Parish priest Jens Jepsen Lohmann’s life and work
Pastor Jens Jepsen Lohmann (June 2, 1842 – October 23, 1894 ) was parish priest in the Skive-Resen pastorate from 1881 until his death. He was the initiator and driving force behind the construction of Skive Church, but died before the church was completed.
The South Jutland background
Jens Jepsen Lohmann was born in Haderslev in what was then the Duchy of Schleswig, and this background influenced his life. The family was Danish-minded and participated in the nationality struggle between Danish and German. He participated as a second lieutenant in the war between Denmark and Prussia/Austria in 1864, which ended with the loss of Schleswig and Holstein. After the end of the war, the family was expelled from Schleswig by the Prussians.
First office
Lohmann graduated in theology in 1871 and was ordained as a priest in 1877, where he also got married.
In Skive: The church is too small, but the frescoes stop demolition plans
He took office in Skive-Resen on March 22, 1881 and came to live in the old vicarage in Adelgade 9 (matr. 69). He lived here until 1884, when he moved into the newly built vicarage on Resenvej.
At this time, Skive was in a period of growth with a rapidly increasing population. Lohmann quickly realized that Vor Frue Kirke was far too small for the growing congregation, and in 1882 he took the initiative to find more space in the church. Initially, the Church Inspectorate, of which Lohmann was a member, considered expanding the church, but it was too expensive and practically impossible to implement. The goal was to build a new church in Skive, but there wasn’t much support for the plan among the citizens, and the idea of expanding the Church of Our Lady was returned to instead. A plan was drawn up that would have meant almost total demolition of the old medieval church, but the plan was rejected by the Ministry of Church Affairs, which could not approve the architect. On May 10, 1887, Skive Folkeblad reported the following news: “Some frescoes have recently appeared on one of the vaults in Skive Church because some of the lime has fallen off. Among other things, there is a female figure.” A new architect was given the task, but he discovered during the investigation of the Church of Our Lady that all the vaults of the church were filled with frescoes. The discovery meant that all plans to expand the Church of Our Lady were abandoned. The frescoes were uncovered and it turned out to be a coherent collection of frescoes from 1522. In 1890, Pastor Lohmann published the book “Kalkmalerierne i Skive Kirke”, where he reviewed the frescoes.
Apoteker Norgaard’s scholarship makes a new church possible
After the abandonment of the expansion of Vor Frue Kirke, church plans in Skive came to a standstill – until Christmas 1893. That’s when pharmacist Gerhard Norgaard, who ran Skive Apotek, showed up at the vicarage. He told Lohmann that he and his wife, who was childless, had decided to set up a grant of DKK 100,000 to be used for the construction of a new church. The endowment was to bear interest at four percent for the pharmacist couple’s lifetime, so the first task for the Church Inspectorate was to find financing for the interest expense. The state agreed to pay the 2 percent if Skive City Council would pay the remaining 2 percent and make a building plot available. On August 1, 1894, the city council decided to agree to the state’s terms – the financing was in place, and now the building plans had to be implemented.
However, Pastor Lohmann was not to see this happen.
Lohmann’s commitment and death
He was deeply committed to the South Jutland cause and published a songbook, “The Blue Songbook”, which was widely used in Southern Jutland. In Skive, he took the initiative to establish a South Jutlandic Association, of which he was chairman. On October 17, 1894, he had initiated a meeting of the association. After the meeting, there was a communal meal, and here Lohmann collapsed, struck by paralysis. He lay ill for about a week and died on October 23, 1894, aged 52.
The funeral with great participation
His funeral was attended by the entire parish: “Pastor J.J. Lohmann was buried last night with a very large attendance. Around 8 o’clock Nørregade was filled with people heading out to the vicarage, where thousands of people gradually gathered. Most of the town’s population was present, both children and old people, men and women, as well as many from the countryside and Resen. It was probably the largest funeral procession that has ever taken place in Skive. After the coffin was carried out, the large funeral procession started moving. It was an impressive mourning crowd, and the solemn impression was enhanced by the fact that every window in the streets – Nørregade, Adelgade, Vestergade and Kirkegade – through which the funeral procession passed was illuminated and decorated with greenery and potted plants. The church could not accommodate a third of the procession.” (Skive Folkeblad October 29, 1894).
Pastor Lohmann was succeeded by the poet-pastor Carl Bahnson.
Sources
Niels P. Bjerregaard: The poet pastor Lohmann. Christmas in Skive 1940, p. 7-8
Svend Mortensen: Skive Church 1898-1898. 1998.
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