St. Martin (Pfronten)
The church of the formerly independent “Parish Pfronten-Kappel”, St. Martin , is now a branch church in the parish of Pfronten . Its core comes from the Middle Ages .
history
The story that St. Martin in Kappel was the first Pfronten parish church has persisted since ancient times. Even the very knowledgeable local history researchers Annemarie and Adolf Schröppel incorporate their opinions into their work on the Kappel Church. The reasons given for this assumption are:
The location on a "Roman road"
In fact, there used to be a pronounced dam to the south of the village in the area of plot number 597, which rose slightly on the slope there and was accompanied by deep trenches on both sides. During an inspection of the site in 1966, stones the size of a child's head were observed in a stream crossing the route. Such stones were often used to support a road. On both sides, however, only loamy material could be seen in the swampy meadow. According to Richard Knussert , the road led north to the village of Kappel, where it was uncovered under the barn of the property "bei Bichelhafner". He saw it as a Roman road that led from Reutte to Kempten ( Cambodunum ). It is certain that the village of Kappel was on an old street .
The "large parish district"
Oral tradition wants to know that the "parish church" in Kappel had a large parish that included "large parts of the Tannheimer valley in the south, young wood in the west, the Weißensee area to Oberkirch and in the north still forest near Marktoberdorf ". There are no written references to this narrative and, as far as the distant forest is concerned, it sounds very unlikely. Only the Jungholzer, where a so-called Kirchsteig is said to have led, could have gone to church in Kappel at times. Long paths to church were not uncommon at the time of the formation of the original parishes .
The "cemetery" around the chapel
In 1779, when the sacristy was being built, old tombs came to light on the south side, which were allegedly found "a few years ago" on the north side. When the foundations of the chapel were drained in 1986 and an 80 cm wide trench was dug around the church, only the remains of a single skeleton could be recovered. This does not make a cemetery near St. Martin any more likely.
The St. Martin's patronage
The basis for the tradition that St. Martin was the first parish church in Pfronten was above all its patronage. It used to be assumed that a Martinspatrozinium always had to be a Franconian foundation in the 8th century. But even later many churches were dedicated to St. Martin. In the diocese of Augsburg in particular , Bishop Embriko (1063-1077) opened a new wave of devotion to St. Martin by having a church built for the saint in Augsburg and consecrating it to him.
Conclusions
After Bishop Heinrich II was enfeoffed by Empress Agnes with the wild ban in the Allgäu in 1059 , another wave of clearing and cultivation work began here . But you had to limit yourself to the country that was not already occupied. There are indications of such older ownership rights in Pfronten: In 1280 the Tyrolean Count Meinhard II had a castle built on the Falkenstein and in 1361 the Hohenegger von Vilsegg own "the Widenhoff zue Pfronten and half a tenth zue Pfronten zu der kürchen". For the episcopal land seizure, therefore, only those places in the Pfrontener Valley were considered that were not so favored by nature and therefore still "free", e.g. B. the Kappel lying in danger of flooding by the Steinebach. The new settlement, however, had the advantage that it was on the thoroughfare.
One can well imagine that the bishop had his “own” church built here, which gave the place the name “zur Kappel” (chapel). Significantly, there were also Widenhöfe here, which can be clearly identified in the episcopal land register from around 1450: “von den widemhöuen vff dem büchel ze Sant Martin”.
It is also conceivable, however, that a church (St. Nicholas?) Already existed in the non-episcopal, perhaps Hoheneggian, part of Pfronten . It was eventually elevated to the parish church of the whole parish after the bishop gradually took possession of the whole valley. Decisive for this was probably the contract of 1290 with Meinhard II, through which the count left Falkenstein Castle to the bishop.
St. Martin in Kappel was therefore never the parish church of all of Pfronten, but it was the church of an originally independent "Parish Pfronten-Kappel".
Benefice
With the incorporation of St. Martin into the parish church, the Kappeler apparently lost their own clergyman. So they tried to get another beneficiary for their church . This was achieved in 1497 by establishing a chaplaincy foundation, to which many Kappelers, but also others from Pfronten, contributed. But the benefice was only occupied for less than a century. Then it "disintegrated" again for unknown reasons. The widum was leased and the foundation money was taken to the parish church foundation in 1674.
St. Martin was now a branch church again and the believers had to go to church in the parish church of St. Nicholas for a "strong" hour in any weather. It was also complained that the "old = blind = criminal = prestigious people the St. Mass to the most recommendable Wemuth ”will be withdrawn. Within a short time, twelve communicants died - through no fault of the pastor - without confession or sacraments. In addition, the keeping of Christian teaching is neglected. Therefore, from 1762 onwards, the people of Kappel did everything in their power to get a clergyman again at St. Martin. But at first there was no money for it. The Reutten “trading entrepreneur” Jakob Magnus Ammann proved to be an emergency helper, who promised the Kappelers no less than 2900 guilders in promissory notes for this project. But there was also resistance, because the pastor of St. Nikolaus feared for his income from the pride fees . The school teacher in the Ried district would also have preferred to close the Kappel “secondary school”, which is not yet taught according to normal school regulations . The inadequate equipment of the church also caused problems: “The sacristy is in the worst possible condition and can only be put in an honest condition at considerable expense. In addition, the paraments are so miserable that one cannot use them with a clear conscience for the sacrifice of the Mass. ”Nevertheless, the Kappeler managed to get the appointment of a manual chaplain approved by the episcopal vicariate in 1768 . The first chaplain in Kappel was Johann Georg Gebler (died 1772).
He was succeeded by Johann Joseph Hipp (1742-1814), who presented in 1775 by Ammann and as Benefiziat the bishop installed was. He was an extremely active pastor who sacrificed himself for the community entrusted to him. He performed all priestly duties very conscientiously and promoted church singing as much as he could. The education of the school youth was particularly important to him. For this he donated 300 guilders.
His annual income from the interest on the foundation funds of around 200 guilders was relatively modest and not secure. When the interest rates were generally "reduced" from 5 to 4% by order of the episcopal government, the beneficiary would have lacked another 30 guilders in his payment. The municipality of Kappel therefore committed itself in 1788 to take on the entire foundation assets in the amount of 3564 guilders and to continue to want to take on 5% “for all times of the world”, that is, indissolubly. Since this obligation was a real burden on each of the 44 properties - the beneficiary's house itself was excluded - lengthy lawsuits later resulted in the sale of properties.
The financial circumstances of the Kappel clergy did not improve. In 1875 beneficiary Joseph Böller wrote to the ordinariate that he “could only live poorly with the high food prices”. The position therefore remained vacant at times and was vicarious from the parish church. One of the last beneficiaries in Kappel was probably Pius Winter, who moved up here in 1921.
construction
The massive tower with its pointed roof is still Gothic. Remains of painting from the 15th / 16th centuries Century were discovered during a renovation in 1974 in the church. In the baroque and classicism it was adapted to the taste of the times. The Gothic windows were rounded at the top in 1741 and the western entrance was replaced by two side doors. Now the church can only be entered from the south via a sign . The reason for this renovation was the Steinebach, which flowed through the village during a flood in 1738 and even penetrated the church. Extensive work then took place after the restoration of the benefit from 1789–1793, where the wooden ceiling was removed and replaced by a flat ceiling with a hollow. The master builder was Johann Böck (1757–1805), gilding was carried out by the barrel painter Alois Kögel (1753–1830).
Furnishing
The interior design also belongs to different style periods.
- Gothic is a statue of the Mother of God around 1450 and a late Gothic St. Nicholas around 1490.
- The gallery parapet with the twelve apostles is baroque, painted in 1657 by Hans Leonhard Bösinger (1621–1681).
- A dungeon savior in a niche on the north wall by Maximilian Hitzelberger (1704–1784), around 1745, belongs to the Rococo period.
- The side altars were created by Joseph Stapf (1711–1785) from 1776 in the late Rococo style, as were the side figures, including a St. Joachim.
- In 1897 an older high altar was replaced by a neo-coco altar, the altarpiece was painted by Franz Osterried .
- The shrine for a (Gothic) crucifixion group on the north wall is neo-Gothic.
As with the parish church, almost exclusively local artists and craftsmen worked at St. Martin.
literature
- Annemarie and Adolf Schröppel: Pfrontener churches and chapels and their pastors , in: “Encounter” (parish letters of the parish of St. Nicholas), collected articles, ed. from Heimatverein Pfronten 2002 (The well-founded articles do not provide any source information, but are essentially based on the church bills largely received from 1603 to 1674.)
- Anton H. Konrad / Annemarie and Adolf Schröppel: The Parish of Pfronten , Schwäbische Kunstdenkmale booklet 34, Weißenhorn 1986
- Michael Petzet: Bavarian Art Monuments - City and District of Füssen , Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1960, p. 125
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bertold Pölcher: On the trail of Pfronten's past. Approval work for the examination for the teaching post at primary schools in 1967
- ↑ Richard Knussert: The Füssener Land in early times. Verlag des Heimatpflegers von Schwaben, Kempten 1955, p. 40 (with illustration)
- ↑ See St. Moritz in Zell, Eisenberg parish, which originally belonged to the parish of Hopfen!
- ↑ The Hipp'sche Chronik , Rund um den Falkenstein (bulletin of the Heimatverein Pfronten) No. 14, p. 255
- ↑ Wall Restoration at St. Martin , around the Falkenstein (handout heritage association Pfronten) no. 20, p 409
- ↑ Thaddäus Steiner: Foreword in: Bertold Pölcher / Thaddäus Steiner: Pfrontener Flurnamen . Municipality of Pfronten (Ed.) 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-032977-7
- ^ Volkert-Zoepfel: The regests of the bishops and the cathedral chapter of Augsburg. Augsburg 1974, No. 309 (pp. 184 f.); Walter Pötzl: Augusta Sacra in the yearbook of the Association for the History of the Augsburg Diocese. 9th century 1975, p. 98 f.
- ^ Tiroler Landesarchiv Innsbruck, manuscript 718, fol. 9
- ↑ Widen- or Widumhöfe served the economic supply of a clergy. See also under Wittum !
- ↑ Staatsarchiv Augsburg HA MB Lit. 569, fol. 43 BC
- ↑ The Hipp'sche Chronik , Rund um den Falkenstein (bulletin of the Heimatverein Pfronten) No. 13, p. 223
- ↑ Files of the beneficiary Johann Joseph Hipp, in the community archive Pfronten A 208 (17XXSV02, No. 10)
- ↑ Pfronten community archive A 208 (17XXSV02 No. 17, report)
- ↑ Pfronten municipal archive A 207 (1774SM01 No. 20, curriculum vitae)
- ↑ State Archives Augsburg, Augsburg Care Offices No. 258, p. 358 (extract from the protocol) and Pfronten community archive A 208 (17XXSV02 No. 54)
- ↑ Pfronten municipal archive A 207 (1774SM01 No. 28–58)
- ↑ Pfronten municipal archive A 207 (1774SM01 No. 34)
- ↑ The Hipp'sche Chronik , Rund um den Falkenstein (bulletin of the Heimatverein Pfronten) No. 14, p. 250
Coordinates: 47 ° 36 ′ 14.5 ″ N , 10 ° 32 ′ 11 ″ E