St. Sebastian

About

St. Sebastian is the oldest Catholic parish church in the city of Mannheim and one of the three churches of the Mannheim city pastoral unit in the city center. In Electoral Palatine times it was used by the Elector as a court church and received a magnificent interior by artists such as Bibiena, Verschaffelt and Egell. The furnishings were impaired by remodeling in the 19th century and damaged during World War II. Together with the Old Town Hall, St. Sebastian's Church forms a Baroque double building erected at the beginning of the 18th century, which is the oldest preserved structure in the city.

Mannheim was first mentioned in the Lorsch Codex in 766. Since when there was a church in Mannheim is not known, a parish priest was first attested in 1309. In the Worms synodale of 1496, a visitation protocol of the parishes of the Worms diocese, the Mannheim parish church was described and it was recorded for the first time that St. Sebastian was the patron of the church and village. In 1556, Elector Ottheinrich introduced the Reformation in the Electoral Palatinate.

Nothing is known about the further fate of the old St. Sebastian's Church. However, it was probably demolished at the beginning of the 17th century, when Friedrichsburg Castle was built in place of the old village as a bulwark to protect the Protestant Electoral Palatinate and the Mannheim villagers had to move north of it to what is now the lower town of the squares. With the exception of a few years during the Thirty Years' War, Mannheim subsequently remained Protestant. The few Catholics were forbidden to practice the freedom of religion in public, so services were secretly attended in Seckenheim's St. Aegidius Church.

In 1685, a Catholic branch of the Wittelsbach dynasty took over the Electoral Palatinate inheritance under Philipp Wilhelm, who decreed that the Catholics could share the use of the Reformed and Lutheran churches, and in 1701 Mannheim once again received its own Catholic parish. After the destruction of the Nine Years' War, however, only a simultaneum used emergency church and, from 1704, also the church of the Capuchin Abbey were available. In the meantime, the foundation stone for a town hall on the central Marktplatz had been laid in 1700 in the town of square F 1, on the west wing of which the municipality planned a weighing house with representation rooms on the upper floor. The Catholics, with the support of the city director, proposed that the main Catholic church be built on this site instead. Elector Johann Wilhelm approved the proposal in 1706 and the foundation stone was laid that same year on November 25. Auxiliary Bishop Peter Cornelius Beyweg consecrated it in honor of the Holy Trinity and the Beata Maria Virgo Assumpta ( Assumption of Mary ). The plans met with resistance from the representatives of the majority Protestant town, partly because they were to pay for most of the costs and the building was to be symmetrically based on the representative style of the town hall. Instead, they proposed to build the church in square N 1 near the Paradeplatz. This, in turn, was rejected by the Catholics because the building site was too poor and the regular cattle market was held there, so that in 1707 the Elector ordered the church to be built on the Marktplatz.

According to the plans of the Vorarlberg master builder Johann Jakob Rischer (1662-1755), the church was built under the direction of the engineers William Cour and Johann W. Nottum. Contrary to Rischer's original plan, the Elector ordered all parts of the building to be raised 10 feet, round-arched windows for the church, and that no dome be placed over the church. Instead, the church was given a high hipped roof, as was the town hall before it. It was consecrated on 12 December 1709, and probably consecrated episcopally on 1 May 1710. By tradition, Sebastian was adopted as the patron saint for the town church. After that, construction on the church continued until 1723, especially on the facade decoration and interior decoration.

In 1720, Elector Carl Philipp moved the residence of the Electoral Palatinate from Heidelberg to Mannheim and used St. Sebastian's as the court church until the construction of the Mannheim Palace Church in 1731. Even after that, the Elector regularly attended services in the church once a year on January 20 - the feast of St. Sebastian. As early as 1742, the church had to be renovated under the direction of Alessandro Galli da Bibiena. The church on the Marktplatz was soon too small for the growing number of Catholics. As early as 1744, the need for a second parish was established, but it was not built due to lack of money. In 1804, the new sovereign Charles Frederick von Baden ordered the transfer of the parish to the Jesuit church, because it was larger and in better condition. It was not until December 1824 that a separate parish was again established at St. Sebastian. Since then, the names Upper (Jesuit Church) and Lower Parish (St. Sebastian) became common.

Within the Catholic Church, after the dissolution of the Diocese of Worms, St. Sebastian belonged to the Heidelberg Deanery in the Archdiocese of Freiburg from 1827 until the Mannheim City Deanery was founded in 1902. Due to the population explosion at the end of the 19th century in Mannheim - the city's population increased from 39,606 to 141,147 between 1871 and 1900 - more churches were built and parishes were founded and separated from the two original parishes, such as the Liebfrauenkirche and the Heilig-Geist-Kirche in 1903, the Herz-Jesu-Kirche in 1904 and St. Josef in 1907.

The interior of the church underwent some drastic changes during this period. First, in 1875, the high altar in the rococo style was demolished and replaced by a historicist ciboria altar. In addition, the antependium went on loan to Berlin in 1934. The remains of the high altar, the chancel barrier and four figures preserved after the destruction of the Second World War are now exhibited in the Bode Museum.

During the renovation in 1906/07, among other things, the apse was painted and windows in the choir were bricked up. In 1936 the church was restored. Previously, Joseph Sauer had drawn up an expert report in which he criticized the church for being "unspeakably disfigured in terms of color and embarrassingly overgrown by a magazine-like accumulation of products of artistic unculture". The 1906 stuccowork and two "pseudo altars" were removed and, as far as could be determined, the original color scheme was restored.

During World War II, more than three quarters of the buildings in Mannheim were destroyed. St. Sebastian's Church, on the other hand, suffered comparatively little destruction. In a bombing raid in April 1943, the Marktplatz facade, the roof and parts of the interior were damaged. Afterwards, an emergency church was set up under the organ loft. After the war, the whole church - provided with an emergency roof - could be used again already at the end of 1945. Between 1952 and 1954, St. Sebastian's was extensively renovated and some of the lost furnishings were replaced. The new high altar was consecrated on 28 March 1954. In 1973 and 1999, the church was renovated.

Due to the migration of the population from the inner city and the dwindling number of faithful, a consolidation was initiated towards the end of the 20th century. The three inner-city parishes of the Upper and Lower Parishes and the Liebfrauenkirche were combined into a pastoral unit on 1 September 2005. Since 2003, the Mannheim Evangelization Team has celebrated its services in St. Sebastian's, and since 2009, the Catholic university community has done so as well. The parish used the jubilee year 2007 - the city celebrated the 400th anniversary of the granting of city rights - to revive an old tradition. Since then, it again celebrates the Sebastianus festival on January 20, the anniversary of the death of the church and former village patron. In 2009, in view of the 98th German Catholic Day, which took place in Mannheim in 2012, it was decided to renovate the exterior of the church.

Mannheim was first mentioned in the Lorsch Codex in 766. Since when there was a church in Mannheim is not known, a parish priest was first attested in 1309. In the Worms synodale of 1496, a visitation protocol of the parishes of the Worms diocese, the Mannheim parish church was described and it was recorded for the first time that St. Sebastian was the patron of the church and village. In 1556, Elector Ottheinrich introduced the Reformation in the Electoral Palatinate.

Nothing is known about the further fate of the old St. Sebastian's Church. However, it was probably demolished at the beginning of the 17th century, when Friedrichsburg Castle was built in place of the old village as a bulwark to protect the Protestant Electoral Palatinate and the Mannheim villagers had to move north of it to what is now the lower town of the squares. With the exception of a few years during the Thirty Years' War, Mannheim subsequently remained Protestant. The few Catholics were forbidden to practice the freedom of religion in public, so services were secretly attended in Seckenheim's St. Aegidius Church.

In 1685, a Catholic branch of the Wittelsbach dynasty took over the Electoral Palatinate inheritance under Philipp Wilhelm, who decreed that the Catholics could share the use of the Reformed and Lutheran churches, and in 1701 Mannheim once again received its own Catholic parish. After the destruction of the Nine Years' War, however, only a simultaneum used emergency church and, from 1704, also the church of the Capuchin Abbey were available. In the meantime, the foundation stone for a town hall on the central Marktplatz had been laid in 1700 in the town of square F 1, on the west wing of which the municipality planned a weighing house with representation rooms on the upper floor. The Catholics, with the support of the city director, proposed that the main Catholic church be built on this site instead. Elector Johann Wilhelm approved the proposal in 1706 and the foundation stone was laid that same year on November 25. Auxiliary Bishop Peter Cornelius Beyweg consecrated it in honor of the Holy Trinity and the Beata Maria Virgo Assumpta ( Assumption of Mary ). The plans met with resistance from the representatives of the majority Protestant town, partly because they were to pay for most of the costs and the building was to be symmetrically based on the representative style of the town hall. Instead, they proposed to build the church in square N 1 near the Paradeplatz. This, in turn, was rejected by the Catholics because the building site was too poor and the regular cattle market was held there, so that in 1707 the Elector ordered the church to be built on the Marktplatz.

According to the plans of the Vorarlberg master builder Johann Jakob Rischer (1662-1755), the church was built under the direction of the engineers William Cour and Johann W. Nottum. Contrary to Rischer's original plan, the Elector ordered all parts of the building to be raised 10 feet, round-arched windows for the church, and that no dome be placed over the church. Instead, the church was given a high hipped roof, as was the town hall before it. It was consecrated on 12 December 1709, and probably consecrated episcopally on 1 May 1710. By tradition, Sebastian was adopted as the patron saint for the town church. After that, construction on the church continued until 1723, especially on the facade decoration and interior decoration.

In 1720, Elector Carl Philipp moved the residence of the Electoral Palatinate from Heidelberg to Mannheim and used St. Sebastian's as the court church until the construction of the Mannheim Palace Church in 1731. Even after that, the Elector regularly attended services in the church once a year on January 20 - the feast of St. Sebastian. As early as 1742, the church had to be renovated under the direction of Alessandro Galli da Bibiena. The church on the Marktplatz was soon too small for the growing number of Catholics. As early as 1744, the need for a second parish was established, but it was not built due to lack of money. In 1804, the new sovereign Charles Frederick von Baden ordered the transfer of the parish to the Jesuit church, because it was larger and in better condition. It was not until December 1824 that a separate parish was again established at St. Sebastian. Since then, the names Upper (Jesuit Church) and Lower Parish (St. Sebastian) became common.

Within the Catholic Church, after the dissolution of the Diocese of Worms, St. Sebastian belonged to the Heidelberg Deanery in the Archdiocese of Freiburg from 1827 until the Mannheim City Deanery was founded in 1902. Due to the population explosion at the end of the 19th century in Mannheim - the city's population increased from 39,606 to 141,147 between 1871 and 1900 - more churches were built and parishes were founded and separated from the two original parishes, such as the Liebfrauenkirche and the Heilig-Geist-Kirche in 1903, the Herz-Jesu-Kirche in 1904 and St. Josef in 1907.

The interior of the church underwent some drastic changes during this period. First, in 1875, the high altar in the rococo style was demolished and replaced by a historicist ciboria altar. In addition, the antependium went on loan to Berlin in 1934. The remains of the high altar, the chancel barrier and four figures preserved after the destruction of the Second World War are now exhibited in the Bode Museum.

During the renovation in 1906/07, among other things, the apse was painted and windows in the choir were bricked up. In 1936 the church was restored. Previously, Joseph Sauer had drawn up an expert report in which he criticized the church for being "unspeakably disfigured in terms of color and embarrassingly overgrown by a magazine-like accumulation of products of artistic unculture". The 1906 stuccowork and two "pseudo altars" were removed and, as far as could be determined, the original color scheme was restored.

During World War II, more than three quarters of the buildings in Mannheim were destroyed. St. Sebastian's Church, on the other hand, suffered comparatively little destruction. In a bombing raid in April 1943, the Marktplatz facade, the roof and parts of the interior were damaged. Afterwards, an emergency church was set up under the organ loft. After the war, the whole church - provided with an emergency roof - could be used again already at the end of 1945. Between 1952 and 1954, St. Sebastian's was extensively renovated and some of the lost furnishings were replaced. The new high altar was consecrated on 28 March 1954. In 1973 and 1999, the church was renovated.