St. Katharina (Forest)
St. Katharina is the Roman Catholic parish church of the Aachen district of Forst in the city region of Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia .
The building is entered in the list of architectural monuments in Aachen-Forst and St. Consecrated to Catherine of Alexandria . The parish also includes the subsidiary communities of St. Bonifatius in Unterforst, Christ our Peace in Driescher Hof and Franziska von Aachen in Schönforst . The Grauenhof, Hitfeld and Lintert are also part of the parish.
location
The church building is located on Kirchstrasse on the western outskirts of Forst. Directly to the west is the Forst cemetery and on the east side the Forster Linde , the Forster Schöffenhaus and the Städt. Catholic elementary school Forster Linde.
history
Forst was an independent parish as early as the Middle Ages and was first mentioned in writing in the Liber valoris from 1308. At that time St. Katharina in Forst belonged to the deanery Jülich in the Archdiocese of Cologne . Until the 16th century, the imperial abbey Kornelimünster held the rights to collate the parish church. In the 16th century the dukes of Jülich were collators and from the 17th century until the French times the owners of Schönforst Castle .
On November 1, 1960, the parish area was reduced, as the Rectorate St. Bonifatius in Unterforst, established on June 5, 1953, was raised to an independent parish . On January 1st, 2010 the parish of St. Bonifatius was dissolved and reassigned to the parish of St. Katharina as a subsidiary parish.
Building history
Nothing more is known about the church mentioned in the Liber valoris in 1308. It was very likely at the same location as the current parish church. In 1787 a new parish church was built in Baroque style . This building became too small in the middle of the 19th century and it was decided to build a new church.
At first only the choir of the old church was demolished and between 1866 and 1867 a new transept with a choir was added to the baroque nave. The Neuss-based architect Julius Busch designed the plans . However, Julius Busch had already planned a completely new building. After all, it would be 20 years before today's church could be completed. In 1889 further construction could finally be started. First the old nave and the bell tower from 1787 were demolished, on May 5, 1889 the foundation stone was laid for further construction and by 1890 the new church was completed. On September 28, 1890, the solemn church consecration took place.
In World War II, St. Catherine suffered fortunately only minor damage. In 1970 the church received a new sacristy . At the same time, the parish church was renovated and the interior redesigned according to the provisions of the Second Vatican Council according to plans by Lambert Johnen.
Building description
St. Katharina is a three-aisled cruciform basilica with a four-bay nave , transept and a one-bay choir that closes in a semicircular apse . The sacrament chapel is located on the south side of the choir and the sacristy on the north side. The four-storey bell tower with a rhombic roof is built in front of the north aisle on the west side , followed by the entrance hall with an organ gallery in front of the central nave and the south aisle. The interior is vaulted with ribbed vaults and the arcades in the nave have a Rhenish column change . There are 470 seats available for worshipers.
Furnishing
The interior of St. Katharina is kept rather simple. Only the wooden figures depicting the Pietà , St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Barbara received from Nicomedia . The organ is a work of the Georg Stahlhuth Orgelbauanstalt in Aachen from 1958. The instrument has 25 registers . Of the stained glass windows from the time of construction, only the rosette in the westwork has survived. It has ornamental glazing from 1889 and was donated by the Forst Warrior Association . In the clerestory of the nave and the transept windows are seen Junker from 1953 by the artist Henry. The windows in the side aisles were designed by Hans Haas in 1990.
Bells
The third generation of Otto bells hangs in the Katharinen Church. In 1892 the Otto bell foundry from Hemelingen / Bremen cast three bronze bells for the church that had been consecrated almost two years earlier. The bells fell victim to the destruction of bells in the First World War. In 1926 Otto renewed the peal by casting three bells, tuned to e '- f sharp' - g sharp '. They were melted down during World War II. In 1960/61 St. Katharina received Otto bells for the third time. They have the same disposition as the bells from 1926. Their diameters are: 1223 mm, 1089 mm, 970 mm. They weigh approximately: 1150 kg, 840 kg, 600 kg.
Pastor
The following pastors have been pastors to St. Catherine so far:
| from ... to | Surname |
|---|---|
| 1921-1933 | Wilhelm Wehn |
| 1933-1935 | Wilhelm Schumacher |
| 1935-1960 | Paul Alfer |
| 1960-1968 | Johannes Henn |
| 1968-1988 | Karlheinz Collas |
| 1979-1989 | Otto Enger |
| Since 1989 | Hubert candlesticks |
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Episcopal General Vicariate (Ed.): Handbuch des Bistums Aachen 3rd edition, Aachen 1994, p. 90.
- ↑ Episcopal General Vicariate (ed.): Handbook of the Diocese of Aachen 3rd edition, Aachen 1994, p. 91.
- ↑ Aachen-Forst, Catholic Church of St. Katharina. In: Internet site Forschungsstelle Glasmalerei des 20. Jahrhundert eV Accessed on November 14, 2017 .
- ^ Gerhard Reinhold: Otto bells. Family and company history of the Otto bell foundry dynasty . Self-published, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , p. 588, here in particular pp. 505, 526, 557 .
- ↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen . Nijmegen / NL 2019, p. 556, here in particular 472, 488, 511 , urn : nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770 (dissertation at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen).
- ↑ Episcopal General Vicariate (Ed.): Handbuch des Bistums Aachen 3rd edition, Aachen 1994, p. 90.
Coordinates: 50 ° 45 '35.4 " N , 6 ° 7' 49.8" E