To the precious blood (Weikersheim)
The Church of the Precious Blood is a Roman Catholic church in Weikersheim .
Previous buildings
The two Georgskirchen
Weikersheim was mentioned in the Codex Eberhardi in 837 , the first evidence of Christian life in Weikersheim is documented for 1219. The parish church was dedicated to St. George . The first Georgskirche, however, was outside the village on the way to Schäftersheim and was apparently considered too remote in the 15th century. Under Konrad von Weinsberg , a church was built within the village from 1419 on, which was named For the precious blood and holy martyr Georg .
After the princes of Hohenlohe from the Weikersheim line had decided in favor of the Protestant creed, Weikersheim became Protestant in 1555 after the Peace of Augsburg . The St. George's Church thus became a Protestant church. The Catholic residents now had their mother church in the neighboring pilgrimage site of Laudenbach . The number of Catholic residents was very small in the centuries that followed. For the year 1900 there are 49 Catholics recorded in Weikersheim, five years later there were 79 Catholics with 1765 inhabitants.
To the holy blood
After the Catholic community had expanded at the beginning of the 20th century, it was decided in 1911 to build a church. The Church of the Holy Blood was consecrated on February 8, 1912 . This predecessor of the Church of the Precious Blood was designed for around 150 people attending church services. The Church of the Holy Blood was equipped with specially made statues of St. Ottilia and St. Lucia as well as a Madonna with Child Jesus. The name given to the church indicates references to Walldürn .
The Church of the Precious Blood
Due to the influx of refugees after the Second World War , the number of Catholics in Weikersheim rose sharply. Bishop Joannes Baptista Sproll finally set up a pastoral care center for Catholics in Weikersheim.
At the beginning of the 1960s, the Catholic community had grown to around 1000 people and the old church was no longer sufficient. Therefore, this structure was demolished to make way for a new building in the same place. On June 11, 1961, the foundation stone for the new church was laid. It should hold 450 people and have a 27 meter high tower.
This Church of the Precious Blood was designed by the Markelsheim architect Philipp Olkus . The construction cost 703,000 DM. Auxiliary Bishop Wilhelm Sedlmaier consecrated the new church on May 27, 1962. At that time the name To the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ was still used, but afterwards the addition “Jesus Christ” was omitted.
The Church of the Precious Blood , which had to be renovated in 1998, was initially not equipped with a full-fledged organ . In 2012 she received a used Lobal organ with 22 registers, which was used for the first time in the Weikersheim Church during the service on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the church consecration. An illustrated book was published on the occasion of the anniversary.
In Weikersheim there are now (as of 2012) around 1,850 Catholics, in Creglingen , which belongs to the same district, including districts around 580.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Klaus T. Mende, When the old church was too small , in: Fränkische Nachrichten , January 2, 2012
- ↑ a b c Page no longer available , search in web archives: Hans-Peter Kuhnhäuser, Weikersheimer Catholics celebrate double anniversary , in: Tauber-Zeitung, December 22, 2011
Parish churches of pastoral care unit 3 of the dean's office Mergentheim : To the precious blood (Weikersheim) with the branches Elpersheim and Queckbronn | St. Margareta (Laudenbach)
Other churches and ways of the cross: Way of the Cross (Laudenbach) to the mountain church Laudenbach
Monasteries: Lochgarten Monastery (†) | Premonstratensian monastery Schäftersheim (†)
(†): Sacred building no longer used / available
Coordinates: 49 ° 28 ′ 42.56 " N , 9 ° 53 ′ 55.38" E