St. Valentinus (Kiedrich)

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Parish Church of St. Valentinus and Dionysius
Valentine's reliquary from 1620
Choir with high altar

St. Valentinus and Dionysius is the Catholic minor basilica of Kiedrich in the Rheingau in Hesse . The former parish church of St. Valentinus and Dionysius is now a branch church of the parish of St. Peter and Paul Rheingau, a new type of parish. Since 2015 St. Peter and Paul in Eltville has also been the parish church of Kiedrich.

history

Reference to the elevation to the minor basilica

The large former parish church essentially dates from the end of the 15th / beginning of the 16th century, with the side aisles of the church dating from 1380. The unusually complete Gothic interior is worth seeing: the Volksgestühl (lay chairs) with the spiral of justice was created in 1510 by Erhart Falckener in the late Gothic style. 81 bench cheeks and 23 parapets have been preserved. The Kiedricher Madonna (around 1350), Gothic altars such as the Johannes altar with figures of the so-called master with the bib (around 1500), sculptures and paraments are still preserved. The high altar from 1619 is the grave altar of Caspar zu Elz-Langenau (* around 1548; † January 20, 1619 in Kiedrich), one of the Counts of Eltz .

A special feature inside is the rood screen between the nave and the choir . After the Council of Trent , this barrier was completely removed or relocated in most Catholic churches. Although the rood screen in Kiedrich was broken off after 1682, it was reconstructed again in the middle of the 19th century on the initiative of John Sutton , albeit a little less slender than the original.

The late Gothic St. Michael's Chapel with ossuary (Karner) is in the churchyard in the immediate vicinity of the church.

The building of the church was paid for by donations from pilgrims who went on a pilgrimage to the relics of St. Valentine . Around 1350 these relics came to Kiedrich from the neighboring Cistercian Abbey of Eberbach Monastery . Bone fragments from the skull and spine are kept here to this day and are visited by pilgrims every year. St. Valentine (Patron's Day: February 14th, "Valentine's Day") is the patron saint of the "falling sick" (epileptics) and lovers.

On June 29, 2010 it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI. elevated the parish church to a minor basilica .

St. Valentinus in Kiedrich forms together with St. Peter and Paul in Eltville, St. Markus in Erbach and St. Vincentius in Hattenheim the community association "Pastoraler Raum Eltville".

Renovation of the church

In the autumn of 2012, extensive renovation of the church began, both inside and outside, which will last until 2017. In November 2014, the work in the choir room, on the altars and on the glass windows there, including protective glazing, was completed. Further work concerned the organ, which was dismantled, thoroughly cleaned, overhauled and retuned. Further future work phases concern the remaining interior of the church and its equipment, the Michael chapel and the area around the church including the surrounding wall.

West portal, lintels show a sheet mask with a bearded male head and a female bust with Kruseler

Kiedricher choirboys

The liturgical Latin choral singing is cultivated in the service, since 1333 in a special form of the Mainz chant in the Germanic dialect . The Kiedricher Chorbuben sing every Sunday in the choral high mass, except during the summer holidays.

The countertenor Andreas Scholl , an internationally successful opera and concert singer, comes from Kiedrich and began as a choirboy with the choir boys. In 2010 he recorded a CD with songs by Oswald von Wolkenstein in the parish church of St. Valentinus. His sister Elisabeth Scholl - also a successful singer - was the first girl to be admitted to the Schola.

organ

Late Gothic organ with double doors

The organ, together with the instruments in Rysum , Sion and Ostönnen, is one of the oldest playable organs in the world, but has been rebuilt several times over the centuries. It is the oldest playable organ in Hessen. At present, the sources do not allow any reliable information about the complex building history and the dating of the individual parts, but is based, in addition to some archival documents, largely on the research of Pastor Zaun, who was transferred to Kiedrich on January 1, 1869. Zaun adopted an older organ around 1380 when the original church was built. Also in 1875 the oldest pipes were removed from the organ and kept, "which break like glass and are recognized by the year 1313 as the oldest of the organ". These assumptions could not be confirmed and are unlikely. Only the enlargement of the westernmost yoke in 1491 provided the space for today's organ.

Around 1500 the work was made by an unknown organ builder as a swallow's nest organ on the west wall, probably initially as a one-manual work. Johannes Wendel Kirchner renewed the wind chest in 1652/53 and probably also (at least partially) the pipework. In 1673 Kirchner refused to be elected mayor and preferred to carry out further work on the organ. It is possible that a positive was attached to a second manual at that time, but the housing has not been preserved. Repairs are documented for 1686 and 1692. Elias Salvianer extensively renovated the organ in 1710. In the contract, a disposition of the organ is handed down for the first time , which at that time included eight voices in the "upper organ work" and six in the "jerk positive". An independent pedal mechanism was obviously not available; it was added to the records of Zaun in 1722. Five repairs took place between 1715 and 1745. The exterior of the organ was made Baroque in 1760 by carving and painting it in imitation marble, and a singing gallery was built in front of it, on which the positive found its new location. Over ten repairs are documented for the period from 1768 to 1806 alone. The instrument was unplayable by 1790 at the latest. Various new building plans could not be implemented due to lack of funds.

The English baronet Sir John Sutton, as a lover of old organs, tried to preserve the few original remains of the Kiederich organ. He financed the renovation of the existing stock and the reconstruction of the lost parts. The first historical work began in 1858 and was completed in 1860 and is very poorly documented. The Belgian organ builder August Hooghuys from Bruges carried out the work on behalf of Sutton. The positive and pedal from the Baroque period were placed behind the organ in the tower and the presumed late Gothic appearance was restored, the disposition was drastically changed and an equal mood was created. Hooghuys revised registers from the old stock and put them together again. The old structure of the main mechanism housing was preserved and restored, while the wooden ornamental plant was re-created for the most part, the neo-Gothic finials on the pipes between fields. The spandrels under the side pipe towers, the double doors including the painting and the entire neo-Gothic front stage were also reconstructed . The new pedal mechanism integrated partly older pipes, some of which are similar in construction and the engraving of the tone letters to those of Georg and Peter Geißel, the masters of Kirchner. Other pipes point to the 18th century. Most of it comes from Hooghuys from the 19th century. In 1875 a pedal register was replaced, and in 1970/71 the original substance was restored during a renovation.

Parts of the Gothic front have been preserved, which has at least five different, overlapping colored versions . The double doors are probably still original. The metal pipes can be assigned to ten different groups in terms of material and design. The iron stop action and the wind chest of the main work date from 1653. In 1860 the 16-key pedal keyboard was created and the short octave in the manual was created by installing a shortened, used keyboard. The layout of the positive and the stop action of the pedal are also by Hooghuys.

Between 1985 and 1987, the Kuhn workshop restored it to its last monumental status from 1860. The key action of the main work and the entire wind system were reconstructed to the state of 1653 and a modified mid-tone tuning was applied. The valuable instrument thus combines late Gothic and neo-Gothic elements into a harmonious whole and today has the following disposition:

I positive CDEFGA – c 3
Dumped 8th'
Principal 4 ′
flute 4 '
Forest flute 2 ′
Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Super octave 1'
II main work CDEFGA – c 3
Big dumped 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Octave 4 ′
Flute 4 ′
Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Octave 2 ′
Mixture IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Cymbel II 1 ⁄ 2 ′
Pedal CD – e 0
Sub-bass 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Double fifth 5 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Octave 4 ′
Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Super Octave II 2 ′ + 1 ′
Mixture IV 2 ′

Tombs

The church also served as a burial place. In 1601, for example, Gernand von Schwalbach , the chief magistrate from Königstein, was buried in the church. Until 1962 the grave slab of the knight Conrad Breder von Hohenstein († 1505 in Kiedrich), the father of Werner Breder von Hohenstein († 1531), abbot of the Palatinate monastery of Limburg, was located there . Today it stands outside (churchyard wall).

Bells

The ringing of St. Valentinus consists of four historical bells that survived the two world wars unscathed. The youngest bell dates from 1868 and is a cast around a cracked, older bell. Two bells were cast in 1513 and one as early as 1389. In the roof turret there is still a bell that does not belong to the tower bell.

Bell disposition : c ′ - d ′ - e ′ - f ′

No.
  		Surname
  		Mass (kg) Ø
(mm) 		Strike tone
(16th note) 		Casting year
  		Bell caster
  		comment
 
1 Osanna 3,300 1,715 c 1 -5 1513 Master Hans of Frankfurt Also known as the "Big Bell"
2 Midday bell 2,755 1,529 d 1 -3 1868 Master Hooghuis of Brugge Also known as the “three o'clock bell”
3 Maria 1,340 1,298 e 1 -7 1513 Master Hans of Frankfurt Also known as the "measuring bell" or "11 o'clock bell"
4th Ave Maria 1,600 1,370 f 1 -13 1389 possibly Johann von Frankfurt Also known as the “community bell”
5 Roof turret bell d 3 This bell does not belong to the tower bell, it can be rung by rope from the choir.

literature

Web links

Commons : Parish Church St. Valentin (Kiedrich)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Single receipts

  1. ↑ https://peterundpaul-rheingau.de/beitrag/pfarrei-st-peter-und-paul-rheingau/
  2. ^ Kiedricher parish church raised to "Basilica Minor" diocese of Limburg
  3. ↑ The Madonna comes closer to the community in FAZ from October 25, 2014, page 48
  4. ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau of August 16, 2006: Oldest playable Gothic organ in Hesse , viewed February 14, 2011.
  5. ^ A b Franz Bösken , Hermann Fischer , Matthias Thömmes: Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine. (= Contributions to the music history of the Middle Rhine. 7.1). Vol. 2: The area of ​​the former administrative district of Wiesbaden . Part 1: A – K. Schott, Mainz 1975, ISBN 3-7957-1307-2 , p. 494.
  6. ↑ Quoted from Franz Bösken, Hermann Fischer, Matthias Thömmes: Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine. (= Contributions to the music history of the Middle Rhine. 7.1). Vol. 2: The area of ​​the former administrative district of Wiesbaden . Part 1: A – K. Schott, Mainz 1975, ISBN 3-7957-1307-2 , p. 494.
  7. ↑ a b Orgelbau Kuhn: Kiedrich (Rheingau) , viewed February 14, 2011.
  8. ↑ Franz Bösken, Hermann Fischer, Matthias Thömmes: Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine. (= Contributions to the music history of the Middle Rhine. 7.1). Vol. 2: The area of ​​the former administrative district of Wiesbaden . Part 1: A – K. Schott, Mainz 1975, ISBN 3-7957-1307-2 , p. 495.
  9. ↑ Franz Bösken, Hermann Fischer, Matthias Thömmes: Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine. (= Contributions to the music history of the Middle Rhine. 7.1). Vol. 2: The area of ​​the former administrative district of Wiesbaden . Part 1: A – K. Schott, Mainz 1975, ISBN 3-7957-1307-2 , p. 498 f.
  10. ↑ Franz Bösken, Hermann Fischer, Matthias Thömmes: Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine. (= Contributions to the music history of the Middle Rhine. 7.1). Vol. 2: The area of ​​the former administrative district of Wiesbaden . Part 1: A – K. Schott, Mainz 1975, ISBN 3-7957-1307-2 , p. 505 f.
  11. ↑ Friedrich Jakob: The organ of the parish church of St. Valentin and Dionysus zu Kiedrich in the Rheingau . Orgelbau Kuhn Publishing House, Männedorf 1989, p. 31.
  12. ↑ Friedrich Jakob: The organ of the parish church of St. Valentin and Dionysus zu Kiedrich in the Rheingau . Kuhn Orgelbau Verlag, Männedorf 1989, p. 72 f.
  13. ↑ Friedrich Jakob: The organ of the parish church of St. Valentin and Dionysus zu Kiedrich in the Rheingau . Kuhn Orgelbau Verlag, Männedorf 1989, p. 65 f.
  14. ^ "Gernand von Schwalbach and Mrs. Anna von Hohenstein 1601/1606, Kiedrich". Grave monuments in Hesse up to 1650 (as of March 26, 2006). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  15. ^ Georg Joseph Kleiser: The history of the families Kleiser, Broder, Henneberg , 1987, p. 122; (Detail scan)
  16. ↑ Yvonne Monsees: The inscriptions of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis , 1997, p 285, ISBN 3882269693 ; (Detail scan)
  17. ↑ Youtube, Kiedrich St. Valentinus drawing sounds

Coordinates: 50 ° 2 ′ 28.2 ″  N , 8 ° 5 ′ 5 ″  E