St. Katharina (Assinghausen)

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St. Katharina, southwest view (2013)

The Roman Catholic parish church of St. Katharina is a listed church building in Assinghausen , a district of the city ​​of Olsberg in the Hochsauerlandkreis , in North Rhine-Westphalia .

History and architecture

Old church

The floor plans of the old and new churches in relation to each other

A previous church under the patronage of St. Peter has been documented since 1300. That year the congregation received a letter of indulgence signed by several bishops in Rome . This letter was intended to attract believers and thus bring money into the church treasury. The church was a Romanesque building with a steeple and it stood in the middle of a cemetery. The following description can be found in a stock book from 1830: The parish church in Assinghausen is located in the churchyard, completely surrounded by the same, solidly built, covered with a stone vault and slate, together with a tower, which is still connected, but very dilapidated. The church is much too small for the number of souls in the parish, it is urgently necessary that new buildings have to be built . From the centuries after the letter of indulgence, no other documents have survived for the church. Presumably these were destroyed in a fire in the church in Brunskappel in 1764. Assinghausen belonged to Brunskappel at the time. The only tradition is a copy of a note made by Father Benedict Peters from Bruchhausen and kept in the Münster State Archives . The church was extensively restored in 1580. The wooden flat roof was torn down and the side walls were bricked up. It was built a covered with slate roof and a vault drawn in stone. This work was almost like building a new church. The community belonged to Brunskappel from 1600 to 1773, as the majority of the population of Assinghausen was Protestant and maintaining its own parish was not worthwhile. After that the parish was again canonically independent. The walls of the old church were divided by nine windows, it was equipped with an altar, a small organ, a sermon chair and a baptismal font . Sixty pews were set up, three bells hung in the clock tower and one in the roof turret . The sacred objects included a monstrance made of partially gold-plated silver, a ciborium and two chalices.

New Church

Photograph of the church in the state at the end of the 19th century

The old Romanesque church caused high costs because of the poor building structure, and in the long run it became too small because of the growing number of believers from three parishes. In order to be able to build a larger church, the cemetery had to be relocated. Because of the high mortality and the lack of space, the rest period in the old cemetery was 14 years (today around 30 years). The new cemetery was moved to the road to Bruchhausen in 1868. The first plans and a cost estimate were available in August 1864, but there was not enough money to start construction, and the branch communities also refused to make a contribution. An application was made to the President of the Province of Westphalia for permission to carry out a house collection, which was approved for six months in 1868. Up to 28 money collectors were on the move in the areas of the royal government in Münster and Minden for this collection. A total of 6170 Reichstaler were collected. The foundation stone was laid on June 11, 1872 by Landdechanten Grimme from Düdinghausen. The so-called ash hut behind the Josefshaus was set up as an emergency church for the construction period . This makeshift was used for ten years. During the construction there were always difficulties that led to delays. The building contractor Gutmann stopped the work ten days after the foundation stone was laid due to financial difficulties. By then the foundation walls and a small part of the walls had been completed. A lawsuit brought against him lasted several years and was ended because of the bankruptcy of the building contractor in 1877. Because of the Kulturkampf that began in 1871, the parish administrator Schocke , who had been working in Assinghausen for about twenty years, was not recognized by the Prussian government. He was not allowed to perform official church acts and the church registers were confiscated. During this period, services were held in secret, and the traditional Corpus Christi procession was conducted without a clergyman. Construction work on the foundation ruins that had begun rested for almost seven years. The construction site was assessed by an appraiser in February 1879. He made suggestions for savings if the building was to be continued. The building contractor Schmitz from Daseburg received the order to continue the construction, the estimated construction costs amounted to around 40,000 Reichsmarks. Paderborn also ordered the addition of a sacristy . Quarry stones from quarries between Olsberg and Assinghausen were used as building material. The building sand, a so-called sulfur-containing bucket sand, was provided free of charge by the Gottesgabe and Hammerwasher pits in Wulmeringhausen. No experience had yet been made with this sand for construction purposes; the effects became visible a few decades later. The plaster bloomed and loosened through the sand, the mortar rotten.

The neo-Gothic building, located on a hill, was built from 1872 to 1882 on the site of a previous church according to old plans by Carl Schäfers under the construction management of Arnold Güldenpfennig in Bruchstein . The provisional benediction was carried out by Landdechant Grimme from Düdinghausen, the consecration took place on July 15, 1890 by Auxiliary Bishop Gockel from Paderborn, who at the same time gave confirmation to 517 believers between the ages of 12 and 30. Güldenpfennig attached importance to the use of regional building materials such as quarry stones and stones from the area. After a successful tender, the building contractor Gutmann from Warburg was awarded the contract. The church is quite large for a village of this size. It was also designed for use by the subsidiary communities of Bruchhausen and Wulmeringhausen. The tower and the buttresses were built in corner blocks. The hall with a 5/8 end branches into two short cross arms. The roof turret stands over the crossing . The interior of three yokes was arched ridge . A rib vault was drawn into the apse . During the renovation in 1952, the side walls were re-plastered; the methods of the time could not preserve the damaged paintwork. At the same time, the central window in the choir was walled up on the grounds that visitors would be blinded by incident sunlight. The Munich church interior designer Albert Stempfle persuaded the church council to make extensive changes. The vault depicting the heavenly Jerusalem was not built with sulphurous sand; it could have been preserved, but was whitewashed. The high altar, communion bench and the baptismal font were made of sandstone; they were broken because, in Stemple's opinion, they were no longer in keeping with the times. The two wooden side altars were given away. Some of the old white and yellow glass windows have been replaced by blue-violet ones. The plaster figures of Saints Mary, Michael, Francis, Antonius, Aloysius, little Theresa and the Sacred Heart of Jesus have been removed; There is no information about their whereabouts. Architect Stempfle received a large amount of money in trust from Pastor Mandel for the interior renovation, and before the renovation was completed, Stempfle took the money to what was then the GDR. The renovation sometimes had to be financed twice. In 1956, the large stained glass windows in the transept were given new colored central parts with depictions of Saints Francis and Benedict. At the beginning of the 1960s, the old trees in the outdoor area were felled and replaced by green areas and asphalt paths. Benches were set up. The congregation received a relic of Pope Pius X in 1963 and it was placed in the main altar. For this purpose, a brass papal coat of arms was made. The relic is currently housed in the right side altar. Later the roofs of the tower and the church were re-slated, the zinc gutters were replaced by copper ones. The ailing mortar was removed as deep as possible from the joints by sandblasting, which were then re-grouted. In 1993 the main altar still did not meet the liturgical requirements of the decisions of the last council. The altar was demolished and replaced by a celebration altar made of red sandstone. The choir room was raised, the formerly walled up choir window was opened again. The window from 1882 that was preserved behind the brickwork was replaced by a color matching the existing windows. The result is controversial. During this renovation, the grille at the rear of the building, which is intended to prevent unauthorized visitors from entering the interior, was removed. The renovation was completed in February 1994, when Auxiliary Bode consecrated the new altar. Because of the recognized good acoustic properties, sound recordings are occasionally made in the church.

Furnishing

Interior view towards the choir (2013)
Organ (1884) with gallery
Old baptismal font (16th century) on a marble base
  • After the sandstone altar was destroyed, an altar made of reddish marble was purchased in 1952. There was a tabernacle on the altar. The gold-colored doors are a work by August Stappert from Assinghausen. The tabernacle is currently on the right side altar.
  • The communion bench is adapted to the main altar and also made of marble.
  • The two new side altars are also made of reddish marble. On both altars were roughly carved and colored figures of Saints Mary and Joseph. These figures are currently stored in the attic of the sacristy.
  • A font made of flamed and polished Sauerland marble comes from the beginning of the 16th century. It has the shape of a vase with two attached noses. The wooden base was renewed in the 20th century.
  • The partially gold-plated baroque silver monstrance is 54 cm high and was made at the end of the 17th century. The oval lunula capsule is surrounded by bandwork and embossed donor figures. A golden halo forms the background . The hallmarks point to Augsburg , the maker's marks are no longer recognizable.
  • The church houses some baroque figures from the end of the 17th century that come from the previous church:
    • Agatha made of softwood, 74 cm high
    • Agatha made of softwood, 91 cm high
    • Magdalena, 71 cm high
    • Lucia, 90 cm high
    • Immaculate Conception, 68 cm high
    • The Madonna and Child, 90 cm high, and the Madonna and Child, 92 cm high, are dressing figures for processions
  • On the choir wall with the walled up window hung a carved crucifixion group with Mary and John, it was subtly composed. Since the group was badly damaged by woodworms at the beginning of the 1990s, it was restored, recast and treated against weather damage. Today it stands in the covered outdoor area on the west wall of the transept.
  • The church painter Guntermann painted 14 stations of the cross on zinc plates in 1882. They have a format of 100 × 120 cm each. When the church was renovated from 1955 to 1956, the Way of the Cross was classified as out of date . It was exhibited on loan in the Patrokli Cathedral in Soest. The new way of the cross was carved out of oak, seven stations each were hung on the right and left sides of the nave. This way of the cross was replaced in 2003 by the way of the cross from 1882 and restored by Viktor Senoner from Ortisei in South Tyrol. The oak stations of the cross are stored in the attic of the sacristy.
  • The organ was built in 1884 by the organ building company Franz Eggert from Paderborn. During the renovation in the year, the parts infected by the woodworm were replaced. An extensive restoration was carried out in the early 1980s.
  • In 1946 three bells were purchased; since they did not leave a harmonious overall sound, a low-pitched bell was added in 1965.

History of the Altars

The baroque altar of the old church originally came from the Grafschaft monastery and stylistically did not fit into the new church. A sandstone altar was made and equipped with four figures of saints that stood in niches. Three of these figures have survived; they stand on the parapet of the organ stage. These are the figures of Saints Liborius, Cyriacus and Nicholas. The whereabouts of Katharina are not recorded. The St. Mary's altar stood in the left transept and the Joseph's altar in the right transept; both were designed to match the main altar in terms of shape and style. The liturgically prescribed celebration altar was made of reddish sandstone and built in 1994. It is decorated with a relief that shows the burning thorn bush, behind which the tablets of the law are indicated. A sacrament stele took the place of the main altar. Its neo-Gothic essay is reminiscent of the old sandstone altar from 1882. The essay originally stood in the broken-down St. Joseph Church in Dortmund-Berghofen. It has been extensively renovated. The relief on the substructure of the stele shows the pilgrim people of God, above an inverted shell. This is a reference to the old pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela that passed through the place. The former St. Mary's altar was reduced to a console, on which there is a protective cloak Madonna, which was made by a carver from Val Gardena.

History of the painting

The church was painted in 1891 by the church painter Guntermann. The image of the so-called Heavenly Jerusalem , which could be seen in the dome, was dominant, depicting the Trinity, the four evangelists and the 24 elders. The vault outside the dome was depicted as a firmament with richly painted stars. The wall above the Marian altar was painted with a monumental mural depicting the Assumption of Mary into heaven. A representation of the Last Supper was in the right part of the transept. The church as a whole was painted in every last corner and therefore looked overloaded. The improper use of broken slate stones that had not been plastered on the outside caused moisture to penetrate inside and damage to the paintings was revealed. The sulphurous building sand damaged the plaster on which the paintings were attached. Large areas of the plaster fell from the walls at the end of the 1940s and finally destroyed the work. Some black and white photos of the painting have survived.

literature

  • Ursula Quednau (arrangement): Dehio-Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, North Rhine-Westphalia, Volume II: Westphalia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin / Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-422-03114-2
  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments, North Rhine-Westphalia . Volume 2, Westphalia . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1969
  • Paul Michels, Nikolaus Rodenkirchen, Franz Herberhold: Architectural and art monuments of Westphalia, district of Brilon . Volume 45, Aschendorfsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Münster, Ed .: Wilhelm Rave, Landeskonservator, 1952

Web links

Commons : St. Katharina  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Haaben, p. 3 (description of the previous church)
  2. ↑ Haaben, p. 1 ff. (Letter of indulgence and conversion)
  3. ↑ Haaben, p. 3 (furnishings in the old church)
  4. ↑ Haaben, p. 5 (relocation of the cemetery)
  5. ↑ Haaben, p. 13 ff. (Financing and emergency church)
  6. ^ Haaben, pp. 1, 6, 10 (use by the branch communities).
  7. ↑ Georg Dehio (under the scientific direction of Ursula Quednau): Handbuch der deutschen Kunstdenkmäler. North Rhine-Westphalia II, Westphalia . Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-422-03114-2 , p. 830.
  8. ↑ Haaben, p. 29 (window in the choir wall).
  9. ^ Haaben, p. 29 (consecration of the altar).
  10. ↑ Haaben, p. 20 (new altars)
  11. ^ Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments, North Rhine-Westphalia . Volume 2, Westphalia, Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1969, page 26
  12. ^ Paul Michels, Nikolaus Rodenkirchen, Franz Herberhold: Architectural and art monuments of Westphalia, Brilon district , Volume 45, 1952, Aschendorfsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Münster, publisher: Wilhelm Rave. Page 63
  13. ↑ Haaben, p. 20 (crucifixion group)
  14. ↑ Haaben, p. 17 (renovation of the old way of the cross)
  15. ^ Haaben, p. 20 (History of the Altars).
  16. ↑ Haaben, p. 25 f. (Celebration altar).
  17. ↑ Haaben, p. 18 (wall paintings)

Coordinates: 51 ° 18 ′ 18.9 ″  N , 8 ° 30 ′ 13 ″  E