St. Joseph (Osterwieck)

View from the east

The Church of St. Joseph , sometimes also spelled St. Josef , is the Roman Catholic church in Osterwieck , a town in the Harz district in Saxony-Anhalt . It belongs to the parish of St. Boniface with its seat in Wernigerode , in the dean's office Halberstadt of the diocese of Magdeburg . The church named after Saint Joseph of Nazareth is at Teichdamm 1 (corner of Ilsestrasse).

history

In 777 the missionary work of the conquered Saxon area was discussed at the Reichstag in Paderborn , chaired by Charlemagne . The still pagan area of Halberstadt and Osterwieck was assigned to the bishop of the Châlons diocese as a mission area.

Osterwieck was first mentioned as Saligenstede in 780 when Charlemagne founded a church "in the place Saligenstede". This first church was dedicated to St. Stephen and was the seat of a mission center until the beginning of the 9th century, of which Hildegrim von Chalons had been appointed first director . Nothing has survived from this first church, probably a wooden structure.

In the 16th century, the Reformation was introduced in Osterwieck, which was then part of the Halberstadt diocese , and its two churches, St. Stephani and St. Nicolai, became Evangelical-Lutheran . In 1535 a Lutheran preacher was appointed in Osterwieck.

After Catholics from Eichsfeld had settled in Osterwieck, a Roman Catholic parish was founded again in 1842. In 1888 the St. Joseph Church was built and consecrated on July 15, 1889 .

After the Second World War , the number of Catholics in the Osterwieck area also increased due to the influx of refugees and displaced persons from the eastern regions of the German Empire . Hornburg , which belongs to the Osterwieck parish and was the birthplace of the second German Pope Clemens II (1046-1047), could no longer be looked after due to the inner German border in between .

On July 1, 2007, the Roman Catholic communities in Elbingerode , Hesse , Ilsenburg , Osterwieck, Wasserleben , Wernigerode and Zilly were founded . In May 2010, the parish “St. Bonifatius ”based in Wernigerode. The 2011 census in the European Union showed that of the 11,711 inhabitants of the city of Osterwieck, 470 belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, which corresponds to around 4%. The majority of the inhabitants did not belong to any religious community. On February 8, 2015, the Church's last resident priest was dismissed, retired and left the diocese.

Architecture and equipment

The brick church was built in the neo-Romanesque style. Its tower was probably added in 1905. A crucifixion group attached to the outer wall commemorates the popular mission of 1974. The church stalls offer over 130 seats. The sober interior is adorned with 14 stations of the cross , and sacrificial candles can be placed next to a statue of the Virgin Mary . Above the altar is a hanging cross into place above the tabernacle is the Eternal Light . Under the organ gallery there are depictions from the life of St. Joseph, a confessional and the baptismal font . The organ was built by Anton Feith , owner of the Eggert Orgelbau-Anstalt in Paderborn. In addition to the parsonage, there is also a guest house on the church property, with 25 beds for Christian groups.