St. Vitus (Löningen)
The Catholic parish church of St. Vitus in Löningen is one of the oldest church foundations in the Oldenburger Münsterland . As a replacement for the medieval parish church, which had become too small, a spacious, classicist hall building was built from 1809 to 1813 under the direction of the master builder Johan Nepomuk Schmidt , which has 1200 seats and is considered the largest pillarless hall church in Germany. The church is also noteworthy because, as a Catholic sacred building, it is a building tradition of the Protestant preacher churches, in which the preaching of the word is the focus. In addition to a functional floor plan, the interior is restrained and the pulpit is located near the altar on the choir wall .
The cubic structure of the sacred building with an inner width of 21.50 meters and a roof hipped on all sides was originally connected to a bell tower on the eastern side of the choir, which collapsed soon after its construction and was replaced by several wooden towers, each of which also quickly became unstable. until 1960 the current, massive, 54-meter-high tower, which looks like a campanile next to the church, was completed.
Much of the church furnishings come from the baroque church of the Franciscan monastery in Vechta, which was secularized in 1816 .
Location and local conditions
Löningen is located in the Lower Saxony district of Cloppenburg between Oldenburg and Osnabrück on the edge of the Oldenburger Münsterland , embedded in the glacial valley of the Hase River . The city has around 14,000 inhabitants, of which just under 10,000 are Catholic .
The parish of Löningen has always been made up of the Wiek Löningen and the surrounding farmers , who are divided into quarters:
- The Glübbiger district, together with the Werwe, Evenkamp, Düenkamp, Lewinghausen, Helmighausen, Borkhorn, Elbergen, Augustenfeld and Vehrensande farmers, forms the largest part of the municipal area.
- The Bunner Viertel consists of Alten- and Neuenbunnen, Hagel, Farwick, Löninger Brokstreek, Bokah and the Bunner Schelmkappe.
- The Überhäsige district extends from Röpke via Winkum, Huckelrieden and Angelbeck to Ehren.
- For Lodberger quarter include the parish Benstrup with Madlage and stone vineyards, the peasantry Lodbergen with Duderstadt, Holthausen and gusts and sea village and the Löninger Schelmkappe.
- Wachtum, a village in Hümmling , was part of the church of Löningen until 1929 and was part of the Lodberg district. In 1974 it became politically part of the municipality of Löningen and is known as the fifth quarter .
The Wiek and the five quarters form the municipality of Löningen. The parish church of St. Vitus is located in Löningen's southern city center on the church square Am Gelbrink , not far from the Hasepromenade.
Foundation and foundation construction
| around 800 | Missionaries found a district church | |
| 819 | First documentary mention | |
| around 1000 | A parish develops from the mission station | |
| 12th century | First proven church building | |
| 1543 | Introduction of the Reformation | |
| 1613 | Return to the Catholic Confession | |
| 1809 | Demolition of the old church |
After Charlemagne built nine mission districts from 780 AD to Christianize the conquered Saxons, Abbot Gerbert Castus - the apostle of the Oldenburger Münsterland - founded the first parishes in the area around the year 800 from the Visbek missionary cell . The Gaukirche Löningen was one of these in Hasegau . This was built on the grounds of a Saxon noble court as a baptismal, missionary and main church for the Hasegau, and on September 1, 819, in the abbot Gerbert Castus and his cellula fiscbechi (Visbek missionary cell), the immunity-conferring certificate of Emperor Ludwig the Pious as a church "In hesiga", in Hasegau, mentioned, whereby this document is now regarded as a total forgery from the late 10th century.
In 855 it was attached to the Corvey Abbey on the Weser. The patronage already indicates the Abbey of Corvey, where the relics of St. Vitus came in 836 . Since then, St. Vitus has been the patron saint of the Löningen Church. According to tradition, a separate church building was erected on the ground described around this time; the first church building in Löningen, however, is only proven in the 13th century.
In 1251 the church was sold to the Hardehausen Monastery , which ceded its rights to Konrad II von Rietberg , the Bishop of Osnabrück , in 1275 . After the Count of Tecklenburg ceded as sovereign in 1400 , Otto IV von Hoya , Prince-Bishop of Münster , was his successor. In 1495 the Löningen parish church was mentioned in a document as Lonninge parrochia on the occasion of the establishment of the Vicarie St. Anna.
In 1543 Hermann Bonnus introduced the Reformation , but the Niederstift Münster , to which Löningen belonged, returned to the Catholic faith in 1613. In 1667, the Prince-Bishop of Münster acquired ecclesiastical sovereignty over the Niederstift from the Diocese of Osnabrück; He was thus at the same time sovereign and religious leader (shepherd). In 1803 parts of the Niederstift Münster, the offices of Wildeshausen , Vechta and Cloppenburg , were incorporated into the Duchy of Oldenburg .
The records collected in the Löningen parish archives give a very precise picture of this first proven, according to tradition already second, Romanesque church building from the 13th century . This is how the parish sums up the contemporary documents: “The single-nave sacral building, with a stately west tower built over a square floor plan, was approximately the length of today's church. The east choir with a straight end, built a few years after the end of the 50 Years War [Note: The Thirty Years War is probably meant], corresponded in width to the nave ... A lower sacristy was attached to the south side of the choir, with a door right next to it connected to the shield arches. The four cross-ridge-vaulted nave bays over differing rectangular floor plans as well as the window position only in the westernmost yoke at the vault apex suggest that not only the material, but also at least parts of the rising masonry had been reused from the previous building. The clear height of the nave and the originally even smaller Romanesque arched windows of the nave show that the complex was basilica . It is uncertain whether the aisles were not built from the outset, or whether they still had to be dismantled in the Middle Ages, probably only in the wake of the building activities of the 17th century, because they were dilapidated. What is certain, however, is that the building material, locally broken lawn ore stone [Note: This is lawn iron stone] as well as field stones and the sandy subsoil repeatedly raised static problems. "
The last major construction project was already several decades ago, which only consisted of the installation of a gallery to remedy the shortage of space. Damage to the outside caused by hurricanes was only sparsely repaired, which also contributed to the dilapidation of the building. When Mathias Wolffs was appointed pastor in 1789 , he vigorously redeveloped the badly dilapidated building. He commissioned Johann Christoph Mang , who presented a conversion and a new building design in 1790. “Both envisaged a three-aisled church with a west tower and differed only slightly in the details. While the renovation draft was based on largely retaining the existing building fabric, the new Mangsche building project only included the single-bay choir from the 17th century. The new building was supposed to be slightly shorter than the old church, but with its three aisles covered with gable roofs, it took up almost twice the width. "
The Münster General Vicariate was in favor of a new building, but disagreements and discussions on site prevented a quick solution before the congregation was affected by far-reaching political changes. It was not until 1809 that the old Löningen church was demolished and the construction of a new building started.
In the context of the Peace of Lunéville in 1801 and the main Imperial Deputation in 1803, the Duchy of Münster was dissolved as the largest spiritual territory of the Holy Roman Empire and added to Prussia . The offices of Vechta and Cloppenburg, to which Löningen also belonged, fell to the Duchy of Oldenburg, which had become Protestant after the Reformation and was now also responsible for building the church in Löningen. The parish of St. Vitus Löningen is still part of the Oldenburg official district and the Münster diocese .
Local officials , such as Amtsdroste Freiherr von Korff-Schmising and Amtsrentmeister Mulert , lost their decision-making powers , but took the initiative in 1804 when the parish church was in dangerously dilapidated and even the tower threatened to collapse. On October 21, 1804, during a mass, a beam broke from a gallery, causing panic among the visitors and several injured. Even at later masses, including All Saints' Day in 1804, there was “a crunch and crackling in the house of God”, which in turn prompted visitors to flee the church. After the plastering came off the vault on Christmas Day during the high mass, the patience of the then Löningen mayor Nicolaus Anton Bothe was also exhausted. He instructed Amtsdrost and Amtsrentmeister: "I request ... to report this incident to the appropriate place and to take care of that the demanded construction of the New Churches, whereby the people can only be freed from their horror, will be graciously granted. "
Building history
| 1809 | Demolition of church building and tower; Laying of the foundation stone of the new church | |
| 1813 | The choir and nave of the new church have been completed | |
| 1826 | The first 50 meter high wooden tower is completed | |
| 1827 | The Tower Collapses (December 11, 1827) | |
| around 1835 | A free-standing wooden bell tower is erected | |
| 1855 | The bell tower has to be demolished and replaced with a new building | |
| 1884 | Once again, the bell tower has to be replaced by a new building | |
| 1959 | Today's stone tower is being built and the church is being restored | |
| 1992 | Church interior and roof are being renovated |
At the beginning of 1809 Peter I , Duke of Oldenburg, had the tower and church building torn down. The foundations for a new church were dug around the location of the old building and filled with "pebbles" ( granite boulders ) from the old church. On April 25, 1809, building director Clemens August Graf von Korff-Schmising , head of the district of Cloppenburg and landlord in Duderstadt near Löningen , laid the foundation stone for the new St. Vitus Church on behalf of the Duke. In the fall of 1813 the nave and choir were completed.
The construction plan came from master builder Johann Nepomuk Schmidt from Münster , who, following the spirit of the time, designed the building as a spacious hall church in the classical style. Schmidt had previously undertaken a study trip to Vienna and worked under the master builder Wilhelm Ferdinand Lipper from Münster at the St. Elisabeth Church on Jakobsplatz in Nuremberg . Otherwise, his work remained locally limited, other major construction projects under his direction have not come down to us. His work on the Löningen parish church suggests that he was decisively influenced by the style of the Berlin builder David Gilly .
Schmidt's cost estimate for the new building amounted to 72,000 thalers and thus considerably exceeded the assets of the Löningen parish estimated at 56,000 thalers. During the construction work, savings had to be made through cost-cutting new planning. Among other things, the church roof planned as a mansard roof was designed as a simple saddle roof . This resulted in an unstable finish on the west side, due to the placing of the roof in front of the hanging structure (the structure consisting of a hanging column supported by braces, on which a tensioning beam hangs and which supports the nave roof), which subsequently required numerous repairs . The masonry and plastering work was carried out by the master bricklayer and contractor Fischer from Hanover, Löningen carpenters erected the roof, master glazier Wellmann from Ankum glazed the windows, the brick kiln Grote & Co from Borkhorn near Löningen supplied the glazed roof tongues (beaver tails) for roofing.
When France annexed the German North Sea coast on January 1, 1811, which also affected the Duchy of Oldenburg and Löningen suddenly became part of the Napoleonic Empire of France , construction work initially continued as planned. In August 1811, construction director Korff-Schmising, initially taken over by the new rulers as sub-prefect , lost his position because the office of Cloppenburg was subordinated to the sub-prefecture of Quakenbrück and Korff-Schmising's previous secretary, Bitter, took over as French mayor . As a precaution, the official drank left his estate in Duderstadt and went to Munster. He was followed a short time later by master builder Schmidt. According to his diet calculation, Schmidt was last personally on the construction site on October 23, 1811.
The construction work came to a standstill. The nave and the roof truss, as well as parts of the ceiling of the hall, were finished, but the roof was barely half-covered, and the tower had not yet reached the height of the first floor. If one did not want to endanger the entire construction project, however, this work had to be ended quickly, which led to botch and negligence without construction management. The construction work also became considerably more expensive, which brought the parish into acute financial difficulties. She had to sell parts of her property to cover the running costs.
In 1813 the nave and the choir were finally extended, the roof covered and the tower raised to the height of the church roof. After the high altar , the pulpit and the organ with the organ prospect had been acquired by the Franciscan monastery in Vechta, which had been closed, the first service could be celebrated in the new church building.
The tower was initially not further built due to a lack of funds; soon the first damage occurred to the tower stump. The building was also otherwise defective, which required frequent repairs. When funds were available again in 1814, the renowned architect August Reinking was commissioned with the provisional completion of the bell tower. However, because of the many deficiencies, the latter recommended that the entire church building be torn down and redesigned, which the congregation could not respond to for financial reasons. When Reinking died in September 1819, the Oldenburg construction manager Carl Heinrich Sievogt took over the completion of the tower from 1824 . He too did not dare to raise the tower to the height of 84 meters planned by Schmidt, but limited himself to a four-story building with an attic and a height of almost 50 meters. On July 20, 1826, the spire, cross and cock were erected. But Löningen's new landmark only stood for a short time: on December 11, 1827, the tower collapsed, claimed a dead person and destroyed the church choir and parts of the furnishings, especially the high altar, next to a residential building and the nearby boys' school. Reinking had been right about his concerns.
Immediately after the collapse, the heavily damaged and now open east side of the church was paneled and a hipped roof was put on. In the nave, a makeshift altar was created from the rubble of the old high altar. The foundation stone for the new choir was laid in 1829. This and the outer walls were built by 1832. Since no major funds were available, a makeshift, free-standing wooden bell tower was built in the south-west corner of the churchyard, separated from the church, but it had to be replaced by a new one in 1855 due to its disrepair. The same thing happened again in 1884; a wooden tower had to be demolished and replaced.
The third and last wooden tower was demolished in 1959 and a new, massive, 54-meter-high tower was built in its place, the architecture of which is reminiscent of Italian bell towers ( campaniles ).
Building description
According to the revised and reduced building plan by the builder Schmidt, the rectangular nave is 48 meters long, 24 meters wide and 13.5 meters high. This makes the building the largest pillar-less hall church in Germany.
As a conclusion, the east side received a transverse box choir 18 meters long, 9 meters wide and 13.5 meters high. This was originally followed by a 12 by 12 meter tower with a planned 84 and ultimately 50 meters. The nave and choir were originally closed with a gable roof with hanging and trussing that supported the straight ceiling with covings on the long sides. The roof of the nave was built on a 1.85 meter thick infill wall. The wall thickness of the choir was 1.20 meters.
The walls inside the church were made of lawn iron stones typical of the Löningen area , which were hewn edged and faced with bricks on the outer facade . The interior of the choir was designed with round masonry as a semicircular end. The inner facades show, except for the edging, unadorned window cuts, just as unadorned are the wall parts, which look like porches due to the different wall thicknesses. According to Wilhelm Gilly, the sparing rustication on the low basement and on the side wall ends as well as the simple cornice that separates the segments of the arched windows underline "emphatically and decisively the clarity of the design of the protruding wall center section on the west, north and south sides of the church , the center of which is taken up by a favorite motif of classicism, the Palladio motif , which is repeated in a modified form in the window cuts and in the choir. "
After the tower collapsed in 1827, as the means for rebuilding it were lacking, the two longitudinal walls of the nave were lengthened by the width of the choir (around 9 meters) and the choir room in the east was closed with an unadorned wall with a round arch window. Inside the choir, the circular masonry was renewed and a gallery was created under a suspended false ceiling with six studs that were screwed up to the supporting structure and screwed together with planks. This was brought lime plaster on. This approach in front of the choir framework and the installation of the supporting pillars made the choir space smaller. Instead of the original wooden vault, there was only space left for an apse in the shape of a quarter sphere. Above that, the roof was closed with a hip .
In 1904 the church painter Hermann Baro from Löningen painted the church. The color scheme as well as the painting on the apse dome (the arched part of the apse) was changed in 1935/36, at the same time the rounded stands were given a salmon-colored stucco marble veneer instead of the lime plaster , as it has been preserved on the decorative columns of the confessionals and altars to this day. With their column feet, column knobs ( capitals ) and column top plates ( abaki ) they gave the impression of Tuscan columns . This was reversed during the thorough renovation in 1959/60 under the direction of Hildesheim church painter and restorer Josef Bohland . The columns were again given a plain white lime plaster, their decorations were emphasized by gilding. The choir room was changed, the interior walls were newly plastered, the windows were renewed while retaining the medallions, the choir screens were converted into gallery balustrades and the pews replaced. At the same time, the high altar from Altenoythe and the rococo side altar were added to the church.
Another renovation was carried out in the summer of 1987 under the direction of the architect Josef Feldwisch-Dentrup from Osnabrück. Considerable damage to the roof structure and the ceiling was found, so that the work assumed much larger dimensions than originally planned. The works from 1990 to 1992 cost almost seven million German marks . The specialist construction was renovated and the ceiling was designed based on its original condition, the window construction and the plastering of the outer and inner walls were partially renewed.
ship
The parish church of St. Vitus is a single-nave church . The nave is spanned by a salmon-colored hanging mirror vault 51.50 meters long and 43 meters wide, which is supported in the area of the chancel by a group of six columns in white. As usual, the choir is oriented to the east as a symbol of the "New Sun" or the resurrection of Christ. There is also the entrance to the sacristy .
To the west rises the gallery with an organ and organ prospect, emphasized by two columns . The building can be entered through portals in the south, north and west; the west portal is the main entrance.
The church's furnishings are mainly from the Baroque era, with only a few pieces belonging to earlier or later stylistic epochs. Only the twelve mounted on the two long walls monumental figures of the apostles of terracotta and the Pietà in the first left-hand window niche was created for today's construction, most of the other pieces of equipment, such as high altar, side altar, pulpit and organ are from other churches.
Church window
The lead glass windows with figural stained glass from the creation story in a total of 14 narrow, high round arched window niches come in their original version by the artist Victor Anton Clemens von der Forst from the glass painting workshop von der Forst in Münster, which among many other works primarily in the Münsterland , such as the Jacobus Church in Hamm , the St. Andreas Church in Hullern or the Holy Cross Church in Heek also created windows for the parish church of St. Mauritius in Berlin.
In 1898 the windows were framed and installed by the master glazier Wellmann from Ankum.
During the restoration of the church in 1959/60, the windows received a new frame. The figurative representations that were still in good condition remained.
Selection of church windows
Layout
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Furnishing
The furnishings of the church come primarily from the baroque church of the Franciscan monastery in Vechta , built in 1640 and secularized in 1816 , in whose buildings there has been a prison for women since 1941 . Only the monumental terracotta apostles on the two long walls of the church were created for the construction of the St. Vitus Church; Most of the other parts of the furnishings - in particular the high altar, side altar, pulpit and organ - were acquired from other church buildings.
High altar
In the center of the church is the late baroque high altar from the early 18th century. It was originally in the parish church of St. Vitus in Altenoythe and came to Löningen in 1970.
At the end of the 15th century there were still four altars, dedicated to St. High altar consecrated to Vitus, the altar of the St. Anna Vicarie built in 1495 and two other altars. It has been handed down that during episcopal visitations in 1651 and 1654 the number of four altars was criticized, whereupon two altars were removed and placed in the manor chapels of their donors.
The original high altar was largely destroyed in 1827 by the collapse of the first tower, which had only recently been completed, and after a makeshift restoration was replaced by today's altar in 1876. Some goldsmith's work has survived, including a chalice created around 1600 and a sun monstrance by the Osnabrück goldsmith Heinrich Theodor Hartmann from 1708.
Celebration altar
The celebration altar , the ambo and the priest's seat were created in 1992 by the sculptor Ernst Rasche from Mülheim an der Ruhr. They are hewn from white French Jurassic limestone and match the shape and color of the rest of the furnishings.
On the nave side of the altar there is a reliquary set in a reliquary that the Patriarch of Venice gave to the Rome pilgrim Wilhelm Purk from Angelbeck (near Löningen, today incorporated) with the obligation to pass it on to the St. Vitus Church in Löningen. On the side facing the high altar, a relic of St. Vitus can be seen, the authenticity of which was confirmed in 1938 by the then Münster bishop, Clemens August Graf von Galen. In 1992, both relics were again recognized and confirmed when they were placed in the celebration altar by the Münster auxiliary bishop Wilhelm Töste in a document about the church and altar conscription.
Side altar
The side altar on the north wall on the left side of the choir is a St. Mary's altar from the Ammersee area . At the beginning of the 1960s, two altars made as counterparts were offered in the art trade, with the condition that they be installed in different churches. One of the altars ended up in the Catholic parish church in Hopsten , where it is used as a high altar, the second remained in the Vicariate General in Münster until it was erected in Löningen in 1970.
The relatively simple altar was probably built in the middle of the 18th century. Its baroque structure shows a painting depicting Mary between columns . The altar is crowned by a ray nimbus in which the Holy Spirit is visible in the form of a dove.
pulpit
The baroque pulpit on the opposite side comes from the Franciscan church in Vechta. In the front panels of the pulpit are the four evangelists with their attributes (Matthew with man, Mark with lion, Luke with bull and John with eagle). The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove floats under the sound cover. The pulpit is crowned with a figure of Christ as a good shepherd . The coat of arms of the donors Dorgeloh and Voss zu Enniger is attached to the front. The local newspaper reported about the foundation in 1887:
“Friedrich von Dorgeloh (from Gut Bretberg near Lohne), married since 1668 to his niece Maria Catharina Voss from Gut Bakum [correct: Gut Enniger], had a new pulpit made in Münster in 1695 for 165 Rhtl., Which he gave to the monastery church in Vechta gave. "
Baptismal font
The new octagonal font came into the church in 1970 after the old font was lost. It has the shape of a flat chalice. Its bronze lid, which is coated with a silver patina, is adorned with embedded wavy lines symbolizing flowing water. White gemstones are set in the intermediate fields.
The original Romanesque font from around 1200 , which was temporarily in private ownership, has recently been retrieved. It is now in the center aisle of the church and is the oldest sacred piece of furniture. The baptismal font is made in the shape of a cup or a cup from eggshell-colored sandstone of the Bentheim-Gildehaus type and, together with the base, which is now made of wood, has a total height of 90 centimeters with a diameter of 50 centimeters. The upper and lower edge of the cupa, the pool edge, are covered with thick decorative cords carved out of the stone, otherwise the stone is plain and unadorned.
Before the Reformation, the person to be baptized was immersed in the baptismal water with the whole body, which required a large basin. From the beginning of the 13th century, many baptismal fonts were made from the soft and malleable Bentheim sandstone in northern Germany . These baptismal fonts, which are closely related in style, are referred to as the Bentheim type .
Standing figure of St. Vitus
Above the north portal there is a standing figure of St. Vitus , the patron of the church. It is carved from oak and was already in the old church building. Like the Altenoyther Altar, it is ascribed to the workshop of the sculptor Georg Dollart and dated around 1700.
Pietà and apostles cycle
Seen from the west portal, the Pietà is in the first left window niche. The terracotta figure is believed to have been made by the Cologne sculptor Peter Josef Imhoff (1768–1844). The cycle of the twelve apostles is also attributed to Imhoff. The figures of the apostles are larger than life and clearly modeled on the bronze figures of the apostles by Peter Vischer (1460–1529) on the grave of St. Sebaldus in the St. Sebaldus Church in Nuremberg. The figure of the Apostle Paul in the Löninger Apostle Cycle has been replaced by that of the Apostle Matthias.
In 1836 the carter Anton Fette Pietè transported the cycle of apostles on two wagons from Cologne to Löningen and used the figures for smuggling by hiding coveted needles from Aachen in the cavities of the figures and smuggling them undetected through the numerous customs barriers.
Further equipment
In 1970 four confessionals were built into the middle side niches and stylistically adapted to the rest of the furnishings. In the first window niche on the right opposite the Pietà hangs the picture of Perpetual Help .
Next to the side altar hangs a figure of Liudger (St. Ludgerus), the first bishop of Münster. It comes from the old church and refers to the diocese and the missionary activity of the saint.
The St. Joseph with the Infant Jesus hangs to the right of the pulpit, the statue of Mary with the Infant Jesus is currently left of the pulpit.
Above the south portal there is a colored crucifixion group as a calvary , which is reminiscent of the typical triumphal cross groups of north German churches. The four clover-like ends of the cross bear the symbols of the evangelists. The group was created in 1878 by the Münster artist Evertz for the high altar, which was demolished in 1970.
organ
The west wall of the church is occupied by the organ gallery parapet with organ and organ prospectus.
The organ case from 1768 comes from the Franciscan Church in Vechta, the organ from Johann Gottlieb Müller from Osnabrück, who built it between 1766 and 1770.
About the original monastery organ, which came from the Franciscan monastery church in Vechta to Löningen in 1813, can be read in Willoh: “In the year 1766, June 14th, Christoph Adrian Brickweede and the ex-provincial Audomarus came in the presence and with the permission of the guardian Eletherius Rieken concluded a contract between the rent master Driber, who did the saecularia [note: the secular business] of the monastery, and a certain organ builder Müller from Osnabrück. Müller had nothing to do but the actual organ work, pipes , wind chests, etc. The monastery took care of food, materials, handyman services, trucking, all carpentry work (on the organ prospect), etc. Müller received 1000 Thaler for his work, but he also had to put the old organ on the choir because, as stated in the contract, the choral singing could not be adequately held without an organ. In 1770 the new organ was ready. "
In 1921 a new organ was installed behind the organ prospect, which was replaced in 1970 by an instrument made by the organ building company Führer from Wilhelmshaven. The organ with pneumatic action and a free-standing console includes 37 registers , 3 manuals / pedal and 2740 pipes, which are distributed over three manual works and the pedal, 160 of which sound in the brochure. The longest measures 5 meters and the shortest 20 centimeters. This includes 8 reed choirs. The organ is 15 meters wide and 7 meters high and is one of the largest and most sonic organs in the Oldenburger Land.
Disposition
The disposition of the Führer organ from 1970 (for information on the individual register names, see the explanations in the list of organ registers ):
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- Coupling : BW / HW, OW / HW, BW / P, HW / P, OW / P.
- Playing aids :
The works of the first and third manuals are on the lower floor above the play cupboard . So there are two breastworks . The first manual is on the right, the third on the left.
Tower and bell
The original church tower remained half-finished until 1824. Static concerns and damage to the tower stump made it inadvisable to pull it up to the height of 85 meters planned by Schmidt, even when funds were available for further construction. Several master builders examined the damaged tower stump before a decision was made, after the damage found had been repaired, to a significantly lower height of 50 meters, which was completed on July 20, 1826, but collapsed on December 11, 1827.
As again insufficient funds were available, the tower was not rebuilt, but limited to a boarding of the severely damaged and opened east side of the church building by the collapse. In the nave, a provisional altar was made from the ruins of the old high altar from the Vechta Franciscan Church. In 1835 a makeshift, free-standing wooden bell tower was built in the south-west corner of the churchyard, separated from the church, which had to be replaced by a second in 1855 and a third in 1884 due to its dilapidation.
The construction of today's massive, 54-meter-high tower on the same site began in 1959. The massive foundation continues above ground up to a height of 12 meters. It ends in a gallery and is framed with sandstone blocks. The brick-built tower structure rises above this square substructure .
The tower walls are interrupted by narrow rectangular window openings, the sound openings are designed as crosses. On the north-east and south-west side, two clocks with gold-colored dials are attached to each corner. The tip of the versatile roof, which is covered with copper plates, ends in a finial. In its architecture and positioning, it is reminiscent of the bell towers in Italy ( Campanile ).
The first bell tower of St. Vitus Church was equipped in 1501 with a bell created by the Osnabrück bell founder Johannes Friso (or Freese ), which is still there. Today's chimes of St. Vitus Church consist of six bells:
| Surname | Weight (kg) | Diameter (cm) | Nominal | Casting year | Caster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Christ the King | 2033 | 149 | d 1 | 1948 | Junker, Brilon |
| 2 Marys | 1445 | 132 | e 1 | 1948 | Junker, Brilon |
| 3 Vitus | 1016 | 117 | f sharp 1 | 1948 | Junker, Brilon |
| 4 Antony | 473 | 94 | a 1 | 1960 | Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock , Gescher |
| 5 Joseph | 320 | 82 | h 1 | 1960 | Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock, Gescher |
| 6 memorial bell | 400 | 88 | h 1 | 1501 | Johannes Fresco |
| 7 memorial bell (clock bell) | 25th | 33 | a 1 | 1711 | Amstelodami (Amsterdam) |
Affiliated buildings
Next to the church is the parish home named after Ernst Henn .
literature
- Alfred Benken, Andreas Lechtape : Löningen: Catholic parish church St. Vitus. Schnell & Steiner, 2007, ISBN 3-7954-5849-8 .
- Wilhelm Gilly: Medieval churches and chapels in the Oldenburger Land. Isensee 1992, ISBN 3-89442-126-6 .
- Margaretha Jansen: Löningen in the past and present. Schmücker, 1998, ISBN 3-9804494-8-3 .
- Wilhelm Kohl: The dioceses of the church province Cologne. The diocese of Münster 7.2. The diocese. (Germania Sacra NF 37.2), de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2002. ISBN 3-11-017514-2 .
- Anton Kramer: Löninger Chronicle in Pictures. Volume 1: ISBN 3-9806575-5-8 , Volume 2: ISBN 3-9806575-6-6 .
- Karl Willoh: History of the cath. Parishes in the Duchy of Oldenburg. Vol. III. Commissions-Verlag v. JPBachem, Cologne 1900.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Confessional composition of the city of Löningen (PDF file; 32 kB). ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Michael Bönte: Abbot Gerbert Castus - A missionary from the second row. Church site ((former) online newspaper of the Münster diocese). October 29, 2004 ( Memento of May 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved from the web archive on October 3, 2017.
- ^ Oldenburg official district . Retrieved October 11, 2013.
- ^ Theo Kölzer: The documents of Ludwig the Pious for Halberstadt (BM2 535) and Visbek (BM2 702) - a serious misunderstanding , in: Archives for Diplomatik 58 (2012) pp. 103–123 (here: pp. 119–121).
- ↑ a b c d e camp book of the vicarie in Löningen, parish archive Löningen.
- ↑ a b c d e Building history of the Catholic parish church St. Vitus.
- ↑ Benken / Lechtape, p. 27.
- ↑ Benken / Lechtape, p. 4.
- ↑ Benken / Lechtape, pp. 5–6.
- ↑ Gilly, p. 164.
- ↑ a b c History & Art of the Catholic Parish Church of St. Vitus.
- ↑ In this newspaper report, the Voss zu Enniger family was confused with the Voss family from nearby Bakum. This one has a different coat of arms with a running fox in the coat of arms. Compare Voss on Enniger with Voss II. Spießen, 1901-03, p. 55
- ↑ Willoh, pp. 282f.
- ↑ Benken / Lechtape, p. 24.
Coordinates: 52 ° 43 ′ 57.8 " N , 7 ° 45 ′ 33.6" E