St. Thomas on the Kyll

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Saint Thomas an der Kyll
inner space

The former Cistercian convent Sankt Thomas an der Kyll in Sankt Thomas , a municipality in the Eifel district Bitburg-Prüm in Rhineland-Palatinate , was founded in honor of Thomas Becket at the end of the 12th century . The place and monastery bear the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury , who was Lord Chancellor under King Henry II of England and who after his assassination in 1170 in Canterbury Cathedral by Pope Alexander III. was canonized . The church was built towards the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries with elements of the late Romanesque and early Gothic styles .

history

Monastery building from 1744

Probably shortly after the canonization of Thomas of Canterbury in 1173, the knight Ludwig von Deudesfeld had a chapel built on the site of the current monastery building, which was consecrated by Archbishop Arnold I of Trier . This chapel was supposed to keep the precious relic that Ludwig von Deudesfeld had brought back from a pilgrimage to the grave of Thomas Becket from Canterbury . As one of the early places of worship of the saint, who was venerated as a martyr , the chapel itself became a destination for pilgrimages and the relic was said to have miraculous healings.

Following the construction of the chapel, Ludwig von Deudesfeld founded an aristocratic convent “in honor of the Virgin Mary and St. Thomas Becket ”. A document from 1185 shows that he and his wife Ida donated larger lands to the monastery. One of her daughters, Elisabeth, became the first abbess. The nunnery was looked after by the Himmerod Abbey . The deed of donation also mentions the Himmeroder monk Isenbard as the builder of the chapel. In 1188 the number of nuns had increased so much that a large number left the monastery and founded a new branch in Hoven near Zülpich . After another donation from Ludwig von Deudesfeld's son, the construction of a larger monastery and today's church began.

As can be seen from the two inscriptions ("A 1222 CONSECRATA EST ECCLESIA") on the south and north pillars of the triumphal arch , the church was consecrated in 1222. In 1742 the monastery buildings burned down with the church roof. They were rebuilt under Abbess Maria Theresia von Meuthen, as the year 1744 above the portal shows.

After the French conquest of the left bank of the Rhine , the nunnery was secularized in 1802 and the buildings were auctioned. The church was initially a branch church of the parish of Kyllburg. In 1847 the Prussian state acquired the monastery building, in 1852 it left it to the Diocese of Trier, which used it as a Demerite house . This “institution for the inner renewal of clergy” was a disciplinary penal institution, a priestly prison in which clergymen served the sentences imposed on them. In 1910 the Franciscan order acquired the monastery and the church. The Franciscans, who held the monastery until 1942, had old buildings torn down and new ones built. The church was repaired and the roof re-covered. After the Second World War , the complex served as an episcopal priest's house from 1946 and later as a Catholic rural elementary school .

Todays use

The retreat house of the diocese of Trier has been located on the site since 2006 . The buildings were last renovated in 2007 and now offer space for 72 beds in 54 guest rooms and seven group rooms for spiritual work. The head of the facility is currently Father Christoph Mingers OFM. The events of the retreat house, whose offers are aimed at lay people as well as clergy, include classical retreats as well as short retreats, special offers only for men or for managers, events on spirituality and coping with everyday life. The cloister of the old monastery building is also occasionally used for art exhibitions open to the public.

Monastery church

Calyx bud capital
Nuns gallery

The church is a single-nave hall building with a nun's gallery in the west, which takes up almost half of the nave . The two-aisled room under the gallery is considered the oldest part of the church. It was intended for lay people and was originally closed with iron bars. The wide wall piers featured columns are with sepals and buds capitals sculpted. In the second half of the 19th century, tombstones were moved from the nave to this lay room, which is why it is also incorrectly referred to as the crypt . It is divided into four bays and, like the three eastern bays of the nave, is covered with groin vaults. These are reinforced by wide, ogival belt arches that rest on strong pilasters with multi-profiled consoles . The upper storey is pierced by rosettes with six-part tracery . A polygonal apse adjoins it to the east . In 1988 the color scheme corresponding to the original painting was restored.

Furnishing

Stone pulpit from 1634
  • The Romanesque high altar bar has been preserved from the original furnishings . It is decorated with cassettes on the front and on the sides. Four pillars are attached to the rear, which have similar capitals as the pillars of the lay room.
  • The hanging cross above the altar is dated to the first half of the 14th century.
  • The Bernhard altar was reassembled in 1988 from restored fragments from the 17th century. The central relief depicts Saint Bernard of Clairvaux kneeling before Mary. On the upper scene, he is hugging Christ crucified.
  • The pulpit , which was created in 1634 and is decorated with heraldic reliefs , now serves as a lectern in front of the choir.
  • In the anteroom, in the choir and under the nun's gallery there are numerous grave slabs of abbesses, clergy and benefactors of the monastery.

organ

The organ of the former monastery church was built by the organ building company Alfred Führer in 1989 and has the following disposition :

I substation C–
Dumped 8th'
Gamba 8th'
Hollow flute 4 ′
Nasard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
recorder 2 ′
third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
II main work C–
Praestant 8th'
Reed flute 8th'
octave 4 ′
Gemshorn 4 ′
octave 2 ′
Mixture IV
Trumpet 8th'
Pedal C–
Sub bass 16 ′
Principal bass 8th'
Dacked bass 8th'
octave 4 ′
bassoon 16 ′

literature

Web links

Commons : St. Thomas an der Kyll  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Saint Thomas. Retreat house of the diocese of Trier Retreat house St. Thomas

Coordinates: 50 ° 4 ′ 8.6 ″  N , 6 ° 35 ′ 59.1 ″  E