Herschweiler-Pettersheim - Religion

Religion

In 1523, Franz von Sickingen sent the Reformer Johann Schwebel from his fortress at Ebernburg to Zweibrücken. Schwebel, who was named court preacher, town pastor and general superintendent by Duke Ludwig II (ruled 1522-1532), decreed the first Lutheran Church Order. It was a few years, though, before the Order reached some of the outlying Ämter, for the Imperial Diet of Speyer of 1529 forbade the spread of the new teaching. In Konken and its ecclesiastical affiliate Quirnbach along with other places that belonged to them ecclesiastically, the shift to Protestantism must have come about by 1538, for in that year, a Reverend Johannes was named as the Protestant pastor in Konken. Duke Wolfgang (ruled 1563-1569), likewise one of Luther’s followers, like his regent, Duke Ruprecht, completed the Reformation in his duchy. The monasteries in the duchy were confiscated, and in general, church services were being given in line with Lutheran teaching. The time of the Lutheran faith was, however, short-lived. When Duke Johannes I (ruled 1569-1604), who was Calvinist, succeeded Duke Wolfgang, the subjects had to convert, under the principle of cuius regio, eius religio laid down by the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, to their leader’s Reformed belief. Many clergymen frowned upon this decision. One who actually opposed the change was the Konken pastor. He was threatened with dismissal should he be unwise enough to repeat his displeasure once more. The first Reformed pastor of the Church of Konken was Michael Simon Holzapfel, who held the post from 1553 to 1571. For the new faith, a new catechism was introduced, which the pastor and the schoolteacher had to bear in mind when teaching. Although Holzapfel was named as the Evangelical-Reformed pastor in the 1567 parish register, Konken only became a Reformed parish in 1588. Adherence to the new teaching was overseen by ecclesiastical visitations. Belonging to the parish of Konken as early as 1538 were, besides Konken, also Herschweiler-Pettersheim, Langenbach, Krottelbach (about half the members), Albessen, Herchweiler and Unterselchenbach. The 1575 ecclesiastical visitation, which named “Veitin von Pedershym” as one of the “censors” (presbyters), consisted mainly of complaints about the state of the church building (badly roofed, rotten beams, no glass windows). On the bright side, however, the parishioners were found to be well enough grounded in Catechism. In 1589, the year after the Lutherans of Palatinate-Zweibrücken had converted to Calvinism, Duke Johannes I issued an order to the state scrivener at Lichtenburg and superintendent Johannes Fabricius in Kusel to visit all parishes in the Oberamt of Lichtenburg, which was done in 1590. In Konken, the “censors” were satisfied with the pastor’s teaching and behaviour, but complained about the lack of help and support from the patron lord. In the time that followed, the Protestant princes thoroughly rid themselves of Imperial restraint, which led to the formation of two denominationally oriented camps. The unending dispute between them came to a head in 1618 with the outbreak of a religious war, which had disastrous consequences for the local population. After Emperor Ferdinand II’s counterstrike and Protestant Elector Friedrich V’s flight into exile, the Emperor transferred the title of Elector Palatine to the Bavarian Duke Maximilian I. His general, Tilly, conquered great parts of Electoral Palatinate and Palatinate-Zweibrücken in 1620, forcing subjects there to adopt the Catholic faith. Spanish and Italian troops, too, fighting on the Emperor’s side, took part in the conquest of Palatine domains and marauded over the land plundering. The grimmest destruction, though, was wrought by Croatian mercenaries, who in 1635 plundered and burnt down not only Kusel but also Konken with its church. Anyone who could not flee was murdered. The upshot was that the whole region was laid waste and almost utterly depopulated. The Konken pastor Jakob Brackius temporarily fled, so that even ecclesiastical life was temporarily extinguished. Of the 130 inhabitants in Konken before the Croatian onslaught, nobody was left afterwards. The same held true in neighbouring villages. Only under Duke Friedrich Ludwig, who ruled from 1661 to 1681, were there advances towards reconstruction. It was not long, though, before the region was stricken with yet more war, this time French King Louis XIV’s Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession), which resulted in more hardship and woe. Louis XIV’s occupation (1688-1696) promoted “Recatholicization”, and members of the Catholic faith could once again be found in the Herschweiler-Pettersheim area, but mostly in small communities within towns. Calvinism’s privileged status was thus limited. Only after the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, under whose terms the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken was awarded to King Karl XII of Sweden, putting the Duchy in personal union with Sweden and giving Karl XII the title of Duke of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, was ecclesiastical development set on new paths. Before withdrawing from those lands that they had originally wanted to incorporate into their empire, the French had determined that the Catholic communities should remain in existence. Obviously, before the Treaty of Ryswick, the Church of Konken was served by a Catholic priest and after the Treaty, it was barred to Catholics, who were then parochially united with Kusel. In Sweden, of course, it was the Lutheran faith that predominated, leading to a revival of sorts in the Palatinate. At first, little colonies of Swedish officials in the main towns formed their own Lutheran communities. The Palatine-Swedish administration’s tolerant stance motivated people of all different denominations, who faced hardship elsewhere in Germany for no other reason than their beliefs, to move to the Duchy. This tolerant stance later shifted, however, to favour Lutherans. The idea of according all three denominations the same rights was only good as long as tolerance was exercised by all sides. This, however, was often not the case. Ecclesiastical life changed at this time from the ground up. Gone for good were the days when the Duke could favour one Christian denomination and forbid all others. By now there were three Christian denominations in Kusel and a Jewish community besides. Karl XII was succeeded by Gustav Samuel Leopold, who converted to Catholicism, possibly to curry Imperial favour. Under his rule, Catholicism was once again tolerated, and even promoted, as had been the case during the French occupation, although this did not mean that the three denominations that were widespread in the Duchy always lived happily together; there were often tensions, with those between the Lutherans and Calvinists being greatest. So that new churches would not need to be built throughout the Duchy, King and Duke Samuel Leopold introduced the simultaneum, whereby a single church would be available to different denominations at different times. Thus, in Kusel, the Calvinists and Catholics shared the town church, while Lutherans built themselves a church in 1747 on the Bangert, which burnt down in 1794 and was built anew in 1805. After the merger of the two Protestant denominations, it was transferred to the Catholics. After the new Catholic church was built on Lehnstraße, the church on the Bangert was torn down. After the childless Swedish King Gustav Samuel Leopold died in 1731, rule passed to Count Palatine Christian III, who was an evangelical Christian. After struggling for recognition of his legitimacy, he died shortly after finally receiving it and was succeeded by his 13-year-old son Duke Christian IV, for whom his mother ruled as regent until he came of age. Christian IV was an enlightened and tolerant Duke whom the Duchy owed thanks for improvements in the field of religion. Mindful as he was of what would be expected if he was to succeed as Elector of the Palatinate and Duke of Bavaria, he converted to Catholicism. After his death in 1775 he was followed by the pompous and egomaniacal Karl II August, the time of whose rule fell in the last few decades before the French Revolution. In 1798, the Duchy had been formally swept away by the French, along with its feudal system. The church books lost their recordkeeping functions. With the raising of Brücken to a Catholic parish in 1803, the Catholics of Herschweiler-Pettersheim, along with those in the Bockhof, were parochially united with Brücken. In 1839, the parish of Brücken counted all together 1,069 Catholics in the following places:

• Brücken — 610
• Altenkirchen — 10
• Bockhof — 6
• Dittweiler — 54
• Frohnhofen — 0
• Herschweiler and Pettersheim — 54
• Königreicher Hof — 10
• Krottelbach — 1
• Neumühle — 8
• Ohmbach — 306
• Paulengrund — 10

According to statistics from 1861, the 603 inhabitants in Herschweiler-Pettersheim were, by religious affiliation, 62 Catholics and 530 Protestants and Mennonites . The Konken Reformed Protestant community passed to the Inspectorate of Limbach in 1815 and to the Protestant deaconry of Kusel in 1820. It was until the Palatine Union in 1818 made up of the parish of Konken with eight villages and 1,190 souls and the parish of Quirnbach with five villages and 932 souls, making 2,122 souls all together. The two-hour journey to the branch church in Quirnbach from the mother church in Konken as well as the arduousness of the journey itself made “dem Pfarrer ein Pferd nöthig” (“a horse necessary for the pastor”). In 1825, Quirnbach was itself raised to parish. Until 1839, when Herschweiler-Pettersheim got its own graveyard, the dead were buried at the mother church’s graveyard in Konken. In Herschweiler-Pettersheim, the efforts to secure a church in the village itself reach back to the 19th century. In 1897, Herschweiler-Pettersheim municipal council decided to establish a church building fund. Only in 1913, though, was a church building association formed, which up to 1923 had amassed assets of 14,000 marks, only to see its worth shrink to nothing in the hyperinflation that beset Weimar Germany at this time. It was thirty years before Herschweiler-Pettersheim formed another church building association in 1953, and on 21 June that year, the foundation stone for Herschweiler-Pettersheim’s own church was laid. The building material was sandstone, which was broken on the spot. On 10 October 1954, the church, built to plans by Kaiserslautern architect Heuser, was consecrated by Deacon Cassel. Youths were first confirmed there in 1955. An organ was built into the church on 19 February 1956, followed by the dedication of three cast-steel bells on 2 September 1956. On 1 January 1961, the autonomous vicariate of Herschweiler-Pettersheim became a parish in its own right. In 1962 and 1963, a rectory and a youth home were built along with two blockhouses. For its 25-year jubilee, the church got its name: Evangelische Kirche St. Michael (“Saint Michael’s Evangelical Church”).