St. Michael (Frankfurt-Nordend)

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St. Michael is a Roman Catholic church in the Nordend district of Frankfurt am Main . It has been a branch church of the parish St. Josef Frankfurt am Main since 2007 and, as a profile church, the center for mourning pastoral care of the Diocese of Limburg . The church is a cultural monument according to the Hessian Monument Protection Act .

Church of St. Michael from the southwest
Interior (2009)
Look into the crypt

history

Emergence

Already in 1934 there were considerations to relieve the already existing church of St. Bernhard in Frankfurt by building a new church. In 1937, the then Bishop of Limburg Antonius Hilfrich chose the Archangel Michael as patronage for the new church to be built . In 1939, today's property was acquired by swap. In the post-war period, Bishop Wilhelm Kempf granted permission for a new building in 1952 . St. Michael was planned as a parish church with the participation of the priestly community oratory of St. Philip Neri . In an architecture competition in 1952, Rudolf Schwarz's design was selected from 30 designs. Black was considered the builder of the liturgical movement . The Oratorians, known for new forms of worship, had found the right architect for an ambitious new building. The design stipulated that the altar should be placed in the center of the room, an arrangement that only prevailed about ten years later with the Second Vatican Council .

The groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 22, 1953, and the foundation stone of the sculptural free-standing church was laid on August 23, 1953 . The foundation stone comes from the mother church of St. Bernhard. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on December 14, 1953. On 23 and 24 October 1954, the Church of Bishop Wilhelm Kempf was consecrated and the main altar received relics . On November 1, 1954, St. Michael became an independent parish. Alfons Kirchgässner was pastor at St. Michael from its founding until 1972 . The attached rectory was completed in 1956. The Frankfurt Oratory has been located there since September 27, 1956. The campanile was added by the architect Karl Wimmenauer in 1962. The bells were consecrated on March 15, 1964.

In the period that followed, subsidence of the ground was leveled out several times, the glass block lighting strip was repaired, the underfloor heating was renewed and the rectory was extended. In addition, the interior was renovated and the church tower refurbished. In 2009 the building was renovated.

Development in the 21st Century

With the establishment of the Center for Mourning Pastoral Care, the Church of St. Michael lost its previous role as a parish church in 2007 . St. Michael has been a branch church of the Bornheim parish of St. Josef since summer 2007 . The previous municipality area was divided between the municipalities of St. Bernhard ( Frankfurt-Nordend ), St. Josef ( Frankfurt-Bornheim ) and St. Christophorus ( Frankfurt-Preungesheim ). The area of ​​the former parish Heilig-Kreuz also belongs to the new parish of St. Josef . The mother community of St. Josef in Bornheim and the neighboring parish Maria Rosenkranz in Seckbach initially form the common pastoral area of Frankfurt-Bornheim. At the beginning of 2012 this was expanded to include the two parishes of the Holy Spirit in the Riederwald and the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Fechenheim to form the pastoral area of ​​Frankfurt-East. This existed until December 31, 2014.

On January 1, 2015, the four parishes of the pastoral area of ​​Frankfurt-Ost St. Josef in Bornheim, Maria Rosenkranz in Seckbach, Heilig-Geist in Riederwald and Herz-Jesu in Fechenheim became a new type of parish under the name of St. Josef Frankfurt am Main with the churches of Sankt Josef Bornheim, Maria Rosenkranz Seckbach , Heilig Geist Riederwald and Herz Jesu Fechenheim . This includes the centralization of certain tasks, such as the parish secretariat. The parish now has around 16,500 members. The Church of St. Michael is a profile church of the diocese. Due to its location in the area of ​​the new type of parish St. Josef Frankfurt am Main, it is also their branch church . The buildings are administered by the Stadtkirche Frankfurt am Main.

architecture

In the northeastern Nordend, the church is located in a residential area at the transition between expressionist housing developments from the 1920s and residential rows from the post-war period on a plot of land on the corner of Gellertstrasse and Rotlintstrasse. The north-south facing church is designed as a rounded cross shape. The curved special shape stands out from the surrounding housing estates and yet, with the clinker brick facade, refers to the expressionist brick houses . The load-bearing framework is a skeleton structure with reinforced reinforced concrete columns. The elliptical nave ends in the north with a triple rounded choir. On the church square to the southwest, the cylindrical bell tower is an eye-catcher that can be seen from afar. The external appearance of the church is characterized by red brick walls between slender gray concrete struts. Below the eaves of the flat roof, a band of glass blocks divides the facade. Two low entrances in the south with their semicircular shape take up the main design motif.

After a low entrance zone you enter the wide, curved interior. Schwarz got the idea for the sequence of rooms and lighting in the church while hiking through the Aare gorge . The interior is brightly plastered and structured by gray-green concrete struts. The high-lying light strip made of glass blocks ensures evenly bright illumination from above. The flat, sky-blue ceiling is divided by golden bars that are shaped like a vault. The floor is covered with black slabs of slate .

The altar, raised by three steps, designed by Maria Schwarz , the architect's wife and assistant, is located in the center of the Dreikonchenchor . The organ is in the eastern conche and a weekday chapel in the western conche . The low 3 m high crypt under the altar island is characterized by four strong columns and contains an altar with the relics of the apostle Matthias, surrounded by four columns . The lower church is only illuminated by three stained glass windows designed by the glass painter Georg Meistermann (1911–1990). In abstract, symbolic imagery, the windows thematize the spirit of God hovers over the water , send from your spirit and a new creation arises .

Furnishing

Parish church until 2007

Maria Schwarz's main altar is designed so that the celebrant can use it from all four sides. That of Elisabeth Tresckow created with gems studded cross can be mounted in the ground of the altar on all four sides. Karl Wimmenauer's priestly seat is at the top of the altar stand . By Ewald Mataré (1887-1965) of copper come weathercock on the bell tower (1962), the door handles made of cast bronze (1954) on the entrance doors, the offertory plate next to the southwest entrance to the St. Anthony and a processional cross (1953). The mosaics of St. Michael in the apse and the risen Christ (both 1956) near the baptismal font were made by Karl Knappe (1884–1970). Lotte Ostertag and Friedrich Gebhart created the original font , which was embedded in a floor mosaic (1956) by Ludwig Becker. Gebhart also designed the tabernacle (1955), which today stands on its own pedestal . Originally it was on the altar. Elisabeth Treskow's lecture cross is decorated with gems. Fritz Schwerdt (1901–1970) designed the hanging cross of the crypt and the monstrance . In the chapel in the western cone there is a Way of the Cross (1955) by Joachim Pick and a Franconian Madonna made of wood from the 18th century. The late 90s was the right one designed by Maria Schwarz beside the altar thanks to a donation Ambo from sandstone erected to replace the original ambo metal. This is now used in the crypt. The original clay Madonna (1954) by Gertrud Scherer is now in kindergarten.

Conversion into a mourning center from 2007

The transformation of the parish church into the church of the Center for Mourning Pastoral Care led to two liturgical accents inside: a place of baptism and a place of remembrance of the dead were established. The place of the baptismal commemoration includes a baptismal font that was set up at the intersection of the axes of the two entrances. This is complemented by a stone stele that serves as a candlestick for the Easter candle and was set up in the place of the old baptismal font. Ludwig Becker's floor mosaic was transferred to the entrance area of ​​the center. The place of remembrance of the dead is in front of the chancel between the first rows of pews and consists of a sandstone slab inserted into the slate floor and surrounded by four candlesticks. On this is the book of the dead with the names of the deceased from the parish of St. Michael (until 2007) or St. Josef. The coffin or flowers and candles can be placed here for requies or farewell parties . The pastoral advisor Verena Maria Kitz took over the management of the mourning center on January 1, 2020 and accompanies the planning for the first urn burial church in the diocese of Limburg and is working in cooperation with the city church on the reformatting of the concept of the center for mourning pastoral care.

A glass window created by Georg Meistermann for the St. Raphael Church in Berlin - Gatow , which was demolished in 2005, was installed in the chapel of the Center for Mourning Pastoral Care next to the church in 2012.

  • St. Michael

  • Bell tower

  • Interior (2009)

  • Sanctuary (2009)

Web links

Commons : St. Michael (Frankfurt-Nordend)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berkemann, p. 164.
  2. ^ Official Journal of the Diocese of Limburg, No. 2, February 1, 2007, No. 448, document on the establishment of the profile church “St. Michael - Center for Mourning Pastoral “, Frankfurt am Main
  3. ↑ On the way to a new parish - pastoral area Frankfurt-Ost. In: homepage of the parish. Catholic parish of the Holy Spirit Frankfurt-Riederwald, 2013, accessed on February 21, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Catholic Parish St. Josef Frankfurt am Main (Ed.): Looking through - signposts through the Catholic Parish St. Josef Frankfurt am Main . Frankfurt am Main 2015.
  5. ↑ Catholic Church in the East of Frankfurt -. In: homepage of the parish. Catholic Parish St. Josef Frankfurt am Main, January 2018, accessed on February 21, 2018 .
  6. ^ Diocese of Limburg : New director in the center for mourning pastoral. Profile Church of St. Michael. In: website of the mourning center. December 5, 2019, accessed January 5, 2020 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 7 '52.2 "  N , 8 ° 41' 48.7"  E