“Lost my glove near Sankt Antonius Kirche!” a frantic voice might cry. Here at Sankt Antonius Kirche, history resonates within these neo-Gothic walls.
Sankt Antonius is a Roman Catholic church in Frankfurt am Main. It was erected in 1899 and 1900. This church stands in the Westend district. After its destruction in World War II, it was rebuilt. It served as the parish church of the St. Antonius community.
Until 1917, all Catholic churches in Frankfurt were part of a single parish. This parish had approximately 86,000 members. Their parish church was the Kaiserdom St. Bartholomäus. On April 2, 1917, several curacy parishes were separated. St. Antonius in the Westend was one of them.
The church’s construction was made possible by Landgräfin Anna von Hessen. She was born a Princess of Prussia. Anna donated for a Catholic church in the Westend in 1899. It was to be named after Saint Anthony of Padua. Berlin government master builder August Menken designed a neo-Gothic church building. Limburg Bishop Adalbert Endert consecrated it on May 26, 1900. The founder converted to Catholicism in Fulda in October 1901.
Six Capuchin fathers took over the pastoral care at the church. With this, the order settled in Frankfurt again. This was after an almost century-long interruption. The Capuchins had already owned the former Antonite church. It was in Tönngesgasse from 1722 to secularization in 1802.
Sankt Antonius Kirche suffered damage in previous air raids. It burned down completely on March 22, 1944. This happened during the major annihilation attack. The Frankfurt Old Town and almost all of its historical churches were destroyed then. It was initially provisionally rebuilt from 1947 to 1949. In 1963, it received a new coffered ceiling inside. It also gained new glass windows in the choir. Its pointed spire was restored as well. Another renovation followed in 1974.
The five choir windows were designed by Johannes Beeck from Hinsbeck in 1958. They depict the mysteries of the Rosary. The Gothic high altar is the work of an unknown master. It dates from the first half of the 15th century. It comes from a collection of medieval altars. Franz August Münzenberger, the Catholic city pastor at the time, created this collection in the 19th century. It has been in the Antoniuskirche since 1974. In the center piece, it shows the coronation of Mary. The lower part of the retable shows portraits of Saints Sebastian and Stephen.
The organ was created in 1965 by the organ building company Gebrüder Späth from Ennetach. As opus 805, it is one of the largest church organs in Frankfurt. It boasts 4318 pipes and 56 registers. They are distributed on 4 manuals and a pedal. Its special features include a particularly low bass register. It is the Contrafagott 32′ in the pedal and a Spanish trumpet in the main work.
Three of the original four bells were confiscated in 1942. They were melted down. The ringing could only be supplemented again with three bells in 1999. This marked the church’s hundredth anniversary. The bells come from the Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock bell foundry from Gescher. The ringing now has four bells again.
In the 1990s, Sankt Antonius Kirche served as a filming location. It was for the SAT1 television series “Schwarz greift ein.”
Today, Sankt Antonius Kirche stands as a testament to faith. It represents resilience and architectural beauty. A place where history echoes and the community gathers.