History » 1912 - 1914
Period 1912-1914
1912
The boys moved into the new Study House in1912, and it was blessed. This had consequences for the old house in the valley and the Chapel of St Michael, which had been as a second place for Holy Mass.
In 1942 Fr Michael Kolb, the Provincial Superior, recalled what happened at that time when the superfluous Chapel of St Michael began to deteriorate after the boys had moved to the new building.
The time of “neglect“, during which it was briefly used for storing garden tools, did not last long – not two full years, that is, from September 1912-July 1914.
In 1970 Fr Menningen recalled the details, of how he had seen the chapel in the Autumn of 1913, when he first came to the Study House. He had never forgotten it.
The Summer of 1914
A new development with the chapel began in the summer of 1914. About this and its later history we have a competent report written by the Provincial Superior of that time, Fr Kolb.
Fr Kolb took great pains with the renovation of the chapel in the summer of 1914. Most probably the chapel was given a new door that opened outwards so as to prevent draughts. Fr Menningen testified to this. At the same time the chapel was given a chimney, so that it could be heated.
However, the clearest change took place on the inside walls. They were renovated and re-plastered, and then re-painted. The ceiling and walls of the sanctuary were decorated with coloured ornamentation. The rest of the room was also given a coloured ornamentation, as can be seen from the photo , which was taken in the period between 1916 and 1919.
The electrical fixtures were laid in such a way that a light was put in to the right and left, just behind the sanctuary arch.
In 1970 Fr Menningen told us which changes he had noticed in the chapel in 1914/15.
