The Jakobus Chapel in Spitze
Excerpt from KÜRTENER SCHRIFTEN / Issue 8, 2011
By Wilfried Kley and Kunibert Förster
The Jakobus Chapel in Spitze
The landmark of Spitze is the Chapel of St. James, located at the intersection of two roads. Pilgrims used to pass by here on their way to Cologne to see the Three Kings, to Trier to see the apostle Matthias or even to Santiago de Compostela to venerate St. James.
This devotion to St. James leads to the conclusion that there was perhaps already a chapel here in the Middle Ages. The chapel was first mentioned in the 17th century.
It is a simply plastered, rectangular, white-painted quarry stone building with small mullioned windows on the right and left, which can be closed with shutters.
The simple interior of the chapel contains a wooden altar (donated in 1797) with a niche for the figure of St. James; a halo forms the upper end.
The altar table is decorated with a painting of St. James and St. Sebastian.
Two small bells hang in the ridge turret.
The surroundings of the chapel
To the left of the chapel is a stone cross from 1842, also dedicated to St. Jacob. Under the old trees to the right of the chapel is a completely preserved group of seven footfalls, stone-carved stations with depictions of the Way of the Cross. A memorial on the square in front of the chapel, erected in 1995, commemorates an incident on April 14, 1945, when 24 soldiers lost their lives here.
In the entrance area of the chapel square, the German St. James Society, together with the Rheinisch Bergisch district, has erected a St. James stele here at the suggestion of the Spitzer village community, which provides information about the Way of St. James.
Octave of St. James
Even today, the Octave of St. James is still celebrated every year around the birthday of St. James on July 25 with daily devotions and church services, a sacramental procession and a fair.
Sources:
Excerpt from
KÜRTENER SCHRIFTEN / Issue 8, 2011
THE JACOBUS CHAPEL IN SPITZE
By Wilfried Kley and Kunibert Förster
Version shortened and compiled by Elisabeth Coester (December 2023)
