St. Thomas More (Giessen)

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East side of St. Thomas More in Gießen with church square
Church from the southwest

St. Thomas More is a Roman Catholic parish in Giessen and the youngest of the city's Catholic churches. The hall church was consecrated on July 15, 1967 by Cardinal Hermann Volk .

history

The Catholic life of the city of Giessen took place in the 12./13. Century began in a Romanesque "chapel" on the church square, which was replaced by a Gothic hall church in the 14th century. With the introduction of the Reformation in 1532, there was no Catholic priest in the city for over 250 years. After the Catholic community had grown again at the end of the 18th century, the previous building was consecrated by St. Bonifatius in 1840 and replaced by the current building in 1905/1936. The influx of refugees from Eastern Europe after the Second World War led to the construction of St. Albertus in 1957–1958. A barrack built in 1951, the St. George's Chapel on the site of the former infirmary in Licher Strasse (today: law faculty), which belonged to St. Bonifatius, soon turned out to be too small. In 1961 the parish rectorate Gießen-Ost was founded and in 1963 elevated to the parish curate of St. Thomas More. The then Gießen parish priest and clergyman, Karl Joseph Deuster, spoke out against the establishment because he feared a split in the local Catholic community. The search for a building site proved difficult and did not come to an end until 1965. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on February 6, 1966, the laying of the foundation stone on May 30, 1966 by Vicar General Ludwig Haehnlein, the topping-out ceremony on November 18, and the consecration by the then Mainz Bishop Hermann Volk on July 15, 1967. The church patron is the lawyer and politician , Philosopher and humanist Thomas More , who died a martyr's death in 1535 . In 1971 an organ was installed. The interior of the church was renovated in 2015.

architecture

The tree of life (west window)

The hall church is built on Grünberger Straße on the site of the mountain barracks and forms an ensemble with the kindergarten and the rectory. The church area is ten meters above the adjacent Grünberger Straße at a height of 185 m above sea level. The red, flat brick building on a cross-shaped floor plan, the east arm of which is somewhat elongated, was designed by the architect Hans Weber from Amöneburg. Below the eaves, a surrounding white band forms the top of the wall. The space between the arms of the cross is filled by low annex extensions that serve as community rooms .

The massive building is illuminated through parabolic lead glass windows. At the ends of the cross arms, four large glass concrete windows in the form of parabolas that open upwards supply the interior with light. They are structured by four horizontal bands. Jupp Jost from Hattersheim designed the stained glass windows with abstract motifs dominated by the colors red and blue. They were carried out by Ignaz Donath & Son from Gelsenkirchen-Buer. The window above the altar area in the west shows the tree of life, the branches of which combine various biblical tree motifs, such as the tree of paradise and the cross of Christ. The shape and color of the north window expresses the movement of divine grace from top to bottom and, in reverse, the prayer. The east window is dedicated to Mary and shows the "mysterious rose" ( Rosa mystica ) of the Lauretanian litany . In the south window, in which a golden crown stands out in color, the life and martyrdom of Thomas More is thematized.

Furnishing

Interior view of St. Thomas More with the chancel and organ to the west

The interior is closed at the top by a wood-clad ceiling made up of four large pentagons. The bright community room offers space for around 500 visitors, making it the largest church room in the district. The church furnishings are kept simple and modern in line with the time the church was built; he focuses on the essentials and implements the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council . The massive altar block made of light granite rests on a smaller granite block. Relics of the namesake were embedded in the altar . Below the west window, the granite-carved tabernacle , which is open to the front, corresponds to the altar.

The original Way of the Cross in tall rectangular, illuminated niches was redesigned in 2008 with transparent silk scarves. On a granite column with a round disc stands a carved wood statue of the Virgin Mary in a brown-blue robe crowned with five golden rays. She holds the baby Jesus in her left hand and a gold-plated scepter in her right hand. The church stalls form two blocks that face the altar in the west and leave a central aisle free. The ambo and pulpit are designed as simple desks and have the same shape.

organ

Kreienbrink organ from 1971

St. Thomas More initially owned a small organ made by the Osnabrück organ builder Matthias Kreienbrink , which had six registers . In the course of the new organ building, the instrument was sold to St. Marien in Großen-Buseck . Since 1971 the new organ from the same company has been located on the south side to the left of the chancel. It has two manuals (Hauptwerk and Brustwerk) and a pedal with a total of 21 registers plus playing aids . The disposition is as follows:

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
Praestant 8th'
Hollow flute 8th'
octave 4 ′
Reed flute 4 ′
Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Gemshorn 2 ′
Mixture V
Trumpet 8th'
II breastwork C – g 3
Dumped 8th'
Principal flute 4 ′
Schwiegel 2 ′
Sif flute 1'
Overtone II-III
Scharff II
Schalmey shelf 8th'
Pedal C – f 1
Principal bass 16 ′
Sub-bass 16 ′
Octave bass 8th'
Thought bass 8th'
Piffaro II 4 ′ + 2 ′
bassoon 16 ′
  • Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
  • Playing aids: 2 free combinations, tutti

Peal

The Hamm bell from 1901 is rung

The bronze bell in the free-standing, walled-up passage in the north was cast in 1901 by the bell founder Andreas Hamm in Frankenthal for St. Walpurgis in Groß-Gerau . It sounds on strike note d 2 and weighs 160 kilograms. On the shoulder between two ornamental friezes it bears the inscription: "ANDREAS HAMM SON GOSS MICH IN THE YEAR 1901" and under the relief of the Walburga on the flank the inscription "HOLY WALBURGIS, PLEASE FUER US."

Parish

The parish has around 3200 members (as of 2017). Since 2012 she has been carrying out the “GS80” project, which takes its name from Grünberger Straße 80, in conjunction with “Refugee Aid Gießen-Ost” and in ecumenical cooperation with the neighboring evangelical parishes. The pastoral-diaconal project offers integration and language courses, a tea room and child care. Thomas More houses a Spanish-speaking and an Eritrean Orthodox congregation, making it a simultaneous church . Pastoral care focuses on the elderly, sick and disabled. The church music and the concert series “Gloria Soli Deo - God alone for glory” is supported by a sponsoring association.

Since it was founded, St. Thomas More has had the following five pastors:

  • 1963–1973: Martin Luley , Vicar General
  • 1973–1983: Hermann Stolle
  • 1983–2011: Januarius Mäurer, Dean
  • 2011–2018: Matthias Schmid, clinic pastor
  • since 2018: Hans-Joachim Wahl, clergyman and dean

literature

  • Peter Weyrauch : The churches of the old district of Giessen. Mittelhessische Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Gießen 1979, p. 205 f.

Web links

Commons : St. Thomas More (Gießen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Catholic parish of St. Bonifatius (ed.): Church leader St. Bonifatius Gießen. Druck & Graphic, Giessen 1996, p. 9.
  2. ↑ a b Weyrauch: The churches of the old district of Gießen. 1979, p. 205.
  3. ↑ a b c Christian Nemeth: Spiritual filling from within . In: Gießener Anzeiger from July 15, 2017, accessed on July 15, 2017.
  4. ↑ a b Jacob Handrack: 50 years St. Thomas More on Saturday, 15 July 2017 18:00 . In: Gießener Zeitung of July 11, 2017, accessed on July 15, 2017.
  5. ↑ a b Jakob Handrack: The Cathedral of St. Thomas More - A Plea . In: Gießener Zeitung of April 26, 2015, accessed on July 15, 2017.
  6. ↑ morusfreunde.de: St. Thomas More: Disposition , accessed on March 26, 2018.
  7. ↑ Historical bells from the Andreas Hamm foundry in Frankenthal ( memento of October 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 6, 2015.
  8. ↑ Web presence of the parish , accessed on July 15, 2017.
  9. ↑ Gloria Soli Deo - Music to St. Thomas More: Projects , accessed on July 15, 2017.

Coordinates: 50 ° 35 ′ 6.4 "  N , 8 ° 41 ′ 36.3"  E