St. Stephanus (Schwendi)

The parish church of St. Stephen

The Church of St. Stephanus is the parish church built in 1561 in the community of Schwendi in the district of Biberach in Upper Swabia . The baroque furnishings go back to around 1730. A pilgrimage arose around the Maria-Hilf picture in the 17th century . The parish church belongs to the pastoral care unit Schwendi in the deanery of Biberach in the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart .

History and furnishings of the church

The stoning of Saint Stephen.

The church, north of the town center on the main road, was built by Marquard von Schwendi († 1564) on the Schwendi castle rest , the foundation stone indicates the year 1561 as the year of construction. Until then, the Anna chapel in the center of the village was the parish church of Schwendi. Only the octagonal baptismal font , carried by angels , which stands in the chancel of the church, has been preserved from the original furnishings . The grave monuments of barons Wilhelm von Schwendi († 1558), Marquard von Schwendi († 1564) and Hans von Schwendi († 1539) in the Joseph Chapel , a side chapel of the church, also date from the 16th century .

The church is a hall church with a cross-shaped floor plan . The square bell tower stands in the northwest and was raised in the 18th century. In the years 1723–1734 the church received its baroque interior. The frescoes are by the Buch baroque painter Johann Martin Sauter: The ceiling paintings in the chancel are dedicated to the church patron Saint Stephen , the main painting shows the stoning of the first Christian martyr in front of the city of Jerusalem . The main fresco in the nave of the church shows the finding of the cross of Christ.

The figural decoration of the church was made by the sculptor Dominikus Hermenegild Herberger . Particularly worth seeing is the pulpit with the allegorical figures of the four parts of the world known at the time: Africa ( smoke barrel ), America ( bow , quiver ), Asia ( turban , curved sword ) and Europe ( imperial crown , scepter ).

The miraculous image of Mariahilf is located in the center of the high altar and thus the entire church space . The oldest sculpture in the church is on the right side altar . The late Gothic Pietà (around 1490) used to be in the mountain chapel on the road towards Großschafhausen.

In the years 1970–1973 the church was extensively renovated. The central aisle fell away, instead the church stalls were set up as a block. In adaptation to the liturgical reform , a new altar, a so-called popular altar made of bronze with a stone slab, was erected.

The Maria-Hilf pilgrimage

The miraculous image of Mariahilf.

Marquard von Schwendi (1574–1634), grandson of the eponymous builder of the church, is considered to be the founder of the Maria-Hilf pilgrimage in Schwendi. He was diocesan administrator and dean of the prince-bishop Leopold V in Passau . Around 1620 he commissioned the Passau artist Pius to make two copies of the Maria Hilf painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder from around 1537. After Marquard had already donated a chapel with the image of the Virgin Mary in Passau (today the Mariahilf pilgrimage church ), he had the second copy transferred to Schwendi in 1634. A separate altar was consecrated for the Maria-Hilf picture in 1656. After the baroque style of the church, the painting took its central place in the middle of the high altar .

The day of pilgrimage was June 2nd, the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary . On this day the believers from the neighboring communities made a pilgrimage to Schwendi. The pilgrimage lost its importance in the course of the reform efforts of Emperor Joseph II. From 1807 the festival was moved to the first Sunday in June by decree. Until 1970 the believers marched through the town in a solemn procession on this day . The swan festival, which the Rota Schwendi music association organizes every year on the first weekend in June, goes back to the pilgrimage festival. For some years now there have been efforts to revive church pilgrimages.

The cross particle

The weather cross with the cross particle (middle).

The Schwendier parish has been in possession of a cross particle that supposedly comes from the cross of Christ since the 17th century . The wood splinter, a few millimeters in size, is attached to the weather cross . The relic comes from the church in Mindelzell (today the district of Günzburg ), where it was stolen by a band of robbers in 1690 . The thieves were tracked down in the Schwendier forest, three of them locked in the prison tower of the Schwendier rule and executed in 1692 on the Schwendier Galgenberg.

The Mindelzeller demanded the return of the cross particle, the Countess Johanna von Oettingen-Spielberg , née von Schwendi, demanded money. In the end, the cross particle was divided, a splinter was transferred to the Schwendier parish church in 1691. In the parish church, a fresco on the choir arch commemorates the discovery of the robbers. On a oak to see in the one flash drives, including three fleeing robbers who leave the Cross particles.

literature

Max Hammer : Schwendi. Home register of a community in Upper Swabia. Konrad, Weißenhorn 1969.
Johann König: Schwendi parish church. Biberach district. Rottenburg diocese. Patron St. Stephan (December 26th) and Alexius (July 17th). = The churches in Schwendi, Württ. Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1940 ( Art Guide S 471/72 series Southern Germany ), (2nd completely revised edition: Otto Beck: Catholic parish church St. Stephan in Schwendi. = Schwendi, Oberschwaben. Schnell & Steiner , Munich et al. 1985 ( art guide 471)).
Community of Schwendi (Ed.): Schwendi. 850 years, Geiselmann, Laupheim 1978.
Georg Dehio (first), Ernst Gall (Hrsg.): Handbook of German art monuments . - Dagmar Zimdars u. a .: Baden-Württemberg. Volume 2: The administrative districts of Freiburg and Tübingen. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1997.
Volker Straehle (2010): Theft of the relic brings three men to the Galgenberg, in: Schwäbische Zeitung, local edition Laupheim, October 2, 2010.