Theisbergstegen - Religion

Religion

Saint Peter’s Church (Peterskirche), the church of Theisberg (Deinsberg), functioned as early as the High Middle Ages as the hub of a great parish that reached east of the Glan from Nanzdiezweiler over to Mühlbach, within which there were branch churches in Bosenbach, Neunkirchen am Potzberg and Niedermohr. Also grouped into this parish was the village of Stegen in the Remigiusland, which belonged to the church on the Remigiusberg. Meanwhile, Saint Peter’s Church in Theisberg can be regarded as one of the oldest churches in the Glan valley. It was considerably older than the church on the Remigiusberg and without a doubt was preceded by a wooden structure. The first stone building might have arisen at the turn of the 12th century. While other churches were remodelled from the ground up in the time of Gothic architecture, Saint Peter’s Church in Theisberg underwent conversions in almost every subsequent style epoch. The original steeple was said to be in disrepair at the end of the Second World War and was thus torn down in 1945 and then replaced with a new one in 1954.

Even after the Reformation, little in the church’s organization changed at first. The Reverend Johannes Röber (from Rehborn), at first still a Catholic priest, was mentioned in a 1538 church Visitation protocol as “Lutheran pastor on the Petersberg”. Other Evangelical pastors in these early times were Gottfried Sutoris and Johannes Limbach, the last Abbot of Disibodenberg, who had also already worked as a Lutheran pastor in Odernheim am Glan. While the Lutherans of the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken had to convert to Calvinism in 1588 on Duke Johannes I’s orders, this change did not come off in the County Palatine of Veldenz-Lützelstein. Since the inhabitants of Stegen were only annexed to Veldenz-Lützelstein in 1600, they were obliged to undergo a reconversion back to Lutheranism, since the conversion to Calvinism had already been completed in the intervening twelve years. Stegen now likewise belonged to the parish of Theisberg. After the Thirty Years' War, the principle of cuius regio, eius religio, which had, among other things, brought about the bizarre series of forced conversions in Stegen, was abolished, and once again, Catholic settlers could be found in the villages. Catholics’ numbers were further swollen during Electoral Palatinate rule and by the arrival of Catholic newcomers in the industrial age. In 1724, the Protestants and Catholics came to an agreement to share the churches. The Lutherans from throughout the parish got Saint Peter’s Church, whereas the Catholics got the former monastery church on the Remigiusberg. The priest’s lonely life up on the mountain was not always easy for him, and at the turn of the 20th century, the wish arose within the Catholic parish to move the seat to Theisbergstegen. This came about in 1909 when the Catholic rectory and its chapel were consecrated. The Evangelical church of Theisbergstegen remained, until the 1818 Palatine Union, tied to Luther’s teachings.

Today, roughly 60% of Theisbergstegen’s inhabitants are Evangelical and roughly 40% are Catholic. Also belonging to the Theisbergstegen Evangelical parish within the Evangelical deaconry of Kusel are the villages of Haschbach and Etschberg. The Catholics regained their own parish in 1744. Belonging to today’s Catholic parish of Remigiusberg, whose seat is in Theisbergstegen, within the Catholic deaconry of Kusel are the Catholics of Etschberg, Haschbach, Matzenbach and Altenglan.