St. Martin in

Moosach Moosach is a municipality in the Upper Bavarian district of Ebersberg and a member of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (administrative community) of Glonn. Geography The community lies in a picturesque setting in an ice-age moraine landscape abo ...

, part of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Bavaria, Germany, is the name of a Roman Catholic parish which has two churches dedicated to

Martin of Tours Martin of Tours (; 316/3368 November 397) was the third bishop of Tours. He is the patron saint of many communities and organizations across Europe, including France's Third French Republic, Third Republic. A native of Pannonia (present-day Hung ...

, the old Alte Pfarrkirche St. Martin, one of Munich's oldest churches, and the new Neue Pfarrkirche St. Martin. The new church was dedicated in 1924.

History

Alte Pfarrkirche

Moosach was an independent community and parish until 1913, when it became part of Munich. A church was mentioned in 815 as a

proprietary church During the Middle Ages, a proprietary church (Latin ''ecclesia propria'', German ''Eigenkirche'') was a church, abbey or cloister built on private ground by a feudal lord, over which he retained proprietary interests, especially the right of what ...

of Count Cundhart. The present building dates from the 12th and 13th centuries. It was dedicated to

. The Romanesque origin is only preserved in the walls of the foundation and a Romanesque structure. Around 1500, the church was changed to late-Gothic style. It was damaged during the Thirty Years' War, and at times used as a stable for horses. A sacristy was added around 1700. The interior features were then modernised; the present pulpit dates back to that time. St. Martin was a

filial church A filial church, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church. The term comes from the Latin ''filialis'', from ''filia'', “daughter”. Description The term ''fi ...

of , becoming independent again in 1909. The church is surrounded by a cemetery, with the oldest gravestone dated 1619.

Furnishings

The main altar is in rococo style, created by Josef Anton Fröhlich around 1764/67. It features the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

and above him the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

. On the side panels,

St. Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orth ...

is depicted left with a staff of lilies, and

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

right with a cross staff and a lamb. The left side altar is dedicated to St. Helena who was depicted by Adalbert Kromer in Nazarene style in 1867. The right side altar is dedicated to

St. George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

, with a 1867 altar painting showing

Michael the archangel Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

(1867). The altar includes a copy of the

Black Madonna The term ''Black Madonna'' or ''Black Virgin'' tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin. The Jungian scholar, San Begg publ ...

from

Einsiedeln Abbey Einsiedeln Abbey () is a Catholic monastery administered by the Benedictine Order in the village of Einsiedeln, Switzerland. The Abbey of Einsiedeln is one of the most important baroque monastic sites and the largest place of pilgrimage in Swit ...

. It was made around 1700 and is the oldest surviving copy of the in Germany. The Annakapelle (St. Anna's chapel), left of the main aisle, features Baroque wood-carved group around St. Anna, possibly by Tobias Bader.Naujokat, Anita
Hagel von oben, Schimmel von innen
(in German) ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

'' 28 April 2020 The

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

has a ceiling

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

created by Franz Leopold Hager in 1763, depicting the officer of

Capernaum Capernaum ( ; ; ) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of about 1,500 in the 1st century AD. Archaeological excavations have revealed tw ...

requesting that Jesus heals his servant (Matthew 8,5). The fresco in the nave by in 1758, showing St. Martin, dressed as bishop, praying for the donors of the church. A

crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...

and a pietá on the right side of the nave date back to the first half of the 18th century. A

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

was built in 1997 by Josef Maier.

Neue Pfarrkirche

After Moosach became part of Munich, a larger church was needed because the old one became too small for a growing parish. The new church was built from 1921 to 1924, designed by the Munich architect . He included

neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

elements in his design in the style of

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in ) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against German Expressionism, expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle Mannheim, Kunsthalle' ...

. A relief of St. Martin dividing his coat was created by . Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger Ratzinger, the later

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

, began his career as a chaplain at St. Martin in 1951. The church had an organ built in 1975 by . It was transferred to Poland in 2015, when a new instrument was built by Orgelbau Goll from

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

with 40 stops on three manuals and pedal. A group of

star singers Star singers, also known as Epiphany singers, or Star boys' singing procession (England), are children and young people walking from house to house with a star on a rod and often wearing crowns and dressed in clothes to resemble the Three Magi ...

from St. Martin, Moosach, was received by then chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

in 2012. In 2020, Annette Thoma's ''Bauernmesse'' (''Peasants' Mass'') was performed by choir, woodwind ensemble and strings for

Epiphany Epiphany may refer to: Psychology * Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight Religion * Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ ** Epiphany seaso ...

when the star singers were sent to bless houses.

References

External links