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148-615: The minster was formerly the collegiate church of Essen Abbey , founded in about 845 by Altfrid , Bishop of Hildesheim , around which the city of Essen grew up. The present building, which was reconstructed after its destruction in World War II , is a Gothic hall church , built after 1275 in light-coloured sandstone . The octagonal westwork and the crypt are survivors of the Ottonian pre-Romanesque building that once stood here. The separate Church of St. Johann Baptist stands at

296-532: A broad philosophical movement that emphasised the study of conscious experience. The Polish Communist authorities abolished the Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian University, thereby preventing him from receiving the degree until 1957. Wojtyła developed a theological approach, called phenomenological Thomism , that combined traditional Catholic Thomism with the ideas of personalism ,

444-692: A decade longer. But as political leaders, they were finished. Visiting his native Poland in 1979, Pope John Paul II struck what turned out to be a mortal blow to its Communist regime, to the Soviet Empire, [and] ultimately to Communism." "When Pope John Paul II kissed the ground at the Warsaw airport he began the process by which Communism in Poland — and ultimately elsewhere in Europe — would come to an end." On later trips to Poland, he gave tacit support to

592-641: A guest in her family home. Wojtyła enjoyed his holiday in Pomfret, Vermont , kayaking and enjoying the outdoors, as he had done in his beloved Poland. During 1974–1975, Wojtyła served Pope Paul VI as consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity , as recording secretary for the 1974 synod on evangelism and by participating extensively in the original drafting of the 1975 apostolic exhortation , Evangelii nuntiandi . In August 1978, following

740-451: A half-hexagon, surrounded by a passageway. A flat niche is located in the middle of the west wall, with the entrances to the two side towers in flat niches on either side of it. The westwork opens toward the double bay through a large arch supported by pillars. An altar dedicated to Saint Peter stands in the west choir in front of this arch. The walls follow the model of the west choir of Aachen Cathedral in their construction, which also has

888-566: A messenger for a restaurant, a manual labourer in a limestone quarry and for the Solvay chemical factory, in order to avoid deportation to Germany. In February 1940, he met Jan Tyranowski who introduced him to the Carmelite spirituality and the " Living Rosary " youth groups. In that same year he had two major accidents, suffering a fractured skull after being struck by a tram and sustaining injuries which left him with one shoulder higher than

1036-486: A new bishopric was formed in 1958 from parts of the dioceses of Münster , Paderborn , and Cologne and Essen Minster was made the cathedral. On 1 January 1958 the first Bishop of Essen, Franz Hengsbach was consecrated by the Nuncio Aloisius Joseph Muench . Since then Essen Minster has been the religious heart of the diocese. The visit of Pope John Paul II in 1987 marked the high point of

1184-526: A number of projects including an English translation of Wojtyła's book Osoba i czyn ( Person and Act ). Person and Act , one of John Paul II's foremost literary works, was initially written in Polish. Tymieniecka produced the English-language version. They corresponded over the years, and grew to be good friends. When Wojtyła visited New England in the summer of 1976, Tymieniecka put him up as

1332-669: A philosophical approach deriving from phenomenology, which was popular among Catholic intellectuals in Kraków during Wojtyła's intellectual development. He translated Scheler's Formalism and the Ethics of Substantive Values . In 1961, he coined "Thomistic Personalism" to describe Aquinas's philosophy. During this period, Wojtyła wrote a series of articles in Kraków's Catholic newspaper, Tygodnik Powszechny ( Universal Weekly ), dealing with contemporary church issues. He focused on creating original literary work during his first dozen years as

1480-903: A pilgrimage to the Holy Land for the Great Jubilee of 2000. During his visit to the Holy Land, John Paul II visited many sites of the Rosary , including the following locations: Bethany Beyond the Jordan (Al-Maghtas) , at the Jordan River , where John the Baptist baptized Jesus; Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity in the town of Bethlehem , the location of Jesus' birth; and

1628-498: A playwright. During this time, his talent for language blossomed, and he learned as many as 15 languages — Polish, Latin , Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Luxembourgish , Dutch, Ukrainian, Serbo-Croatian , Czech , Slovak , and Esperanto , nine of which he used extensively as pope. In 1939, after invading Poland, Nazi Germany 's occupation forces closed the university. Able-bodied males were required to work, so from 1940 to 1944 Wojtyła variously worked as

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1776-414: A pope had been chosen. There had been rumours that the new pope wished to be known as Pope Stanislaus in honour of the Polish saint of the name , but was convinced by the cardinals that it was not a Roman name. When the new pontiff appeared on the balcony, he broke tradition by addressing the gathered crowd: "Dear brothers and sisters, we are saddened at the death of our beloved Pope John Paul I, and so

1924-470: A priest. War, life in the Polish People's Republic , and his pastoral responsibilities all fed his poetry and plays. Wojtyła published his work under two pseudonyms, Andrzej Jawień and Stanisław Andrzej Gruda , to distinguish his literary from his religious writings (issued under his own name), and also so that his literary works would be considered on their own merits. In 1960, Wojtyła published

2072-401: A processional entrance to the church. Instead, the squat structure offered an optical counterpoint to the massive east part of the building. From the outside the westwork appears to be composed of three towers, which envelop the west choir, which takes the form of a crossing which has been divided in half. No similar structure is known. There is a west choir in the central room in the shape of

2220-435: A quarry. Wojtyła eventually took up acting and developed a love for the profession and participated at a local theatre. The linguistically skilled Wojtyła wanted to study Polish at university. Encouraged by a conversation with Adam Stefan Sapieha , he decided to study theology and become a priest. Eventually, Wojtyła rose to the position of Archbishop of Kraków and then a cardinal , both positions held by his mentor. Wojtyła

2368-606: A royal estate called Astnidhi , which later gave its name to the religious house and the town. The first abbess was Altfrid's kinswoman, Gerswit. Altfrid also built a church for the canonesses, the Stiftskirche , later known as the Essener Münster and from 1958 as Essen Cathedral . Only women from the highest circles of German nobility were accepted. Because of its advancement by the Liudolfings (the family of

2516-438: A schoolteacher, died from a heart attack and kidney failure in 1929 when Wojtyła was eight years old. His elder sister Olga had died before his birth, but he was close to his brother Edmund, nicknamed Mundek, who was 13 years his senior. Edmund's work as a physician eventually led to his death from scarlet fever , a loss that affected Wojtyła deeply. Wojtyła was baptized a month after his birth, made his First Communion at

2664-455: A settlement was in place before the foundation of the Abbey. The modern Essen Minster is the third church building on this site. Foundation walls of its predecessors were excavated in 1952 by Walter Zimmermann. The first church on this site was erected by the founders of Essen Abbey, Bishop Altfrid and Gerswid, according to tradition the first abbess of the order, between 845 and 870. The building

2812-610: A sincere giving of himself". He also participated in the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops. On 13 January 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Kraków . On 26 June 1967, Paul VI announced Wojtyła's promotion to the College of Cardinals . Wojtyła was named cardinal priest of the titular church of San Cesareo in Palatio . In 1967, he was instrumental in formulating the encyclical Humanae vitae , which dealt with

2960-567: A superb actress." In mid-1938, Wojtyła and his father left Wadowice and moved to Kraków , where he enrolled at the Jagiellonian University . While studying such topics as philology and various languages, he worked as a volunteer librarian and though required to participate in compulsory military training in the Academic Legion , he refused to fire a weapon. He performed with various theatrical groups and worked as

3108-490: A third of my classmates at elementary school in Wadowice were Jews. At secondary school there were fewer. With some I was on very friendly terms. And what struck me about some of them was their Polish patriotism." It was around this time that the young Karol had his first serious relationship with a girl. He became close to a girl called Ginka Beer, described as "a Jewish beauty, with stupendous eyes and jet black hair, slender,

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3256-474: A thousand years, he urged a more nuanced view of capital punishment . In his second encyclical Dives in misericordia he stressed that divine mercy is the greatest feature of God, needed especially in modern times. John Paul II was considered a conservative on doctrine and issues relating to human sexual reproduction and the ordination of women. While he was visiting the United States in 1977,

3404-521: A train and stayed with her throughout the journey to Kraków. She later credited Wojtyła with saving her life that day. B'nai B'rith and other authorities have said that Wojtyła helped protect many other Polish Jews from the Nazis. During the Nazi occupation of Poland , a Jewish family sent their son, Stanley Berger, to be hidden by a Gentile Polish family. Berger's biological Jewish parents were killed in

3552-429: Is a slight musical impurity. There are three large bells in the westwork. The oldest bell was already in place at the end of the thirteenth century. It bears the inscription CHRISTUM DE LIGNO CLAMANTEM DUM SONO SIGNO (When I sound, I signal that Christ calls from the cross). By its construction it is an early gothic three chime bell. The Marybell is the largest of the bells. It bears a longer inscription saying that it

3700-560: Is located in the choir loft. It has 57 stops in 3 manual divisions and a pedal division, and it has a fourth manual on which the auxiliary organ can be played. The auxiliary organ is located in the west part of the cathedral. It has three manual divisions with ten stops and a pedal division with two stops, and has a significant role in producing sound in the rear region of the Cathedral. Its high pressure and bombard stops are for special solo effects. The three manual divisions can be played on

3848-498: Is the only source of goodness, the only standard of conduct. 'Be not afraid,' he said. Millions shouted in response, 'We want God! We want God! We want God!' The regime cowered. Had the Pope chosen to turn his soft power into the hard variety, the regime might have been drowned in blood. Instead, the Pope simply led the Polish people to desert their rulers by affirming solidarity with one another. The Communists managed to hold on as despots

3996-463: Is uncertain whether these rooms were the same height as the side aisles, as Zimmerman thought on the basis of his excavations or the height of the sidechoir, as in Lange's more recent reconstruction. East of the crossing was the choir with a semicircular end, with the rooms that are accessible from the transepts on either side of it. This first church was destroyed in a fire in 946, which is recorded in

4144-593: The Angelicum , Wojtyła studied Hebrew with the Dutch Dominican Peter G. Duncker, author of the Compendium grammaticae linguae hebraicae biblicae . According to Wojtyła's fellow student, the future Austrian cardinal Alfons Stickler , in 1947 during his sojourn at the Angelicum , Wojtyła visited Padre Pio , who heard his confession and told him that one day he would ascend to "the highest post in

4292-574: The Archbishop of Canterbury , at the spot where Thomas Becket had been killed, as well as holding several large-scale open air masses, including one at Wembley Stadium , which was attended by some 80,000 people. He travelled to Haiti in 1983, where he spoke in Creole to thousands of impoverished Catholics gathered to greet him at the airport. His message, "things must change in Haiti," referring to

4440-423: The Archbishop of Kraków , the future Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha . On 29 February 1944, Wojtyła was hit by a German truck. German Wehrmacht officers tended to him and sent him to a hospital. He spent two weeks there recovering from a severe concussion and a shoulder injury. It seemed to him that this accident and his survival was a confirmation of his vocation. On 6 August 1944, a day known as "Black Sunday",

4588-693: The Belgian Pontifical College during this time, under rectorship of Maximilien de Furstenberg . Wojtyła earned a licence in July 1947, passed his doctoral exam on 14 June 1948, and successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled Doctrina de fide apud S. Ioannem a Cruce (The Doctrine of Faith in St. John of the Cross ) in philosophy on 19 June 1948. The Angelicum preserves the original copy of Wojtyła's typewritten thesis. Among other courses at

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4736-661: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem , the site of Jesus' burial and resurrection. As pope, John Paul II wrote 14 papal encyclicals and taught about sexuality in what is referred as the " Theology of the Body ". Some key elements of his strategy to "reposition the Catholic Church" were encyclicals such as Ecclesia de Eucharistia , Reconciliatio et paenitentia and Redemptoris Mater . In his At

4884-522: The College of Cardinals , consecrated or co-consecrated many of the world's bishops, and ordained many priests. He has been credited with fighting against dictatorships for democracy and with helping to end communist rule in his native Poland and the rest of Europe. Under John Paul II, the Catholic Church greatly expanded its influence in Africa and Latin America and retained its influence in Europe and

5032-592: The Duchy of Berg and afterward to Prussia again. The last abbess, Maria Kunigunde von Sachsen, died on 8 April 1826 in Dresden . When in 1958 the Diocese of Essen was created, the former abbey church became Essen Cathedral , to which the abbey's treasury ( Essener Domschatz ), including the famous Golden Madonna of Essen , also passed. The dates of the rule of the abbesses are incompletely preserved. The sequence of

5180-649: The Gestapo rounded up young men in Kraków to curtail the uprising there , similar to the recent uprising in Warsaw . Wojtyła escaped by hiding in the basement of his uncle's house at 10 Tyniecka Street, while the German troops searched above. More than eight thousand men and boys were taken that day, while Wojtyła escaped to the Archbishop's residence, where he remained until after the Germans had left. On

5328-725: The Holy Helper , Saint Roch on the north wall of the Minster, created shortly after 1500. The baroque period is represented in Essen Minster by two epitaphs . The older, for Abbess Elisabeth von Bergh-s’Heerenberg who died in 1614, contains significant Renaissance elements. This plaque made of black marble in Antwerp is found on the north wall, east of the side bay and shows the Abbess in her official outfit, surrounded by

5476-590: The Ottonian Emperors ), the abbey became reichsunmittelbar (an Imperial abbey ) sometime between 874 and 947. Apart from the abbess, the canonesses did not take vows of perpetual celibacy; they lived in some comfort in their houses, with their own staff, and wore secular clothing except when performing clerical roles such as singing the Divine Office . They could travel, and leave the abbey at any time to marry. Its best years began in 973 under

5624-905: The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), where he made contributions to two of its most historic and influential products, the Decree on Religious Freedom (in Latin, Dignitatis humanae ) and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World ( Gaudium et spes ). Wojtyła and the Polish bishops contributed a draft text to the Council for Gaudium et spes . According to the Jesuit historian John W. O'Malley ,

5772-492: The coats of arms of her ancestors. The second epitaph is that of the Abbess Anna Salome von Salm-Reifferscheidt, which is attributed to Johann Mauritz Gröninger and is found on the north wall of the organ loft. Because of war damage, the Minster has no medieval windows. But among the modern artworks Essen Cathedral Chapter commissioned during the rebuild, were new windows for the church and modern sacral art, which

5920-489: The diocese and management of the Cathedral Treasury. Since 2005, the Cathedral provost has been the civic dean of Essen, Prelate Otmar Vieth, as successor of Günter Berghaus who went into retirement after heading the Cathedral chapter for eleven years from 1993 to 2004. Notes Essen Abbey Essen Abbey ( Stift Essen ) was a community of secular canonesses for women of high nobility that formed

6068-402: The matroneum galleries. The double bay between the westwork and the nave was maintained. The structure of the nave walls is unknown, but reconstructions based on other churches, especially Susteren Abbey which appears to draw from the new Ottonian church in many aspects, assume an interchange of piers and columns . There were probably wall paintings between the arcades and the windows on

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6216-653: The social doctrine of the church, which he discussed in three encyclicals: Laborem exercens , Sollicitudo rei socialis , and Centesimus annus . Through his encyclicals and many Apostolic Letters and Exhortations, John Paul II talked about the dignity and the equality of women. He argued for the importance of the family for the future of humanity. Other encyclicals include The Gospel of Life ( Evangelium Vitae ) and Ut unum sint ( That They May Be One ). Though critics accused him of inflexibility in explicitly re-asserting Catholic moral teachings against abortion and euthanasia that have been in place for well over

6364-421: The 264th pope according to the chronological list of popes , the first non-Italian in 455 years. At only 58 years of age, he was the youngest pope since Pope Pius IX in 1846, who was 54. Like his predecessor, John Paul II dispensed with the traditional papal coronation and instead received ecclesiastical investiture with a simplified papal inauguration on 22 October 1978. During his inauguration, when

6512-600: The Abbess Mathilde in the tenth century and three in the sixteenth century. The church was open to the dependents of the order and the people of the city of Essen only on the high feast days. Otherwise, the Church of St. Johann Baptist , which had developed out of the Ottonian baptistry, or the Church of St Gertrude (now the Market Church) served as their place of worship. The Reformation had no effect on

6660-486: The Abbess Mathilde , granddaughter of Otto I and thus herself a Liudolfing, who governed the abbey until 1011. In her time the most important of the art treasures of what is now the Essen Cathedral treasury came to Essen. She acquired from Koblenz the relics of ( Florinus of Remüs ) for the abbey, and donated the processional Cross of Otto and Mathilde . The next two abbesses to succeed her were also from

6808-707: The Abbess Mathilde had made between 973 and 1011. The candelabrum, 2.26 metres high with a span of 1.88 metres is composed of 46 individual cast bronze pieces. The candelabrum symbolises the unity of the Trinity and the Earth with its four cardinal points and the idea of Christ as the light of the World , which will lead the believers home at the Last Judgement ( Book of Revelation ). Other remarkable items in

6956-459: The Abbey's buildings, while the burgers who remained Catholic continued to use the Church of St. Johann Baptist, located in the Abbey complex, as their parish church. The nuns continued to use the Minster. In 1803, Essen Abbey was mediatized by the Kingdom of Prussia . The Minster and all its property was immediately taken over by the parish community of St. Johann Baptist. For the next 150 years

7104-548: The Baptist is believed to be interred, where he made a speech calling for Muslims, Christians and Jews to live together. On 15 January 1995, during the X World Youth Day, he offered Mass to an estimated crowd of between five and seven million in Luneta Park , Manila , Philippines, which was considered to be the largest single gathering in Christian history . In March 2000, while visiting Jerusalem , John Paul became

7252-559: The Cathedral treasury include the so-called Childhood Crown of Otto III , four Ottonian processional crosses , the long-revered Sword of Saints Cosmas and Damian , the cover of the Theophanu Gospels, several gothic arm-reliquaries, the largest surviving collection of Burgundian fibula brooches in the world, and the Great Carolingian Gospels. The oldest surviving fitting in the Minster is the column in

7400-454: The Catholic Church ; and the Catechism of the Catholic Church , which among other things clarified the Church's position on homosexuality . Karol Józef Wojtyła was born in the Polish town of Wadowice . He was the youngest of three children born to Karol Wojtyła (1879–1941), an ethnic Pole , and Emilia Kaczorowska (1884–1929), who was of distant Lithuanian heritage. Emilia, who was

7548-968: The Catholic Church's life, John Paul II led nine "dedicated years" during the twenty-six and a half years of his pontificate: the Holy Year of the Redemption in 1983–84, the Marian Year in 1987–88, the Year of the Family in 1993–94, the three Trinitarian years of preparation for the Great Jubilee of 2000, the Great Jubilee itself, the Year of the Rosary in 2002–3, and the Year of the Eucharist , which began on 17 October 2004, and concluded six months after

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7696-535: The Catholic Church's relations with Judaism , Islam , and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the spirit of ecumenism , holding atheism as the greatest threat. He maintained the Church's previous positions on such matters as abortion, artificial contraception , the ordination of women , and a celibate clergy, and although he supported the reforms of the Second Vatican Council , he was seen as generally conservative in their interpretation. He put emphasis on family and identity, while questioning consumerism, hedonism and

7844-509: The Church". Stickler added that Wojtyła believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a cardinal. Wojtyła returned to Poland in the summer of 1948 for his first pastoral assignment in the village of Niegowić , 24 kilometres (15 miles) from Kraków, at the Church of the Assumption. He arrived at Niegowić at harvest time, where his first action was to kneel and kiss the ground. He repeated this gesture, which he adopted from John Vianney , throughout his papacy. In March 1949, Wojtyła

7992-450: The Cologne Annals Astnide cremabatur (Essen burnt down). Several dedicatory inscriptions for parts of the new church survive from the years 960 to 964, from which it can be concluded that the fire of 946 had only damaged the church. No inscriptions survive for the nave and choir, which were probably retained from the earlier church. The individual stages of construction are uncertain; some parts could have been begun or even completed before

8140-406: The Holocaust , and after the war Berger's new Christian parents asked Karol Wojtyła to baptise the boy. Wojtyła refused, saying that the child should be raised in the Jewish faith of his birth parents and nation, not as a Catholic. He did everything he could to ensure that Berger leave Poland to be raised by his Jewish relatives in the United States. In April 2005, shortly after John Paul II's death,

8288-445: The Israeli government created a commission to honour the legacy of John Paul II. One of the honorifics proposed by a head of Italy's Jewish community, Emmanuele Pacifici was the medal of the Righteous Among the Nations . In Wojtyła's last book, Memory and Identity , he described the 12 years of the Nazi régime as " bestiality ", quoting from the Polish theologian and philosopher Konstanty Michalski . After finishing his studies at

8436-401: The Liudolfing family and were thus able further to increase the wealth and power of the foundation. In 1228 the abbesses were designated "Princesses" for the first time. From 1300 they took up residence in Schloss Borbeck , where they spent increasing amounts of time. In wartime it was also a refuge for common people. The abbey's territorial lordship, to which belonged the town of Essen that

8584-403: The Ludgeridan crypt of Werden Abbey and those of St Lucius's Church in Essen-Werden . In the east crypt there is a limestone gothic church monument of the Bishop of Hildesheim and founder of Essen, Altfrid , which dates to around 1300 and was probably built under Abbess Beatrix von Holte . This dating is based on the striking similarity of the tomb to saints' graves at Cologne, especially

8732-428: The Minster's thousand-year history. The site of the cathedral was already settled before the foundation of the Abbey. The Bishop of Hildesheim , Altfrid (r.847-874) is supposed to have founded the order of nuns on his estate, called Asnide (i.e. Essen). A direct attestation of Asnide has not yet been found. But from postholes , Merovingian pottery sherds and burials found near the Minster, it can be concluded that

8880-419: The Minster. The burgers of the city of Essen, who maintained a long-standing dispute with the order about whether the city was a Free city or belonged to the order, mostly joined the revolution, but the Abbesses and Canons of the order (and therefore the church buildings) remained Catholic. The Protestant burgers of the city took over St Gertrude's Church, the present-day Market Church, which was not connected to

9028-531: The Polish people. On 4 July 1958, while Wojtyła was on a kayaking holiday in the lakes region of northern Poland, Pope Pius XII appointed him as an auxiliary bishop of Kraków. He was consequently summoned to Warsaw to meet the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński , who informed him of his appointment. Wojtyła accepted the appointment as auxiliary bishop to Kraków's Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak , and he received episcopal consecration (as titular bishop of Ombi ) on 28 September 1958, with Baziak as

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9176-413: The Pope's death. John Paul II recorded music albums. In 1979, his album Pope John Paul II sings at the Festival of Sacrosong was recorded by Infinity Records . In 1994 he released a music album title The Rosary . In 1999, John Paul II released another music album titled Abba Pater . The Great Jubilee of 2000 was a call to the church to become more aware and to embrace her missionary task for

9324-401: The Relationship between Faith and Reason ) John Paul promoted a renewed interest in philosophy and an autonomous pursuit of truth in theological matters. Drawing on many different sources (such as Thomism), he described the mutually supporting relationship between faith and reason , and emphasised that theologians should focus on that relationship. John Paul II wrote extensively about workers and

9472-405: The Solidarity organisation. These visits reinforced this message and contributed to the collapse of East European Communism that took place between 1989 and 1990 with the reintroduction of democracy in Poland, and which then spread through Eastern Europe (1990–1991) and South-Eastern Europe (1990–1992). As an extension of his successful work with youth as a young priest, John Paul II pioneered

9620-481: The abbesses between Gerswid II and Ida is uncertain, particularly regarding the Abbess Agana. Circles est. 1500: Bavarian , Swabian , Upper Rhenish , Lower Rhenish–Westphalian , Franconian , (Lower) Saxon John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( Latin : Ioannes Paulus II ; Polish : Jan Paweł II ; Italian : Giovanni Paolo II ; born Karol Józef Wojtyła , Polish: [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv vɔjˈtɨwa] ; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005)

9768-528: The abbey signed a contract with the Dukes of Cleves and Mark regarding the inheritance of the Vogtei , whereby it lost some of its political independence in that it was no longer able to choose its own Vogt . Princess Abbess Franziska Christine founded an orphanage for the Essen Abbey Region near Steele . From 1802 the territory was occupied by Prussian troops. The abbey was dissolved in 1803. The spiritual territory of 8 square kilometres (3 square miles) passed to Prussia , then between 1806/1807 to 1813 to

9916-404: The age of 9, and was confirmed at the age of 18. As a boy, Wojtyła was athletic, often playing association football as goalkeeper . During his childhood, Wojtyła had contact with the large Jewish community of Wadowice . School football games were often organised between teams of Jews and Catholics, and Wojtyła often played on the Jewish side. In 2005, he recalled: "I remember that at least

10064-411: The allegations themselves have been criticised. Posthumously he has been referred to by some Catholics as Pope St. John Paul the Great , though that title has no official recognition. Under John Paul II, the two most important constitutions of the contemporary Catholic Church were drafted and put in force: the 1983 Code of Canon Law , which, among many things, began an effort to curb sexual abuse in

10212-425: The altar room gave direct access to the crypt. The near choirs contained matronea , which were open to the transepts and the main choir. the outer walls of the ends of the transepts were made two stories high, with the upstairs portion composed of three niches with windows. On the ground floor were niches, and the pattern of niches continued on the side walls. A walkway ran along the walls above these niches, leading to

10360-423: The art loving Abbess Mathilde, but maybe only under Abbess Theophanu (r. 1039–1058). Possibly, a new building was begun under Mathilde and completed under Theophanu. Significant portions survive from the new Ottonian building. The expansion of the new Ottonian building was predetermined by its two predecessors. The greater part of the foundations were reused; only in locations where the stresses were increased or

10508-424: The baptismal and parish church of the abbey's subjects. Otherwise the atrium probably retains the form established between 1060 and 1080. The next extension of the church complex was an attachment to the southern transept in the twelfth century. The upper floor of this very large building contained the sectarium , where the order's papers and acts were kept and which also served as the treasury chamber. Underneath it

10656-402: The baroquification of the eighteenth century, the re-gothificisation of the nineteenth century and the war damage of the twentieth century, there are only a few pieces of the earlier fittings of the Minster, but some remains of great significance do survive. The interior is comparatively simple, especially in its architecture, whose subtle beauty is overlooked by many visitors because the lustre of

10804-667: The beginning of the new millennium ( Novo Millennio Ineunte ), he emphasised the importance of "starting afresh from Christ": "No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a Person." In The Splendour of the Truth ( Veritatis Splendor ), he emphasised the dependence of man on God and His Law ("Without the Creator, the creature disappears") and the "dependence of freedom on the truth". He warned that man "giving himself over to relativism and scepticism, goes off in search of an illusory freedom apart from truth itself". In Fides et Ratio ( On

10952-541: The bells of St. Johann Baptist in 1787. These two bells are inscribed Ave Maria Trösterin 1955 (Hail Mary, Counselor, 1955) and Ave Maria Königin 1955 (Hail Mary, Queen, 1955). The third bell in the flèche bears the inscription WEI GOT WEL DEINEN DEI BIDDE VOR DE KRESTEN SEELEN AN 1522 (He who serves God well prays for the Christian souls, Y(ear) of O(ur Lord) 1522). Essen Cathedral chapter includes six resident and four non-resident Cathedral capitular vicars under

11100-474: The canonical rule for female monastic communities issued in 816 by the Aachen Synod . The canonical hours and masses of the order occurred in the Minster, as well as prayers for deceased members of the community, the noble sponsors of the order and their ancestors. The number of nuns from the nobility which the church served varied over the centuries between about seventy during the order's heyday under

11248-512: The cardinals have called for a new bishop of Rome. They called him from a faraway land—far and yet always close because of our communion in faith and Christian traditions. I was afraid to accept that responsibility, yet I do so in a spirit of obedience to the Lord and total faithfulness to Mary, our most Holy Mother. I am speaking to you in your—no, our Italian language. If I make a mistake, please corrict [ sic ] me." Wojtyła became

11396-409: The cardinals were to kneel before him to take their vows and kiss his ring, he stood up as the Polish prelate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński knelt down, stopped him from kissing the ring, and simply embraced him. During his pontificate, John Paul II made journeys to 129 countries, travelling more than 1,100,000 kilometres (680,000 mi) while doing so. He consistently attracted large crowds, some among

11544-433: The central city. The Minster caught fire and suffered heavy damage – the oldest parts of the building, the westwork and the crypt were less heavily damaged. The decision to rebuild was made unanimously in the first meeting of the city council organised by them after the city's occupation by allied troops, under the communist mayor Heinz Renner. The war damage also enabled extensive archaeological excavations to be carried out in

11692-489: The choir, which now supports a modern crucifix. Until the fifteenth century it supported a cross coated with a gilt copper sheet, from which the donation plate and probably other remains in the Cathedral treasury were made. The Latin inscription ISTAM CRUCEM (I)DA ABBATISSA FIERI IUSSIT (Abbess Ida ordered this cross to be made) allows the creator to be identified with the Essen Abbess Ida, who died in 971, though

11840-402: The church by Walter Zimmermann. These provided a large amount of information about the predecessors of the modern church and about the burials in the church. The rebuilding was begun in 1951 and proceeded apace. By 1952 the westwerk and the nave were usable once more and the rest of the church was rebuilt by 1958. Even the northside of the cloisters, which had collapsed in the nineteenth century,

11988-510: The church was their parish church. The name Minster church, which had become established, was retained even though the order no longer existed. As parish church, it served the Catholics of Essen's inner city area which significantly increased in population in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Though the first aspirations of setting up a bishopric of the Ruhr were dashed in the 1920s,

12136-551: The commissioner of the painting, the Abbess Theophanu (whose name is from the Greek for Divine apparition ) Through the installation of the crypt, the floor of the main (east) choir was raised above the floor level of the nave and transepts. The side choirs remained on the same level as the nave and transepts. The crypt consists of the three aisled crypt of Agana, an inner crypt, and a five-sided outer crypt. The entrance to

12284-437: The condemnation of abortion, euthanasia, and virtually all capital punishment, calling them all a part of a struggle between a " culture of life " and a "culture of death". He campaigned for world debt forgiveness and social justice . He coined the term " social mortgage ", which related that all private property had a social dimension, namely that "the goods of this are originally meant for all." In 2000, he publicly endorsed

12432-430: The crossing. The cloister was also expanded. The whole new building was consecrated on the 8th of July, probably of 1316. The 8th of July is celebrated to this day as the Minster's anniversary. In the eighteenth century, the church was baroquified . The tower over the crossing was replaced with a narrow flèche . The windows of the south side of the cathedral were widened and lost their Gothic tracery . The steep roofs of

12580-414: The death of Pope Paul VI, Wojtyła voted in the papal conclave , which elected John Paul I . John Paul I died after only 33 days as pope, triggering another conclave . The second conclave of 1978 started on 14 October, ten days after the funeral. It was split between two strong candidates for the papacy : Cardinal Giuseppe Siri , the conservative Archbishop of Genoa , and Cardinal Giovanni Benelli ,

12728-670: The disparity between the wealthy and the poor, was met with thunderous applause. In 2000, he was the first modern pope to visit Egypt, where he met with the Coptic pope , Pope Shenouda III and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria . He was the first Catholic pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque, in Damascus , Syria, in 2001. He visited the Umayyad Mosque , a former Christian church where John

12876-499: The draft text Gaudium et spes that Wojtyła and the Polish delegation sent "had some influence on the version that was sent to the council fathers that summer but was not accepted as the base text". According to John F. Crosby, as pope, John Paul II used the words of Gaudium et spes later to introduce his own views on the nature of the human person in relation to God: man is "the only creature on earth that God has wanted for its own sake", but man "can fully discover his true self only in

13024-402: The earlier churches, the westwork is only a little wider than the aisles of the nave. From the outside, the westwork appears as an almost square central tower crowned by an octagonal belfry with a pyramidal roof. At the west end there were two octagonal side towers, containing staircases to the belfry, which reached to just below the bell story of the belfry. The bell story of the central tower and

13172-447: The east wall of the outer pillar have sandstone plates on which 9 September 1051 is given as the date of the crypt's consecration. There are relics in the altars of the crypt. A short time after the completion of the Ottonian church, the atrium was renovated, probably under Suanhild, the successor of the Abbess Theophanu. In 1471, the atrium was reduced with the renovation and expansion of the church of St. Johann Baptist , which served as

13320-489: The fact that Cardinal Hengsbach was a co-founder of the episcopal charity Bischöfliche Aktion Adveniat  [ de ] , the remains of a canon who had been buried in the atrium in the Middle Ages and discovered during the excavations was buried and in 1991 the cardinal was interred there as well. On 10 October 2004, the newly built south side chapel was dedicated to the memory and veneration of Nikolaus Groß , who

13468-424: The fire. Taking advantage of necessary renovations to expand the church enclosure was not unusual. The new parts, presumably built at the order of the abbesses Agana and Hathwig, were an outer crypt , a westwork and a narthex and an external chapel of St John the Baptist . This building can be reconstructed from archaeological finds and did not have a long existence, because a new church was erected, perhaps under

13616-478: The first bishop, said during his lifetime that he wished to make use of his right to be buried within his cathedral church, but not in the Ottonian crypt with Saint Altfrid . In order to fulfill this wish, a west crypt with an entrance in the old westwork was installed under the atrium between 1981 and 1983 by the cathedral architect Heinz Bohmen and decorated with cast concrete sculpture by Emil Wachter  [ de ] . In this Adveniat crypt, whose name reflects

13764-527: The first church until 1803, Essen Minster was the Abbey church of Essen Abbey and the hub of abbey life. The church was neither a parish church, nor a cathedral church, but primarily served the nuns of the abbey. Its position was therefore comparable to a convent church, but a more worldly version, since the nuns at Essen did not obey the Benedictine Rule , but the Institutio sanctimonialium ,

13912-498: The first pope in history to visit and pray at the Western Wall . In September 2001, amid post- 11 September concerns, he travelled to Kazakhstan, with an audience largely consisting of Muslims, and to Armenia, to participate in the celebration of 1,700 years of Armenian Christianity . In June 1979, John Paul II travelled to Poland, where ecstatic crowds constantly surrounded him. This first papal trip to Poland uplifted

14060-791: The first pope to visit the White House in October 1979, where he was greeted warmly by President Jimmy Carter . He was the first pope ever to visit several countries in one year, starting in 1979 with Mexico and Ireland . He was the first reigning pope to travel to the United Kingdom , in 1982, where he met Queen Elizabeth II , the Supreme Governor of the Church of England . While in Britain he also visited Canterbury Cathedral and knelt in prayer with Robert Runcie ,

14208-415: The floorplan differed were new foundations laid. The new building also had three aisles with a transept and a choir shaped like the earlier choirs. A crypt was now built below the choir. The choir was closed with a semi-circular apse , which was encased within a half decagon. A two-story outer crypt was connected to the choir, the west walls of which formed the east walls of the side choirs. Towers next to

14356-435: The fourth manual of the main console, and each can also be coupled separately to its other manuals. There are bells in the belfry of the westwork and also in the flèche over the crossing. The ringing of the Minster is expanded tonally by the ringing of the attached church of St. Johann Baptist , whose bells, cast in 1787, are not tonally matched to the somewhat older bells of the Minster, so that when they ring together there

14504-533: The frieze depicting the Stations of the Cross in the nave are the work of the Austrian artist Toni Schneider-Manzell  [ de ] . The minster's new organ was inaugurated in 2004. It was built by the renowned organbuilder Rieger of Schwarzach , which was founded by Franz Rieger . The instrument consists of two organs, and has 69 stops altogether (5,102 pipes, 95 organ stops ). The main instrument

14652-547: The grave of St. Irmgard in Cologne Cathedral . The sandstone sculptural group, called the "Entombment of Christ" (Grablegung Christi) in the southern side chapel is from the late Gothic period. The unknown Cologne Master who created it in the first quarter of the sixteenth century is known by the notname Master of the Carben Monument . Another sculpture from the early sixteenth century is the sculpture of

14800-538: The influential theological book Love and Responsibility , a defence of traditional church teachings on marriage from a new philosophical standpoint. The aforementioned students regularly joined Wojtyła for hiking, skiing, bicycling, camping and kayaking, accompanied by prayer, outdoor Masses and theological discussions. In Stalinist-era Poland, it was not permitted for priests to travel with groups of students. Wojtyła asked his younger companions to call him "Wujek" (Polish for "Uncle") to prevent outsiders from deducing he

14948-415: The inner crypt was from east side of the side choir, through which one passed into the outer crypt. The outer crypt had square and elongated rectangular vaults, separated by delicate square pillars. The three central vaults in the east were especially accentuated. Along the east wall in the two side vaults were semicircular niches. In the central vault was a small choir with three niches. The engaged pillars of

15096-421: The international World Youth Days . John Paul II presided over nine of them: Rome (1985 and 2000), Buenos Aires (1987), Santiago de Compostela (1989), Częstochowa (1991), Denver (1993), Manila (1995), Paris (1997), and Toronto (2002). Total attendance at these signature events of the pontificate was in the tens of millions. Keenly aware of the rhythms of time and the importance of anniversaries in

15244-696: The largest ever assembled in human history , such as the Manila World Youth Day 1995 , which gathered up to four million people, the largest papal gathering ever, according to the Vatican. John Paul II's earliest official visits were to the Dominican Republic and Mexico in January 1979. While some of his journeys (such as to the United States and the Holy Land ) were to places previously visited by Pope Paul VI, John Paul II became

15392-564: The liberal Archbishop of Florence and a close friend of John Paul I. Supporters of Benelli were confident that he would be elected, and in early ballots , Benelli came within nine votes of success. However, both men faced sufficient opposition for neither to be likely to prevail. Giovanni Colombo , the Archbishop of Milan , was considered as a compromise candidate among the Italian cardinal-electors, but when he started to receive votes, he announced that, if elected, he would decline to accept

15540-531: The nation's spirit and sparked the formation of the Solidarity movement in 1980, which later brought freedom and human rights to his troubled homeland. Leaders of the Polish United Workers' Party intended to use the pope's visit to show the people that although the pope was Polish, it did not alter their capacity to govern, oppress, and distribute the goods of society. They also hoped that if

15688-526: The new Gothic style. The form of the hall church was chosen, in complete contrast with Cologne Cathedral – the Essen order had to ward off the Archbishop of Cologne 's claims to authority and the nuns wished to express their integrity and independence through the form of their building. Two architects worked alongside each other on the rebuild, of which the first, a Master Martin, quit in 1305 because of disputes with Abbess Beatrix von Holte. Master Martin, who

15836-538: The night of 17 January 1945, the Germans fled the city , and the students reclaimed the ruined seminary . Wojtyła and another seminarian volunteered for the task of clearing away piles of frozen excrement from the toilets. Wojtyła also helped a 14-year-old Jewish refugee girl named Edith Zierer, who had escaped from a Nazi labour camp in Częstochowa . Edith had collapsed on a railway platform, so Wojtyła carried her to

15984-513: The nucleus of modern-day Essen , Germany . A chapter of male priests were also attached to the abbey, under a dean. In the medieval period, the abbess exercised the functions of a bishop, except for the sacramental ones, and those of a ruler, over the very extensive estates of the abbey, and had no clerical superior except the pope. It was founded about 845 by the Saxon Altfrid (died 874), later Bishop of Hildesheim and saint, near

16132-474: The other and a permanent stoop after being hit by a lorry in a quarry. His father, a former Austro-Hungarian non-commissioned officer and later officer in the Polish Army , died of a heart attack in 1941, leaving the young adult Wojtyła an orphan and the immediate family's only surviving member. Reflecting on these times of his life, nearly forty years later he said: "I was not at my mother's death, I

16280-520: The oversight of the Cathedral provost . At present two of the resident positions are vacant and one of the non-resident positions. Under the Concordat of 1929 the right to elect the bishop was given to the chapter, alongside their existing duties concerned with liturgical celebrations in the high church, selection of a Diocesan administrator , advising and supporting the bishop in the government of

16428-473: The papacy. Cardinal Franz König , Archbishop of Vienna , suggested Wojtyła as another compromise candidate to his fellow electors. Wojtyła won on the eighth ballot on the third day (16 October). Among those cardinals who rallied behind Wojtyła were supporters of Giuseppe Siri, Stefan Wyszyński , most of the American cardinals (led by John Krol ), and other moderate cardinals. He accepted his election with

16576-448: The period of the abbess Mathilde and depicts Mary as a heavenly queen, holding power over the Earth on behalf of her son. The figure, which was originally carried in processions, was probably placed in Essen because of Mathilde's relationship to the Ottonian dynasty . The figure, which is more than a thousand years old, was comprehensively restored in 2004. In the centre of the westwork the monumental seven-arm candelabrum now stands, which

16724-504: The pope abided by the rules they set, the Polish people would see his example and follow them as well. If the pope's visit inspired a riot, the Communist leaders of Poland were prepared to crush the uprising and blame the suffering on the pope. "The pope won that struggle by transcending politics. His was what Joseph Nye calls ' soft power ' — the power of attraction and repulsion. He began with an enormous advantage, and exploited it to

16872-477: The principal consecrator and as co-consecrators Bishop Bolesław Kominek (titular bishop of Sophene ), auxiliary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wrocław , and Franciszek Jop , Auxiliary Bishop of Sandomierz (Titular Bishop of Daulia ). Kominek was to become Cardinal Archbishop of Wrocław and Jop was later Auxiliary Bishop of Wrocław and then Bishop of Opole . At the age of 38, Wojtyła became

17020-410: The pursuit of wealth. He was one of the most travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate . As part of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness , John Paul II beatified 1,344 people , and canonised 483 saints , more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries. By the time of his death, he had named most of

17168-581: The renovation of 1880 the church also received its current roofing design and a neo-Gothic flèche on the crossing. On the night of the 5th and 6 March 1943, 442 aircraft of the Royal Air Force carried out a raid on the city of Essen, which was important to the German war effort because of the Krupp steel works . In less than an hour, 137,000 incendiary bombs and 1,100 explosive bombs were dropped on

17316-411: The rest of the world. On 19 December 2009, John Paul II was proclaimed venerable by his successor, Benedict XVI , and on 1 May 2011 ( Divine Mercy Sunday ) he was beatified . On 27 April 2014, he was canonised together with John XXIII . He has been criticised for allegedly, as archbishop, having been insufficiently harsh in acting against the sexual abuse of children by priests in Poland, though

17464-702: The same issues that forbid abortion and artificial birth control . According to a contemporary witness, Wojtyła was against the distribution of a letter around Kraków in 1970, stating that the Polish Episcopate was preparing for the 50th anniversary of the Polish–Soviet War . In 1973, Wojtyła met philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka , the wife of Hendrik S. Houthakker , professor of economics at Stanford University and Harvard University , and member of President Richard Nixon 's Council of Economic Advisers Tymieniecka collaborated with Wojtyła on

17612-484: The seminary in Kraków, Wojtyła was ordained as a priest on All Saints' Day , 1 November 1946, by the Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha. Sapieha sent Wojtyła to Rome's Pontifical International Athenaeum Angelicum , the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas , to study under the French Dominican friar Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange beginning on 26 November 1946. He resided in

17760-515: The sister of Abbess Theophanu, Ida , Abbess of St. Maria im Kapitol in Cologne has also been suggested. The column itself is probably ancient spolia , going by fluted pedestal and the Attic basis of the column. The capital was carved in antiquity , though exceptionally richly carved for that period. Stylistically it is related to the capitals of the west end and the crypt, as well as those of

17908-494: The two very important medieval artworks of the Cathedral outshines it. The Minster possesses a Cathedral Treasury, which is open to the public. The most important treasure of the church, the Golden Madonna , has been displayed in the northern side chapel since 1959. This is the oldest fully sculptured statue of Mary , the patron saint of the diocese, in the world. The 74 cm high figure of gilded poplar , dates from

18056-428: The uppermost stories of the side towers have arched windows. Two story side rooms with arched windows on the upper floor are attached to the north and south sides of the central tower. On the ground floor of these side rooms, doors set in niches lead into the church – the central entrance of the earlier church was abandoned and a large, round-arched window installed in its place. With that, the westwork ceased to operate as

18204-412: The use of the octagon as a belfry in common. On the ground floor there are three arches divided by hexagonal pillars. There are two levels of arch openings of the upper level in colonnades, with recycled ancient capitals on the columns. The westwork was richly decorated, with the Last Judgement painted from the half-cupola to the nave. The painting shows the appearance of Jesus to (it has been concluded)

18352-482: The utmost: He headed the one institution that stood for the polar opposite of the Communist way of life that the Polish people hated. He was a Pole, but beyond the regime's reach. By identifying with him, Poles would have the chance to cleanse themselves of the compromises they had to make to live under the regime. And so they came to him by the millions. They listened. He told them to be good, not to compromise themselves, to stick by one another, to be fearless, and that God

18500-401: The walls, since remains of wall paintings have been found in the westwork. Outside, the clerestory of the nave had a structure of pilasters and volute capitals, probably with twelve windows. The belief that the unknown architect of Essen Abbey church was one of the best architects of his time is based particularly on the westwork , which even today is the classic view of the church. As in

18648-459: The west end of the minster, connected to the westwork by a short atrium – it was formerly the parish church of the abbey's subjects. To the north of the minster is a cloister that once served the abbey. Essen Minster is noted for its treasury ( Domschatz ), which among other treasures contains the Golden Madonna , the oldest fully sculptural figure of Mary north of the Alps. From the foundation of

18796-549: The westwork were replaced with baroque onion domes and the bell story received a clock. In the interior a large part of the old interior decoration was removed and replaced, so that only a few pieces of the gothic decoration have survived, which are no longer in their proper context. In 1880 the fashionable view of the gothic as the uniquely German architectural style reached Essen and the baroque additions were undone, as far as possible. The westwork returned to its previous appearance, when Essen architect and art historian Georg Humann

18944-501: The words: "With obedience in faith to Christ, my Lord, and with trust in the Mother of Christ and the Church, in spite of great difficulties, I accept". The pope, in tribute to his immediate predecessor, then took the regnal name of John Paul II , also in honour of the late Popes Paul VI and John XXIII, and the traditional white smoke informed the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square that

19092-531: The work of evangelization . "From the beginning of my Pontificate, my thoughts had been on this Holy Year 2000 as an important appointment. I thought of its celebration as a providential opportunity during which the Church, thirty-five years after the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, would examine how far she had renewed herself, in order to be able to take up her evangelising mission with fresh enthusiasm." John Paul II also made

19240-467: The year before becoming pope, Wojtyła said: "All human life, from the moments of conception and through all subsequent stages, is sacred." A series of 129 lectures given by John Paul II during his Wednesday audiences in Rome between September 1979 and November 1984 were later compiled and published as a single work titled Theology of the Body , an extended meditation on human sexuality . He extended it to

19388-568: The youngest bishop in Poland. In 1959, Wojtyła began an annual tradition of saying a Midnight Mass on Christmas Day in an open field at Nowa Huta , the so-called model workers' town outside Kraków that was without a church building. Baziak died in June 1962 and on 16 July, Wojtyła was selected as Vicar Capitular (temporary administrator) of the Archdiocese until an archbishop could be appointed. From October 1962, Wojtyła took part in

19536-402: Was beatified in 2001. The whole church, together with the church of St. Johann Baptist on the front is 90 metres long. Its width varies between 24 and 31 metres at the transepts at the start of the Cathedral treasury. The height varies also: The volume of the Minster is roughly 45,000 m³, volume of the masonry is about 10,000 m³. The building weighs roughly 25,000 tonnes. As a result of

19684-464: Was a church builder from Burgundy and Champagne , as shown by details of his ornamentation, also knew the design idiom of Cologne and Trier cathedral construction workshops, was responsible for the overall design. This included at first a long choir like that of St Vitus's Church, Mönchengladbach . Afterwards this concept was given up under the management of Master Martin and a hall church inspired by St. Elizabeth's Church , Marburg (begun 1235)

19832-534: Was a priest. The nickname gained popularity among his followers. In 1958, when Wojtyła was named auxiliary bishop of Kraków, his acquaintances expressed concern that this would cause him to change. Wojtyła responded to his friends, "Wujek will remain Wujek," and he continued to live a simple life, shunning the trappings that came with his position as bishop. This beloved nickname stayed with Wojtyła for his entire life and continues to be affectionately used, particularly by

19980-406: Was a three aisled basilica with a west-east orientation. Its central and side aisles already approached the width of the later churches on the site. West of the nave was a small, almost square narthex . The arms of the transeptsmet at a rectangular crossing , which was the same height as the nave. Rooms in the east ends of the side aisle were accessible only from the arms of the transepts. It

20128-560: Was able to effect its gothicisation. The baroque interior decoration was also removed; a side altar is now employed as the high altar of the adoration church of St. Johann Baptist in front of the Minster. Some saint statues are found there, others in the Cathedral Treasury Chamber. The decoration made to replace the baroque pieces fell victim to the Second World War , so that little of it now survives. During

20276-477: Was accepted by the Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian University. In 1954, he earned a Doctorate in Sacred Theology , writing a dissertation titled "Reevaluation of the possibility of founding a Catholic ethic on the ethical system of Max Scheler " ( Polish : Ocena możliwości zbudowania etyki chrześcijańskiej przy założeniach systemu Maksa Schelera ). Scheler was a German philosopher who founded

20424-406: Was built, which was built over the outer crypt. The successor to Master Martin's name is not known. His design idiom is more strongly Westphalian , but he continued the plan of his predecessor and brought it to completion. The original, shallow roofs of the octagon and the side towers were replaced with steeper caps; the side towers were also raised by a story. The Gothic church gained a tower above

20572-405: Was cast in 1546. The bell was cast in Essen itself, in the modern Burgplatz. The third bell in the westwork lacks an inscription, but its shape marks it as fourteenth-century. The flèche holds three more bells, two of which were cast in 1955 by the bell founders Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock of Gescher , who thereby brought their foundry back to the bell-making tradition, since their foundry had cast

20720-459: Was centered on the monastery, grew up between the Emscher and the Ruhr , The town's efforts to become an independent Imperial city were frustrated by the abbey in 1399 and again, conclusively, in 1670. In the north of the territory was located the abbey's monastery of Stoppenberg, founded in 1073; to the south was the collegiate foundation of Rellinghausen. Also among the possessions of the abbey

20868-489: Was elected pope on the third day of the second papal conclave of 1978 , and became one of the youngest popes in history. The conclave was called after the death of John Paul I , who served only 33 days as pope. Wojtyła adopted the name of his predecessor in tribute to him. John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third- longest-serving pope in history after Pius IX and St. Peter . John Paul II attempted to improve

21016-622: Was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005 . In his youth, Wojtyła dabbled in stage acting. He graduated with excellent grades from an all-boys high school in Wadowice , Poland, in 1938, soon after which World War II broke out. During the war, to avoid being kidnapped and sent off to a German forced labour camp , he signed up for work in harsh conditions in

21164-467: Was not at my brother's death, I was not at my father's death. At twenty, I had already lost all the people I loved." After his father's death, he started thinking seriously about the priesthood. In October 1942, while World War II continued, he knocked on the door of the Bishop's Palace , and asked to study for the priesthood. Soon after, he began courses in the clandestine underground seminary run by

21312-429: Was repaired. The neo-gothic flèche from the previous century was replaced by a narrower, lightning-proof flèche, completing the modern external appearance of the church. The completely repaired church became the seat of the newly founded Diocese of Essen in 1958. The abbey never grew beyond the limits of the Ottonian church. The transformation into a cathedral made a new expansion necessary. Cardinal Franz Hengsbach ,

21460-864: Was the area around Huckarde , on the borders of the County of Dortmund and separated from the territory of Essen by the County of the Mark . Approximately 3,000 farms in the area owed dues to the abbey, in Vest Recklinghausen , on the Hellweg and around Breisig and Godesberg . From 1512 to its dissolution the Imperial abbey belonged to the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle . The abbey's Vögte were, in sequence: In 1495

21608-568: Was the open hall, which was closed at a later time and was used for judicial purposes by the court. This building is now part of the Essen Cathedral Treasury Chamber. In 1275, the Ottonian church burnt down, with only the westwork and the crypt surviving. In the rebuild, which occurred in the time of the Abbesses Berta von Arnsberg and Beatrix von Holte , the architect combined aspects of the old church with

21756-426: Was to be in harmony with the older elements of the building. The window of St Michael and the windows of the gallery are by Heinrich Campendonk , the choir windows by Ludwig Gies , those of the nave by Wilhelm Buschulte and the windows of the crypt are by Alfred Manessier . The altar frieze is the work of sculptor Elmar Hillebrand and his student Ronald Hughes. The bronze doors of the atrium and church as well as

21904-629: Was transferred to the parish of Saint Florian in Kraków. He taught ethics at Jagiellonian University and subsequently at the Catholic University of Lublin . While teaching, he gathered a group of about 20 young people, who began to call themselves Rodzinka , the "little family". They met for prayer, philosophical discussion, and to help the blind and the sick. The group eventually grew to approximately 200 participants, and their activities expanded to include annual skiing and kayaking trips. In 1953, Wojtyła's habilitation thesis

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