Question: What makes Kath. Kirche St. Gallus in Ebringen so special? It is not just a church. It is a landmark. It echoes with tales from centuries past.
Kath. Kirche St. Gallus is the Roman Catholic parish church of Ebringen. Ebringen is a Breisgau village southwest of Freiburg. It sits on the western slope of the Schönberg. This parish belongs to the Batzenberg-Schönberg pastoral care unit of the Archdiocese of Freiburg.
The church is dedicated to Saint Gallus. He built a hermitage around 612 on the banks of the Steinach stream. Saint Otmar expanded the hermitage into a Benedictine monastery about a century later. He named it after Gallus. Manfred Hermann was a priest and art historian. He thoroughly researched the church’s history and design.
Let’s step back in time. The first mention of “Eberingen” was between 716 and 720. It was during the reign of the Merovingian King Chilperich II. A donation to the Abbey of St. Gallen was mentioned. Over time, St. Gallen’s holdings in Ebringen grew. The monastery made the village the administrative center for its Breisgau estates. The St. Gallen provosts only stayed temporarily. Their bailiffs had more direct influence.
In 1349, St. Gallen enfeoffed Ebringen to the Lords of Hornberg. They resided at Schneeburg Castle above the village. Several noble families had competing claims. These claims sometimes conflicted with their own feudal lord, St. Gallen. Some of their tombstones remain in and around the parish church. Schneeburg Castle fell into disrepair. The local rulers resided in a manor house in the village by the early 16th century.
Not all of present-day Ebringen belonged to St. Gallus and Otmar in the Middle Ages. Berghausen was an eastern part of the parish. It was under the control of St. Trudpert Abbey. In 1536, the Bishop of Konstanz incorporated it into St. Gallus and Otmar. Only the “Berghauser Kapelle” remains of Berghausen. The downhill farms belonged to Wolfenweiler. Wolfenweiler was a parish to the west. This part became part of the parish of Ebringen after the Reformation.
In 1621, St. Gallen bought “the Lordship of Ebringen with all its appurtenances.” They paid Hans Dietrich von Hohenlandenberg 68,000 guilders. The provost and two other St. Gallen fathers resided in the manor house. A fourth lived in the rectory. The village and its parish church suffered terribly. This was during the Thirty Years’ War and other conflicts. Around 1713, Lukas Graß built a new manor house. It replaced the old one. It is now Ebringen’s town hall. Ildefons von Arx was a Benedictine. He wrote a history of the Ebringen parish. Secularization ended the spiritual rule. In 1805, the Canton of St. Gallen dissolved the monastery. In 1809, Ebringen became part of the Grand Duchy of Baden.
The oldest parts are late Gothic. They include the nave without extensions, the west portal, and the lower tower levels. The choir is younger around 1510. Ildefons von Arx believed the nobles of Hornberg built it. This construction would have been between 1349 and 1458. In 1556, the church became too small. The nave was lengthened. The west portal was moved west. A sacristy was added in 1670. Lukas Graß renovated the Kath. Kirche St. Gallus in 1721. The Gothic window frames in the nave were removed. Franz Joseph Vogel installed a plaster ceiling. In 1787, the nave was widened. Side aisles were added to the three western bays. Johann Joseph Meisburger completed this work.
At the end of the 19th century, Pfarrer Wilhelm Seilnacht proposed to raise the tower. It was raised by another story. In 1892, the Gothic gables and old gable roof were removed. A new belfry with a high pointed helmet was added. Exterior renovations took place in 1934 and 1976. An interior renovation took place from 1980 to 1982. During this renovation, galleries were installed in the side aisles of 1787.
Today, Kath. Kirche St. Gallus stands as a testament to faith and art. Its rich history is etched in every stone. It is reflected in every brushstroke. Its very existence is a beacon.