St. Severin (Hermülheim)

St. Severin is the Roman Catholic parish church in the Hermülheim district of Hürth .

St. Severin, old part,
on the right the new band extension

history

Old parish church around 1762 - drawing by Matthias Ehmann

Hermülheim is an old settlement area. Since a Roman burial ground and temple remains have been found here, a villa rustica is also assumed. The -heim name indicates a settlement that already existed at the time of the Frankish conquest or was newly established. The associated (former) Hermülheim Castle , at the point where the former Eifel water pipeline or its predecessor pipelines came together , already had its own church near the castle gate , which was customary under Germanic law before 800, the pastor of which is first mentioned in a document from 1214. Even the patronage of this church, which was only mentioned for 1540 , that of St. Severin , arose as early as the 9th century or was then transferred to the church. All of this suggests that the church was founded before the 10th century. In 1256, the church is expressly listed in the exchange contract between Dietrich von Richemulenheim and the German Order of Knights for his goods in Hermülheim for corresponding goods in Erp . The last beneficiary , Heinrich von Bachem, was persuaded by the order to resign in 1269 . Since then, the order has provided pastoral care in Hermülheim until the order was dissolved in 1802/1809. Initially by their own religious, who of course were mostly represented by vicars . Later the order only exercised the right of appointment. Elmar Brohl lists thirty pastors known by name from this period.

Ordenskirche

The church was initially a simple truss - hall church until 1264 to 1292, the time of Edmund von Werth was built, Bishop of Kurland, the seal impression was found during the demolition of the church, a stone building. This was single-nave, but in two parts, the choir was torn down in the late Gothic period and the nave was thus extended. The western part with the entrance and a roof turret still consisted partly of Romanesque components. The ceiling was vaulted. The cemetery was around the church. As early as the 17th century, the condition of the church was considered to be defective, as visitation reports show. In 1834 the parish of St. Severin was re-established. With this, the desire for a larger and closer church also grew. The old church served as a parish church until 1888 and was demolished a year later.

Traditional equipment

The interior of this church features a Pietà , which is attributed to the artist Master Tilman , and the Gothic crucifixion group that was attached to the outside. Both were taken over in the new Gothic building as well as in the later band building.

Neo-Gothic church

Model of the neo-Gothic church by Nikolaus Steinbach

In 1860 a new building was planned, which was made possible by generous donations at the cost of 85,000 Reichsmarks . The miller of the Herrenmühle , Josef Reifferscheidt, made the parish his sole heir - a street is named after him behind the hospital - and the married couple Peter Klemmer donated 14,000 thalers alone . The architect was won over by the diocesan master builder of the Archdiocese of Cologne , Franz Schmitz , who later became the Strasbourg cathedral master builder, who then, from 1886 to 1888, moved the building in the “ early Gothic style of historicism ” closer to the place on the corner of what is now known as the Severinus- / Friedrich- Ebert-Strasse, built.

The 33.50 m long building had two low, short side aisles with corner entrances next to the tower and an originally 51 m high hexagonal pointed tower with a tower clock and the main entrance. The most distinctive component, however, was the hexagonal middle section with a tent- roof -like dome, which was crowned by a high, pointed roof turret over an open lantern . The organ stage, which carried the organ at that time, was also moved into the tower. On October 28, 1888, the new church was blessed by the pastor Gottfried Böhmer . Because of its construction and the identification with the new church, the building was affectionately called Hermöllemer Dom by the people of Hürth . The building found admirers until the 1930s, as it was described in the home book of the Nazi teachers from 1934 as "probably one of the most beautiful country churches in the diocese ": The memory of this church is kept alive by the figure of St. Severin of Cologne, which was carved by Nikolaus Steinbach in 1905 and taken over in the successor church. The patron saint of the Hermülheim congregation has the bishop's staff in his right hand and a model of this church in his left hand.

Band construction

The neo-Gothic church was badly damaged by bombs in October 1944 , but it was restored by 1947. Soon, however, the building seemed too small again for the growing place. In addition, the taste had changed. In the issues of the Rheinische Kunststätten series , the building was described in 1968 as "not very beautiful" and "unfortunate quadrangle", "which one can do without today" (in the subsequent issue from 1981). And the community's web site describes it as "rather unusual". The well-known Cologne architect Karl Band was commissioned with the renovation and expansion of the building. The foundation stone was laid on January 4, 1965 by the pastor Ewald Fröhlich, and on April 27, 1968 Auxiliary Bishop Augustinus Frotz consecrated the renewed and expanded church.

The tower, three bays of the central nave up to the former crossing, the western aisle and the former choir, which was converted into a chapel, with its ribbed vaults were preserved . In place of the right aisle, Band added a rectangular structure, which is roofed with a simple beamed ceiling and the right side of which is in turn separated by four columns in the form of an aisle. The sacristy joins here at a right angle. The altar (and the Ambo ) of Heinz Gernot green-gray, veined Cipollino - marble is preferred over the north wall in the new center of the church. On the south side, opposite the altar and the crucifixion group, there is the rear wall of the church with integrated windows by Will Thonett , which symbolize the Pentecost event, the sending of the Holy Spirit. In place of the "hexagon" there is now the organ gallery behind three blind windows with the same light-colored bricks as the original building.

Organs

EF Walcker & Cie organ from 1960 with 6 registers

In the organ gallery there is an organ from Orgelbau Kreienbrink from 1968 with a main mechanism, swell mechanism, pedal and 25 electrical stops , but mechanical action . The organ was cleaned and restored in 2000. As part of the interior renovation of the church in 2013, the pipework was cleaned again by the builder of the organ in Osnabrück . Another organ made by Eberhard Friedrich Walcker in 1960 with 6 registers was transferred from the profaned church of St. Ursula (Kalscheuren) to Serverin in 2009, overhauled and given a new brochure for the metal pipes. It serves as a choir organ.

Bells

The old church had saved two bells over the war times of the First World War , which still came from the "ancient" church and were cast in 1663 by the Cologne bell caster Lehr for St. Pantaleon , from where they were taken over in 1780. In 1930 three new bells from the Otto bell foundry were added.

Casting year	Foundry, casting location	Diameter (mm)	Mass (kg)	Chime
1930	Bell foundry Otto, Hemelingen near Bremen	975	1154	f ^'
1930	Bell foundry Otto, Hemelingen near Bremen	675	1028	g ^'
1930	Bell foundry Otto, Hemelingen near Bremen	425	864	b ^'

The first two bells were destroyed by the effects of war during World War II .

In 1959, the Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock bell foundry cast a five-part bronze bell, to which a sixth bell was added in 2008 in the same foundry. The Ursula bell was financed as a souvenir from the sale of the ringing of the bells of the secular church of St. Ursula . For this reason the bell bears the three-line inscription:

"+ ST. I AM URSULA AND FROM KALSCHEUREN I AM,
+ IN THE CHOIR WITH MY HERMÜLHEIM SISTERS I CALL,
+ TO ONE TOGETHER IN FAITH IN CHRIST THE LORD "

- Bell books of the Archdiocese of Cologne

This means that St. Severin has the most polyphonic bell in the city.

Pietà by Master Tilman
Window by Wilhelm Schmitz-Steinkrüger
Gothic crucifixion group by Master Tilman

Other equipment

Another remarkable thing is a valuable Pietà , which is attributed to the artist Master Tilman , one of the few Cologne sculptors and carvers of the late 15th century mentioned in a document. The Gothic crucifixion group was probably made between 1450 and 1500 and was part of the furnishings of the old Teutonic Order church. It is also attributed to Master Tilmann. The three figures (Mary, Christ and John) impress with their expressive gestures and facial expressions. In the choir, in the tower and in the side aisle of the neo-Gothic part there are a number of windows worth seeing. These show Christian symbols and are designs by the Cologne artist Wilhelm Schmitz-Steinkrüger , a Thorn Prikker student.

Further development

The urgently needed exterior renovation of the church took place in the first decade of the 21st century. The building extension, but also the old church, had been damaged over time, so that moisture appeared in the base area of the interior of the church. After the exterior work was completed, the interior of the church was renovated in 2013. In addition to the renewal of the plaster, the old power lines were renewed and the area of the old and the new part of the parish church was optically more closely connected with each other through a new color scheme. During the interior renovation, the services took place in a specially set up emergency church in the parish hall.

Emergency church in the parish hall during the interior renovation in 2013
Renovation in 2013 with a view of the south wall with pictures by Will Thonett

literature

Clemens Klug: A thousand years of St. Severin in Hermülheim. Volume I: From the early days to the end of the 19th century. Bornheim 1984.
Clemens Klug: Hürth - art treasures and monuments. Huerth 1978, OCLC 174269749 .
Robert Wilhelm Rosellen : History of the parishes of the deanery Brühl page 310–337; Readable online at the University of Toronto - Robarts Library : PDF

Individual evidence

↑ Elmar Brohl : Hermülheim and the German Order. Huerth o. J. (1975) pp. 11-14.

↑ Brohl, p. 21.

^ Franz Josef Lausberg: Welcome to St. Severin, Hermülheim , little church leader

↑ Brohl, p. 97 f.

↑ Britta Havlicek: Herrmüllemer Dom St. Severin commemorates four churches , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger January 3, 2014 [1]

^ Franz Josef Lausberg: Welcome to St. Severin, Hermülheim , little church leader

↑ NS teachers' association Hürth-Efferen (ed.): Home book of the community Hürth. Cologne 1934, p. 103.

^ Rhenish Association for Monument Preservation and Landscape Protection (ed.); Manfred Faust: City of Hürth. 3rd completely revised edition. Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-88094-726-0 . (Rheinische Kunststätten, issue No. 36) (1st edition, issue 3–4 Hürth , 1968, 2nd city of Hürth by Heinz Firmenich, 1981)

^ Franz Josef Lausberg: Welcome to St. Severin, Hermülheim , little church leader

↑ Brohl, p. 98.

↑ Bells in the Deanery Hürth ( Memento of the original from October 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 366 kB) Bell books of the Archdiocese of Cologne on glockenbuecher.de @1@ 2

^ Gerhard Reinhold: Otto bells. Family and company history of the Otto bell foundry dynasty . Self-published, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , p. 588, here in particular pp. 345, 535 .

↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen . Nijmegen / NL 2019, p. 556, here in particular 310, 495 , urn : nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770 (dissertation at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen).

^ Gerhard Hoffs (arrangement): Bells in the dean's office Hürth. P. 49. ( Memento of the original from October 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 366 kB) @1@ 2