So-called Tonner Cross on Burgberg
Föhren, municipality of Föhren
description
If you are north of Föhrener Schloss on the
"Messepfädchen" climbs up the mountain and has reached the hill, you come across the Tonner Cross near a refuge. The base of this cross is made of stone. On it is a richly decorated iron cross with the figure of the crucified Savior. The following inscription can be read on the smooth surface of the base:
"Praise Jesus Christ!"
The following information about the origin of the cross is recorded on the lower band of the base.
Erected i. J. 1889 Rector Adam Tonner
He was born on December 5th, 1835 in Föhren as the son of the married couple Jonas Tonner and Anna, b. Haubrich, born and died on May 3rd, 1891 in New York. As a child, he emigrated to America with his family in 1847. There he studied and became a priest at the St. Magdalene Church in New York. Here he built a large church in the so-called slums. Despite the busy activities in his new home, he never forgot his old home in Föhren. In 1882 he came to Föhren for the first time.
When he visited Föhren again in 1889, he had today's "Tonner Cross" built and donated the little chapel on Müllenburg in memory of his silver jubilee as a priest.
He was present with the sculptor Matthias Christmann from Blutsgraben (lower Waldstrasse) when the wayside cross was erected in 1889 on the castle hill at the "Messepfädchen". As Bernhard Tonner, who was there at the time when he was eight, reports, the new cross was intended to remind the emigrant of his youth and of a cross that was about 50 meters higher. In 2003, the Tonner Cross was restored on behalf of the local community of Föhren.