction work on their own. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated in November 1953. The youth home with a vaulted Marienkapelle on the slope of the Nalbacher Kirchenweg (today Nalbacher Straße) and two small caves (Josefsgrotte with viewing platform and Mariengrotte) is used today as a residential building. In order to be able to subordinate the very independent local Catholic youth to the pastoral sphere of influence again, the youth home was closed by the pastor. Under the aegis of Pastor Georg Kronenberger, the parish initially rented the house to Italian guest workers and sold it on October 16, 1967 to a person who immigrated from Hungary.

Effects of the Second Vatican Council

In the wake of the liturgical reorganization of the Second Vatican Council , the tabernacle was removed from the high altar and set into the wall of the right side altar. Thus, the high altar could be used as a new people's altar without further modifications.

Historicizing redesign in the 1980s

In 1979 the board of directors of the parish decided to completely renovate the parish church. After the diocesan board of directors agreed to this proposal, the architect Lorenz Klein (1939–2001), who was also a member of the parish council, was entrusted with the planning and supervision of the work. Technical advice was provided by Franz Ronig , Hans-Berthold Busse and Alois Peitz . The construction work dragged on from 1981 to 1984.

Today's architectural design

Architecture comparisons
Saarbrücken-St. Johann, Church of St. Michael
NS-Ordensburg Sonthofen
Stuttgart main station, tower
Starnberg, Church of St. Maria, Help of Christians

Exterior

The exterior of the church is designed in a neo-Romanesque abstraction historicism.

tower

The fortified acting tower from the reconstruction phase is staufer time a seemingly ashlar dressed sandstone masonry. It has a funnel-shaped, arched entrance to the staircase that leads to the church square on Dillinger Straße. Halfway up there is a tower balcony. On the floor above, the open dials of the tower clocks are attached. The bell storey opens on the narrow side of the rectangular tower (Dillinger Strasse) with three arched acoustic arcades and on the broad side of the tower (towards Beckinger Strasse) with four arched acoustic arcades. The walls are made of light sandstone, the bosses in red sandstone.

Torcello, Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta

The design of the Dieffler tower and its "twin" in St. Barbara (St. Salvator) shows architectural cubature similarities to the campanile of the Basilica Santa Maria Assunta (built after 1000) on the island of Torcello in the Venetian lagoon with its acoustic arcades and its low roof on.

Another possible source of architectural inspiration closer to the time could be the tower of the NS-Ordensburg Sonthofen , which the architect Hermann Giesler had designed. The Ordensburg Sonthofen (“Reichsschulungsburg Allgäu”) planned by him, which was built between 1934 and 1942 and was one of the Adolf Hitler schools from 1937, is one of the most important representative buildings of the National Socialist. The bell tower of the Ordensburg has clear references to church architecture and has a carillon. With these bonds to a Christian church, National Socialism wanted to emphasize its claim as the then new religion of modern man. The design of the Dieffler church tower by Alois Havener (1901–1981) and Rudolf Güthler (1906–1984) is an interesting example of the design continuity of the architecture from the 1920s through the Nazi era to the immediate post-war period.

Rudolf Güthler, who came from Stuttgart, also took over elements of the design of the towers of the Church of St. Michael in Saarbrücken-St. Johann, where he was construction manager for architect Hans Herkommer . Güthler had been represented in Saarland with its own architecture office since 1926. In the years 1937–1939 he made preliminary designs for the Church of St. Albert in Saarbrücken. After the Second World War he worked with György Lehoczky between 1953 and 1955 on the construction of the Redemptorist monastery in Heiligenborn in Bous . In the following years Güthler built the residential development on Preußenstraße in Saarbrücken (1954-56), together with Jacques Quirin the Volksfürsorgehaus on the corner of Dudweilerstraße / Richard-Wagner-Straße there (1954), the building of the Saarbrücken pension and supplementary pension fund on the corner Hafenstrasse / Fritz-Dobisch-Strasse there (1958–1960) and, together with Hans Hirner and Walter Schrempf, the extension of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Saarland University (1955–60).

Numerous motifs of the preliminary designs by St. Albert in Saarbrücken (destroyed in the war on August 11, 1944) from 1937 (high round arched windows, wheeled windows with cross tracery, tower with tower balcony, funnel-shaped arched portals) that Rudolf Güthler did not or because of building restrictions by the National Socialist regime could only partially be used, the architect then used it again after the Second World War when rebuilding the Dieffler church.

Overall, the leitmotif of the towers of St. Michael in Saarbrücken-St. Johann, St. Josef and St. Wendelin in Diefflen and St. Salvator in St. Barbara are quite the clock tower of the Stuttgart main train station (construction started in 1914) with its heavily rusty bossed masonry by the Lorraine architect Paul Bonatz , who was the teacher of Hans Herkommer. be valid. St. Gabriel (built 1925–1926) in Munich- Haidhausen by Otho Orlando Kurz and Eduard Herbert could be used as a further example of a sacred building . Here, too, the tent-roofed tower remains unplastered and a tower balcony is positioned in the middle above small tower windows with sound windows of the bell storey rising above it. Here, too, the tower recedes to the side behind the portal gable of the church.

Nave

The massive main facade facing Beckinger Strasse is plastered like the entire building. A wide flight of stairs leads to three adjacent entrance arcades. Above is a large round window with cross tracery. There is also an interesting architectural parallel in the exterior design (window shapes and positioning of the tower) with the Starnberg Church of St. Maria, Help of the Christians, which the architect Michael Kurz (1876–1957) built between 1932 and 1933. Since Kurz is one of the most important church builders in Germany in the 20th century, his buildings are likely to have had a positive impact on other architects and thus influenced the architects Güthler and Havener.

The motifs of the raster beam ceiling and the punched-out round arches of the new and extension of the Dieffler church in the early post-war period were also used in church buildings from the 1920s, for example in Haidhausen at the parish and monastery church of St. Gabriel.

At that time, traditionalist circles saw free recourse to the heyday of early Christian art as a suitable form of adapting religious feelings to the changing requirements of the time. The reception of historicism in the Middle Ages, especially Neo-Gothic, was now perceived as a slavish imitation of a bygone era and as inauthentic, even weak, feminine and sultry.

Nevertheless, in a time of great upheaval, in a conservative sense, people strived for a stable order and thought about the creative forms of expression of the beginnings of Christianity. In early Christianity in late antiquity, it was assumed to have found a kinship with one's own religious feeling. Here one saw an opportunity for a cathartic new beginning and a reduction to the essentials of faith. Logically, early Christian art represented the "real" ecclesiastical style period for numerous artists in the sacred area in the first half of the 20th century. A decisive part of this "true" and "pure" art was its symbolism. In a reductionist spatial structure of imposing clarity, strict direction and unadorned objectivity, which was based on late antique church buildings, one saw the ideal church space of its own time, as it clearly referred to the contested beginnings of Christianity in Europe, without, however, the time of its own origin in the 20th century Century to deny. The filigree forms of neo-Gothic historicism were replaced by massive, downright cyclopean forms.

Both traditionalists and progressive circles advocated this change in architecture. A large, wide nave, which leads to the high altar, was seen as the active participation of all the faithful in the Eucharistic event relevant, a point of view through the liturgical reform thoughts of Romano Guardini was increasing since the early 1920s in Germany spread.

The independent place of baptism and the associated high esteem for the baptismal ritual was also part of a liturgical reassessment of the sacraments. Based on the practice of the early Christian catechumenate , the circular, black marble baptismal font with a circumferential holy water gutter was also positioned in Diefflen directly in the low entrance area of the church, designed by massive beams, under the gallery. The baptism and the execution of the baptism by crucifixion with holy water should clearly show the entering believer the entry into Christianity and the church. The church interior, widening towards the sacrificial altar, was intended to illustrate the new life in Christ and the meaningful communion with him in the sacrament of the altar.

Thus, the new and extension of the Dieffler Church in the post-war period after the Second World War embodies the moderate-modern spirit of its time of origin, which was soon overcome by the spread of radical-modern architecture.

Lourdes grotto

Diefflen, Lourdes grotto

A first Lourdes grotto was built in 1907 near the parish church. This grotto had to give way to the enlargement of the church in the period after the Second World War. A new Marian place of worship was now positioned at the same angle as the former grotto to the neo-Gothic church. It commemorates the apparitions of Mary in Lourdes in 1858 and the solemn proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception ( Immaculata ) in 1854 by Pope Pius IX. as well as that of Pius XII. in 1950 proclaimed the dogma of the bodily acceptance of Mary into heaven . The words "I am the immaculate conception" are formed from metal letters in the wrought-iron protective grille of the grotto. Bernadette Soubirous had conveyed this alleged self-testimony of the apparition of Lourdes to her initially skeptical local priest Dominique Peyramale after the 16th apparition on March 25, 1858. Since Peyramale assumed that Bernadette, because of her inadequate education , could not have known about the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary , which had only been promulgated four years earlier, the priest ruled out any attempts at cheating on the girl and began to defend the apparitions. In the Dieffler grotto niche there is a reduced copy of a Madonna statue, the marble original of which the Provencal sculptor Joseph-Hugues Fabisch created in 1864 for the Massabielle grotto in Lourdes according to Bernadette's information. The figure is still clearly oriented towards the spirit of classicism , but tries to artistically overcome its coolness and detachment in the spirit of the Renouveau catholique . Votive tablets and floral decorations prove the cultic use of the Marian place of worship.

A Lourdes grotto was also built in the Dieffler monastery garden in 1925. There was also a Sacred Heart Grotto. Both plants, which were integrated into larger horticultural plantings, survived the demolition of the monastery by the city of Dillingen after its dissolution, but fell victim to vandalism a short time later.

Interior

St. Josef and St. Wendelin, Neo-Gothic Immaculate Shrine
St. Josef and St. Wendelin, interior of the church with a view of the apse
Fra Angelico: Tabernacolo dei Linaioli with angels making music in the frame, Florence
St. Josef and St. Wendelin, neo-Romanesque high altar
Fra Angelico, Tabernacolo dei Linaioli, Angel making music, template of the angels of the neo-Romanesque Dieffler high altar
St. Josef and St. Wendelin, neo-Romanesque rosary altar
St. Josef and St. Wendelin, Neo-Late Gothic stations of the Cross from Flanders
St. Josef and St. Wendelin, wooden sculpture, Saint Joseph with the baby Jesus

Nave and apse

The nave of the three-aisled, originally neo-early gothic stepped hall is divided by narrow neo-gothic round pillars into five wide axes that have been arched since the reconstruction. Architect Wilhelm Hector used round pillars in many of his neo-Gothic churches (e.g. in Lenten, Düppenweiler, Besseringen, Differten and others). The octagonal warriors rest on small pointed arches in Diefflen. Hector had already used this motif in the years 1890–1892 when building the Church of St. Peter in Theley and when building the Wehrdener Josefskirche (1897–1899).

The retracted choir with choir bay and three-sided end in Diefflen has the same height as the central nave. During the reconstruction of the nave, the original ribbed vaults were replaced by a romanised beamed ceiling with rectangular compartments, and in the choir area by a romanised rabitz vault with expressionistic sharp ridges. Since then, the height of the room has been lower than the original vertex height of the neo-Gothic room structure. The neo-Gothic windows were reworked into arched windows and re-glazed in 1955 by the Freese glass painting studio from Saarbrücken with scenes from the life of the church patron St. Josef.

In the 1980s, the church under the architect Lorenz Klein from Diefflen was subjected to a rich rehistoric painting (Mrziglod, Tholey) and decoration. The pieces of equipment from the immediate post-war period were partially replaced by new products (celebration altar and ambo by Otmar Becker from Bernkastel-Kues , St. Josef statue) and several newly acquired pieces from the neo-Romanesque and neo-Gothic period of the 19th century (neo-Romanesque high altar and baptismal font from the Neuforweiler church St. Medardus , rosary altar from depot holdings of the diocese of Trier, Flemish neo-Gothic stations of the cross, Immaculate statue with aedicula ).

Furnishing

High altar

The neo-Romanesque high altar was supplemented with newly made angels by the painter Karl-Heinz Pauli from St. Wendel. The altar substructure was assembled from parts of the Neuforweiler communion bench. The angels in the four niches of the high altar come from motifs from the frame of the Madonna Altar of Linen Weavers ( Tabernacolo dei Linaioli ) painted by Fra Angelico between 1432 and 1433 in the Museo San Marco in Florence , where Fra Angelico had lived for a long time. The copies of works of the early Italian Renaissance fit well into the neo-Romanesque altar. Before that, the niches had been painted ornamentally. The tabernacle was remade. A new rotating mechanism was also installed in the exposition niche above the tabernacle. Thanks to the rotating mechanism, the golden altar cross from the 1950s can be turned backwards and a neo-Gothic monstrance becomes visible. The Roden sculptor Gottlieb Ahlhelm carried out the reconstruction of the altar, the ornamental painting was carried out by the Tholeyer company Mrziglod. Interestingly, the reliquary-like top of the neo-Romanesque Dieffler high altar shows strong design parallels with the Grail shrine painted by Ferdinand von Piloty in 1885 in the Parzival cycle of the choir of Neuschwanstein Castle .

Rosary altar

The neo-Romanesque rosary altar, newly acquired from old stocks of the diocese of Trier during the church renovation in the 1980s, shows in fully plastic wood carving the Mother of God seated in a shrine case with the clover-leaf arch with the baby Jesus on her lap, as she hands the rosary to St. Dominic kneeling in front of her. The legend, first spread by Alanus de Rupe around 1468, tells that St. Dominic , founder of the Dominican order , received the present form of the rosary in 1208 during an apparition of Mary and introduced it into his order. In the vision of the Virgin Mary, Dominic was given the rosary as a weapon in the fight against the Albigensians .

In the predella zone , surrounded by tendrils, there are two medallions depicting St. Valentinus and St. Pancras . Today, Valentin is revered as the patron saint of lovers. He used to be asked for help with diseases such as epilepsy. As a simple priest, Valentin is said to have married couples in spite of the ban by Emperor Claudius II according to the Christian rite and was executed for it on February 14, 269. In addition, Valentin gave the newly married couples flowers from his garden. According to legend, Pancratius was beheaded at the age of 14 either during the reign of Diocletian or that of Emperor Valerian in Rome. He is one of the ice saints .

Under the cafeteria is the Latin inscription: Regina sacratissimi rosarii opn (Prayer for us, Queen of the Holy Rosary). The invocation of Mary as the Queen of the Rosary comes from the Lauretan litany . The rosary festival in honor of the "Rosary Queen" Mary was founded by Pope Pius V (Pope 1566–1572) as a commemoration day of Our Lady of Victory , who wanted to express his thanks for the victory of the Christian fleet in the battle of Lepanto in 1571. It was celebrated on the first Sunday in October. Already in 1573 it was made by Pope Gregory XIII. in Our Lady of the Rosary renamed. In 1716, after the victory of the imperial troops under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy over the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Peterwardein in Hungary , the festival was included in the Roman calendar . In 1913 it was set for October 7th.

It is not known where the rosary altar originally came from.

Mural

Over the side altars, neo-Gothic wall paintings from the 1920s were exposed again and partially added.

In the left painting, which depicts Saint Joseph, the “Liddermenner Wolf”, tamed by the Infant Jesus, the silhouette of the Dillinger Hütte with smoking chimneys and the Dieffler parish church now appears in a neo-Gothic framework behind Saint Joseph and the child . The wolf is the "main character" of a regional story from the Litermont area .

The right painting shows the Holy Family. The motif of the family's home environment, often equipped with a carpenter's workshop and spinning wheel, is also known as the "Nazareth House". In the Catholic tradition, veneration of the Holy Family only begins in modern times, has been increasingly evident since the 17th century and only began to flourish in the 19th century, among other things with the establishment of the Brotherhood of the Holy Family in Liège in 1844. The Adoration was given by Pope Leo XIII. especially promoted. There has been a liturgical feast of the Holy Family regionally and in religious communities since the end of the 19th century. Pope Benedict XV fixed the festival in 1920 on the Sunday after the Lord's apparition . Since the liturgical reform in 1969, it has been celebrated on the Sunday after Christmas.

Newly created wall paintings of adoring, floating angels in the historicizing style of neo-historicism float above the triumphal arch. The angels of the triumphal arch are iconographic references to the acclamation of the angels in the calling vision of the prophet Isaiah (6,3 EU ) as well as a messianic greeting from Ps 118,25f. EU / Mt 21.9 EU and refer in the overall artistic context to the Eucharistic presence of Christ in the altar event.

Way of the Cross

A neo-Gothic Stations of the Cross was acquired from the inventory of the Office for Monument Preservation in Trier during the renovation of the church in the 1980s. The pictures of the Way of the Cross are copies of the Führich Way of the Cross from the first half of the 19th century. Joseph von Führich , academy professor in Prague, Vienna and Rome and an important representative of sacred painting in the countries of the Habsburg monarchy , designed the originals in 1834 for the church on St. Laurence Hill in Prague . Führich then also used the motifs for the Johannes Nepomuk Church in Vienna (1844–46) and the Altlerchenfeld parish church (1854–61). The widespread use of these Stations of the Cross motifs can be explained by the fact that, from 1836 onwards, Führich's originals were copied from copperplate engravings and numerous painters used these as a template for their crossroad panels. The artists of these copies are mostly unknown. The punched gold ground of the depicted scenes of the Stations of the Cross as well as the late Gothic frame with its fracture-inscribed lettering bands are intended to create a late medieval impression. The Flemish captions suggest that the Way of the Cross comes from the inventory of a perhaps profane church in Belgium.

The former Way of the Cross of the immediate post-war period with its carved reliefs by André Lacomé was given to the parish of Musweiler in the Eifel. The neo-Gothic Stations of the Cross of the original equipment had been disposed of in the post-war period as part of the purifying, anti-historical iconoclasm, along with the rest of the church equipment.

Wood carving

Aureole around the head of the figure of Mary of the crucifixion group on the Assumption of Mary

The sculptural work of the Lacomé workshop from the 1950s was given a historicizing color during the renovation in the 1980s (crucifixion group, Pietà, St. Barbara, St. Antonius, mission cross). The figures of the crucifixion group have also been repositioned. Since this repositioning, every year on the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary during the high mass, the head of the figure of Mary is surrounded by rays of sunlight falling through a church window with an aura of light, depending on the intensity of the sunlight.

The existing neo-Gothic statues from the time of the neo-Gothic original equipment of the church (Herz-Jesu-Statue, Herz-Mariae-Statue) have been restored. A statue of St. Joseph as a carpenter with the baby Jesus. At first the statue was wood-sighted. Then it was decided to use a translucent color version. The sculptress was the secondary school teacher Elisabeth Schaffrath (1916–2011) from Geilenkirchen .

Christ of Perpignan

Mission Cross "Dévôt-Christ de Perpignan"

The mission cross is a copy of the so-called "Christ of Perpignan " ("Dévôt-Christ de Perpignan") from the first half of the 14th century. The emaciated body of the crucified is shown at the moment of death. A knotty crown surrounds the head of Jesus, who is sinking on a tree trunk cross. The fingers of his nailed hands are spasmodically spread. Tendons and bones can be seen under the skin as Jesus' lips are open for his last breath. The art of the beginning of the 14th century, inspired by mysticism , reveals the features of the Passion of Christ in a relentless representation that challenges the viewer's compassion. The agony of death disfigured the body to the point of ugliness. The formation of the cross from trunks was an allusion to the "arbor vitae", the tree of life in paradise , and symbolically placed the crucified in the great context of salvation. The raging ravages of the plague in Europe have made viewers receptive to such images of Christ's suffering. The accounts of contemporary literature show similar, gruesome tendencies that go into detail. The original of the crucifix is kept in its own chapel in Perpignan's Cathedral and is still carried through the streets of Perpignan by members of the Archiconfrérie de la Sanch (Archiconfrérie de la Sanch) as part of the Good Friday procession .

Metal installation in the tower hall

Tower hall, metal installation "Holy Spirit Dove"

The large metal installation on the ceiling of the entrance hall of the tower consists of a dark metal disc with concentric round holes. Welded onto it is the abstract arrow-like body of a Holy Spirit dove, the wings of which are indicated with steel band. The deep black installation stands out clearly against the white concrete ceiling of the post-war period, the casing seams of which have remained unplastered. With its numerous "holes of light", the installation interprets the verses of the Pentecost sequence in a modern way : Veni, Sancte Spiritus et emitte caelitus lucis tuae radium. (...) O lux beatissima, reple cordis intima tuorum fidelium. (German translation: Come, Holy Spirit, and send your ray of light from heaven. (...) O blessed light, fill the heart of your believers.)

Painting by Faisst

In the 1950s in the style of realism newly obtained large paintings of the side altars of the Dillinger painter Heinrich Faisst (Left aisle : The Sacred Heart of Jesus appears mystic Margaret Mary ; Right aisle: The Archangel Gabriel announced Mary the birth of Jesus; 1959) were at the Renovation in the 1980s removed and hung on the gallery to the left and right of the organ .

Based on the monumental aesthetics of the popular Bible films of the 1950s, the scenes depicted by Faißt are determined by lofty, sweeping gestures in a grandiose, antique setting. The two female figures, Maria and Margareta Maria Alacoque, have both sunk on their knees in prayer, while the two apparitions step into their everyday lives in an upright position. The awe-inspiring figure of Jesus floats in a shining cloud halo that seems to fill the entire room, above a communion bench in a spacious church building in front of the praying nun. In the Annunciation scene, the Archangel Gabriel appears in colorful robes and powerful wings in front of the lily-adorned prayer desk of the Virgin Mary. The two constellations of figures correspond to one another in the overall picture of the arrangement of the two paintings, with the apse axis of the church forming the axis of symmetry: the female figures directly flanked the apse, the male figures formed the outer boundary. In contrast to the usual motif design of Herz-Jesu and Herz-Mariä pictures from around 1900, Faiasst does not have the flaming hearts on the chests of Jesus and Mary. While the viewer suspects a side wound of the crucifixion in the figure of Jesus that shimmers through his robe, Mary only indicates the position of her heart with her hand.

The creation of the painting of the apparition of the Sacred Heart of Jesus can be explained by the dogma-historical situation of its time. Pope Pius IX was significantly influenced by the French nun Margareta Maria Alacoque, who died in 1690 . in 1856 the solemn feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was made mandatory for the entire Catholic Church . In 1899 Pope Leo XIII consecrated in the encyclical Annum sacrum the whole world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the encyclical Leo XIII expressed himself. to the royal authority of Jesus over heaven and earth and recommended his Sacred Heart as an object of pious devotion. Pope Pius XII promoted the veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus again for the centenary of the introduction of the festival in his encyclical Haurietis aquas ( You will draw water , according to Isa 12.3 EU : "You will draw water with joy from the fountain of salvation") of May 15, 1956.

The creation of the Marian painting can also be explained from the dogma-historical situation of the time. The painting celebrates the mariological determinations of 1854 and 1950 as well as the Marian year 1953/1954 with the introduction of the ecclesiastical feast of Mary Queen for the whole Church through the encyclical Ad caeli reginam .

In addition, the creation of the painting can be seen in the context of the papal encyclical Auspicia quaedam of May 1, 1948. Pope Pius XII had in this circular for the month of May called for public prayers for world peace. These prayers for peace should be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in view of the experience of the two world wars of the 20th century as well as the subsequent nuclear threat during the time of the political and ideological bloc formation of the Cold War , as this could restore peace to the world. Another reason for the motif was the reference to the patronage of the Dieffler Herz-Mariä-Kloster. Logically, the virgin in Faißt's painting also points to her heart with one hand and with the other to the radiant dove of the Holy Spirit hovering over her head, which can also be interpreted as a symbol of peace. In the encyclical "Haurietis aquas" Pope Pius XII. the veneration of the heart of Jesus is closely linked to the religious memory of the motherhood of Mary. In this respect, the connection between the two paintings by Faißt becomes even clearer.

The Annunciation painting is one of a number of Marian works of art in Saarland that were created in the wake of the Marian year, such as the Marienbrunnen in Saarlouis, the Marian columns in Bous , Wadern , wayside shrine , Neunkirchen and St. Ingbert, or the Marian complex in Ensdorfer Hasenberges, the construction of the "Marienturm" of the parish church of the Holy Trinity in Fraulautern , the Marian station altar in the center of Beckingen as well as the Marian window cycle in the monastery church of the Heiligenborn monastery in Bous. The Saarland Post also issued a series of stamps depicting the Virgin Mary on the occasion of the Marian Year. In addition, the deeply religious Catholic Johannes Hoffmann was a Prime Minister in office until 1955 , who felt the promotion of the Christian faith to overcome the consequences of the anti-humanist Nazi dictatorship and as a shield against communist currents as an urgent political task. Thus the proclamation of the Marian dogma and the Marian year in Saarland fell on extremely fertile ground. Through the veneration of Mary, the religious creed was to be strengthened in the historically strongly Catholic country on the Saar and a certain "National Saarland identity" developed in the Saarland population. In this respect, the picture with Faißt's portrayal of Mary is in a highly political context.

Celebration altar and ambo

Altar stone from 1762, German translation of the Latin inscription: Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Laval , first Christian baron in France, Prince-Bishop of Metz of the Holy Roman Empire

As part of the redesign work of the 1980s, a new celebration altar and an ambo were made from reddish red sandstone by the stone sculptor Otmar Becker († 2003) from Bernkastel-Kues . The ambo shows the traditional symbols of the four evangelists of the New Testament on the sides. The altar block seems to grow out of the ground through a hollow. The sculptor depicts leafy plant shoots on all four edges. On the front of the altar block, behind a Greek cross, a martyr pulcrum is embedded. At the end of the renovation work, the new altar was ceremoniously inaugurated on December 2nd, 1984 by Trier Auxiliary Bishop Alfred Kleinermeilert . The martyr's grave of the celebration altar contains relics of Pope Xystus , Saints Julian, Paulinus of Trier and Modualdus and the Trier martyrs . The relics were already in the previous black marble altar. A Latin document with the following text was attached:

AD MXMLXXXIV, the II m decembris, ego Alfredus Episcopus Pausulensis ex auxiliaris Episcopi Trevirensis conscravi altare hoc in honorem Sancti Josephi Sponsi beatae Mariae Virginis et reliquias in priore altare inventas in eo inclusi

"In the year of the Lord 1984, on December 2nd, I, Alfred, Bishop of Pausulae and Auxiliary Bishop of Trier, consecrated this altar in honor of St. Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and relics from the earlier altar are in the ( new) altar has been included. Dillingen-Diefflen, December 2, 1984, sig. + Alfred Kleinermeilert "

Three more altar stones are also kept in the sacristy. One of these altar stones dates from 1762. The origin of the altar stone is unknown. The inscription reads: "LI DI MONTMORENCY LAVAL PRIMUS BARO CHRISTIANUS IS PRINCEPS EPISCOPUS METENSIS"

An ancestor of Bishop Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Laval is intended by the Holy according to tradition, Dionysius of Paris converted to Christianity and with him in the late antique Christian persecution to martyrdom have died. The dynasty's title of “First Christian Baron of France” (“Primus Baro Christianus Franciae” or “Premier baron chrétien de France”) is derived from this. The Metz bishops carried on the title of “The Holy Roman Empire Prince-Bishop of Metz ” under the sovereignty of the King of France in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 even after the subordination of Lorraine and the former free imperial city of Metz .

1980s remodeling cost

The renovation costs amounted to 866,000 DM. Of this, 305,000 DM were equity, 292,000 DM came in support from the Diocese of Trier, the city of Dillingen and the Saarlouis district gave 19,000 DM and the Volksbank Dillingen-Diefflen gave 250,000 as a loan.

Supplementary work from the 1990s

Between 1990 and 1991 the roofs of the church building were re-covered with plain tiles. In addition, the statue of the risen Christ from the former war memorial chapel from the 1920s, which was erected on a station altar next to the main entrance to the church after the Second World War, has now been installed above the tower portal.

Church music

organ

Organ prospectus of the Mayer organ
Organ console
Trains in the organ console
Organ fan
Organ pipes
Trains in the organ case

In 1903 an organ was installed which, in order to save costs, had been assembled from old parts. The wooden pipes of this first single-manual organ could no longer be used after the hot spell of 1911. In 1912, for example, a two-manual organ was procured from the organ building company Friedrich Weigle , which was manufactured in Echterdingen under the direction of Friedrich Weigle (son) . This organ was only repaired and rebuilt after the Second World War. The costs at that time amounted to 631,692 francs.

The current organ was manufactured in 1978 by Hugo Mayer Orgelbau from Heusweiler for 120,000 German marks . Parts of the old Weigle organ were taken over into the new plant. The instrument was financed by donations from parishioners. On September 17, 1978, the organ was played in public for the first time during a ceremony by Andreas Rothkopf , who was then a student of church music and music education at the Saarland University of Music in Saarbrücken. As part of an anniversary concert with works by Johann Pachelbel , Johann Sebastian Bach , Johannes Brahms and other composers, the 40th anniversary of the Dieffler Mayer organ was celebrated on March 24, 2018.

The slider chests -instrument has 28 registers , spread over two manuals and pedal . The action mechanism is mechanical, the stop action is electric. The instrument is the third largest organ in the city of Dillingen after the Gürzenich organ in the Saardom (57 stops) and the organ in the Pachten Church of St. Maximin (35 stops). Regarding the churches of the Nalbach valley, to which Diefflen historically belongs, the Dieffler church has the largest organ (Nalbach: 23 registers, Bilsdorf: 19 registers, Körprich: 15 registers, Piesbach: 14 registers). The disposition is as follows:

I Hauptwerk C – g ³
1.	Bourdon	16 ′
2.	Principal	8th'
3.	Coupling flute	8th'
4th	Octave	4 ′
5.	Pointed flute	4 ′
6th	Nazard	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
7th	Forest flute	2 ′
8th.	Third whistle	1 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
9.	Mixture V-VI	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
10.	Trumpet	8th'
	Tremulant

II Swell C – g ³
11.	Far-drawn	8th'
12.	Gamba	8th'
13.	Beat	8th'
14th	Principal	4 ′
15th	Reed flute	4 ′
16.	Sesquialter II	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
17th	Octave	2 ′
18th	Octavlein	1'
19th	Cymbel IV	² ⁄ ₃ ′
20th	bassoon	16 ′
21st	Hautbois	8th'
	Tremulant

Pedal C – f ¹
22nd	Sub bass	16 ′
23.	Octave	8th'
24.	Hollow flute	8th'
25th	Wood octave	4 ′
26th	Rauschbass IV	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
27.	trombone	16 ′
28.	Wooden trumpet	8th'

Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
Playing aids : 3 free combinations, tutti, individual tongue storage

church choir

In 1900 the church choir St. Cäcilia Diefflen was founded by the organist and teacher Conrad Hoffmann to provide musical accompaniment to the worship services. The church's consecration service, however, was organized by the Diefflen men's choir founded in 1874. The first service organized by the St. Cäcilia church choir in Diefflen was the Christmas mass in 1900.

Singing circle St. Josef

In 1995 a group was formed consisting of confirmation catechists and confirmers with the aim of framing the confirmation service with songs from the area of the New Spiritual Song as well as spirituals and gospels . The St. Josef Singing Circle developed from this.

Vasa Sacra

The church of St. Josef and St. Wendelin has chalices and monstrances from all artistic epochs of the 20th century, from historicism (neo-Gothic, neo-baroque) to modern. Some pieces still come from the furnishings of the monastery chapel of the former Herz-Mariae-Kloster. The neo-Gothic gilded monstrance with its canopies and nine set silver figures of saints, pinnacles and flying buttresses is based on Rhenish tower monstrances from the late Middle Ages . The handle (nodus) is set with red stones, the host insert with dark blue and turquoise stones. The four enamel medallions in the reredos around the host insert show, clockwise, the symbols of the four evangelists John , Luke , Matthew and Mark . The Latin inscription of the host insert " Ecce panis Angelorum factus cibus viatorum" (Eng. "See the angel bread becomes the food of the hikers") comes from the Corpus Christi sequence " Lauda Sion " by Thomas Aquinas from the 13th century. The monstrance foot is designed with six passages, the base is broken up by small four-passages. Ornamental tendrils and vine leaves are attached below the reredos. Small battlements and indicated masonry joints give the monstrance a defensive character. In the top canopy is a small figure of Jesus as a thorn-crowned Good Shepherd with a lamb and a shepherd's staff . The buttresses and the cross-adorned spire feature Gothic crab galleries.

Neo-Gothic monstrance of the Dieffler parish church (gold, silver, enamel)
Monstrance Diefflen, glass-metal work, Art Deco
Diefflen, Neo-Late Gothic goblet with a six-pass pes, gold-plated and silver-plated brass, hand engravings, statuettes of saints on the stilus, cuppa covered with engraving and ornaments

Christmas crib

Nativity scene depicting the birth of Jesus
Train of the wise men from the Orient to the stable in Bethlehem
Nativity scene with homage to the three magicians from the Orient

The parish church has a nativity scene from the early post-war period with hand-carved, cloth-clad figures. On Christmas the visit of the shepherds to the stable of Bethlehem and on the solemn festival " Apparition of the Lord " the homage of the three magicians ( Holy Three Kings ) from the Orient is shown. The wise men from the Orient "move" through the central aisle of the nave to the stable of Bethlehem until January 6th. The crib figures were acquired in the economic area of the Federal Republic of Germany, dismantled into individual parts and then, hidden under the clothing of parishioners, smuggled across the then German-Saar state border.

Rectory

Diefflen, neo-Gothic rectory from 1906, architect Moritz Gombert

In 1906 the construction of the free-standing neo-Gothic rectory with a steep, crooked hip roof and representative three-step stepped gable with swinging keel arch gable windows and decorated gable anchors according to plans by the Kassel architect Moritz Gombert, who has lived in St. Johann since 1902 and who later built the Tholeyer, began Foam mountain tower . At the same time, the architect expanded the Saarbrücken Church of St. Jakob in the years 1906-07, also in neo-Gothic style. The building, which was carried out by the Dieffler contractor Franz Schwarz (1871-?), Was completed within a year and cost 30,319.46 marks. The wall surfaces are plastered, the base, the building corners, the cross-floor windows with profiled walls and the building ends are made of sandstone. The three or three-part window shapes are based on late medieval architectural forms, such as those on the Trier boatmen's guild house (demolished in 1886, now the twin house at Fleischstraße 81/82), the crown tree house of the dyers' guild in Trier Weberbach or the Gothic houses in Trier's bread street found. Similar window shapes can also be found on medieval townhouses in the Moselle town of Metz (e.g. the residence of the abbot of St. Symphorien in the Cour d´or city museum, the facades on Place Sainte-Croix No. 8-10 or the remains of windows on Place St . Louis). The Dieffler rectory shows interesting similarities in individual forms and stepped gables with the "Homburger Hof" (Homburg, Am Rondell 3), which was built at the same time in 1906/1907 by the Homburg architect Zawar for the Karlsberg brewery , but which is much larger.

Pastor in Diefflen

Richard Benner (parish vicar 1900–1914)
Jakob Sturm (parish vicar 1914-1919, pastor 1919-1920)
Nikolaus Klein (pastor 1920–1927)
Johannes Josef Rath (pastor 1927–1953)
Georg Kronenberger (pastor 1953–1974)
Alfred Knauf (pastor 1974–1987)
Herbert Brunder (pastor 1988-2005)
Gerhard Jacob (pastor 2006 - ad multos annos)
Rainer Matthias Müller: (Cooperator 2005-2009)
Peter Jackl (Cooperator 2011-ad multos annos)

Chaplains in Diefflen

Jakob Wallenborn 1915
Felix Blass 1921
Julius Glesius 1922
Wilhelm Zils 1923
Justus Sebastian 1926
Clemens Matthias Schumann 1926
Alois Kaufmann 1927
Peter Josef Molitor 1932
Leo Scheid 1936
Josef Zilles 1939 (During the first evacuation 1939–1940, Zilles was reported to the NSDAP, imprisoned for 13 months due to the "treachery law", and then sent as a soldier to Russia, where he has been missing since 1944.)
Wilhelm Graef 1944
Johann Josef Dott 1946

Priests and religious from the parish

Due to the intense church character in the Catholic milieu in the first half of the 20th century, the number of clerics and religious from the parish was very high. Names and dates can be found in the appendix.

St. Josefskirmes

Since the patronage festival of St. Joseph in March often still has very cool weather, the Joseph fair in Diefflen is always celebrated a month later. Showmen , concerts of the local music associations and the "Kirwenhannes-Customs" characterize the multi-day village festival.

Local pilgrimage sites

Litermont Cross
Chapel on the Limberg
Oranna Chapel near Berus
Oranna fountain Berus
Holy Cross Abbey Church
Großer Lückner, Odilienkapelle with Odilienquelle

The following pilgrimage sites are in the vicinity of the parish:

Litermont Cross Way

In the middle of the 19th century, a large, widely visible summit cross was erected in honor of Margarete vom Litermont on the summit of the Litermont . It bears the inscription: "Memory of Margaretha von Lidermont. Hanc Crucem anno 1852 erexit et anno 1902 renovavit parochia Nalbach" (German translation: This cross was erected by the parish of Nalbach in 1852 and renewed in 1902.)

The Litermont Cross is now the symbol of the municipality of Nalbach and is surrounded by four stars (symbols of the Nalbach valley municipalities; without the formerly associated Diefflen), the heraldic center of the coat of arms of the municipality of Nalbach. The summit cross is the end of a way of the cross that goes around the mountain.

Small picture in the Beckinger Forest

Beckingen, "little picture" in the Beckinger Forest
Inner chapel with roof
Miraculous image

According to oral tradition, the so-called "little picture" in the Beckinger Forest was erected in the Beckinger Forest in 1813 by a surviving participant in the Napoleonic Russian campaign of 1812 . After the wayside shrine fell victim to vandalism after the First World War, the Beckingen technician Johann Jungmann rebuilt it in 1926 at his own expense. The picture was decorated with stained glass windows on the occasion of the Marian Year in 1954. In the years 1956/1957 a glass hall for prayers was built above the wayside shrine, which was destroyed during the hurricane Wiebke in the night of February 28th to March 1st, 1990. A few days later, unknown perpetrators smashed the image of Mary that had been spared by the storm. After donations of money and material were received from the population, a new chapel was built over the restored picture, which was inaugurated on August 15, 2015, on the feast of the Assumption of Mary . In February 2011, the Bildchen was expanded to include a way of the cross.

Limberg pilgrimage

The Saarlouis fortress governor Thomas de Choisy had a chapel built on the Limberg for construction workers and soldiers of the fortress town Saarlouis to be built in 1680 , in which holy masses were held by a Carmelite priest, but a small church cared for by monks had been here since the Middle Ages confessed. On August 31, 1682, the archbishop's authority in Trier gave permission to benedict a new chapel on the Limberg.

In the years 1722 to 1727, the Metz stone sculptor Pierrar de Corail and his journeymen made a calvary system with footfall stations, which began at the foot of the Limberg with a mount of olives and ended at the top of the mountain with a chapel of the Holy Sepulcher . The Holy Sepulcher Chapel was expanded to include a Chapel of Our Lady with a garden between 1738 and 1741. The Holy Sepulcher was located in a crypt under the high altar of the chapel. In addition, some distance from the chapel was a station dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene . An allegedly miraculous spring was contained in this station, which girls and widows sought to solicit a husband. Small wooden crosses were left at the source as offerings. The Archbishop of Trier, Franz Georg von Schönborn , gave the complex the title "Maria vom Berge Karmel".

In the course of the French Revolution, the facility on the Limberg was expropriated and leased, the monks were driven out and the buildings fell victim to anti-church vandalism. It was not until 1827 that Louis Villeroy had the chapel that still exists today built for his estate on the Limberg. In 1840 a new Way of the Cross was also built by the Villeroy family.

To this day, many people traditionally move to the Limberg on Good Friday . The almost two kilometer long Herrgottsweg up to the chapel is lined with stations of the cross. The believers make small crosses out of twigs and place them at the foot of the stations after they have performed silent prayers. The pilgrims then fortify themselves at the top of the mountain with quark bread ("Kässchmieren") or potato pancakes ("Grumbeerkeïchelcha"). In consideration of the day of Jesus Christ's death, no music may be played when eating Good Friday food.

Oranna pilgrimage

The Oranna Chapel near Berus was originally the parish church of today's deserted Eschweiler. According to legend, the holy Oranna was the daughter of an Irish-Scottish viceroy. She did missionary work as part of a very early Irish-Scottish mission in the Moselle - Saar region and settled in the Berus area. Saint Wendelin is said to have been her brother. According to another tradition, Oranna is said to have been the daughter of a Duke of Lorraine who rejected her because of her hearing loss. Together with her companion Cyrilla, she was buried in the church in the village of Eschweiler. The solemn elevation of the bones of Oranna and Cyrilla on May 3, 1480 is documented. The skeletons lying upside down were lifted out of the sarcophagus, dressed again and buried again. On September 17, 1719 was the transfer of the relics held in the parish church of St. Martin in Berus. The relics survived the turmoil of the French Revolution by evacuation. During the Second World War , the bones of the two holy women were first brought to Lebach and then to the Saarlouis parish church of St. Ludwig . After the rebuilding of the Oranna Chapel, which was destroyed in the war, the reliquary chest has been in the Oranna Chapel again since September 22, 1969. In the pilgrimage chapel two iron crowns are kept, which are supposed to heal the praying believer, who wears them, from ailments in the head and ear area. In front of the chapel there is a fountain with a modern bronze statue of St. Oranna, whose water is also said to have healing properties.

Holy Cross Abbey Church (Bouzonville)

In the years 1029/1030, Adalbert II, Count of Metz , and his wife Judith founded the Holy Cross Monastery in Bouzonville . The founders equipped their newly founded abbey with a fragment of the cross of Christ as a relic , which Count Adalbert had brought back from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land . On January 31, 1034 the church was consecrated by Dietrich II of Luxembourg , Bishop of Metz, and on October 10, 1049 by Pope Leo IX. visited. The abbey church is one of the earliest burial places of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty that still exists today . Every year on Good Friday , the patronage festival of the former abbey, special trains depart from Dillingen (Saar) station to Bouzonville.

Odilienkapelle in the Great Lückner

There are legends about the Odilienquelle, which rises in the forest area of the Großer Lückner in the neighboring community of Beckingen. The water of the Heiligenborn spring or Odilien spring is supposed to provide relief and healing for those with eye diseases. As a result of a vow made during the Thirty Years' War , a procession to the source of Odile is held every year on Whit Monday . This rises below the Chapel of St. Odile, built in neo-Gothic style from red sandstone. The source is said to have been used for cultic purposes even before Christianization. The legend of St. Odilia reports that she was born on the Hohenburg near Oberehnheim in Alsace. She was the daughter of Duke Eticho and was born blind . Because of this, her father wanted to have her killed. However, a compassionate nurse saved the child. The local legend tells that after washing her eyes with the water from the spring in the Großer Lückner, Odilia obtained her eyesight through a divinely effected miracle. Many people who want to have children place small crosses on the side walls of the chapel and hope that their hopes will be fulfilled.

graveyard

Diefflen, listed cemetery hall by the architect Konrad (Conny) Schmitz

Since the Nalbach parish was founded in the Middle Ages, all the dead in the Nalbach valley have been buried in the Nalbach churchyard . Burials at the Körprich Michaelskapelle took place for the first time in the years 1695 to 1705, when Körprich, which of all Nalbach valley communities was the furthest away from the Nalbacher St. Peter and Paul , was striving for greater church independence from Nalbach. When the Gothic Nalbach church was demolished in 1762 in favor of a new baroque building and the Nalbach churchyard was therefore not verifiable, all the dead in the Nalbach valley were buried in the churchyard of the Körprich chapel for four weeks. Subsequently, however, the Nalbach churchyard was used again until 1867, when the own chapel cemetery was used again in Körprich and the current cemetery was established in Nalbach between Fußbachstraße and Galgenberg in 1868. This cemetery was designed as a cemetery for Nalbach, Piesbach, Bettstadt, Bilsdorf and Diefflen. He lost this function with the establishment of his own cemeteries in the individual villages of the Nalbach valley in connection with the church's separation from the Nalbach mother parish. The centuries-old churchyard at the Nalbacher church was leveled in the following period.

Diefflen, cemetery cross, honorary grave for Father Felix Scherer, on the right in the background the grave plaque for the nuns of the Dieffler monastery

The Dieffler Friedhof was laid out in 1904 on the Babelsberg as a denominational Catholic cemetery for the parish of St. Josef and St. Wendelin by Pastor Richard Brenner and inaugurated on October 4th, 1905. The cemetery originally had a special place for non-Catholics, unbaptized and suicides. From the 14th century to 1905, all the dead in the Diefflen community were buried in the Nalbach cemetery, which had been laid out around the local parish church of St. Peter and Paul since the 11th century. Today's listed cemetery hall was built in 1965 by the architect Konrad Schmitz (1925-2010), who made a name for himself between 1961 and 1963 with the design of the Maria Trost church on Pachtener Heide , which is now a listed building Inaugurated June 1967. Until then, the dead had been laid out in the respective mourning house.

The architectural exterior forms of the Dieffler Friedhofshalle are based on the Barcelona Pavilion , which the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) designed in 1929. In addition, the cemetery hall has a covered balcony all around on its slope side. The walls are designed as diamond blocks made of concrete, with glazed and solid diamond blocks alternating like a chessboard. While the burial chambers are located in the flat-roofed part, a four-sided dome made of cathedral glass strips alternating with supporting metal elements rises above the funeral hall . Storage and technical rooms are located in the basement. The hall was extensively renovated in 2012 for 135,000 euros.

In the middle of the cemetery is the grave of honor laid out in 1957 by the Diefflen community for Pallottine Father Felix Scherer (1904–1957). Scherer, who met ten other Diefflers of his age (Jakob Becker, Oswald Nalbach, Josef Jost, Benedikt Breunig, Jakob Jost, Simon Waller, Josef "Sepp" Spurk - the later Dieffler mayor, Karl Wagner, Alois Kratz, Alois Schwarz) Had joined the Pallottine Order , had been a teacher in missionary work in South Africa from 1933 to 1957 and died suddenly on June 2, 1957 during a convalescent leave in Diefflen. A large cross with a carved crucifix rises above the grave slab made of black-Swedish stone (ornament engraving : Bible, chalice, priest's stole) (picture carver's initials WJ).

Another honorary grave of the Diefflen community was the burial place of the nuns of the Dieffler Herz-Mariae-Kloster ( Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood ) until the grave site was abandoned . The grave plaque is today to the side of the honorary grave of Father Felix Scherer.

Friends of St. Josef

On March 3, 2016, a support association was founded, the purpose of which is the ideal and material promotion and support of the parish and its church. With contributions, donations and events, funds are to be raised for the parish church, including the interior furnishings and the organ, as well as for the parish hall with the associated rooms. The funding also includes the outdoor facilities and, if necessary, the assumption of the costs of ongoing operations (e.g. heating costs).

literature

Episcopal General Vicariate (ed.): Handbook of the Diocese of Trier, 19th edition, Trier 1938, p. 233.
Episcopal General Vicariate (ed.): Handbook of the Diocese of Trier, 20th edition, Trier 1952, pp. 278, 1098.
Hans Peter Buchleitner: Cultural Reconstruction in Saarland 1945-1955, A text and picture work, Volume I, Reconstruction, new construction and extension of churches, monasteries, parish and youth homes, community houses etc. in the state capital as in the districts of Saarlouis and Merzig -Wadern, Saarbrücken 1955, p. 74.
Hans-Berthold Busse: Wilhelm Hector (1855–1918), in: Saarländische Lebensbilder, Vol. 4, Saarbrücken 1989, p. 137.
Hans-Berthold Busse: The architect Wilhelm Hector, church building around 1900, Regensburg 2018, pp. 128–130.
The Catholic Saarland, Home and Church, Ed .: L. Sudbrack and A. Jakob, Volume II / III, Saarbrücken 1954, p. 30.
Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000.
Kristine Marschall: Sacred buildings of classicism and historicism in Saarland, (publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 40), Saarbrücken 2002, p. 215 and p. 442–443.
New buildings in the Diocese of Trier, Stuttgart 1961, p. 9.
Gerhard Riehm: 250 years of the parish church of St. Peter and Paul Nalbach, 1767–2017, ed. from the Catholic parish of St. Peter and Paul Nalbach, Nalbach 2017.
Alois Scherer: Dieffler Histories, Diefflen, as it once was in documents, reports, stories, pictures, Dillingen / Saar 2009, pp. 252–319.
Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975.

Web links

Commons : St. Josef and St. Wendelin (Diefflen) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 351.
↑ Kurt Hoppstädter, Hans-Walter Herrmann (ed.): Geschichtliche Landeskunde des Saarlandes, ed. from the Historical Association for the Saar Region, Volume 2: From the Frankish conquest to the outbreak of the French Revolution, Saarbrücken 1977, p. 23.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 23–24 and 351.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 351.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 24.
↑ Georg Colesie: Geschichte des Nalbacher Tales, Eine Saarlandische Heimatgeschichte, 2nd edition Nalbach 1990, p. 170.
^ Motte, Bernhard: Manuscript in the Saarlouis city library, after Colesie, Georg: Geschichte des Nalbacher Tales, Eine Saarländische Heimatgeschichte, 2nd edition, Nalbach 1990, p. 173 u. 187.
^ Spurk, Johann: Diefflen - historical development of our home community, Dillingen 1964, p. 40ff.
^ Johann Christian Lager: Documentary history of the Mettlach Abbey, Trier 1875, p. 347.
^ Saarforschungsgemeinschaft (Ed.): The art monuments of the Ottweiler and Saarlouis districts, edited by Walter Zimmermann, Saarbrücken 1976, p. 176.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 33.
↑ Alois Scherer: Chronicle of the parish church "St. Josef “Diefflen 1900-2000, in: Katholische Kirchengemeinde St. Josef Diefflen (Hrsg.): 100 Years Parish Church St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, S: 17-24.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 17-25.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 24.
↑ Kristine Marschall: Sacral Buildings of Classicism and Historicism in Saarland, (publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 40), Saarbrücken 2002, p. 646.
↑ Franz Ronig: Kirchenbau und Kirchenkunst, in: Trier, Geschichte des Bistums, Vol. 5, The 19th Century, Strasbourg in Alsace 1999, pp. 36–43, here p. 39.
↑ Kristine Marschall: Sacral Buildings of Classicism and Historicism in Saarland, (publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 40), Saarbrücken 2002, pp. 383–384.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 33.
↑ First Dogmatic Constitution "Pastor aeternus" on the Church of Christ, July 18, 1870, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Doctrinal Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping, 37. Edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, Basel, Rome, Vienna 1991, 3050-3075, pp. 824-833.
↑ Decree "Quemadmodum Deus Josephum"
↑ Encyclical "Quamquam pluries", August 15, 1889, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Teaching Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann, 37th edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping, Basel, Rome, Vienna 1991, 3260-3263, pp. 875-876.
↑ Hans-Berthold Busse: The architect Wilhelm Hector, church building around 1900, Regensburg 2018, pp. 128–130.
↑ Hans-Berthold Busse: The architect Wilhelm Hector, church building around 1900, Regensburg 2018, pp. 128–130.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 26-27.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 37.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 77.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 28–29.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 27.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 44–45.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 51.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 28–31.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 58.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 61.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 357.
↑ Article “Gebhard Fugel” by Oscar Doering-Dachau, with illustrations in the text as well as further illustrations of Fugel's works in: Die Christliche Kunst, 6th year 1909–1910, VI. Issue (February 1910).
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 67.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 67.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 31–33.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 33.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 80–81.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 125.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 34.
↑ Cooperative of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood (Ed.): 50 Years of Missionary Work of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood 1885–1935, Reimlingen in Bayern 1935, pp. 50–52, 57–58.
↑ Johann Spurk: The history of the "Herz-Mariä" monastery, in: Pfarrchronik St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 305-350.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 126–128.
^ Aloys Lehnert: Heimatkundliches Jahrbuch des Kreis Saarlouis, Saarlouis 1960.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 357.
^ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 35.
↑ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 127-133.
↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160304205450/http://www.saarland-biografien.de/Roederer-Josef accessed on October 9, 2015.
^ Parish archives St. Josef and St. Wendelin, Diefflen, digitization by Georg Müller.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 143.
↑ http://www.kunstlexikonsaar.de/personen-az/artikel/-/havener-alois/ , accessed on May 10, 2015.
↑ Festschrift on the occasion of the consecration of the Salvator Church in Ste. Barbe bei Wallerfangen, ed. by Josef Hoff, Saarlouis 1954.
↑ Kristine Marschall: Sacral buildings of classicism and historicism in Saarland, (publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 40), Saarbrücken 2002, p. 342 and 580.
↑ Kristine Laue: Intersections in architecture, sacred buildings between historicism and modernism on the Saar, in: From Altdorfer to Serra, student festival publication for Lorenz Dittmann, St. Ingbert 1993, p. 136.
^ The Catholic Saarland, Heimat und Kirche, ed .: L. Sudbrack and A. Jakob, Volume II / III, Saarbrücken 1954, pp. 26f.
^ Johann Klein: Dörfer auf dem Muschelkalk, Wiebelskirchen 1970, p. 244.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 133-138.
↑ Holger Brülls: New Dome, resumption of Romanesque building forms and anti-modern cultural criticism in church construction during the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era, Berlin 1994.
^ Ulrich Krings: Loss and New Beginning, Cologne's sacred architectural monuments since 1945, in: Das Münster, Zeitschrift für Christian Kunst und Kunstwissenschaft, 3, 2016, 69th year, Regensburg 2016, pp. 171–180.
↑ Johannes Kirschweng: Preserved and Promising, Saarlouis 1946.
↑ Willy Weyres: Churches in ruins, ed. v. of the Society for Christian Culture, Cologne 1948, p. 122ff.
↑ Claudia Maas: Kloster Heiligenborn in Bous, in: Arbeitskreis György Lehoczky (Ed.): György Lehoczky, 1901-1979, architecture, painting, art in sacred space, art in public space, book illustration, Saarbrücken 2010, pp. 86–95 , here pp. 88–89.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 142.
↑ see dimensions in the attached building plans.
^ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 35.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 138.
↑ Bernhard H. Bonkhoff: The bells of the Saarland, Saarbrücken 1997, p 100th
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 143.
↑ Art Guide Dillingen / Saar, ed. v. Kunstverein Dillingen im Alten Schloss, Saarbrücken and Dillingen 1999, p. 42.
↑ Archived copy ( memento of September 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 18, 2015.
↑ Harald Siebenmorgen: The beginnings of the "Beuroner Art School", Peter Lenz and Jakob Wüger 1850-1875, A contribution to the genesis of form abstraction in the modern age, Sigmaringen 1983, pp. 131–161.
↑ Hubert Kins: Gnadenkapelle and Mauruskapelle in Beuron, Lindenberg, 2nd edition, 2007, pp. 32–45.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 159.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 35–36.
↑ Art Guide Dillingen / Saar, ed. v. Kunstverein Dillingen im Alten Schloss, Saarbrücken and Dillingen 1999, p. 42.
^ Institute for Current Art in Saarland, archive, holdings: Eberle, Richard (Dossier 472)
↑ Hans Peter Buchleitner: Cultural Reconstruction in Saarland, Text and Image, Volume II, additions to the church structure in Saarbrücken and in the parishes of both Christian denominations of the Saarlouis and Merzig-Wadern districts, Saarbrücken 1959, p. 48.
^ Gospel of James in German
↑ Legenda aurea cap. CXXXI
^ Text pseudo-Matthew
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 139–140.
↑ Hans Peter Buchleitner: Cultural Reconstruction in the Saarland, 1945-1955, A text and image work, Volume I, Reconstruction, new and extension of churches, chapels, monasteries, parish and youth homes, community houses etc. in the state capital as in the districts of Saarlouis and Merzig-Wadern, Saarbrücken 1955, p. 78.
↑ Archived copy ( Memento of May 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 9, 2016.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 151.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 37–38.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 39 and p. 50.
↑ Oranna Dimmig: Catholic Parish Church St. Albert Saarbrücken, Art Lexicon Saar, Architecture and Space, Saarbrücken 2015, appendix without page number.
↑ Oranna Dimmig: Catholic Parish Church of St. Albert Saarbrücken, Saar Art Lexicon, Architecture and Space, Saarbrücken 2015, pp. 18-19.
↑ Lothar Altmann u. Hugo Schnell: Kath. Kirchen, Starnberg am See (Schnell, Kunstführer No. 168, 1936), 3rd, revised edition, Munich and Zurich 1983, pp. 10–15.
↑ Monika Römisch: St. Gabriel, Catholic parish church and monastery church of the Franciscans, in: Die Münchner Kirchen, Architektur - Kunst - Liturgie, ed. v. Andreas Hildmann and Norbert Jocher, Regensburg 2008, pp. 123–127.
^ Johann Spurk: 75 years of the parish of St. Josef Diefflen, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 42, 44, 321, 322.
^ Adolf Adam : Celebrating the church year: its history and its meaning after the renewal of the liturgy. Freiburg [u. a.], Herder, 1980, p. 121; Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints: “Holy Family” online
↑ Cornelia Hagn and Paul Huber: The Passion Cycle in the cloister of the Altöttinger collegiate parish church St. Philippus and Jakobus, in: Denkmalpflege Informations, ed. from the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection, No. 163, March 2016, pp. 31–37.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 Years Parish Church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 43–46.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 42 u. 47.
↑ Art Guide Dillingen / Saar, ed. from Kunstverein Dillingen im Alten Schloss, Saarbrücken and Dillingen 1999, p. 42.
↑ cms.aps-info.de ( Memento from April 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
↑ http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2013/10/25/01016-20131025ARTFIG00409-les-penitents-ces-devots-de-dieu.php , accessed on December 1, 2016.
↑ Encyclical "Annum sacrum", May 25, 1899, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Teaching Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann, 37th edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping, Basel, Rome, Vienna 1991, 3350-3353, pp. 915-918.
↑ Encyclical "Haurietis aquas", May 15, 1956, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Doctrinal Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann, 37th edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping, Basel, Rome, Vienna 1991, 3922-3926, pp. 1113-1113.
↑ Encyclical "Ad caeli Reginam", October 11, 1954, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Doctrinal Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann, 37th edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping , Basel, Rome, Vienna 1991, 3913-3917, pp. 1105-1108.
^ Encyclical "Haurietis aquas", May 15, 1956, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Doctrinal Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann, 37th edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping, Basel, Rom, Wien 1991, 3922-3926, especially 3926, pp. 1113–1113, here p. 1113.
↑ Oranna Dimmig: Art Lexicon Saar, Kunstort Hasenberg Ensdorf / Saar, ed. from the Institute for Current Art in Saarland, Saarbrücken 2014, pp. 9–12.
↑ https://www.volksfreund.de/region/mosel-wittlich-hunsrueck/viel-mehr-getan-als-das-plansoll_aid-4918476 , accessed on August 22, 2020.
↑ The holy water font at the newly created side exit was also made by Otmar Becker.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 Years Parish Church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 43.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 50.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 Years Parish Church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 51–52.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 55 u. P. 142.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 39.
↑ ^a ^b http://www.organindex.de/index.php?title=Dillingen_%28Saar%29/Diefflen,_St._Josef , accessed on July 16, 2014.
↑ Bernhard H. Bonkhoff: Historical Organs in Saarland, Regensburg 2015 S. 304th
↑ City of Dillingen / Saar (Ed.): Dillinger Bote, 42nd volume, March 22, 2018, No. 12, 2018, p. 13.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 39ff.
↑ http://www.maennerchor-diefflen.de/ , accessed on April 24, 2015.
↑ Archived copy ( memento of March 18, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 18, 2018.
↑ http://www.memotransfront.uni-saarland.de/schaumberg.shtml , accessed on April 14, 2015.
↑ Annegret van Stipelen-Kintzinger: Trier in old views, Zaltbommel 1980, No. 55, No. 15, No. 12, No. 13, No. 30, No. 31.
↑ Pierre-Édouard Wagner: The medieval Metz, Eine Patrizier Republik, German translation by Margarete Ruck-Vinson (Èditions du patrimoine, Center des monuments nationaux), Paris 2014, pp. 23, 30, 51-54.
^ Wilhelm Schmitz: The medieval secular building in Lorraine, compilation of the remaining buildings from the time of the XII. until the XVI. Century, Düsseldorf 1899.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 58–61.
↑ Scherer, Alois: Dieffler Histories, Diefflen as it once was in documents, reports, stories, pictures, Dillingen / Saar 2009, 275.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 125.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 62–64.
↑
Priests who emerged from the parish of Diefflen:
- Nikolaus Reiter (1843–1921)
- Peter Josef Hoffmann (1888–1944)
- Peter Jost (1891-1948)
- Josef Jost (1902–1933)
- Jakob Jost (1905–1969)
- Felix Scherer (1904–1957)
- Alois Hein
- Benedikt Breunig (1910)
- Simon Waller (1912)
- Oswald Grenner (1913)
- Gregor Becker (1915)
- Josef Lorang (1918)
- Peter Domma (1918)
- Hubert Waller (1937)
- Erich Breunig (1933)
- Ralf Hiebert (1961)
↑ Friars of the
order who emerged from the parish of Diefflen:
- Peter Schmitt (?)
- Alois Lauer (1911)
↑
Nuns who emerged from the parish of Diefflen:
- Katharina Lehnhof, Sister Maria Salome (?)
- Katharina Hein, sister Maria Gilberta (1878–1968)
- Katharina Lehnert, Sister Maria Georgia (1880–1923)
- Anna Hein, Sister Maria Caesaria (1872–1954)
- Anna Freydag, sister Maria Longina (1890-?)
- Theresia Scherer, sister Maria of St. Corona (1891-)
- Maria Kallenborn, sister Maria Othilda (1921–1971)
- Käthe Klein, sister Maria Josepha (?)
- Anna Seger, sister Maria Alfonsine (1888–1970)
- Katharina Spurk, sister Maria Eleazara (1894-?)
- Maria Seger, sister Maria Eudelma (1898–1964)
- Elisabeth Hein, Sister Maria Severa (1900-)
- Gertrud Breunig, sister Josephine Maura (1900–1941)
- Cäcilia Kerber, Sister Maria Edgara (1902-)
- Hildegard Bach, sister Maria Melita (–1968)
- Regina Becker, sister Maria Vinzentia (1908-)
- Cäcilia Scherer, sister Marie-Felix (1909-)
- Anna Cäcilia Schwarz, sister Emerentia (1911-)
- Maria Wirth, sister Maria Gertrudis (1913-)
- Anna Becker, sister Maria Hildegrim (1913-)
- Elisabeth Nei, sister Maria Isabell (1915–1970)
- Angela Hemmerling, sister of Maria Ludwigi (1916)
- Anna Maria Kerber, sister Veronika-Maria (1923-)
- Regina Nalbach, sister Petra (1925-)
- Rosa-Maria Kockler, Sister Maria Elfriede (Missionary Sister of the Precious Blood, * May 22, 1930, † April 21, 2019)
↑ All clerical information from: Johann Spurk: Pfarrchronik St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 226–304.
↑ Roman Fixemer u. Manfred Jacobs: Festschrift for the anniversary year 2013, 150 years of the parish church of St. John and Paulus, 100 years of the Klais organ, 150 years of the "Cäcilia" church choir, 100 years of the Marzellus Kindergarten, 200 years of Beckinger Bildchen, ed. from the Catholic parish of St. Johannes and Paulus Beckingen, Beckingen 2013, pp. 119–127.
^ Hilarion Rieck: The Oberlimberg near Wallerfangen and his pilgrimage, Saarlouis 1935, pp. 6-7.
↑ Saarforschungsgemeinschaft (Ed.): The art monuments of the Ottweiler and Saarlouis districts, edited by Walter Zimmermann, 2nd, unchanged edition from 1934, Saarbrücken 1976, p. 243.
^ Hilarion Rieck: The Oberlimberg near Wallerfangen and his pilgrimage, Saarlouis 1935, pp. 7–8.
^ Hilarion Rieck: The Oberlimberg near Wallerfangen and his pilgrimage, Saarlouis 1935, pp. 10-11.
↑ Georg Baltzer: Historical Notes on the City of Saarlouis and its Immediate Surroundings, Part One: Historical Notes on the City of Saarlouis, Part Two: Historical Notes on the Immediate Surroundings of Saarlouis, reprint of the edition from 1865, Dillingen / Saar 1979, Part I. , P. 98.
↑ Severin Delges: History of the Catholic Parish St. Ludwig in Saarlouis, Saarlouis-Lisdorf 1931, extension by a second part by Heinrich Unkel in 1952, extension by a third part by Marga Blasius in 1985, part I, p. 48.
^ Theodor Liebertz: Wallerfangen and his story, Wallerfangen 1953, pp. 285–292.
^ Hilarion Rieck: The Oberlimberg near Wallerfangen and his pilgrimage, Saarlouis 1935, pp. 15-16.
^ Andreas Heinz: Witnesses of Faith and Advocates, Die Heiligen des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken 1980, pp. 43-48.
↑ Archived copy ( memento of January 5, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 5, 2018.
↑ Georg Colesie: History of the Nalbacher Tales, Eine Saarländische Heimatgeschichte, 2nd edition, Nalbach 1990, p. 196, p. 227–228.
↑ Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 27.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 33.
^ Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 175.
↑ Article in the Saarbrücker Zeitung of September 14, 2012: A memorial shines in new splendor
↑ http://www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de/saarland/saarlouis/Diefflen;art2807,4437441
↑ To the cemetery no., Corridor 7, parcel 383/3, consecration hall, 1965 by Konrad Schmitz (individual monument) in the Saarland monuments list, sub-monuments list Saarlouis district on https://www.saarland.de/dokumente/thema_denkmal/TDL -LKSLS13.10.2017.pdf
^ Johann Spurk: 75 years of the parish of St. Josef Diefflen, Saarlouis 1975, p. 239ff.
↑ https://www.foerderverein-st-josef.de/ , accessed on March 18, 2018.

49.37204 6.76042Coordinates: 49 ° 22 ′ 19.3 " N , 6 ° 45 ′ 37.5" E

[1] Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 351.

[2] Kurt Hoppstädter, Hans-Walter Herrmann (ed.): Geschichtliche Landeskunde des Saarlandes, ed. from the Historical Association for the Saar Region, Volume 2: From the Frankish conquest to the outbreak of the French Revolution, Saarbrücken 1977, p. 23.

[3] Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 23–24 and 351.

[4] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 351.

[5] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 24.

[6] Georg Colesie: Geschichte des Nalbacher Tales, Eine Saarlandische Heimatgeschichte, 2nd edition Nalbach 1990, p. 170.

[7] Motte, Bernhard: Manuscript in the Saarlouis city library, after Colesie, Georg: Geschichte des Nalbacher Tales, Eine Saarländische Heimatgeschichte, 2nd edition, Nalbach 1990, p. 173 u. 187.

[8] Spurk, Johann: Diefflen - historical development of our home community, Dillingen 1964, p. 40ff.

[9] Johann Christian Lager: Documentary history of the Mettlach Abbey, Trier 1875, p. 347.

[10] Saarforschungsgemeinschaft (Ed.): The art monuments of the Ottweiler and Saarlouis districts, edited by Walter Zimmermann, Saarbrücken 1976, p. 176.

[11] Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 33.

[12] Alois Scherer: Chronicle of the parish church "St. Josef “Diefflen 1900-2000, in: Katholische Kirchengemeinde St. Josef Diefflen (Hrsg.): 100 Years Parish Church St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, S: 17-24.

[13] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 17-25.

[14] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 24.

[15] Kristine Marschall: Sacral Buildings of Classicism and Historicism in Saarland, (publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 40), Saarbrücken 2002, p. 646.

[16] Franz Ronig: Kirchenbau und Kirchenkunst, in: Trier, Geschichte des Bistums, Vol. 5, The 19th Century, Strasbourg in Alsace 1999, pp. 36–43, here p. 39.

[17] Kristine Marschall: Sacral Buildings of Classicism and Historicism in Saarland, (publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 40), Saarbrücken 2002, pp. 383–384.

[18] Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 33.

[19] First Dogmatic Constitution "Pastor aeternus" on the Church of Christ, July 18, 1870, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Doctrinal Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping, 37. Edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, Basel, Rome, Vienna 1991, 3050-3075, pp. 824-833.

[20] Decree "Quemadmodum Deus Josephum"

[21] Encyclical "Quamquam pluries", August 15, 1889, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Teaching Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann, 37th edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping, Basel, Rome, Vienna 1991, 3260-3263, pp. 875-876.

[22] Hans-Berthold Busse: The architect Wilhelm Hector, church building around 1900, Regensburg 2018, pp. 128–130.

[23] Hans-Berthold Busse: The architect Wilhelm Hector, church building around 1900, Regensburg 2018, pp. 128–130.

[24] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 26-27.

[25] Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 37.

[26] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 77.

[27] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 28–29.

[28] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 27.

[29] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 44–45.

[30] Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 51.

[31] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 28–31.

[32] Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 58.

[33] Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 61.

[34] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 357.

[35] Article “Gebhard Fugel” by Oscar Doering-Dachau, with illustrations in the text as well as further illustrations of Fugel's works in: Die Christliche Kunst, 6th year 1909–1910, VI. Issue (February 1910).

[36] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 67.

[37] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 67.

[38] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 31–33.

[39] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 33.

[40] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 80–81.

[41] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 125.

[42] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 34.

[43] Cooperative of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood (Ed.): 50 Years of Missionary Work of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood 1885–1935, Reimlingen in Bayern 1935, pp. 50–52, 57–58.

[44] Johann Spurk: The history of the "Herz-Mariä" monastery, in: Pfarrchronik St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 305-350.

[45] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 126–128.

[46] Aloys Lehnert: Heimatkundliches Jahrbuch des Kreis Saarlouis, Saarlouis 1960.

[47] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 357.

[48] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 35.

[49] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 127-133.

[50] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20160304205450/http://www.saarland-biografien.de/Roederer-Josef accessed on October 9, 2015.

[51] Parish archives St. Josef and St. Wendelin, Diefflen, digitization by Georg Müller.

[52] Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 143.

[53] ttp://www.kunstlexikonsaar.de/personen-az/artikel/-/havener-alois/ , accessed on May 10, 2015.

[54] Festschrift on the occasion of the consecration of the Salvator Church in Ste. Barbe bei Wallerfangen, ed. by Josef Hoff, Saarlouis 1954.

[55] Kristine Marschall: Sacral buildings of classicism and historicism in Saarland, (publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 40), Saarbrücken 2002, p. 342 and 580.

[56] Kristine Laue: Intersections in architecture, sacred buildings between historicism and modernism on the Saar, in: From Altdorfer to Serra, student festival publication for Lorenz Dittmann, St. Ingbert 1993, p. 136.

[57] The Catholic Saarland, Heimat und Kirche, ed .: L. Sudbrack and A. Jakob, Volume II / III, Saarbrücken 1954, pp. 26f.

[58] Johann Klein: Dörfer auf dem Muschelkalk, Wiebelskirchen 1970, p. 244.

[59] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 133-138.

[60] Holger Brülls: New Dome, resumption of Romanesque building forms and anti-modern cultural criticism in church construction during the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era, Berlin 1994.

[61] Ulrich Krings: Loss and New Beginning, Cologne's sacred architectural monuments since 1945, in: Das Münster, Zeitschrift für Christian Kunst und Kunstwissenschaft, 3, 2016, 69th year, Regensburg 2016, pp. 171–180.

[62] Johannes Kirschweng: Preserved and Promising, Saarlouis 1946.

[63] Willy Weyres: Churches in ruins, ed. v. of the Society for Christian Culture, Cologne 1948, p. 122ff.

[64] Claudia Maas: Kloster Heiligenborn in Bous, in: Arbeitskreis György Lehoczky (Ed.): György Lehoczky, 1901-1979, architecture, painting, art in sacred space, art in public space, book illustration, Saarbrücken 2010, pp. 86–95 , here pp. 88–89.

[65] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 142.

[66] see dimensions in the attached building plans.

[67] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 35.

[68] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 138.

[69] Bernhard H. Bonkhoff: The bells of the Saarland, Saarbrücken 1997, p 100th

[70] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 143.

[71] Art Guide Dillingen / Saar, ed. v. Kunstverein Dillingen im Alten Schloss, Saarbrücken and Dillingen 1999, p. 42.

[72] Archived copy ( memento of September 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 18, 2015.

[73] Harald Siebenmorgen: The beginnings of the "Beuroner Art School", Peter Lenz and Jakob Wüger 1850-1875, A contribution to the genesis of form abstraction in the modern age, Sigmaringen 1983, pp. 131–161.

[74] Hubert Kins: Gnadenkapelle and Mauruskapelle in Beuron, Lindenberg, 2nd edition, 2007, pp. 32–45.

[75] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 159.

[76] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 35–36.

[77] Art Guide Dillingen / Saar, ed. v. Kunstverein Dillingen im Alten Schloss, Saarbrücken and Dillingen 1999, p. 42.

[78] Institute for Current Art in Saarland, archive, holdings: Eberle, Richard (Dossier 472)

[79] Hans Peter Buchleitner: Cultural Reconstruction in Saarland, Text and Image, Volume II, additions to the church structure in Saarbrücken and in the parishes of both Christian denominations of the Saarlouis and Merzig-Wadern districts, Saarbrücken 1959, p. 48.

[80] Gospel of James in German

[81] Legenda aurea cap. CXXXI

[82] Text pseudo-Matthew

[83] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 139–140.

[84] Hans Peter Buchleitner: Cultural Reconstruction in the Saarland, 1945-1955, A text and image work, Volume I, Reconstruction, new and extension of churches, chapels, monasteries, parish and youth homes, community houses etc. in the state capital as in the districts of Saarlouis and Merzig-Wadern, Saarbrücken 1955, p. 78.

[85] Archived copy ( Memento of May 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 9, 2016.

[86] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 151.

[87] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 37–38.

[88] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 39 and p. 50.

[89] Oranna Dimmig: Catholic Parish Church St. Albert Saarbrücken, Art Lexicon Saar, Architecture and Space, Saarbrücken 2015, appendix without page number.

[90] Oranna Dimmig: Catholic Parish Church of St. Albert Saarbrücken, Saar Art Lexicon, Architecture and Space, Saarbrücken 2015, pp. 18-19.

[91] Lothar Altmann u. Hugo Schnell: Kath. Kirchen, Starnberg am See (Schnell, Kunstführer No. 168, 1936), 3rd, revised edition, Munich and Zurich 1983, pp. 10–15.

[92] Monika Römisch: St. Gabriel, Catholic parish church and monastery church of the Franciscans, in: Die Münchner Kirchen, Architektur - Kunst - Liturgie, ed. v. Andreas Hildmann and Norbert Jocher, Regensburg 2008, pp. 123–127.

[93] Johann Spurk: 75 years of the parish of St. Josef Diefflen, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 42, 44, 321, 322.

[94] Adolf Adam : Celebrating the church year: its history and its meaning after the renewal of the liturgy. Freiburg [u. a.], Herder, 1980, p. 121; Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints: “Holy Family” online

[95] Cornelia Hagn and Paul Huber: The Passion Cycle in the cloister of the Altöttinger collegiate parish church St. Philippus and Jakobus, in: Denkmalpflege Informations, ed. from the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection, No. 163, March 2016, pp. 31–37.

[96] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 Years Parish Church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 43–46.

[97] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 42 u. 47.

[98] Art Guide Dillingen / Saar, ed. from Kunstverein Dillingen im Alten Schloss, Saarbrücken and Dillingen 1999, p. 42.

[99] s.aps-info.de ( Memento from April 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

[100] ttp://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2013/10/25/01016-20131025ARTFIG00409-les-penitents-ces-devots-de-dieu.php , accessed on December 1, 2016.

[101] Encyclical "Annum sacrum", May 25, 1899, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Teaching Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann, 37th edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping, Basel, Rome, Vienna 1991, 3350-3353, pp. 915-918.

[102] Encyclical "Haurietis aquas", May 15, 1956, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Doctrinal Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann, 37th edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping, Basel, Rome, Vienna 1991, 3922-3926, pp. 1113-1113.

[103] Encyclical "Ad caeli Reginam", October 11, 1954, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Doctrinal Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann, 37th edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping , Basel, Rome, Vienna 1991, 3913-3917, pp. 1105-1108.

[104] Encyclical "Haurietis aquas", May 15, 1956, in: Heinrich Denzinger: Compendium of Confessions of Faith and Church Doctrinal Decisions, improved, expanded, translated into German and edited by Peter Hünermann, 37th edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, with the collaboration of Helmut Hoping, Basel, Rom, Wien 1991, 3922-3926, especially 3926, pp. 1113–1113, here p. 1113.

[105] Oranna Dimmig: Art Lexicon Saar, Kunstort Hasenberg Ensdorf / Saar, ed. from the Institute for Current Art in Saarland, Saarbrücken 2014, pp. 9–12.

[106] ttps://www.volksfreund.de/region/mosel-wittlich-hunsrueck/viel-mehr-getan-als-das-plansoll_aid-4918476 , accessed on August 22, 2020.

[107] The holy water font at the newly created side exit was also made by Otmar Becker.

[108] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 Years Parish Church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 43.

[109] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 50.

[110] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 Years Parish Church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 51–52.

[111] Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 55 u. P. 142.

[112] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 39.

[orgel-113] ttp://www.organindex.de/index.php?title=Dillingen_%28Saar%29/Diefflen,_St._Josef , accessed on July 16, 2014.

[114] Bernhard H. Bonkhoff: Historical Organs in Saarland, Regensburg 2015 S. 304th

[115] City of Dillingen / Saar (Ed.): Dillinger Bote, 42nd volume, March 22, 2018, No. 12, 2018, p. 13.

[116] Johann Spurk: Parish chronicle St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 39ff.

[117] ttp://www.maennerchor-diefflen.de/ , accessed on April 24, 2015.

[118] Archived copy ( memento of March 18, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 18, 2018.

[119] ttp://www.memotransfront.uni-saarland.de/schaumberg.shtml , accessed on April 14, 2015.

[120] Annegret van Stipelen-Kintzinger: Trier in old views, Zaltbommel 1980, No. 55, No. 15, No. 12, No. 13, No. 30, No. 31.

[121] Pierre-Édouard Wagner: The medieval Metz, Eine Patrizier Republik, German translation by Margarete Ruck-Vinson (Èditions du patrimoine, Center des monuments nationaux), Paris 2014, pp. 23, 30, 51-54.

[122] Wilhelm Schmitz: The medieval secular building in Lorraine, compilation of the remaining buildings from the time of the XII. until the XVI. Century, Düsseldorf 1899.

[123] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 58–61.

[124] Scherer, Alois: Dieffler Histories, Diefflen as it once was in documents, reports, stories, pictures, Dillingen / Saar 2009, 275.

[125] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 125.

[126] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, pp. 62–64.

[127] Priests who emerged from the parish of Diefflen:

Nikolaus Reiter (1843–1921)

Peter Josef Hoffmann (1888–1944)

Peter Jost (1891-1948)

Josef Jost (1902–1933)

Jakob Jost (1905–1969)

Felix Scherer (1904–1957)

Alois Hein

Benedikt Breunig (1910)

Simon Waller (1912)

Oswald Grenner (1913)

Gregor Becker (1915)

Josef Lorang (1918)

Peter Domma (1918)

Hubert Waller (1937)

Erich Breunig (1933)

Ralf Hiebert (1961)

[128] Nikolaus Reiter (1843–1921)

[129] Peter Josef Hoffmann (1888–1944)

[130] Peter Jost (1891-1948)

[131] Josef Jost (1902–1933)

[132] Jakob Jost (1905–1969)

[133] Felix Scherer (1904–1957)

[134] Alois Hein

[135] Benedikt Breunig (1910)

[136] Simon Waller (1912)

[137] Oswald Grenner (1913)

[138] Gregor Becker (1915)

[139] Josef Lorang (1918)

[140] Peter Domma (1918)

[141] Hubert Waller (1937)

[142] Erich Breunig (1933)

[143] Ralf Hiebert (1961)

[128] Friars of the order who emerged from the parish of Diefflen:

Peter Schmitt (?)

Alois Lauer (1911)

[145] Peter Schmitt (?)

[146] Alois Lauer (1911)

[129] Nuns who emerged from the parish of Diefflen:

Katharina Lehnhof, Sister Maria Salome (?)

Katharina Hein, sister Maria Gilberta (1878–1968)

Katharina Lehnert, Sister Maria Georgia (1880–1923)

Anna Hein, Sister Maria Caesaria (1872–1954)

Anna Freydag, sister Maria Longina (1890-?)

Theresia Scherer, sister Maria of St. Corona (1891-)

Maria Kallenborn, sister Maria Othilda (1921–1971)

Käthe Klein, sister Maria Josepha (?)

Anna Seger, sister Maria Alfonsine (1888–1970)

Katharina Spurk, sister Maria Eleazara (1894-?)

Maria Seger, sister Maria Eudelma (1898–1964)

Elisabeth Hein, Sister Maria Severa (1900-)

Gertrud Breunig, sister Josephine Maura (1900–1941)

Cäcilia Kerber, Sister Maria Edgara (1902-)

Hildegard Bach, sister Maria Melita (–1968)

Regina Becker, sister Maria Vinzentia (1908-)

Cäcilia Scherer, sister Marie-Felix (1909-)

Anna Cäcilia Schwarz, sister Emerentia (1911-)

Maria Wirth, sister Maria Gertrudis (1913-)

Anna Becker, sister Maria Hildegrim (1913-)

Elisabeth Nei, sister Maria Isabell (1915–1970)

Angela Hemmerling, sister of Maria Ludwigi (1916)

Anna Maria Kerber, sister Veronika-Maria (1923-)

Regina Nalbach, sister Petra (1925-)

Rosa-Maria Kockler, Sister Maria Elfriede (Missionary Sister of the Precious Blood, * May 22, 1930, † April 21, 2019)

[148] Katharina Lehnhof, Sister Maria Salome (?)

[149] Katharina Hein, sister Maria Gilberta (1878–1968)

[150] Katharina Lehnert, Sister Maria Georgia (1880–1923)

[151] Anna Hein, Sister Maria Caesaria (1872–1954)

[152] Anna Freydag, sister Maria Longina (1890-?)

[153] Theresia Scherer, sister Maria of St. Corona (1891-)

[154] Maria Kallenborn, sister Maria Othilda (1921–1971)

[155] Käthe Klein, sister Maria Josepha (?)

[156] Anna Seger, sister Maria Alfonsine (1888–1970)

[157] Katharina Spurk, sister Maria Eleazara (1894-?)

[158] Maria Seger, sister Maria Eudelma (1898–1964)

[159] Elisabeth Hein, Sister Maria Severa (1900-)

[160] Gertrud Breunig, sister Josephine Maura (1900–1941)

[161] Cäcilia Kerber, Sister Maria Edgara (1902-)

[162] Hildegard Bach, sister Maria Melita (–1968)

[163] Regina Becker, sister Maria Vinzentia (1908-)

[164] Cäcilia Scherer, sister Marie-Felix (1909-)

[165] Anna Cäcilia Schwarz, sister Emerentia (1911-)

[166] Maria Wirth, sister Maria Gertrudis (1913-)

[167] Anna Becker, sister Maria Hildegrim (1913-)

[168] Elisabeth Nei, sister Maria Isabell (1915–1970)

[169] Angela Hemmerling, sister of Maria Ludwigi (1916)

[170] Anna Maria Kerber, sister Veronika-Maria (1923-)

[171] Regina Nalbach, sister Petra (1925-)

[172] Rosa-Maria Kockler, Sister Maria Elfriede (Missionary Sister of the Precious Blood, * May 22, 1930, † April 21, 2019)

[130] All clerical information from: Johann Spurk: Pfarrchronik St. Josef Diefflen 1900-1975, Saarlouis 1975, pp. 226–304.

[131] Roman Fixemer u. Manfred Jacobs: Festschrift for the anniversary year 2013, 150 years of the parish church of St. John and Paulus, 100 years of the Klais organ, 150 years of the "Cäcilia" church choir, 100 years of the Marzellus Kindergarten, 200 years of Beckinger Bildchen, ed. from the Catholic parish of St. Johannes and Paulus Beckingen, Beckingen 2013, pp. 119–127.

[132] Hilarion Rieck: The Oberlimberg near Wallerfangen and his pilgrimage, Saarlouis 1935, pp. 6-7.

[133] Saarforschungsgemeinschaft (Ed.): The art monuments of the Ottweiler and Saarlouis districts, edited by Walter Zimmermann, 2nd, unchanged edition from 1934, Saarbrücken 1976, p. 243.

[134] Hilarion Rieck: The Oberlimberg near Wallerfangen and his pilgrimage, Saarlouis 1935, pp. 7–8.

[135] Hilarion Rieck: The Oberlimberg near Wallerfangen and his pilgrimage, Saarlouis 1935, pp. 10-11.

[136] Georg Baltzer: Historical Notes on the City of Saarlouis and its Immediate Surroundings, Part One: Historical Notes on the City of Saarlouis, Part Two: Historical Notes on the Immediate Surroundings of Saarlouis, reprint of the edition from 1865, Dillingen / Saar 1979, Part I. , P. 98.

[137] Severin Delges: History of the Catholic Parish St. Ludwig in Saarlouis, Saarlouis-Lisdorf 1931, extension by a second part by Heinrich Unkel in 1952, extension by a third part by Marga Blasius in 1985, part I, p. 48.

[138] Theodor Liebertz: Wallerfangen and his story, Wallerfangen 1953, pp. 285–292.

[139] Hilarion Rieck: The Oberlimberg near Wallerfangen and his pilgrimage, Saarlouis 1935, pp. 15-16.

[140] Andreas Heinz: Witnesses of Faith and Advocates, Die Heiligen des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken 1980, pp. 43-48.

[141] Archived copy ( memento of January 5, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 5, 2018.

[142] Georg Colesie: History of the Nalbacher Tales, Eine Saarländische Heimatgeschichte, 2nd edition, Nalbach 1990, p. 196, p. 227–228.

[143] Catholic parish of St. Josef Diefflen (ed.): 100 years of the parish church of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–2000, Dillingen 2000, p. 27.

[144] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 33.

[145] Johann Spurk: Parish Chronicle of St. Josef Diefflen 1900–1975, Saarlouis 1975, p. 175.

[146] Article in the Saarbrücker Zeitung of September 14, 2012: A memorial shines in new splendor

[147] ttp://www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de/saarland/saarlouis/Diefflen;art2807,4437441

[148] To the cemetery no., Corridor 7, parcel 383/3, consecration hall, 1965 by Konrad Schmitz (individual monument) in the Saarland monuments list, sub-monuments list Saarlouis district on https://www.saarland.de/dokumente/thema_denkmal/TDL -LKSLS13.10.2017.pdf

[149] Johann Spurk: 75 years of the parish of St. Josef Diefflen, Saarlouis 1975, p. 239ff.

[150] ttps://www.foerderverein-st-josef.de/ , accessed on March 18, 2018.