About as edifying as a morgue…
Newly-Renovated Berlin Cathedral Perfectly Mirrors Novus Ordo Religion: Earthly, Sterile, Pointless
No, this isn’t construction debris that was left behind, it’s the new ‘sanctuary’ of St. Hedwig’s Cathedral
(image: Erzbistum Berlin, YouTube screenshot)
Saint Hedwig (c. 1174-1243) is a popular saint in Poland and Germany. Canonized by Pope Clement IV less than 24 years after her death, she is one of the earliest saints from Silesia. She is the patron saint of Berlin, the German capital, and the diocesan cathedral is dedicated to her.
As the first Catholic church that was allowed to be built in Protestant Berlin after the so-called Reformation, the construction of St. Hedwig’s was completed in 1773. Here is a view from the outside:
(image: Wikimedia Commons/Sami Mlouhi/CC BY-SA 4.0/cropped)
Although the body of the church is round, the original interior was thoroughly and majestically Catholic and by no means one of those gather-around-the-table layouts. The following photo, taken around 1886, shows the nave of St. Hedwig’s facing the sanctuary:
(image: public domain)
St. Hedwig’s became a cathedral in 1930, when Pope Pius XI created the diocese of Berlin (it was not until 1994 that ‘Pope’ John Paul II tried to make it into an archdiocese). The interior was redesigned by architect Clemens Holzmeister.
Here is a photo of the inside of St. Hedwig’s as a cathedral, taken Dec. 31, 1934:
(image: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo/Alamy Stock Photo/rights-managed)
During World War II (1939-45), the dome and the cathedral’s interior, along with its crypt, were completely destroyed after Allied forces dropped a fire-bomb on Mar. 1, 1943.
After the war, Berlin was divided into four sectors (American, British, French, Soviet). St. Hedwig’s ended up in the Soviet-occupied sector of the city, which by 1949 had become East-Berlin, the capital of the newly-created Socialist country officially named German Democratic Republic (GDR), colloquially known as East Germany.
Reconstruction of the cathedral building began in 1952, but it wasn’t until 1960 that the interior was rebuilt, in accordance with designs by architect Hans Schwippert. The new altar was consecrated on Nov. 1, 1963, by Bishop Alfred Bengsch (1921-1979). The interior remained more or less the same until 2018, when the most recent ‘renovation’ was begun.
The following shows the cathedral under Novus Ordo occupation. The picture was taken June 24, 2015:
(image: Iain Masterton/Alamy Stock Photo/rights-managed)
In case you’re wondering what you’re looking at, you’re surely not alone. In the 1960s the cathedral’s floor was opened to expose the crypt chapel below, with stairs making it accessible directly from the main floor, and with the altar above connecting to the altar below. Here is a more up-close view, and there is also a view from above here. (Perhaps the idea was to mimic the access to the Vatican Grottoes in St. Peter’s Basilica, which are also accessible through a stairway right in front of the high altar.)
But hey, not to worry; the latest renovation has once again closed up the floor. Below you will see screenshots taken from the video released of the dedication ceremony this past Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024.
The main celebrant in this gallery of horrors is the current ‘Archbishop’ of Berlin, Mr. Heiner Koch (b. 1954). But he is not, we must emphasize, the one who got the ball rolling on this uglification. That was his predecessor, Mr. Rainer Maria Woelki (b. 1956), who was transferred to Cologne in 2014, and who was present at last Sunday’s dedication ceremony (below, far left) and concelebrated:
Not surprisingly, the ‘sacred’ vessels used for this ‘Eucharistic celebration’ look like they came from the same Modernist junkyard as the rest of the paraphernalia and furniture found in the cathedral — especially the altar, which is deserving of a separate dishonorable mention.
Created by Austrian Leo Zogmayer, this travesty of a Catholic altar consists of pebbles donated by parishioners and other Novus Ordo people from around Germany. Visually at least, it is clearly inspired by IKEA products such as these and perhaps by this cool bowl planter. The new altar was officially ‘consecrated’ a year ago, when the cathedral had not yet reopened. Further interesting details can be found here:
Lastly, we must not fail to mention that there is one piece of ‘art’ installed in the lower church of St. Hedwig’s that was created by the scandalous ‘Bp.’ Hermann Glettler of Innsbruck, Austria:
(image: IMAGO/Rolf Zöllner/Alamy Stock Photo/rights-managed)
The thing is entitled Crossfit. A close-up detail shot reveals what you are looking at:
It is a collection of crucifix corpuses, strung together, to create a kind of ‘net of salvation’. The corpuses were taken off coffins that were ready to be incinerated in a cremation. You can’t make this stuff up!
Time and again Glettler has deliberately offended God with blasphemous art installed in churches of his diocese, and done so with impunity. The most horrific installation he ever hosted was probably the heart-breaking ‘Jesus Clock’ in 2019. Crossfit is merely the latest bizarre work of the Austrian blasphemer.
Thus far the latest remodeling of St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin. So, what do you think? How much did the whole thing cost? The total reported price tag was over 40 million Euros, which is roughly 42 million U.S. dollars.
Obviously, every single cent was one cent too much.
Information gathered from Wikipedia, kirchenbauforschung.info, and hedwigs-kathedrale.de was used for this post.
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