St. Peter and Paul (St. Gallen-Rotmonten)

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Church of St. Peter and Paul, portal
View from the southwest

The Church of St. Peter and Paul is the Roman Catholic church of Rotmonten , the northernmost quarter of the city of St. Gallen .

history

Predecessor church and naming

For the first time Rotmonten is mentioned as mons rotundus , i.e. as a round mountain, in a handwriting of the St. Gallen monastery from the 11th century. From the 12th century, the name in the monastery files changed from rudimont , rodimunt to Rotmonten. In a martyrology of Codex 342 from the 11th century, the consecration of a mountain church in Rotmonten is documented. This church is said to have stood at the end of today's Kirchlistrasse at the caretaker's house of the wildlife park Peter and Paul and was consecrated to the apostles Peter and Paul , which is why today's parish church took over the consecration in honor of these saints. Every year there was a procession from St. Gallen to the mountain church of Rotmonten, a tradition that did not end until the Reformation in 1524. The tradition that St. Gallus is said to have had a hermitage near this church is uncertain . However, the fact that St. Columban and his companions repeatedly founded churches in the places where they stayed that were consecrated to St. Peter and St. Paul is documented in many places, including in Luxeuil , Bobbio and also in Vermes .

According to a document in the city archives of St. Gallen in 1303 a female clergyman lived by the church, who had herself locked in a cell following the example of St. Walburga . During the Reformation the church is said to have been used as a haystack or carriage shed . However, after Abbot Diethelm Blarer returned from Wartensee to St. Gallen, the building was converted back into a church and used for Catholic services. In 1771 the dilapidated church was demolished and the pilgrimage church Heiligkreuz was built in 1772 in Espen . The two bells of the old mountain church of Rotmonten were used in the pilgrimage church until 1899 before they were melted down in the H. Rüetschi bell foundry in Aarau. The only surviving object from the old mountain church of Rotmonten is the copper-gilded, late Gothic lecture cross , which is now kept in the Holy Cross Church of the Holy Trinity. A copy of this cross is kept in the church of St Peter and Paul Rotmonten.

Development and construction history

Since the 1920s the people of Rotmonten wanted to have their own parish and church. The Great Depression and the Second World War , however, made it impossible to realize this. The founding assembly of the Rotmonten church building association did not take place until June 22, 1962. In 1964 there was a project competition won by the architects Oscar Müller and Mario Facincani. On September 19, 1966, the construction of the church including the parish center was approved by the parish. On August 19, 1967, the first was held groundbreaking ceremony at the site at the Waldgutstrasse place and on March 23, 1968 took place Bishop Josephus Hasler , the foundation stone was laid . The consecration of the Church of St. Peter and Paul took place on June 28, 1969, the feast day of the church patron. The following day the pastor of St. Peter and Paul was installed in his office by the Bishop of St. Gallen.

Steeple

Building description

Exterior and bells

The church of St. Peter and Paul, including the parish center, is located at Waldgutstrasse 16 in an open area in the immediate vicinity of the primary school and the Holzweid training center of the St. Gallen University . The architects Oscar Müller and Mario Facincani designed the ensemble of church and parish center as polygonal buildings that are grouped around a slightly raised forecourt, leading to the path from different sides. The church tower stands free next to the church and has a four-part bell. Since June 1989 there has been a sculpture by Andreas Hug, a student of Fredy Thalmann, who designed the sculptural works of the church in 1969, on a meadow next to the church tower. The plastic Hugs is supposed to be reminiscent of a stone plant that grows out of the earth and the square foundation stone. The sculpture symbolizes the growth of man from the earthly into the divine.

Emil Eschmann cast the four-part bell for the Church of St. Peter and Paul. The consecration of bells took place on Corpus Christi , June 5, 1969. The following day the bells were raised in the tower by the school children.

number Weight volume dedication inscription
1 1200 kg e St. Peter and Paul You have chosen them to be princes over the whole earth, Psalm 44.
2 700 kg G Mother of God Greetings, Mary, full of grace.
3 500 kg a St. Gallus Saint Gallus, messenger of faith.
4th 300 kg H Guardian Angel Praise the Lord, all of his angels, Psalm 102.
inside view

Interior and artistic equipment

Based on Le Corbusier's Church of Notre-Dame-du-Haut in Ronchamp, the Church of St. Peter and Paul consists of several structures joined together, the shapes of which are also clearly visible from the outside. Under an elevated canopy , the visitor passes a wall sculpture, which was designed by Fredy Thalberg and bears the title Easter Fire , into the interior of the church. In contrast to the majority of the churches built in St. Gallen and the surrounding area, the one of St. Peter and Paul is no longer a Church of the Way, but designed as a meeting room as a result of the Second Vatican Council and its liturgical reform, with 450 seats grouped in a semicircle around the east-facing altar area . In order to illustrate the unity of priest and community, the sanctuary is only raised from the seats of the believers by three lower steps. The ceiling above the chancel, on the other hand, rises above the ceiling of the main room and thus refers to the transcendence , which is also underlined by the indirect lighting, which lets in a lot of daylight into the choir room.

The altar , the ambo , the priest's seat and the baptismal font were created by the sculptor Fredy Thalmann. Relics of the holy martyrs Livinus, Valentinus and Columbus are set in the altar . The colored windows and the tapestry in the choir room were designed by Ferdinand Gehr . Franziska Gehr, his daughter, made the tapestry from 1973–1974. It is divided into three levels and shows Jesus Christ at its intersection , whose body shows the same brown earth color as the other people depicted on the carpet. As the archetype of man, it is related to God and represents the connection between the divine and earthly spheres. The colors green and blue represent the earthly dimension, while the yellow lines that run through the tapestry indicate the presence of God in the world refer.

The northern area of ​​the service room was redesigned as a working day chapel and meditation room as a result of the 25th anniversary of the church in the years 1989–1990. This area of ​​the church is oriented towards the tabernacle by Josef Tannheimer. Similar to the tabernacle in the church of St. Felix and Regula Wattwil , the tabernacle of St. Peter and Paul is also set up in a polygonal column floating down from the ceiling through which daylight falls on him. The housing of the tabernacle is equipped with around 360 semi-precious and precious stones , which are supposed to symbolize the moods in the course of the year and life.

Späth organ from 1978

organ

In 1978 the company Späth Orgelbau , Rapperswil, built the instrument for the Church of St. Peter and Paul. The organ has 20 registers , divided into 2 manuals and pedal . In 1995 the building company carried out a revision. Tonal adjustments were made here.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
Praestant 8th'
Pointed flute 8th'
octave 4 ′
Coupling flute 4 ′
Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Super octave 2 ′
Mixture IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Trumpet 8th'
II Positive C-g 3
Wooden dacked 8th'
Viol flute 8th'
Praestant 4 ′
Reed flute 4 ′
recorder 2 ′
Sesquialter 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ + 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
Cymbel II 2 ⁄ 3 ′
Wooden shelf 8th'
Pedal C – f 1
Sub bass 16 ′
Flute bass 8th'
bassoon 16 ′
Trumpet 8th'
  • Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
  • mechanical setting system

literature

  • Ernst Ziegler: Tablat and Rotmonten: Two local parishes of the city of St. Gallen. St. Gallen 1991, pp. 173-254.
  • Parish of St. Peter and Paul St. Gallen: 25 years of the church and parish of St. Peter and Paul St. Gallen. St. Gallen 1994.
  • Parish Council Rotmonten: Sankt Peter and Paul. St. Gallen 2009.

Web links

Commons : St. Peter and Paul Rotmonten  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ernst Ziegler: Tablat and Rotmonten: Two local communities in the city of St. Gallen. St. Gallen 1991, p. 176.
  2. ^ Ernst Ziegler: Tablat and Rotmonten: Two local communities in the city of St. Gallen. St. Gallen 1991, pp. 176-177.
  3. ^ Ernst Ziegler: Tablat and Rotmonten: Two local communities in the city of St. Gallen. St. Gallen 1991, pp. 177-179.
  4. ↑ Ernst Ziegler: A band gave the name.
  5. ^ Ernst Ziegler: Tablat and Rotmonten: Two local communities in the city of St. Gallen. St. Gallen 1991, p. 213.
  6. ↑ Ernst Ziegler: A band gave the name.
  7. ^ Ernst Ziegler: Tablat and Rotmonten: Two local communities in the city of St. Gallen. St. Gallen 1991, pp. 213-214.
  8. ↑ Rotmonten Parish Council: Sankt Peter und Paul.
  9. ^ Parish of St. Peter and Paul St. Gallen: 25 years of the church and parish of St. Peter and Paul St. Gallen.
  10. ^ Eastern Switzerland of March 23, 1968.
  11. ^ Chronicle of the parish of St. Peter and Paul.
  12. ^ Parish of St. Peter and Paul St. Gallen: 25 years of the church and parish of St. Peter and Paul St. Gallen.
  13. ^ Parish of St. Peter and Paul St. Gallen: 25 years of the church and parish of St. Peter and Paul St. Gallen.
  14. ^ Archives of the parish of St. Peter and Paul: document from Bishop Josephus Hasler dated July 1, 1969 .
  15. ↑ Rotmonten Parish Council: Sankt Peter und Paul.
  16. ↑ Alfred Meier: Our meditation room. In: Parish newspaper 1989 No. 2.
  17. ↑ Rotmonten Parish Council: Sankt Peter und Paul.
  18. ^ Organ directory Switzerland and Liechtenstein, section Catholic Church Rotmonten St. Gallen. Retrieved January 1, 2017.

Coordinates: 47 ° 26 '12 "  N , 9 ° 22' 30"  E ; CH1903:  746065  /  255800