During
my recent trip to Hövelhof, I had also planned a visit to Paderborn,
Although
Red Baron lived in Hövelhof for a year and a half in 1945/46, my mother never took us children to Paderborn. Well, my brother was two
years old, and Paderborn resembled a wasteland of rubble after the bombings of
the nearby Sennelager military training area. What would we have found in
Paderborn?
A lot is known about the importance of Charlemagne for Paderborn. But concerning history, the city
wanted to go back to Roman times. Indeed, in 2023,
excavations below the St. Johannisstift revealed that there must have been a
Roman supply depot within today's city boundaries around Christ's birth. Remains of Roman field-bakery
ovens and amphorae shards bear witness to this.
Paderborn's actual history, however, begins with the great Charles. He stayed in
Patris Brunna (Father's Spring) in 776 after the violent
subjugation of the pagan Saxon tribes. As a base for the Christianization of the unruly Saxons, a palace (Pfalz) was built near the spring (Born) of the small river Pader (Pater). An initial imperial
diet and a mission synod took place in Paderborn in 777. Further imperial
assemblies of Charles in Paderborn followed in 780, 782, 783, 785 and
799.
So I took my Euro 49 Deutschland Ticket and, at Hövelhof Station,
mounted the Sennebahn to the blackest town in Germany,
Paderborn*. I stepped off the train at Kassler Tor, nearer to the city center than the Central Station. So I had to walk downhill
and then up a hill again, reaching the shopping street Kamp.
*Remember, it means most Catholic
And there I saw him, St. Liborius, the "spiritual founder" of the diocese of Paderborn and the patron saint of its cathedral whose reliquaries were transferred from Le Mans to Paderborn in 836.
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| NB: None of the countries on the map existed in 836 |
A few steps further, I noticed a statue of
Friedrich von Spee, professor, poet, chaplain, and, at his time, controversial Jesuit.
Von Spee worked in Paderborn from 1620 to 1631, partly in the former Jesuit College shown in the photo. In front, the THW (Technical Relief Workers), a Semi-government organization, displayed some of the heavy technical gear they deploy in case of emergencies.
While walking downhill, I passed the Paderborn town hall ...
... and suddenly, I stood in front of the most impressive Romanesque Abbey Church of St. Peter and Paul of the Abdinghof Monastery.
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The main entrance. The Tripanon is filled with a modern representation of the Last Supper |
Emperor
Heinrich II
appointed his friend
Meinwerk
as bishop of Paderborn in 1009. Meinwerk is considered the second founder of
the diocese. He laid the foundations of the Abdinghof monastery in 1016 and
of the church in 1021.
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| The simple nave with a flat wooden ceiling |
When looking back on my way to the cathedral, I saw on the left the rear of St Peter and Paul and on the right the Alexius Chappel.
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| Charlemagne's Imperial Palace |
During construction work north of the cathedral in 1963, archeologists located the remnants of Charlemagne's Kaiserpfalz dating back to the end of the 8th century.
And in the museum, you meet the second founding father of the diocese, smiling Bishop Meinwerk.
A few meters below the new Kaiserpfalz, one of the sources of the
river Pader forms a pond.
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| The South facade |
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| The nave with a view to the altar |
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| Veneration of the Cross in the central nave |
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| Under an altar in the crypt, the relics of St. Liborius are kept in a shrine. |
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On the opposite side of the crypt, St. Liborius was resurrected. You don't
believe it? Look at the peacock; it gives testimony.
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