St. Laurentius (Gressenich)

St. Laurentius (Gressenich)

St. Laurentius is the Roman Catholic parish church in the Stolberg district of Gressenich in the city ​​region of Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia .

The church is dedicated to St. Martyr Laurentius consecrated.

location

The church building is located on the western outskirts of Gressenich on Römerstrasse (L 12). Behind the church is the cemetery and on the east side the rectory and the rectory.

history

The church of Gressenich was first mentioned in the Liber valoris from 1308. Already at this time Gressenich was an independent parish in what was then the dean's office in Jülich in the Archdiocese of Cologne . The right of collation was owned by the Cologne cathedral props up to the 16th century and then passed to the abbots of the Imperial Abbey of Kornelimünster . These held the right until the abbey was dissolved in 1802.

The places Mausbach , Werth and Krewinkel have always been part of the parish. Due to the parish registrations during the French period , Gressenich was assigned to the newly founded diocese of Aachen and all three branches were separated from Gressenich. Mausbach became a branch of the parish Vicht and Werth became a branch church of Nothberg . In 1825 the diocese of Aachen was dissolved again and Gressenich came back to the archbishopric of Cologne. Two years later, in 1827, Werth was reassigned to the parish of Gressenich and in 1916 received the status of a rectorate with its own asset management. Since 1930 the parish belongs to the re-established diocese of Aachen. On January 1, 1953, Werth was raised to an independent parish and completely separated from the mother parish of Gressenich.

Building history

Almost nothing is known about the early building history. The parish church mentioned in 1308 was replaced in the 15th century by a three-aisled hall church in Gothic forms . Due to the damage caused by the earthquakes of 1755 and 1756, the bell tower collapsed around 1800. In 1806 a new tower was finally built and at the same time the nave was extended by a yoke.

During the Second World War , the Gothic parish church was completely destroyed in the war year 1944. After the war, an emergency church was built between 1948 and 1951 , which was in use until 1962 and has been used as a parish hall since 1980. In 1960 the construction of today's parish church began. The plans for this were made by the Mönchengladbach architect Willi Decker . The foundation stone was laid on May 5, 1961 and the new church was completed in 1962, so that on December 16, 1962 the first Holy Mass could be read in the new parish church. The solemn church consecration took place on August 22, 1965. The bell tower was only built in 1978.

Building description

St. Laurentius is a building made of bricks in modern forms . The nave expands to the chancel in the north. The tower is free-standing. In the interior there are 300 seats available for the faithful.

Furnishing

Only a valuable shrine altar with painted wings and the altar cross, both 15th century, were able to escape the destruction of the last war by outsourcing and are the two oldest pieces of equipment in the parish church. The celebration altar was made according to a design by Willi Decker in 1962. The tabernacle and the altar candlesticks as well as a cross are works by the Kohlscheider artist Peter Bücken from 1963. The candlesticks and the Stations of the Cross were created by the Cologne artist Egino Weinert in 1988 and 1991.

Bells

In the tower of St. Laurentius there is a four-part bronze ring - bells . The smallest bell is also the oldest bell in the entire city of Stolberg and dates from the 13th century. The largest and second oldest bell is the Laurentius bell from 1493. Both bells survived the war, as they had to be given for armament purposes, but were no longer melted down and thus came back to Gressenich. The two middle bells were cast in 1978 by the company Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock in Gescher .

No.	Surname	Diameter (mm)	Mass (kg, approx.)	Percussive ( HT - 1 / 16 )	Caster	Casting year
1	Laurentius	-	-	g sharp '	Gregor van Trier , Aachen	1493
2	-	-	-	h '	Hans Hüesker, Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock, Gescher	1978
3	-	-	-	cis "	Hans Hüesker, Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock, Gescher	1978
4th	-	-	-	g sharp "	Unknown	13th century

Pastor

The following pastors have worked as pastors at St. Laurentius:

from ... to Surname -1447 Petrus Meen 1632-1643 Johann Fabri 1643-1648 Arnold Marsmann 1648-1657 Thomas Franconia 1659-1705 Hubert Frings 1705-1710 Gerhard Lueckenrath 1710-1724 Johann Wilhelm Roesseler 1724-1750 Father Johann Jakob Kloubert 1750-1772 Matthias Morschel 1772-1780 Rev. Nyssen

from ... to Surname 1780-1790 Rev. Klubert 1790-1826 Richard Hahn 1826-1836 Johann Matthias Lersch 1836-1874 Peter Wilhelm Esser 1874-1908 Unknown 1908-1947 Josef Willms 1947-1955 Nikolaus Berks 1955-1975 Josef mockery 1975-1995 Wilhelm Meuffels Since 1995 Norbert Bolz

Web links

• Internet presence of the parish

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bischöfliches Generalvikariat (Ed.): Handbuch des Bistums Aachen 3rd edition, Aachen 1994, p. 262 u. 269.
2. ↑ Bischöfliches Generalvikariat (ed.): Handbuch des Bistums Aachen 3rd edition, Aachen 1994, p. 262.
3. ^ History of the parish of St. Laurentius. In: Werner Olbertz's website. Retrieved December 1, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Bischöfliches Generalvikariat (ed.): Handbuch des Bistums Aachen 3rd edition, Aachen 1994, p. 263.
5. ↑ Bischöfliches Generalvikariat (ed.): Handbuch des Bistums Aachen 3rd edition, Aachen 1994, p. 262.

Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 22.5 "  N , 6 ° 17 ′ 58.4"  E