St. Patrokli, Soest: A Romanesque Collegiate Church in Germany
Site at a Glance
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- 4.5
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- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page20 sections
History
St. Patrokli is a Roman Catholic church in Soest, Germany, whose collegiate foundation was established in the tenth century and whose early Romanesque building phase was completed before 1000. Dedicated to St. Patroclus, a Christian martyr traditionally dated to the third century, the church grew within Soest’s unusual political and ecclesiastical position. Although the town was not a bishop’s seat, it served as the ecclesiastical centre of the Archbishops of Cologne in Westphalia, their secondary residence, and the second capital of Electoral Cologne.
The relics and the foundation
The church’s religious identity began with the arrival of Patroclus’s relics. Archbishop Brun of Cologne, also known as Bruno the Great, received them during a diplomatic mission to the French court. He first took them to Cologne, where they remained for four years, before transferring them to Soest. They arrived on 9 December 962 and were welcomed in a public celebration as the city’s first relics.
Brun intended to create a collegiate foundation at Soest. In his testament of 965, he left 100 pounds of silver, liturgical vessels, and vestments for the project. Archbishop Folcmar carried out the plan, and the first canons probably came from St. Andrew’s in Cologne. The statutes of that community probably provided the model for the new foundation, a religious institution served by a chapter of canons rather than by a resident bishop.
The foundation’s property expanded through gifts from the Archbishops of Cologne and, to a lesser degree, from other benefactors. Archbishop Anno II added four prebends, or endowed places for canons, thereby doubling the chapter’s membership. Archbishop Rainald of Dassel probably consecrated the collegiate church on 8 July 1166. The altar had already been consecrated on 11 July 1118 by Archbishop Frederick of Schwarzenburg, while St. Stephen’s Chapel received its consecration in 1149.
Ecclesiastical power in Soest
The chapter initially retained the right to elect its provost freely. From 1221, however, the provost had to come from the Cologne cathedral chapter. In 1257 the provost also became collator of the parishes in Soest and the surrounding area, meaning that he held the right to appoint their clergy, as well as dean of the Soest rural deanery. By the fifteenth century, the provosts had displaced the Cologne cathedral provost as archdeacon in the area.
St. Patrokli formed its own ecclesiastical district with immunity, a protected jurisdiction exempt from ordinary local authority, and maintained a school for educating clergy. For centuries it was the wealthiest and most powerful collegiate foundation in the Duchy of Westphalia, at times controlling as many as 54 parishes. Its provosts were often members of the high nobility, canons of Cologne Cathedral, grand archdeacons, or officials of the Archdiocese of Cologne. They usually came to Soest only once or twice a year to hold the ecclesiastical court, leaving everyday administration to the dean.
Conflict, reform, and abolition
The foundation’s close relationship with Cologne brought conflict during the Soest Feud, a war that began in 1444 when Soest opposed the authority of the Archbishops of Cologne. The foundation continued to support the archbishops, deepening its division from the city. It later resisted the Reformation, the sixteenth-century movement that challenged established Catholic institutions and doctrine, when the new teaching reached Soest in 1531.
The canons refused to adopt the Reformation doctrine and left the city. Part of the church consequently became Protestant. Dean Johannes Gropper restored Catholic worship in 1548, after which the canons returned. They retained the eastern part of the church until the collegiate foundation was abolished in 1812.
Friedrich Clemens von Ledebur-Wicheln, who served as provost from 1804 to 1811, was the last provost in the traditional sense. He later became Bishop of Paderborn. Since 1823, St. Patrokli has been the parish church of St. Patrokli in the Diocese of Paderborn, and in 1859 it was elevated to a provost church, a church headed by a provost with administrative and supervisory responsibilities. The former foundation also established Soest’s Marienkrankenhaus in 1857.
Loss, war damage, and rebuilding
The original shrine for Patroclus was made between 1311 and 1330 by Master Sigefridus of Soest. It was sold in 1841 for 3,012 thalers to the Prussian Mint, which used the proceeds to finance urgent repairs to the church. The shrine was later kept in Berlin’s Prussian Sculpture Collection and was lost in the 1945 fire at the Friedrichshain bunker. At least eight of its sixteen silver figures are considered permanently missing, while surviving fragments, including a statue dated 1340, are held in Berlin’s Bode Museum.
After the medieval shrine was sold, the relics were placed in a plain wooden box beneath the high altar. Soest families donated the present smaller, partly gilded brass shrine in 1871. Made by the Paderborn goldsmith Johann Leggen, it was restored in 1991 and is carried through the church each year on the Sunday after the patronal feast of 21 January.
The crypt, a chamber beneath the church often used for burials or relics, was blown up in 1817. An air raid in 1944 severely damaged the north wall of the westwerk, the monumental western entrance complex of a medieval church, and destroyed or damaged the vaults. Attacks in 1945 destroyed the organ and apse and badly damaged the spire and vaults. Reconstruction began when the foundation stone was laid in 1949. By 1954 a new high altar had been installed, the vaults and apse had been repainted, and the southern cloister and the eastern and southern wings had been renovated. Hans Kaiser created new windows for the westwerk and the secondary crypt.
Remains
Romanesque church and westwerk
St. Patrokli is built largely from massive green sandstone. The original basilica was dedicated to St. Stephen and had two towers, which were destroyed by fire; their traces remain visible. The first building phase included a monumental westwerk and was completed before 1000. After the fire, the westwerk was rebuilt during the first half of the eleventh century.
The west tower and forehall
The monumental west tower rises approximately 80 metres and is flanked by four corner turrets. It is commonly called the “Tower of Westphalia” and is frequently described by experts as one of Germany’s finest Romanesque towers. Romanesque architecture is characterized by massive masonry, round arches, substantial towers, and vaulted construction.
The spacious forehall is a westwerk-like structure with an upper loggia. It formerly opened toward the present cathedral square through two stairways. Hermann Rothert proposed that it may have replaced a town hall that had not yet been built around 1200. Later, during the time of Bishop Heinrich II, the citizens decided to construct their own civic house. The tower remained municipal property until 1797 and served as the city armoury. Its former armoury is now occupied by the cathedral museum, while crossbow bolts from the military stores are displayed in the Osthofentor Museum.
The eastern and southern additions
During Building III, vaulted aisles were added, including St. Andrew’s Chapel in the northern aisle. The transept arms were raised, the westwerk was rebuilt, and a secondary crypt and sacristy were constructed beside the southern transept. A cloister was also built at the south transept.
Building IV added a large hall crypt, a new apse, and a vaulted choir bay. It also introduced the Mary choir, the Paradise, and the eastern cloister. The nave and transept arms were vaulted, and the interior received painted decoration. From the last quarter of the twelfth century into the thirteenth century, the western parts were rebuilt. Intermediate supports and a partition wall in the old westwerk were removed, and new vaulting over the final one and a half bays made the western structure appear visually integrated with the nave.
Choir, paintings, and stained glass
The high choir and Patroclus shrine
The high choir retains richly coloured wall and ceiling paintings and is dominated by a very large red double cross. The simple high altar stands between the stairs leading to the high choir, with the 1871 Patroclus shrine beneath it. A statue of Patroclus stands on a column between the round arches of the organ loft on the western side. Shown in armour with an Imperial Eagle shield and drawn sword, it presents him as protector of the foundation and the city.
The altar cross dates from around 1400 and is 2.12 metres high. Its front is carved, while its back is painted. Representations of the Evangelists occupy the square ends on the front, and the rear bears a reddish image of the Crucified Christ by Conrad von Soest.
The apse and Mary choir
Peter Hecker created the principal apse painting in 1954. It is a modified Christ Pantokrator composition, showing Christ as the universal ruler, enthroned and blessing while holding a book. The painting replaced the oldest and most extensive surviving apse painting in Westphalia, which was destroyed during the Second World War. The earlier programme had combined the apse paintings with Romanesque windows.
The Mary choir contains Romanesque wall paintings from the second half of the twelfth century, probably created for the reconsecration associated with Rainald of Dassel. The paintings show the enthroned Virgin and Child in the semi-dome, the Three Magi, Saints Anne and Joachim, and the Archangel Gabriel. The principal window originally held the Jesse Tree window.
The paintings were whitewashed in the sixteenth century. During the mid-nineteenth century, the whitewash was removed, the plaster was repaired, and the original scenes were overpainted in a nineteenth-century style. Most of those additions were removed in 1935, when the paintings were retouched and supplemented with colour. War damage was repaired from 1953, and the paintings were last restored in 2005. Three windows made by Hubert Spierling also date from 2005.
Medieval glass and lost wall painting
Fourteen original glass panels dating from before 1166 survive in different church windows. Joseph Osterrath used eleven of them to make three new windows. Together with the Jesse Tree window, they form an exceptional group of Romanesque stained glass.
A medieval painting known as Rex in Gloria, made around 1200, measured 5.30 by 3.90 metres and once dominated the church. It showed Christ seated on a golden throne, blessing with his right hand and holding a book in his left. The book carried the inscription “SI DILIGITIS ME MANDATA MEA SERVATE,” meaning “If you love me, keep my commandments.” The painting was destroyed in the air raid of 7 March 1945.
Organ, bells, and seasonal furnishings
The organ
The present organ was built in 1967 by Anton Feith of Paderborn behind a free-pipe façade. During the 1976 to 1977 restoration, it was enlarged with a Bombarde division and a 32-foot stop. It was comprehensively cleaned in 2005 and technically renewed in 2023 by Orgelbau Mühleisen of Leonberg, with a minor alteration to its disposition.
The instrument has 68 stops distributed across five manual divisions and the pedal, and it is played from a four-manual console. The choir divisions stand above the west entrance arcades on either side, facing the altar. The other divisions are on the northern gallery in the westwerk. Cone chests serve the choir divisions and pedal, while slider chests serve the main, swell, and trumpet divisions. The actions are electric.
The bell ensemble
The bell ensemble consists of eleven bells. All but the smallest hang in the approximately 80-metre tower. The oldest are two “English Bells” from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, traditionally used for the city’s homage ringing. Two further thirteenth-century bells, the Storm Bell and the bell called the Stephen Bell since 1991, were cast by Hermann of Lemgo.
Johannes of Dortmund cast the Mary Bell in 1469, and it remained the lowest voice of the peal for centuries. Rochus Nelman made a smaller bell in 1577. Its unusually tall, narrow shape appears to imitate a predecessor from the twelfth or thirteenth century. The historic bells are unusually well matched in pitch, apparently by chance. Their particular sounds and inscriptions determined their individual uses, while a fifteenth-century ringing order reserved the complete peal for rare occasions.
The Patroclus Bell of 1633, Townsman Schuster’s Bell of 1720, and a small medieval bell were destroyed during the First World War. After the Second World War, the ensemble was dispersed. Nelman’s bell went to the Holy Cross Church, and the Stephen Bell went to St. Albertus Magnus. Three large cast-steel bells made by Bochumer Verein were then added, with strike notes of g0, b0, and c1.
Later restoration sought to recover the dispersed bells and add new bronze bells for modern musical requirements and the conservation of the historic ensemble. The new Patroclus Bell is regarded as one of the most successful modern bells in Westphalia. The Charles Borromeo Bell was retained as the only cast-steel bell and integrated into the peal. The steel Patroclus Bell and Hermann Joseph Bell are displayed in the cloister courtyard and behind the Mary choir. During renovation, every bell received a new clapper and a heavy wooden yoke.
The smallest bell hangs in the roof turret above the crossing and serves as the consecration bell. It replaced a thirteenth- or fourteenth-century choir bell destroyed in 1918. A new All Saints’ Bell cast in 1993 cracked in 2015 and was replaced on 17 September of that year.
Between the westwerk’s columns, the church also accommodates a Westphalian nativity scene each Christmas season. The approximately 60-square-metre installation includes half-timbered houses, a well, a stream, and a constructed landscape.
The cathedral museum and treasury
Collections in the westwerk
The cathedral museum occupies the tower hall of the westwerk and contains the church treasury. Its most valuable treasure is the Jesse Tree window, originally installed in the Mary choir and now displayed separately. The collection also includes a bust of St. Patroclus from 1499 and a fifteenth-century eagle lectern with a later base.
Seventeenth-century reliefs from the former Dominican monastery in Soest depict the Nativity, the Three Magi, the Massacre of the Innocents, and three scenes of Christ in the Temple. A door dated 1699 was salvaged from the high altar dismantled in 1817. The museum’s vestments include a French-woven choir mantle from 1720 to 1730, an eighteenth-century chasuble, a dalmatic from the second half of the seventeenth century, a chasuble made with French fabric from 1760 to 1770, and a 1742 choir mantle made with fabric produced in Persia.
Architectural and glass displays
Architectural displays include sketches, a model of the tower’s supporting framework, fragments of architectural elements dating from the twelfth century, and a colour-coded presentation of the building phases. The presentation includes the oldest part of the church shown in its condition around 1190.
The stained-glass collection includes St. Meinolfus accompanied by a cleric from around 1483, a Crucifixion from the third quarter of the thirteenth century, St. Goar with a clerical donor from around 1480, and a depiction of St. Patroclus from the third quarter of the thirteenth century. A panel bearing the Soest city arms is probably the earliest surviving representation of those arms.
Additional works of art
Objects donated by the Soest member of the Bundestag Ernst Majonica include an Italian painting of the Last Judgment from 1872, a 1943 cross by Eberhard Viegener, a sixteenth-century Adoration of the Magi from the Augsburg region, and a seventeenth-century Ecce Homo. The collection also contains Johann Benedikt Veit’s 1774 Ascension, an eighteenth-century Neapolitan shell picture of the Flight into Egypt, a page from a French Book of Hours of 1870 showing the Presentation in the Temple, an eighteenth-century bronze cross cast in Russia, an eighteenth-century brass icon, a Byzantine metal standing cross from around 1100, a lead plaque of the Death of Mary, fragments of icons, and a silver crown from around 1770.
