St. Marien (Wilhelmshaven)
St. Marien is a Catholic church in Wilhelmshaven . The modern building from 1956 is located on Otto-Meentz-Straße at the corner of Bremer Straße in the Hansaviertel of the Bant district . St. Marien is a branch church of the parish of St. Willehad .
history
The Jade region has been purely Protestant since the Reformation . Only with the construction of the Prussian war port in Wilhelmshaven did Catholics return there; the first were Catholic dock workers. For them there was initially only makeshift pastoral care from the missionary clergy in Varel . On August 12, 1860, missionary Johannes Schrandt held a Catholic service in the Jade region for the first time in around 300 years.
When Wilhelmshaven received Johannes Holzenkamp as a chaplain in 1872, plans were made to build a church. Because of Bismarck's cultural struggle with the Catholic Church, the church was not built on Prussian territory, but instead moved to the territory of the politically freer Grand Duchy of Oldenburg . So in 1878/1879 the first Catholic church in the area of today's Wilhelmshaven was built on Ansgaristraße in Bant, kept simple, without a tower or bells. It was consecrated on July 21, 1884 by the then Bishop of Münster , Johannes Brinkmann . At first St. Marien was a chapel congregation in the parish of Jever , in 1914 it became independent.
This first Marienkirche did not survive the Second World War: it was completely destroyed in the worst air raid on Wilhelmshaven on October 15, 1944. The burnt-out parish hall initially served as an emergency church , but it turned out to be too small for the community. In June 1948, a barrack bought for 10,000 Reichsmarks was built at today's St. Mariens location.
Due to the general housing shortage, a rectory was built in 1951, before the new St. Mary's Church was finally built next to the barrack church. The foundation stone was laid on October 10, 1954 by Prelate Heinrich Grafenhorst and the topping-out ceremony was celebrated on July 14, 1955 . On June 23 and 24, 1956, the consecration took place by Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Baaken . At this point, the construction work was not yet completed, as there may be a. there were delays due to the complicated roof construction. The bells could not be rung until November; the heating was not installed until 1958.
At that time the community had about 4,000 members, 1,300 attended mass on Sundays. In the course of the negative population development in Wilhelmshaven, the general decline in Catholics and the construction of the St. Ansgar Church in the nearby district of Aldenburg, the congregation shrank to around 2000 members in 2006, of which around 200 regularly attended Sunday services.
Since the merger of all Catholic parishes in Wilhelmshaven, Sande and Roffhausen in 2008, St. Marien has belonged to the parish of St. Willehad as a branch church .
architecture
The building was built according to plans by the architect Gert Rohling. The load-bearing parts consist of concrete painted white, red clinker bricks fill the areas. The roof consists of 14 side-by-side concrete half-tubes, which are supported by 15 concrete columns. There is a circular mosaic window in each of the curves of the half-tubes. The rectory adjoins the church.
The 32-meter-high bell tower is free, and at a height of about five meters there is a bridge passage from the church to the tower. The floor plan is square, four white concrete pillars form the corners, the surfaces are again made of red clinker bricks. The first four meters of the tower are not filled, which means you can walk between the pillars. In the upper third there are 36 "windows" on each of the four sides, through which the bells can be heard outside. The roof is slightly curved.
The new building was considered extremely modern in the mid-1950s, and the roof in particular caused a sensation.
Furnishing
The interior of the church offers 320 seats, the benches form two blocks with a corridor in the middle. Directly connected to the main room is a chapel parallel to it, which is used for smaller gatherings.
The current design of the choir is from 1984/1985. The decoration of the tabernacle shows ears of wheat and grapes, it is surrounded by a representation of the burning thorn bush . On the back wall is the mosaic hanging cross framed in a mural and created by the artist Espeter. The wall above the entrance has a large round window depicting Mary as the bearer of Christ.
The organ was built in 1969 by the Wilhelmshaven company Orgelbau Führer . It has 18 registers and is played via a mechanical keyboard, the wind chest is designed as a sliding chest.
There are four bronze bells in the bell tower.
Chaplain
List of pastors (pastors since 1914) of the St. Marien Congregation:
- 1872–1882: Johannes Holzenkamp, chaplain
- 1822–1887: Everhard Illigens, chaplain
- 1887–1888: Dr. Alvin Meistermann, chaplain
- 1888–1900: Heinrich Kühling, chaplain
- 1900–1911: Clemens Meistermann, chaplain
- 1911–1916: Dominikus Römann, chaplain
- 1916–1934: Heinrich Pölking
- 1934–1942: Anton Fortmann
- 1942–1947: Heinrich Grafenhorst
- 1947–1974: Johannes Landwehr
- from 1974: Dean Franz-Josef Hachmöller
literature
- Hans-Bernd Rödiger, Waldemar Reinhardt: Frisian Churches - Rüstringen, Friesische Wehde, Butjadingen, Stedingen and City of Wilhelmshaven , Volume 4. Verlag CL Mettcker & Söhne, Jever 1982, p. 28.
- Willi Baumann, Peter Sieve (ed.): The Catholic Church in the Oldenburger Münsterland. Vechta 1995.
- Catholic parish Sankt Marien (Hrsg.): 50 years New Church Sankt Marien Wilhelmshaven. Wilhelmshaven 2006.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f St. Marien Catholic Church , accessed on November 20, 2015.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Anniversary: St. Mary celebrates with children and grandchildren , NWZ-online from June 24, 2006, accessed on November 20, 2015.
- ^ Orgel St. Marien , accessed on November 20, 2015.
- ^ Willi Baumann, Peter Sieve (ed.): The Catholic Church in the Oldenburger Münsterland. Vechta 1995, p. 664.
Coordinates: 53 ° 31 '29.4 " N , 8 ° 5' 59.6" E