St. Augustine's Church () is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bamberg located in the

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

n town of

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It was built between 1856 and 1860. Originally designed in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

, the church was remodelled in 1960 due to a liturgical reform. There is a

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

under the church that contains the remains of fifteen members of the Koháry branch of the

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ( ; ) is a European royal house of German origin. It takes its name from its oldest domain, the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and its members later sat on the thrones of Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal ...

, a Roman Catholic branch of the originally Protestant ducal house.

History

After the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, Catholic worship was curtailed in Coburg and the last service was held in 1582, at the . It took almost three hundred years for a new Catholic parish to be reestablished in the town. In 1851, a committee headed by

Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha August Victor Louis of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (; 13 June 1818 – 26 July 1881), was a German prince of the Catholic House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry. He was a General Major in the Royal Saxon Army and the owner of Čábráď and Šti ...

set out to plan the construction of a Roman Catholic church. His son, Prince Ludwig August, paid for the construction of a burial vault underneath the church. The vault was completed in 1858. The church was opened on 28 August 1860 (

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

) by the Archbishop of Bamberg Michael Deinlein. On 15 July 1909, the Protestant

Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Beatrice Leopoldine Victoria; 20 April 1884 – 13 July 1966) was a member of the British royal family, a male-line granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She later married into the Spanish royal family, a ...

married the Roman Catholic

Infante Alfonso, Duke of Galliera Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Infante, Infante of Spain, Duke of Galliera (12 November 1886 – 6 August 1975), was a Spanish prince, military aviator and first cousin of Alfonso XIII of Spain. Early life Alfonso was born in Madrid, Spain, ...

, in a civil ceremony at Schloss Rosenau, followed by a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

religious ceremony at St. Augustin and a Lutheran one in Schloss Callenberg.'The Marriage of Princess Beatrice of Coburg', in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' dated 17 July 1909, p. 5; 'Princess Beatrice Married', in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' dated 16 July 1909, p. 4 After Coburg joined Bavaria in 1920, the parish St. Augustin was assigned to the Archbishop of Bamberg.

Burials

Prince August and his wife,

Princess Clémentine of Orléans Princess Clémentine of Orléans () (3 June 1817 – 16 February 1907), princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and duchess in Saxony, was the sixth child and youngest daughter of Louis-Philippe I, List of French Monarchs, King of the French, and his w ...

, are buried in a double

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...

on the right side of the vault. In 1948, the remains of their youngest son, Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, were placed at their feet., and remained there until 2024, when Ferdinand's remains were reburied in Bulgaria. Twelve more members of the

are buried on the left side of the vault. Prince Ludwig August (second son of August and Clémentine) and his wife,

Princess Leopoldina of Brazil Princess Leopoldina of Brazil (Leopoldina Teresa Francisca Carolina Miguela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga; 13 July 1847 – 7 February 1871) was the daughter of Emperor Pedro II and Empress Teresa Cristina. She shared the first name of her grandmot ...

, are buried alongside their sons –

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

, August Leopold and Joseph Ferdinand. The remains of Prince August Leopold's teenage son August Clemens were interred in the vault in 1908. A few years later, his remains were joined by those of his murdered cousin, Prince Leopold Clemens. The remains of August and Clémentine's eldest son and Leopold Clemens' father, Prince Philipp, can also be found on the left side of the vault. The remains of Philipp's daughter Dorothea and those of Ludwig Gaston (son of Ludwig August and Leopoldina), Ludwig Gaston's second wife, Maria Anna Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg, and August Leopold's daughter Maria Karoline are located in the lower part of the vault's left side. August Leopold's son Prince Rainer is also buried there.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Augustin Coburg Roman Catholic churches completed in 1860 Roman Catholic churches in Bavaria Burial sites of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry Burial sites of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Bulgaria) Burial sites of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg Buildings and structures in Coburg 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Germany