Fridolins Chapel

General information

A little Baroque church, "Fridolins Chapel" stands in the Bad Krozinger locality of "Kems", east of the centre and south of Neumagen. The patron of this chapel is the Christian missionary, the "Apostle of the Alemanni", who came to the Upper Rhine from western France in around the year 600 and found his last resting place in Säckingen Monastery ("Fridolin's Minster"!), which he had founded himself.

Due to the fact that there is also a Fridolins Chapel in neighbouring Oberambringen (community of Ehrenkirchen) and in Bollschweil a parish church dedicated to St. Hilarius - the Bishop of Poitiers highly esteemed by Fridolin - we can assume that a former holy site was clearly planned in "Kems".

The location of the chapel is interesting – on communal land in the middle of an intersection and therefore probably the place of a former roman milestone. Obviously two roads crossed here at the time of the Roman Empire (approx. 50 to 260 A.D.); one coming from the south ending in the Breisgauer Bight and the other leading up the Rhine into Neumagen valley.

The Fridolins Chapel that stands today comes from the time after the 30-Year War (1618 – 1648) and is dated to the year 1737. However, the little Renaissance altar is older, bearing an inscription of the year 1602, and originally stood in the Krozinger deanery (castle) chapel. It was a donation from Abbot Martin I. from the Benedictine Abbey St. Blasien to its Deanery in Krozingen.

Trivia

• The splendid little altar in Fridolins Chapel is carved from lime wood and, in the centre, shows the crowning of Mary by the crowned God, Son of God and Holy Ghost in the figure of a dove. The creator of the Renaissance altar was probably the sculptor from Staufen, Gideon Rosenbacher, who also completed other work for  St. Blasien monastery in around 1600.
• Years ago the citizens of probably the oldest part of Bad Krozinger "Kems" established an interest group to care for and maintain "their Kems Cathedral", financed with contributions and the profits from the regularly organised "Fridolinsfest". Mrs Paula Mayer rings the little bell in Fridolins Chapel every day at 12.00 and in the event of a death in the community.