St. Mary's Assumption (Marienbaum)
St. Mariä Himmelfahrt is a pilgrimage church in Marienbaum near Xanten . It was built as the abbey church of the Birgitten monastery founded in 1460 , from 1802 it became a parish church in the course of secularization .
Pilgrimage church
The pilgrimage history of Marienbaum is based on the legend of the miraculous image of Mary from the early 14th century. The story has it that a paralyzed shepherd his 1430 appeared in a dream an oak tree, which had grown step-like and in its crown you figure of Mary is said to have found. The shepherd then looked for this tree and is said to have found and worshiped the statue, whereupon he recovered. The place was then called " An gen Trappenboom " and visited by pilgrims; Between 1438 and 1441 a chapel in honor of Mary and the Evangelist John was built there by Count Adolf II of Kleve , whose Gothic choir still exists today as the front part of the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption .
Monastery church
Mary of Burgundy founded a double monastery in 1460 according to the rule of the order of Birgitta , which was initially inhabited by seven nuns and two priests. After minor extensions to the monastery, a subsidiary monastery was founded in Kalkar in 1611 , and one in Kaldenkirchen in 1625 .
In 1650/88 the “Marienkloster” was expanded and finally offered space for 60 nuns and 25 clergymen who received and looked after the pilgrims. At this time, however, Marienbaum lost its importance as a place of pilgrimage, as a competing place of grace (today one of the most important places of pilgrimage in Germany) was created in nearby Kevelaer . From 1712 to 1714 the dilapidated chapel was partially demolished; the choir of the chapel and the baroque cloister built in 1710 were integrated into the newly built church of St. Mary of the Assumption and the monastery was expanded again.
Parish church
In the course of the secularization of the monastery under Napoleonic rule, the church was converted into the center of a parish in 1802 , the monastery library was incorporated into the Xanten monastery library and large parts of the monastery buildings were demolished. Only the two-story chapter house was preserved and now serves as a sacristy . The church tower was built in the neo-Gothic style in the years 1898–1900 and was extended in 1898 with seven bronze bells.
After a smoldering fire on Ash Wednesday 2017, the interior was damaged by the soot deposits. After restoration work that lasted more than a year, the congregation returned to the church on Palm Sunday.
Pilgrimage today
Today, almost 15,000 pilgrims visit St. Mary's Assumption every year.
Furnishing
The most important shrine of the Church of St. Mary's Assumption is the miraculous image of Mary from the beginning of the 14th century, today it is shown in the outside chapel of the church.
In addition, the high altar from 1441 is adorned with pictures by Barthel Bruyn the Elder. Ä. , who also created many pictures of the Xanten Cathedral , as well as various angel and apostle frescoes from 1460 and a lent cloth made by the nuns of the monastery from the 17th century the interior of the church.
View to the high altar
Lent cloth in front of the high altar
Lent cloth in front of the right side altar
organ
The organ in Marienbaumer Church was built in 1894 by the Dutch organ builder Van Dam Leeuwarden . The instrument stood in the Oosterkerk in Arnhem in the Netherlands until 1971 . It was extensively renovated in 1971 by the organ builder Romanus Seifert & Sohn ( Kevelaer ) and built into the parapet of St. Mary's Church. The purely mechanical instrument has 25 registers in the neo-rococo style .
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P.
Bells
Since the quality was greatly reduced by age and damage to the existing steel bells , a replacement had to be considered. In 1980 the Underberg family made a donation to the parish . Seven bronze bells of different sizes and timbres were commissioned from the bell foundry Petit & Edelbrock in Gescher .
| No. | Surname | Casting year | Caster | place | Diameter ø | volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SALVATOR | 1980 | Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock |
Gescher | 1,548 mm | B ° |
| 2 | SANCTA MARIA | of' | ||||
| 3 | SANCTA BIRGITTA | it' | ||||
| 4th | SANCTUS AEMILIUS | f ' | ||||
| 5 | SANCTI ANGELI | ges' | ||||
| 6th | SANCTA CHRISTIANA | as' | ||||
| 7th | GERARDUS | 739 mm | b ' |
literature
- JM Kreiten: Description of the former monastery of Marienbaum again historically on the light . Self-published, Qualburg 1845 ( digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf )
- Willehad Paul Eckert : The Lower Rhine - Landscape, History and Culture. Du Mont Buchverlag Cologne, 3rd edition 1978, ISBN 3-7701-1085-4 .
- Alfons Alders: Local calendar of Wesel district 1980 ; The miraculous image to the bustard boom ; 550 years of pilgrimage to Marienbaum; 1st year ISBN 3-922384-01-3
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Kummer: For Easter again in your own church . In: Kirche + Leben , April 1, 2018, p. 18.
- ↑ Palm Sunday back in the old church, Rheinische Post from March 7, 2018
- ↑ bistum-muenster.de; Organ cleaning of the Van Dam organ in Xanten-Marienbaum
- ↑ okum-community-letter-lichtblick-december-2011-evangelical- / 39; Where the Bells Ring - Part 2; by Margret Hubert
- ↑ youtube.com Marienbaum Bells of the Catholic Church (plenary)
Web links
- Sankt Viktor Xanten.de
- lokalkompass.de; The Marienbaum pilgrimage church of St. Mary of the Assumption - with a bit of local history
and an extensive picture gallery from January 3, 2016
Coordinates: 51 ° 41 ′ 58.4 " N , 6 ° 22 ′ 35.2" E