Minoritenkirche Köln im Frühling (1892-94)

Minoritenkirche Köln, Retabel (2009-12-04)

Adolph kolping grab minoritenkirche koeln

Kreuzgang-des-ehemaligen-Minoritenklosters-Köln

The Minoritenkirche or Church of the Immaculate Conception (German - ''St. Mariä Empfängnis'') is a Catholic church on the Kolpingplatz in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. Built in the 13th century, it is now used by the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

and the Kolpingwerk social association. It is notable for containing the tombs of

Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( – 8 November 1308), commonly called Duns Scotus ( ; ; "Duns the Scot"), was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is one of the four most important ...

and

Adolph Kolping Adolph Kolping (8 December 1813 — 4 December 1865) was a German Catholic priest and the founder of the Kolping Association. He led the movement for providing and promoting social support for workers in industrialized cities while also working t ...

, both of whom were

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

- Kolping was also ordained priest in the church. Kolping and Scotus both feature on the new west doors designed by Paul Nagel in 2006.

History

Typically for Franciscan monastery churches, it was built in the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style. It took from 1245 to about 1260 to build its early-Gothic choir, with a three-aisle nave added in the 14th century. As the Franciscans are a mendicant order, they built a

ridge turret A ridge turret is a turret or small tower constructed over the ridge or apex between two or more sloping roofs of a building. It is usually built either as an architectural ornament for purely decorative purposes or else for the practical housing ...

but no bell tower, indications of the poverty adopted by the order. When the French Revolution spread to Cologne in 1794, the Franciscans were expelled from the church and the adjoining monastery. The occupying forces seized the buildings in 1804 and four years later turned them into the headquarters for secular social work in the city. In 1846 the church was handed over to the city's

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

for use as an annexe church to

Cologne Cathedral Cologne Cathedral (german: Kölner Dom, officially ', English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of ...

and four years later archbishop

Johannes von Geissel Johannes von Geissel (5 February 1796 – 8 September 1864) was a German Catholic Archbishop of Cologne and Cardinal from the Electorate of the Palatinate. Life Gessel was born in Gimmeldingen in the Electorate of the Palatinate. After co ...

made it the diocesan church for confirmations and ordinations. He also instigated a restoration which was completed in 1862, partly thanks to a 40,000 Taler donation from the businessman Johann Heinrich Richartz (1795–1861), who had already set up the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum on the former site of the monastery buildings.

Organ

A new Romanus Seifert & Sohn organ was installed in 1997, with 44 registers, divided into three manuals and pedals, with mechanical trackers and electrical registers. The

expression pedal An expression pedal is an important control found on many musical instruments including organs, electronic keyboards, and pedal steel guitar. The musician uses the pedal to control different aspects of the sound, commonly volume. Separate expres ...

is equipped with Barker levers. * ''Stops:'' II/I, III/I, III/II, I/P, II/P, III/P * ''Stops:'' 768-fache

combination action Registration is the technique of choosing and combining the stops of a pipe organ in order to produce a particular sound. ''Registration'' can also refer to a particular combination of stops, which may be recalled through combination action. The ...

Bells

The ridge-turret houses two bells, both cast in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

by Feldmann & Marschel. They replace two bells cast in 1754 and 1853 which were destroyed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. As with the 'Kirchen am Neumarkt' ( St. Aposteln, the Antoniterkirche and St. Peter), both bells ring at 16:45 on Saturdays and Sundays, whilst the 'Marienglocke' rings the

Angelus The Angelus (; Latin for "angel") is a Catholic devotion commemorating the Incarnation of Christ. As with many Catholic prayers, the name ''Angelus'' is derived from its incipit—the first few words of the text: ("The Angel of the Lord ...

on its own at 19:30 each evening.

References

Bibliography (in German)

* Hans-Joachim Kracht: ''Adolph Kolping: Priester, Pädagoge, Publizist im Dienst christlicher Sozialreform.'' Herder Verlag. Freiburg im Breisgau u. a. 1993, S. 159–163, . * Heinrich Neu: ''Die Minoritenkirche zu Köln.'' Münster-Verlag, Köln 1949. * Bernhard Ridder: ''Kolpings Grabeskirche, das Familienheiligtum der Kolpingssöhne,'' Kolping Verlag, Köln 1958. {{Coordinate, article=/, NS=50/56/21/N, EW=6/57/19/E, type=landmark, region=DE-NW category:Roman Catholic churches in Cologne category:Gothic architecture in Germany Franciscan churches in Germany 14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Germany