St. Jost (Trier)
St. Jost is a former leprosarium with a chapel, a former infirmary and the former cemetery at the entrance to the Biewer district of Trier .
task
The story of Sankt Jost is linked to leprosy . In the Middle Ages this disease could not be cured. The lepers were brought to an infirmary outside the towns and villages to prevent the disease from spreading. This was considered a civil death, even if life continued with strict rules of conduct. The epidemic reached its climax with crusades and pilgrimages in the 13th and 14th centuries. From the 11th century onwards, the leprosy houses developed in the vicinity of larger cities, a type of hospital of their own .
history
The complex was first mentioned in a legacy in 1283. It may have been around longer.
Usually only locals were accepted. For 1458 three inmates are recorded. The leprosarium was under the control of the St. Mary's Abbey; the abbot exercised the spiritual supervision, the civil servant von Pfalzel exercised . The on-site administration, the management of the property and the catering of the sick took over the Schellenknecht . Most of the income came from alms . A partially preserved wayside shrine was used for this purpose between Biewer and Pallien , where passers-by placed food for the needy or threw money into a sacrificial box. A bell man or bellwoman, equipped with a hotte and a bell, went from door to door in prescribed collecting areas on certain days to collect money or food for the leprosy. The brotherhood received the estate of deceased benefactors and the money paid in at the time of admission.
Every year a two-day festival of the arch brotherhood of all lepers of the arch pen with mass and sermon took place in Sankt Jost. The brotherhood bore the cost of preachers and candles, and participation was compulsory for all lepers. After their death, the sick found their final resting place at the plague cemetery near Sankt Jost, also popularly known as paradise. It is not known when the last leprosy in Biewer died. In the 18th century leprosy disappeared in Europe and other terminally ill people were admitted to the infirmary. Under French rule, this facility was closed in 1804; With the fortune of all charities in and around Trier the United Hospitiums were founded.
Around 1960 the church was abandoned and profaned .
Plant, building and state of preservation
St. Jost is located at the entrance to Biewer near the street from Trier-Pallien. Due to the construction of the bypass road, which branches off from the old road directly in front of the church, the facility is now sandwiched between the two roads and the railway line from Trier-Ehrang to Trier-West.
Today (2009) the complex consists of a main hospital, several small houses, a chapel and a cemetery. The patron saint of the chapel was St. Jodocus (St. Jost). In 1706 the chapel was rebuilt and consecrated. It has not been proven whether it stands on the foundation of an older structure. Opposite the road to Biewer was the cemetery, remains of which can still be seen on the sandstone rock face.
The former infirmary Sankt Jost and the chapel are owned by the United Hospitia. In 1988 an interest group e. V. founded to save Sankt Jost in Biewer. In 1994 the association and the United Hospitias signed a long-term lease with the aim of renovating the chapel. In 2008, the renovation was so advanced that the chapel could be presented to the public on the day of the open monument . The exposed layers of paint from various earlier paintings were shown to the visitors in the church.
The church is only open on special occasions. The former infirmary was converted into apartments.
The cross with the shaft that was added later stands today on the other side of the street about 100 m in the direction of Biewer.
Chancel October 2008
Side wall with partially exposed paintings from different epochs
Shank cross for collecting alms
State September 2008
literature
- Martin Uhrmacher : Local dictionary on the history of the leprosoria in the Rhine-Moselle area . University of Trier October 23, 2003 (information network on the history of the Rhine-Maas region)
- Martin Uhrmacher: Leprosoria in the Middle Ages and early modern times . Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 2000. (Historical Atlas of the Rhineland: Supplement 8, Population and Social History, 5) ISBN 3-7927-1821-9
- Gabriela Böhm in: Trierischer Volksfreund from February 19, 2003
- Friedrich Keil: Biewerer local chronicle . Edited by the Association for Home Care Biewerer Haohnen 1952 eV, Biewer o. J. (1988), Vol. 2 (The infirmary St. Jost, p. 192–211; The St. Jost Chapel p. 212–228)
- Friedrich Keil: Biewerer local chronicle . Edited by the Association for Home Care Biewerer Haohnen 1952 eV, Biewer o. J. (2002), Vol. 4 (Interest group for the rescue of the St. Jost Chapel IG St. Jost, pp. 95-102)
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 46 ′ 31.5 " N , 6 ° 39 ′ 32.8" E