Holy Cross Church (Frankfurt-Bornheim)

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The Holy Cross Church (German: Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche) is a Catholic church in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main (Germany) in the Bornheimer Hang settlement. From 1929 to 1950 and again from 2007 to 2015, it was a branch church of the parish of St. Josef in Frankfurt am Main. In between, the church had its own parish from 1950 to 2007. From 2007 to 2025, it was the seat of the meditation centre of the Diocese of Limburg. From 2011 until the end of June 2026, it has been a church location of the International English-Speaking Catholic. The future of the church building after that was still uncertain in April 2026 but a sale was planned. The church is located in the Diocese of Limburg. The church was built by Martin Weber from 1928 to 1929, on a rise then known as Bornheimer Hang. It was finally completed on 25 August 1929 and handed to the Catholic congregation of Bornheim. It was damaged during Second World War and subsequently rebuilt with the help of donations. The Holy Cross Church is considered an important example of modern Catholic sacred architecture from the late 1920s. Martin Weber's design is attributed to New Objectivity or avant-garde church architecture of the interwar...

With the reintegration of its own parish into the parish of St. Josef, the use of the church changed fundamentally. The diocese dedicated it from 1 August 2007 as the location of a Holy Cross – Centre for Christian Meditation and Spirituality. The centre was directed from August 2007 until July 2018 by the Franciscan Helmut Schlegel OFM, who worked there until June 2019 as a retreat and meditation leader and priestly co-worker. Since November 2018 until May 2024 the centre was directed by the theologian Samuel Stricker, who worked with a team of contributors, for example from the order of Medical Mission Sisters. In May 2024, Sr. Kristina Wolf MMS took over as acting director of the centre, as Samuel Stricker moved to another position within the Diocese of Limburg. At the end of August 2025, the closure of the meditation centre of the Diocese of Limburg founded in 2007 and its location was announced at the end of the year with a celebration on the Saturday before the fourth Sunday of Advent, 20 December 2025. The last event held at the meditation centre in Holy Cross Church after its official closure on 20 December 2025, was the Midnight Mass at Christmas Eve on 24 December 2025. As the future use of the church had not yet been decided at the end of December 2025, some events continued to be held in January 2026 in rooms such as the crypt.

Following the announcement that the meditation centre would close at the end of 2025, the future use of the church building was still undecided at April 2026. According to the Diocese of Limburg, various options were being considered. At the beginning of December, discussions took place between the parish of St. Josef Frankfurt and the Diocese of Limburg. One of the possibilities was the sale and conversion of the church and the former rectory on Kettelerallee. The kindergarten run by the parish and the rest of the building above it would not be affected. At that time, there were three options for the parking lot with access from Löwengasse. A final decision had not yet been made at the time of the last update of the article.

The uncertain situation facing the church in December 2025 caused sadness and despair among many participants at the meditation centre and members of the parish. This affected, among others, members of groups from the former Holy Cross parish, which existed until 2007 and still used church premises in 2025. A petition in a letter to the diocese called for prospects, participation in the process, and transparent information, especially for these groups. For older parishioners in particular, the journey to St. Josef's parish church was too far. No further German-language services were planned at Holy Cross at that time.

Due to the restoration of the interior of St. Leonhard’s Church, services of the International English-Speaking Catholic Parish ave been held instead at Holy Cross Church since May 7, 2011. Even after the work at St. Leonhard’s was completed, this parish continued to hold its Sunday morning service at Holy Cross Church. In December 2025, it was announced that the International English-Speaking Catholic Parish could continue to use Holy Cross Church until the end of June 2026. A move to a different church location was planned for the period thereafter. At the end of March 2026, it was announced that starting in July 2026, Liebfrauenkirche (=Church of Our Lady) in Oberursel ( Taunus ) would become the new church location for the English-speaking congregation, replacing Holy Cross Church.

The Holy Cross church was built in 1929 by the master church builder Martin Weber and is at the edge of the housing development at the Bornheimer Hang. Weber also built the churches of St. Bonifatius in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen in 1927 and of the Holy Spirit in Frankfurt-Riederwald in 1931. With these Frankfurt churches, alongside the Frauenfriedenskirche and the Pallottinerkirche St. Marien in Limburg an der Lahn, Martin Weber stands for "Neues Bauen" (=New Building Style) in the spirit of the Liturgical Movement in the Roman Catholic Church.

The church is located on the eastern edge of the settlement planned by Ernst May as part of the New Frankfurt (German: Neues Frankfurt ) urban planning programme, above the Bornheimer Hang (Bornheim slope). It is the most prominent church in New Frankfurt in terms of urban planning and, visible from afar, shapes the silhouette of the Bornheimer Hang settlement. On the side facing the city, the building forms the end point of Wittelsbacherallee, marking the end of the visual axis. However, it is not strictly axially symmetric, as the street turns right shortly before the portal to leave the wide steps of the church on the left. This urban design gesture is a mixture of representativeness and understatement and is exemplary of the style of New Frankfurt. The church is not an aloof structure, but blends seamlessly into the surrounding buildings. The white plastered façade matches the surrounding residential buildings of the settlement. The original four dials without numbers on the tower clocks, which can still be seen today on the front sides of the tower, can also be found on the former Frankfurt Großmarkthalle (:Frankfurt wholesale market hall) and other prominent buildings of New Frankfurt. Directly next to the church, the central laundry of the settlement was originally located in the archway above Ortenberger Strasse. Martin Weber took up Ernst May's clear design language and, with soaring round arches as a consistent design element both outside and inside, translated the essence of late Romanesque church architecture into the modern age. It blends seamlessly into May's modernism of New Frankfurt and yet stands out as a house of God. According to Helmut Schlegel, the church reflected the attitude to life of the public at the time of its creation, who, after the First World War and the global economic crisis in the 1930s, longed for new hope, space and grandeur.

The community centre originally planned for the Wittelsbacherallee was not built, so there was enough space to build the new church. The Holy Cross Church was the second Catholic church in Frankfurt-Bornheim. The parish was an outsourcing of the later neighbour fold St. Josef, the first Catholic church in Bornheim. The reason why their priest Joseph Höhler decided to build the new church at this location was the expansion of the Bornheim quarter eastward at the Bornheimer Hang, with the new settlement. This resulted in a growing number of Roman Catholics living in the quarter.

After the Catholic community had acquired the two plots of land totaling 6,200 m 2 needed for the construction of the church in 1926 and 1927, the church executive committee decided in May 1927 to invite tenders for a closed architectural competition. Four architectural firms were invited: Hans (1872–1952) and Christoph Rummel (1881–1961) (Frankfurt), Richard Steidle (1881–1958) (Munich), Martin Weber (1890–1941) (Frankfurt), and Robert B. Witte (Dresden). The jury consisted of eight people, including the then parish priest, Pastor Höhler, as representative of the parish of St. Josef, the city planning officer Ernst May, and the architect Hans Herkommer. The competition had several stipulations for the church, e.g. the front of the steeple at the Wittelsbacherallee, between 700 and 800 seats, a high altar and two side altars and an organ loft for 150 people. On 3 August 1927 a jury decided in a competition for the draft with the name slope crown by the master church builder Martin Weber (1890–1941). Weber called the building model "slope crown", since the church should crown the Bornheimer Hang (slope). [ citation needed ]

On 19 February 1928 the construction work began with the turning of the first sod. The foundation stone was laid on 18 March 1928. A deed with text in the shape of a cross, two daily newspapers, a yearbook of Frankfurt Catholics, five Reichsmarks in various currencies, and a bottle of Rhine wine were walled into the foundation stone. [ citation needed ]

The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on 14 September 1928. On 25 August 1929 the church was consecrated by Ludwig Maria Hugo, the bishop of the Diocese of Mainz, because Augustinus Kilian, the bishop of the Diocese of Limburg at the time, was ill. The name was chosen because there were several places in medieval Frankfurt dedicated to the holy cross. One of these was the chapel of the Hospital of the Holy Cross which was donated in 1343 by Wicker Frosch. Together with the chapel of the monastery of St. Katharinen which was built in 1354, it formed a small double church, the predecessor building of the today's Evangelical-Lutheran Katharinen church. In Holy Cross Church there is a reliquary containing a splinter of the Holy Cross. Until 1950 the Holy Cross parish was financially still a part of the St. Josef parish, with which it has a common church executive committee. [ citation needed ]

During the Nazi era (from 1933) the Holy Cross parish was suppressed by the Nazis, and it lost fold members during World War II. Because of its prominent location, the church was used as a point of reference for the navigation of the bombers of the USAAF and the RAF. The windows at the west side of the church were destroyed on 4 October 1943 in an attack intended for the water works near the cemetery of Bornheim and destroyed the housing estate's wash house. During the first large-scale attack on Frankfurt in the evening of the same day, the windows of the eastern side and the parsonage building were destroyed by a line of bombs which came down on the garden plots at the Bornheimer Hang. With the next large attack on the city on 29 January 1944 parsonage building was heavily damaged. On the night of the 18/19 March 1944 the church was hit by several incendiary bombs, which pierced the roof timberwork. The bombs were extinguished inside the church. On 11 December 1944 the church was hit by three high-explosive bombs on its west side, completely destroying the large open staircase on the west side of the church tower and partially destroying the temporary chapel behind it in what later became the tower hall on the ground floor of the tower building, tearing a large hole in the west side of the nave. Pastor Georg Nilges wanted to retrieve the eucharist from the temporary chapel, but jumped back and thus escaped the explosion of the two bombs that devastated the lower church and completely destroyed its sacristy. The entire inventory, including chalices, monstrance, and thurible, was destroyed. Afterwards, church services had to be held in the boiler room below the tower, known as the "catacomb," which was used as an air raid shelter. In addition to the air raids, there were also attacks by low-flying aircraft. On 29 March 1945, the first soldiers of the United States Army stood in front of the church.

The boiler room underneath the steeple was used until 1. July 1946 as church. During the reconstruction period, starting on 26 September 1948, in which the external appearance of the church was preserved, the parish hall beneath the church was used as a lower church, which at that time was still connected to what would later become the crypt, where the altar area was located. In 1950 Holy Cross became its own parish with its own church executive committee.

In 1951, the contract for the restoration of the church was awarded under the leadership of architect Harald Greiner. By 1952, the interior of the church had been restored to its original condition and freshly renovated, and the large open staircase on the west side of the tower had been rebuilt. The church windows were glazed new by the glass painter Lorenz Matheis with stained glass window in white and golden yellow colours. The walls and the ceiling were painted in a single light colour. 1957 the kindergarten in the west of the church was built. In 1965 a stage for events was built in the parish hall under the church ship during a renovation.

In 1968 the altar area was transformed, a consequence of the liturgy reformation by the Second Vatican Council. The high altar, which was reduced in size, with the relics of the two martyrs Laurence and Urban was moved further down from its previous position under the cross, without the previous marble tabernacle, so that the priest could celebrate mass facing the congregation. A stone lectern replaced the demolished pulpit. The boundary walls of the ambones on the left and right were each replaced by a guard rail. In the right-hand ambo, a new blue enamelled tabernacle decorated with gilded metal grilles and rock crystals was placed on a marble pedestal. The two side altars and the communion benches were removed. The baptismal font stood for 22 years at the former location of the altar under the large wall cross in the choir room. The ceiling was painted orange - red and the walls light beige. In 1969, the first parish council election took place. The dark pews were replaced with light wood benches in 1971. In 1975, the administrative council elected by the parish council replaced the church council.

In 1990, as part of a restoration project led by architect Bernhard Weber (1930–2000), the chancel underwent further redesign. The baptismal font was moved back to the entrance area of the church. In its previous location, a sacrament altar with a tabernacle was erected, taking the place of the former high altar. The main altar was shortened again and the altar level was extended into the congregation area, with the lectern placed on the left side of the altar level. In 1992, during the renovation of the church interior, the original condition of the interior painting with its chequerboard pattern in light and dark red was largely restored, the large wall cross was extended to the ceiling and the inscription INRI was added to the upper part, and the apses were given boundary walls again. In 1995, the parish garden on Kettelerallee was reduced in size by residential buildings. In 1997, the previously unnamed square in front of the church tower at the upper end of Wittelsbacherallee was redesigned and given the name Martin-Weber-Platz.

Holy Cross – Centre for Christian Meditation and Spirituality

Main article: Holy Cross – Centre for Christian Meditation and Spirituality At 1. August 2007 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limburg intended the church on instruction of former bishop Franz Kamphaus to the Holy Cross – Centre for Christian Meditation and Spirituality. The centre was a pastoral institution of the diocese under the responsibility of the Pastoral Care and Education Division, Pastoral Care and Development Department (as of 9/2025). In the centre church services, meditation courses, contemplative prayer, Zen -meditation courses, days of reflection, spiritual exercises, retreats, and other meetings are offered. The Padre Helmut Schlegel of the Franciscan takes the responsibility for the offers as director/conductor of the centre until July 2018 and as a priestly employee until June 2019. In November 2018 the theologian Samuel Stricker took over the leadership of the meditation centre and in August 2019 Olaf Lindenberg the role as a priestly employee. The team included colleagues like for example from the Medical Mission Sisters (MMS). Although the offerings of the centre are affected by Christianity the target audience includes humans of all Religious denominations, world views and cultures. The team published a program normally annual. It was the first institution of its kind in Germany. The Holy Cross Church was one of five profile churches of the Diocese of Limburg. Furthermore, there were besides the Centre for Mourning Counselling (German: Zentrum für Trauerseelsorge ) in St.Michael in Frankfurt-Nordend as well founded in 2007 also the three youth churches (German: Jugendkirchen) Crossover in St. Hildegard in Limburg an der Lahn, Jona in St. Bonifatius in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen and Kana in Maria-Hilf in Wiesbaden-Nordost which were founded already in 2005.

In the church, small changes were gradually implemented by 2010. The previous church pews have been replaced by folding chairs, which allowed a more flexible use of the available space. The present main altar was no longer used for the church services of the centre for meditation and has been replaced by a small wooden altar, which formed a circle with the folding chairs. Stairlifts or wheelchair ramps have been installed for barrier-free access to the church interior or other premises. The crypt and the rooms of the former parsonage were redesigned for the use as a meditation centre.

In March 2020, the centre's program had to be suspended because all worship services in Germany and thus all other events had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. However, at certain times the church was daily open for meditation for a limited number of people. In May services were resumed on Saturdays under special conditions. In Advent 2020, four theme weeks were held with a special light show, the Advent Labyrinth, the Peace Light and about light figures. In December 2020, a Protestant vicar of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau was employed for the first time in a six-month special vicariate in the centre.