St. Peter and Paul Church, Heinzerath

On the history of the Church of St. Petrus and Paulus in Heinzerath The chapel in the shade of two old linden trees, surrounded by a small cemetery, is one of the oldest churches in the region. The place Heinzerath is mentioned for the first time in 1315 and belonged to Kurtrier at that time. A document from 1374 attests to its chapel, but its structural components go back to the 13th century. Originally a branch of the parish Bischofsdrohn, later belonging to the parish Merscheid since 1803, the church of St. Petrus & Paulus has been part of the Monzelfeld parish association since 2011.The oldest component is the west tower with two meter thick masonry, the choir comes from the 14th century. The actual church interior (nave) and finally the sacristy, vestibule and west gallery were built in the 17th century. During the 18th century, the west gallery was significantly rebuilt again, this can be clearly seen from the changing roof heights. The external structural image with the raised choir, the mighty tower and the attached sacristy bears a striking resemblance to the chapel in Heinzerath in the parish Bausendorf. Today the place only consists of this chapel and a ruined mill. After the plague hit the village, the residents spared the disease moved on to the Hunsrück. They took their church patron, Saint Bartholomew, with them. At that time, the chapel in Heinzerath consisted only of a tower and choir, and the newcomers finally rebuilt it based on the model of their church. In addition to the existing cartridges Peter and Paul, they placed Saint Bartholomew. The chapel is also said to have been used as a monastery church, which is supported by the choir stalls, which were built around 1900 and are still preserved, and the small baroque figures of Saints Francis and Antonius, which adorned the side altar with a Madonna.

Until 1967 the chapel had two altars. During renovation work, the pulpit with pictures of the four evangelists, the side altar and the communion bench were removed. It was only during a further renovation between 1983 and 1984 that the baroque figures of Saints Peter and Paul were placed on the altar with Saint Bartholomew in the middle. In the final segment arch gable are the standing figures of Saint Roch and Saint Sebastian. The typical light coloring was restored in all baroque figures. Wall frescoes that were previously covered by layers of paint were also exposed at the time. The two bells are one of the chapel's special treasures. The oldest dates from the turn of the 14th century and has a lower diameter of 82 centimeters. The inscription in large Gothic letters reads: O-REX-GLORIEXRE-VEN-CUM-PACE-AVE-MARIA-RACIAPLINA (!) IN.R.L Below on the coat is NOMINAFEST-VAS-SCHPETRI. Because of its age, it was not brought to one of the bell smelters during the two world wars and so survived the wars unscathed. The second bell is from 1726 and has a lower diameter of 87 centimeters. The romanization, from the Antiqua, is called S.PETRUS (!} S.PULUSS.BARTOLOMESPATRONERIN-DER-KIRCHEN ZU-HEINZERATH. ANNO 1726. FW HEINTME-PIE-FECIT. The following inscription JP / GR / EST / M. This bell was delivered to be melted down in 1943, but returned unharmed from the Hamburg bell cemetery in 1948.

The parish church in Heinzerath was consecrated to the two Saints Peter and Paul (Peter and Paul) - also known as the "Prince of the Apostles". Their common day of remembrance in the saints calendar is June 29th.
* Simon, nicknamed Petrus (rock), was a fisherman on Lake Genesareth when he - together with his brother - was called by Jesus Christ to be a "fisherman of men". According to the Catholic understanding he is the highest apostle, and the two millennia long line of popes - currently Francis - are in his successor. On statues and paintings Peter is almost always shown with two keys in his hand, this attribute refers to the Bible verse in Matthew: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; what you will bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what you will loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven ”(Chapter 16, verse 19).
* Paul was initially an opponent of the Christian movement and, like the other apostles, was not called to the apostleship by Jesus Christ during his lifetime, but only converted later with the famous "Damascus experience". His attribute is the sword with which he was executed. According to Roman law at the time, this was a "privilege" (quick death and not, like other types of execution, associated with a long agonizing agony) that the citizens of Rome were entitled to.