St. Vitus (Lösnich)
The parish church of St. Vitus is centrally located in the Moselle town of Lösnich in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district . Built in 1879/80, it replaced the church from 1638 in Oberdorf, which was in need of repair and had become too small.
history
New building of the church
With Pastor Wintrath, who only worked briefly in Lösnich from 1862 to 1863, the call for a new church grew louder and louder. The turmoil of the war of 1866 and 1870, as well as the question of financing this major project, significantly delayed the start of construction. On October 17, 1880, Pastor Matthias Monshausen, who had taken on pastoral care in Losnich in 1863, was able to consecrate the new church. The solemn inauguration by Bishop Michael Felix Korum of Trier did not take place until June 18, 1883. During this visit the bishop also donated the sacrament of Confirmation in Lösnich. According to the Trierischer Landeszeitung , the whole of Lösnich was emblazoned in the festive decorations, she paid tribute to the efforts of the Lösnich boys and girls to enhance the high festival.
The cornerstone of the church was laid during a ceremony on June 22, 1879. The congregation moved in procession from the old church to the construction site of the new one and, after the foundation stone was blessed, back to the old church with a certificate enclosed. After the completion of the new church, the old one, except for the choir, was auctioned off to a Kindel building contractor for demolition for 650 marks. Pastor Monshausen had three choir windows for the church painted by the painter Wilhelm Meyer on Rohrerhof near Koblenz in 1880. He died in 1886 at the age of 81 and was buried to the left of the choir of the old church.
The current altars in the new church are no longer the original ones. The formerly Gothic main altar was replaced in the 1930s by a newly designed altar made from parts of the baroque-like altars of the “Old Church”. It bears the marriage coat of arms of Casimir von Kesselstatt and his wife Anna Clara von Metternich , which is marked with the year 1719. The same coat of arms with the year 1713, but destroyed beyond recognition, can be found on the Moselle-side garden wall of the old rectory.
The bells of the new church had to be replaced in the meantime. The first were melted down during World War II . Since 1949 a new bell has been calling for church services, consisting of three bells that are tuned to the tones C, E and G. The bells are consecrated to the church patron St. Vitus, St. Mother of God and St. Joseph.
The church was last renovated in 1975 and 1976 after cracks were found in the ceiling. In 2012 some windows in the church were damaged by a storm with hailstorms. They were completely removed for restoration.
The church was built by local master builder Heinrich Bruck from Wittlich . He was also involved in the construction of the parish churches of St. Margaretha in Hontheim, St. Michael in Kinderbeuern, St. Nikolaus in Wittlich-Neuerburg and probably also the parish church of St. Matthias in Neef on the Moselle. Built in 1890/91, this is almost a replica of the Lösnich church inside and out, only the outside left in natural slate. The plans of the Losnich Church, which was already 10 years old at the time, apparently served as a template for the new building in Neef.
Interior view of the St. Vitus Church in Lösnich 2014.
Main altar of St. Vitus Church Lösnich 2014.
The left side altar in St. Vitus Lösnich 2014.
The right side altar in St. Vitus Lösnich 2014.
Figure of St. Vitus left on the main altar 2014.
Figure of St. Roch on the right of the main altar 2014.
Example of the colored church windows in St. Vitus Lösnich 2014.
Old monstrance with a relic of St. Vitus in St. Vitus Lösnich around 1983.
The Breidenfeld organ in St. Vitus Lösnich around 1983
organ
The organ of the Lösnich Church was created in 1892 as Opus 85 by the Breidenfeld brothers , has been preserved in its original form and was restored in 1998.
Features: 18 slides, 2 manuals plus pedal , 14 registers .
Acquisition of patronage by the Counts of Sayn
In 1241, Count Heinrich von Sayn and his wife Mechthilde bought goods in Zeltingen and Rachtig with the right of patronage to Lösnich for 900 Cologne marks from the Benedictine Abbey of Mönchen-Gladbach .
Donation of the patronage right to the Teutonic Order
After Heinrich's death in January 1247, these goods were donated to the Teutonic Order by his wife in the same year. The tithe right, which was not granted, was transferred to the Teutonic Order in 1250 in a further donation from Mechthilde . The next donation in 1252 was about the right of patronage of Lösnich.
The Benedictine Abbey of Mönchengladbach was one of its oldest possessions: Gladbach itself, Hardt and Rasseln, Oedt, the parish churches of Kempen, Dülken and, on the Moselle and Middle Rhine, Zeltingen, Rachtig, Lösnich, Buchholz and Niederweiler. Until the end of the 12th century, the economic situation of the monastery is described as reasonably healthy. But in the 13th century Gladbach - like almost all Benedictine monasteries in the Lower Rhine region - was gripped by a crisis. The sale of possessions also fell victim to the goods on the Moselle.
On the occasion of a tithing dispute in 1338, the Teutonic Order made a statement that the church in Lösnich was the parish church, that it belonged to him and that the Teutonic Order was the owner of the large and small tithe in the entire parish. The Losnicher or Rachtiger parish belonging to Trier was kept by the Teutonic Order until the French Revolution . The parish was mostly occupied by religious priests.
The name of the parish seat fluctuated between Rachtig and Lösnich, especially in the 13th and 14th centuries. The parish was divided between the priests in such a way that one clergyman was responsible for Lösnich and Erden, and another for Rachtig and Zeltingen , with an upper and a lower parish being spoken of. There was no definite fixed parish church. The church of Lösnich, first mentioned in connection with the funeral Kuno of I . in 1066, belonged according to a document from Frederick I in 1182 to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Maximin in Trier, from which it was probably transferred to the Mönchen-Gladbach Abbey of the same order. From this abbey it seems to have received the patron saint St. Vitus, of whom important relics are kept there. The Mönchengladbach Minster St. Vitus, from 974 to 1802 abbey church of the Benedictine abbey, was founded in 1974 by Pope Paul VI. raised to the status of a "minor basilica". As the former second patron of the Lösnich parish church, St. Mark is mentioned. The services on Sundays and public holidays were held alternately in Lösnich and Erden for the lower parish. Erden had to help maintain the Lösnich church. Erden's refusal to share in the cost of building the tower and the purchase of a new bell was decided by an arbitration tribunal in 1516 to the disadvantage of Erden.
The old church in the upper village
The old church itself stood in today's cemetery in the upper village. The church choir was left standing when the nave was demolished in 1881 and has served as a cemetery chapel ever since. During a renovation in 1980 the chapel received a new roof, a new floor and a new coat of paint. A year earlier, the chapel was listed as a historical monument. The construction of the church nave, which was laid down in 1881, dates back to 1638. An inscription, which was probably destroyed during the demolition, led the construction back to Philipp Bernhard von Lontzen, called Roben, governor of the Lorraine region, commentary on Trier and Beckingen, knights of the Teutonic order . The magnificent coat of arms of the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order and the coat of arms of the robes of Lonzen in the current chapel in the keystone of the cross vault in the church's old choir still bear witness to their builders.
The last expansion of the church took place in 1662 by Mr. Adam Caspary, pastor of Lösnich. He had the ship extended to the south and on both sides to the west wall of the tower, which stood to the west. In the commemorative publication on the occasion of the folk song festival in Lösnich in 1928, Pastor Paul Koster described the old church, which had already been demolished except for the choir, in astonishingly many details. According to his own statements, he had made some sketches earlier based on information and measurements provided by Mr. Joseph Conen. Incidentally, Pastor Koster was later to find his final resting place in front of this same cemetery chapel. His tombstone, which he himself had made during his lifetime, is now walled in to the right of the entrance door of the chapel and is a reminder of his work in Lösnich. According to Koster's descriptions, the nave and tower were connected to the west facing choir. The last structural changes in 1662, during which the nave was extended to the outer west wall of the tower, are said to have given the church a somewhat misshapen appearance.
The main entrance on the north side of the church was directly accessible from the entrance to the cemetery. A gable roof resting on wooden pillars surrounded the portal of the church. This portal with the old oak door was inserted into the front wall of the standing choir when the nave was laid down and adorns the entrance of the chapel with its magnificent coat of arms of the Teutonic Order Commander of the Ballei Lorraine . The year 1638 indicates the year the old church was built. The old nave had two windows on its north side and three windows on the south side. One of these windows was installed in the north wall of the choir above the walled up sacristy door when it was demolished.
The altars of the old church
To the right of the choir, as seen from the nave, was the pulpit, further to the right the Kesselstattsche or so-called Johannes altar, near which on the south wall the confessional. Due to a donation from the Freiherrn von Chrichingen, immediately after the acquisition of rule around 1620 through the marriage between Anna Beyer von Boppard and Christoph Freiherrn v. Chrichingen read a mass every Thursday on Thursday. In 1654 Franz Ernst von Chrichingen handed over the goods of this foundation to his hereditary fiefdom to his bailiff Horst zu Lösnich, with the condition that the goods be maintained and that this foundation be fulfilled by the “ castle chaplain ” in Lösnich. In 1713, the Lösnicher tried to keep the Count of Kesselstatt in charge of this altar endowment. The request was successful. In 1719 Count von Kesselstatt had the altar built. It was not until 1897 that the Gräflich Kesselstattsche Majoratsverwaltung stopped paying the foundation interest. Until then, this foundation fair was held every Thursday. Even today, the Count of Kesselstattche's marriage coat of arms with the year 1719 on the main altar of the new Lösnich church reminds of the erection of this altar. To the left of the choir stood the image of Our Lady on a stone console. This was followed by the left side altar of St. Rochus. The benches were arranged in rows of three. The manhouse, resting on wooden pillars, reached into the middle of the church and thereby severely impaired the lighting conditions inside the church. The sacristy was attached to the left side of the choir and the so-called ossuary to the right.
There were three altars in the old Lösnich church.
So far nothing is known about the plague in Lösnich in the 17th century. Accordingly, the plague in Lösnich would most likely occur during the first epidemic in the middle of the 14th century. However, the written sources do not provide any information about this, not even the materials about the Lösnich knighthood during this period. Nevertheless, it could be that the construction of the Rochus Altar in Losnich goes back to the middle altar. The already mentioned second patronage next to that of St. Vitus, the patronage of St. Mark , which is said to have existed in Lösnich before him, remains an open question . The sources have been silent on this so far.
The question of the exact age of the church must remain open. The appearance and size of the church before the new nave was built in 1638 is also not recorded in any notes or sketches according to current knowledge. With the first mention of the church in 1066 in connection with the burial of Bishop Kuno I , the existence of this church for more than 900 years is attested.
Demolition of the old church and preservation of the choir
The demolition of the old church took place in 1881 by a Kindel building contractor approved by the resolution of the church council of November 25th, 1880 with the reservation that the choir be preserved and converted into a chapel. The beautiful portal of the old church became the entrance to the chapel, and two Gothic windows with heart ornaments, the first two windows on the left and right, were structurally integrated into the choir.
The Pieta, already described by Peter Jakob Caspar as a "piece of jewelery", the beautiful oak wood work made by the sculptor Tönis from Wittlich according to the specifications of Pastor Paul Koster, has now taken its place again on a console on the back wall of the chapel. From 1919 to 1942/43 it was housed in the new church, from which it was brought back to the chapel due to necessary renovation work in the new church. In 1931 the choir was additionally secured by external retaining walls because of the threat of collapse. In addition to the already mentioned extensive renovation in 1980, the paintwork was renewed again in 2011.
The patronage of St. Vitus
The question of the mother church
The question of the mother church of today's four parishes, Lösnich, Erden , Rachtig and Zeltingen, a fundamental question that aroused the minds again and again. In the years 1808 to 1815 Pastor Peter Mayer devoted himself to clarifying this question. Which church was the old mother church that was passed over with the granting of patronage rights to the Teutonic Order? There is much to suggest that Lösnich played an important role in this parish organization for a long time. The parishioners of the three other parishes were encouraged to take part in the service in Losnich four times a year:
- on the feast of St. Vitus, the Lösnich church patron
- on the feast of St. Mark, the second Lösnich church patron
- on Good Friday
- on the Sunday before Pentecost
An old church ordinance from the year 1797 from Rachtig and Zeltingen reports that the Rachtigers and Zeltingen had to make a procession to Lösnich on April 15th to celebrate St. Mark's Day at six in the morning. It was ordered for June 15 that they also had to go in a procession to Losnich at seven o'clock in order to attend the solemn high mass in honor of the church patron, St. Vitus. The St. Mark's procession is a prayer or corridor procession, the tradition of which goes back to the 4th century. It has its origins in pagan-Roman customs. As a city procession, the gods should vote it gracious to protect the houses and corridors and for the fields and corridors to flourish. In Christianity, this petition was adopted on the feast day of St. Mark on April 25th and thus became a custom of the Christian West.
The church ordinance mentioned above also shows which other processions and celebrations had to be observed in the course of the year:
- On Wednesdays in the “Cross Week”, the Lösnicher and Erdener met with the Rachtiger and Zeltinger parishioners at seven o'clock in Machern to go from there to Klausen on “Paulus Berg”, where the Holy Mass was then read.
- On Whit Monday, all four parishes went to the uppermost Wehlener Heiligenhäuschen. After the procession, the high mass was held in Zeltingen.
- On Pentecost Tuesday, the Lösnicher and the Erdener went to Machern at four in the morning, from where they marched together with the Rachtigern and Zeltinger to Klausen . The return to Machern was scheduled for 12 noon.
- On the Friday after the second Sunday after Easter, the Lamb Friday, a procession led all parishes to Graach , where a mass was held.
The foundation of an early mass
In Lösnich and Erden, the service was, as already mentioned, carried out by a clergyman appointed by the Teutonic Order Priest zu Rachtig. Thus, the foundation of an early mass at Lösnich in 1711 by the Mainz-born Lösnich businessman Johann Weingärtner accommodated the wish of the Lösnich family to have a clergyman permanently on site. The proceeds from this foundation became the economic equipment for celebrating the early mass by a Catholic priest, the "Primissarius" . As its name suggests, the early mass was usually held before the population began to work. This foundation, approved in 1716 by Archbishop Vicar General, Auxiliary Bishop Johann Matthias von Eiß , comprised a large number of fields, meadows and vineyards. The early knife should come from the relatives of the vineyards, or at least be a native of Lösnicher. Johann Weingärtner reserved the right to propose himself and his descendants. The first early knife was Johann Caspar Weingärtner, the son of Johann Weingärtner. For his part, he donated another 2,000 Rhenish guilders for the Lösnich early mass.
Johann Caspar died in 1726. Probably a relative of the wine grower, Mr. Jacobs, held the office of early knife in 1730. Differences of opinion between him and the congregation arose because of irregular church services, which Jacobs justified with the poor condition of the sacristy. This would have induced him to keep the early mass on earth. The whole dispute was probably finally settled by the fact that the Lösnicher had put the sacristy back in order. A tombstone in the west wall of the cemetery bears the name of another Lösnich early knife. Stephan Schurph, who died in January 1809 according to the gravestone inscription, was appointed early knife at the Altar of St. Vitus in Losnich in 1778. He was baptized on May 5, 1749 as the son of the married couple Mathias Schurph, citizens of Lösnich and Anna Maria Jacobs from Erden in Lösnich.
On February 7, 1775, he was ordained a priest in Trier. He was followed in 1809 by Johann Theodor Pisbach as an early knife. In 1818 he complained about the failure to maintain the capital to which he was entitled from the early measurement foundation of 1711 and demanded the sum of 191 Reichstalers and 4 albums for the past 9 years. Pisbach died around 1826.
The early knife's house was on today's Oberstrasse and was number 10 in 1928. The old lintel bore the year 1668 and a striking line drawing as a house brand. According to a contemporary description, beginning top left to bottom right, then horizontally from left to right and from here again an arrow bent diagonally upwards. The building was the last house on the right corner of Oberstrasse / Hauptstrasse and was replaced by a new building in the 1970s.
The relic of St. Severus
In 1811 the parish of Lösnich came into possession of a relic of St. Severus . Paul Koster notes: “In the 10th century Archbishop Rutbert von Trier brought the remains of St. Severus from Italy and buried them in the church at Münstermaifeld. From there the head fled to Ehrenbreitstein from the hostile attacks of our western neighbors at the beginning of the last century. "
In 1811 the then pastor of Ehrenbreitstein, Joseph Hommer, donated part of this head, namely, as the attached document says, the upper right cheekbone, which connects the nose with the temples, to the parish of Lösnich. On April 24, 1811, the relic was handed over to Pastor Meyer in the presence of the Lösnich church leaders Jakob Dambly and Johann Schweisthal in the vicarage in Zeltingen and brought to Lösnich.
In 1825, the donor Joseph von Hommer , who had meanwhile become Bishop of Trier, allowed the relic to be publicly worshiped in the parish church in Lösnich by means of a special document. In 1911, Pastor Simon locked the relic and the accompanying documents in the beautiful metal shrine in which it now rests. One short side shows the saint with the spade because he used to work in his leisure hours in the vineyard, the other with the mistake burse, because he is said to have raised a prematurely deceased person to life through his prayer to help him with St. To provide the sacraments of the death. During the octave of the saint (February 13-20) the relic is exposed for special veneration.
Old grave crosses
Two old grave crosses that were set into the western wall of the cemetery deserve special mention. The grave cross of the early knife Stephan Schurph, who was already mentioned in connection with the foundation of a Lösnich early mass in 1711, shows a chalice with a host and the year 1809. The parish death register contains the entry: “1809 on January 24th after reception the usual St. Sacraments and was buried the following day the Rev. Johann Stephan Conrad Schurphii, early knife. "
Pastor Paul Koster reports on a second grave cross that was erected in 1810 and has meanwhile been badly weathered:
“On the grave cross you can see the inscription: 1810, the 15th Julius Johann Stephan Ehlen and an angel who saints St. Holding out the skirt of our Savior. Six days earlier, St. Rock, who had fled the French in 1794 by the cathedral dean Philipp von Kesellstatt, had been brought back from Augsburg to Trier. Everyone was waiting for the celebratory exhibition, which took place from 9th to 27th September took place. Death had prevented the 17-year-old boy from making the pilgrimage to St. Rock, so the grieving parents had his picture chiseled on the grave cross. "
The reorganization of the parishes
In the meantime, in the course of secularization, the parishes had been reorganized around 1803. Losnich was first assigned to Rachtig, but kept his own vicar, who called himself a pastor. In 1803 Johann Peter Mayer was the first pastor to take office in this new parish organization in Lösnich. From 1808 he was active as a parish curate. Losnich became an independent parish for the first time in 1827.
Since 1803, pastors were active in Lösnich:
- Johann Peter Mayer 1803-1826
- Josef Zils 1826–1862
- Nikolaus Wintrath 1862–1863
- Matthias Monshausen 1863–1886
- Wilhelm Sasges 1886–1907
- Wilhelm Simon 1908–1914
- Paul A. Koster 1914–1930
- Jakob Kerscht 1930–1934
- Johann A. Brückert 1934–1948
- Otto Hermann Kops 1948–1953
- Matthias Adams 1953–1962
- Nikolaus May 1962–1979
- Josef Becker 1979–1982
- Wolfgang Jacobs 1982-1993
- Werner Thome 1994-1995
- Stefan Feldhausen 1995-2007
- Georg Moritz 2007–
The forest chapel
High above the village right on the edge of the forest near the Kapellenweg, formerly Irkertsweg, a small chapel with a view of the valley was built in 1912, which later gave the path its name. The widow of Johann Scheuer, Maria née Orthmann, had the small chapel built in honor of the Sorrowful Mother Maria on the 6.85 acres of land with a building permit dated September 28, 1912. She donated the forest parcel with the chapel on it to the Catholic parish of Lösnich with the condition that the chapel be kept in good condition forever and that the forest parcel be maintained as a public facility or park. At a meeting on July 16, 1913, the church council accepted the donation with the above obligation. The construction was carried out by the company Nicolay from Zeltingen. The costs amounted to approximately 1,100 marks.
swell
- Trier City Archives, 54290 Trier, Weberbach 25
- State Main Archive Koblenz, 56068 Koblenz, Karmeliterstraße 1/3
literature
- The art monuments of the Bernkastel district. Edited by Hans Vogts, reprint of the 1935 edition, published by the publishing house of the Academic Bookstore Interbook Trier.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stadtarchiv Trier, Ztg. 15, No. 9, 1883, Trierische Landeszeitung from Tuesday, June 19, 1883.
- ^ Entry on Sankt Vitus in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region ; accessed on March 11, 2016.
- ^ Entry on Sankt Vitus - Breidenfeld organ in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region ; accessed on March 11, 2016.
- ↑ Catalog raisonné by the organ builder Breidenfeld. Trier organ point, accessed on September 11, 2015 (created by Reinhold Schneck, Wittlich).
- ↑ MRUB, BE, Bd. III 540, No. 729, MRR III 55 No. 246, Brasse Urkunden 1.41 f No. 77, Rüdiger Schmidt, p. 93.
- ↑ MRUB, BE, 848 f, No. 144, MRR 221, No. 935
- ↑ a b From a contribution by Erich Wisplinghoff: On the economic and property history of Gladbach Abbey. Pp. 114-118
- ↑ LHA Kobl., Section 55 A4, No. 652
- ^ Rüdiger Schmidt, Die Deutschordenskommenden Trier and Beckingen, p. 97.
- ↑ a b c Paul Koster: Singing Festival in Lösnich . 1928 (festival book).
- ^ A b c Paul Koster: Copy of the inheritance contract in the parish archive . In: Singing Festival in Lösnich . 1928, p. 13 (festival book).
- ↑ a b c d Festschrift for the centenary of the parish church in Lösnich 1983, p. 21.
- ↑ 25 Trier City Archives, Archives of the Imperial Counts of Kesselstatt, DK 4418, mother church.
- ^ Thomas Drexler: St. Mark's procession. Josef Dirschl, accessed on September 11, 2015 (private website).
- ^ Trier City Archives, Archives of the Imperial Counts of Kesselstatt, DK 4337, Early Mass Foundation.
- ^ The Bernkastel district, Dr. J. Cumor 1969, p. a. Mittelmosel Nachrichten, January 22, 1981
- ↑ LHA Kobl., Dept. 655,123, No. 360
- ^ Pastor Paul Koster in the commemorative publication from 1928 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the foundation festival of the men's choir.
- ^ Pastor Paul Koster in the commemorative publication from 1928 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the foundation festival of the men's choir.
- ↑ Mittelmosel Nachrichten, January 22, 1981; The Bernkastel district, Dr. J.Cumor 1969
- ^ Parish archive Lösnich
Coordinates: 49 ° 58 '27.7 " N , 7 ° 2' 34.8" E