„Maria Himmelfahrt“ Sayn

The Sayn Pastors from 1803 on
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After the breaking up of the abbey in 1803 the last abbot, Bartholomäus Reinhard, stayed on as the pastor in Sayn. He was born in 1750, became prior in Sayn in 1781 and abbot in 1794. He resigned in 1818 and died on 2nd May 1819 in Sayn.

In accordance with the conditions of a state contract between Nassau and Prussia 1815 the latter took over the control of the parish and as such received the presentation right, meaning that the Prussian crown had the right to present a suitable pastor to the bishop of Trier for the appointment to the Sayn parish and that the state maintained this pastor financially. Prussia’s rights were passed on after the Second World War to the County of Rhineland Palatinate, which to this day is involved in the appointment of the pastor only as regards the parish in Sayn. This happens in such a way that that the bishop informs the government of the county of the proposed candidate for the parish pastor. It may only refuse the appointment if there are serious reasons.

In 1819 the first patronage pastor was Martin Boos, born in 1778 in Hüttenried/Oberbayern, in the diocese of Augsburg. In 1817 he was appointed by the Prussian government to the grammar school as a religion teacher, in 1819 he was appointed patronage pastor where he died on 29. August 1825.

He was succeeded by the pastor Johann Adam Nußbaum in 1825. He was born in 1778 in Marienhausen/Westerwald, ordained in 1801 in the Capuchin church in Ehrenbreitstein, then worked as a chaplain for the Liebfrauen in Koblenz. In 1826 he became pastor in Niederberg and in 1832 in Vallendar, where he died on 27th November 1852.

In 1826 Johann Engelbert Hoffmann became the patronage pastor in Sayn having been a pastor in Fischbach. He was born in 1780 in Kirchen/Sieg and died in Sayn on 4. July 1830.

In 1830 the parish patronage was passed over to the pastor from  Halsenbach, Johann Georg Holsinger. He was born in Vallendar in 1800, was ordained in Cologne in 1822, was appointed county dean in 1862 and died as long-serving pastor in Sayn on 28th April 1880.

He was assisted from1872 by his chaplain Anton Müller, who was born in 1848 in Güls. In 1880 he became parish administrator and in 1882 patronage pastor in Sayn, where he spent all his years as a pastor and died on 22nd  May 1900.

His successor was Jakob Napoleon Knopp, previously pastor in Heidweiler and Hambuch. Born in 1848 in Treis/Mosel, he was ordained together with his predecessor in 1872 in Trier and he died 22nd January 1913 in Sayn.

From 1913 till 25th May 1920 Friedrich Wessel, was the patronage pastor in Sayn having previously been a pastor in Veldenz. He was born in Wittlich  in 1879, was ordained in 1902 in Trier and became a pastor at St. Nikolaus in Bad Kreuznach, where he died on 17th September 1942.

His successor was Anton Nikolaus  Ibald from Hatzenport/Mosel, born in 1881 in Trier. He was ordained in 1905, was first of all a pastor in Berglicht and from 1920 he was the patronage pastor in Sayn. From 1938 he was a definitor, from 1940 dean of the deanery in Vallendar and spiritual counsel. He resigned on 30th April 1961 and died on 15. 8. 1968 in his home town of  Hatzenport.

He was followed by the pastor Wilhelm Roth, born 12.2.1912 in Horchheim by Koblenz, previously chaplain in Völklingen, Bad Neuenahr and Bundenbach. He became dean of the deanery of Vallendar and took on the parish post in Bickenbach/Hunsrück in 1971. From 1976 he spent his retirement in his home town of Koblenz-Horchheim where he died in 1984.

From 1970 to 2004  Willi Madauß was in the parish of Sayn, first as a chaplain then as the pastor from 1971. He was born in Essen/Ruhr on 17. 5. 1926, studied in Benediktbeuern, Turin and Rome and in 1959 was ordained as a member of the the Society the  Salesian Don Boscos. First he was in the provincial office in Cologne and then from 1968 in the boys’ home of the Salesians in Sayn.
His time will always be connected with the restoration of the abbey church, the Sayn parish church. In 1972 he put up the branch church dedicated to Saint Elisabeth of Thüringen in the Weis Street, this being destroyed by arson in 1999. Thanks to him the Kindergarten St. Elisabeth was built in Langenmorgenpfad and the Kindergarten Prelate’s Garden near the Abbey (from 1998 in use, 1999 inaugurated). In 1985 he succeeded in gaining the convent building for the parish which had been used for 150 years as a school and as such to reinstate all the monastery buildings to one owner.
He died on April 27, 2021, in his hometown of Essen-Borbeck.

In the time of the vacancy the services and parish duties were carried out by different clergymen and even at sometimes by the dean Eugen Vogt (in addition to his own dean’s duties) and standing in Pfr. Frank Klupsch.

With Dr. Joachim Hagel OPraem, from the abbey Hamborn in Duisburg, in 2004 for the first time in more than 200 years a member of the Premonstratensian order came to Sayn. Dr. Joachim Hagel only stayed a year in Sayn and completed the transfer of the duties to the Premonstratensians. 

In  July 2005 Father Thomas Lüke OPraem, officially took over the parish as pastor and carried out his office with an notably large acceptance within the parish until 2012. Then Father Thomas was transferred with effect from 1st September to establish and the take over a large parish (previously St. Johann and St. Norbert) in Duisburg-Hamborn. Father Thomas was born on 17.7.1948 in Dinslaken. He grew up in Duisburg and was the pastor in a former church community Liebfrauen in Duisburg-Bruckhausen.

In 2012 Father Norbert Maliekal OPraem, first took over the parish and then since the official joining of the parishes Bendorf, Sayn, Mülhofen and Weitersburg on account of the new structural reform of the Trier diocese in 2011 has been working as a co-operator in a newly created parish community in Bendorf.  Father Norbert Maliekal was born in April 1962 in Manimooly, Kerala in India. His entry in to a monastery was in 1979 at the Premonstratensian order in  Mananthavady in Kerala/Indien. In 1982 he was dressed and ordained in 1990.  From 2009 before his transfer to Sayn and Mülhofen he was in the Premonstratensian order in Duisburg-Hamborn as a chaplain and administrator in the community of  St. Johann in the diocese of Essen.

Pastor Joachim Fey became the Head pastor of the parish community of Bendorf on 1st January in 2014 on account of the  already mentioned structural reform. He was firstly the pastor in the parish of St. Medard Bendorf and St. Marien Weitersburg. Pastor Joachim Fey was born in 1963 in Trier where he also grew up. After his studies in Trier and Paris he was ordained in  1989. His counseling work took him from Neuwied via Boppard, Saarbrücken, Trier and Vettelschoß  finally to Bendorf in 2009. Vicar Fey is a trained spiritual counselor and retreat master as well as having a diploma as a supervisor  (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Supervision e.V.)