St. Mathilde (Quedlinburg)

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St. Mathilde in Quedlinburg
Stairs to the church

St. Mathilde , also St. Mathildis , in Quedlinburg is the parish church of the Roman Catholic St. Mathilde parish. It belongs to the dean's office Halberstadt in the diocese of Magdeburg and is registered in the Quedlinburg monument register.

architecture

Although the single - nave neo-Gothic church is built at a higher point (on the rampart of the city wall; Neuendorf 4), it is hidden from view of the city's visitors.

It was the first completed church by the famous architect Friedrich von Schmidt (built 1855–58) and is also the second youngest in the city of Quedlinburg. Schmidt was one of the most important neo-Gothic artists in Austria. His most outstanding works include the work on the construction of the Cologne Cathedral and the construction of the Vienna City Hall as well as the restoration of St. Stephen's Cathedral. In June 1858, the Church of Bishop was Konrad Martin consecrated of Paderborn and the Holy Mathilde , wife of King Henry I consecrated.

With its simple architecture, the church fits in well with the medieval cityscape.

The small roof turret over the eastern gable wall had to be removed in January / February 1984 due to structural damage. The first stones fell from the roof turret at Christmas 1983. That is why the church today is without a ringing bell . The church tower is to be rebuilt and the old bell installed in it. A realization up to the 150th anniversary in June 2008 failed due to the financial possibilities.

Furnishing

The large windows on both sides of the nave let in plenty of light. Upon entering, the modern altarpiece immediately catches the eye. After redesigning the choir in 1953, the Halle artist Meinolf Splett created this triptych above the tabernacle . Christ sits in the middle with his hand raised to bless and proclaim, surrounded by angels and saints. On the side wings is St. Mathilde is depicted as queen and founder of the monastery, as patroness of this church and as mother and benefactress.

The Gothic Pietà (around 1400) on the small side altar, carved by an unknown artist, was placed in the Church of St. Wiperti until a few years ago .

Three stained glass windows from a Cologne stained glass can be found in the end of the choir. In the middle one can see St. Mathilde, next to her the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Paderborn St. Liborius, in the left window the patron saint of the collegiate church St. Dionysius and St. Servatius , in the right Mathilde's son Bruno and her great grandson St. Heinrich. Two of the large windows were badly damaged by hail in August 2011 and restored by the Schneemelcher glass painting in Quedlinburg. The stained glass windows above the entrance to the church, designed by a regional artist in a modern style and installed during the renovation in 2003, are made by the same company.

The Stations of the Cross, made of sandstone, come from the sculptor Mormann. The side windows were restored during the renovation in 2003 and thus returned to their original appearance.

organ

Organ from St. Mathilde Quedlinburg with the song "Reu dich du Himmelskönigin". Organist: Andreas Werner, recording 2013. The mechanical action, especially of the pedal, can be heard clearly here

The organ was originally designed for another church, but was then transferred to St. Mathilde. Originally powered by a bellows (the Kalkanten bell has still been functional to this day ), a motor now generates the necessary wind. During the last restoration of the organ, only the outer shell and the pipes could be repaired, the mechanical action still needs to be repaired. The instrument has 14 registers on two manuals and a pedal .

I main work
Drone bass 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Hollow flute 8th'
Viola di gamba 8th'
octave 4 ′
Mixer IV 2 ′
II breastwork
Flauto amabile 8th'
Thought lovely 8th'
Covered flute 4 ′
Principal 2 ′
Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
pedal
Sub-bass 16 ′
Octave bass 8th'
Chorale bass 4 ′

Parish and parish

View as spherical panorama at the entrance of St. Mathilden's Church

Until the reorganization of the Catholic dioceses after the Congress of Vienna, Quedlinburg belonged to the Apostolic Vicariate of the North . As part of the Prussian province of Saxony , the city was assigned to the diocese of Paderborn in 1812 . The pastoral care of the faithful took place from 1820 to 1842 from Adersleben , between 1842 and 1848 from Hedersleben . In 1844 a Catholic private school was founded, which was closed by the National Socialists in 1939 . In 1848 the first missionary returned to Quedlinburg. Construction of the church began in 1854, and the consecration took place in 1858. In 1858 St. Mathildis was raised to its own parish. The Herz-Jesu parish in Thale was founded in Quedlinburg .

Since 1973 the administration was transferred to the episcopal office of Magdeburg, which was elevated to the diocese of Magdeburg in 1994 .

After the Second World War , the number of members of the community increased due to refugees, so that the space for the small St. Mathilde Church was no longer sufficient. That is why the congregation concluded a contract with the Quedlinburg City Council in 1954 for the use of St. Wiperti as a branch church , which the congregation also calls the summer church because it cannot be heated and therefore only in the summer half of the year, roughly from Pentecost to Thanksgiving, is used.

In 2010 the parishes of St. Mathilde in Quedlinburg, St. Gertrud in Hedersleben and Herz Jesu in Thale were dissolved by Bishop Gerhard Feige (which had formed the Quedlinburg-Hedersleben-Thale community since 2006) and the parish of St Mathilde re-founded with the St. Mathilden Church as a parish church (the other two are subsidiary churches of the parish).

In 2016 the parish had around 1,650 members, 450 of which belong to the catchment area of ​​the church in Thale and 200 to Hedersleben. The parish office has been permanently vacant since November 2019 , the parish is co-administered by the pastor from Wernigerode.

The main service is Holy Mass on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. From Pentecost to around mid-October, the Sunday high mass is celebrated in the St. Wiperti Church.

literature

  • Christoph Tretschok, Matthias Wozniak, Thomas Wozniak (eds.): 150 years of the Catholic Church of St. Mathilde Quedlinburg (1858 - 2008) . Catholic Parish Office St. Mathilde, Quedlinburg 2008.
  • Ernst Coester: 150 years of St. Mathildenkirche Quedlinburg, the first work by Friedrich von Schmidt (1825–1891) . In: The Minster . tape 61 , no. 4 , 2008, ISSN  0027-299X , p. 358-361 .
  • Christoph Tretschok: Quedlinburg. Community in the Vorharz. In: Diaspora yearbook 2016/2017. Paderborn 2016, pp. 78–81.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Church - yesterday and today, Between Elbe and Saale, Börde and Bode, Ein Magdeburgbuch , St. Benno-Verlag Leipzig 1989, ISBN 3-7462-0266-3 , page 193
  2. ^ Foundation of the new parish of St. Mathilde in Thale. Press release of April 28, 2010 ( Memento of April 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

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

Coordinates: 51 ° 47 ′ 30.1 ″  N , 11 ° 8 ′ 25.6 ″  E