St. Felizitas Church

St. Felizitas Church is a late Gothic hall church. Construction of the new church, which was probably founded by St. Ludger in the year 800, began in 1507. The 70-metre-high tower rests on two pillars, which are said to be the thickest solid sandstone pillars in Europe .

The beginnings of St. Felizitas are closely linked to the work of St. Liudger (Ludgerus), the first bishop of Münster (+809). Although he was not the first messenger of the faith in western Saxony, he nevertheless consolidated the church here, especially by founding the original parishes, which included Lüdinghausen. In 800, a certain Senelhard and his son-in-law Walfried had given him their Lüdinghausen possessions.

This gift provided Liudger with the basis for the construction of a church. He bequeathed the properties to the Werden a. d. Ruhr monastery, which he himself had founded and where he was laid to rest. The Lüdinghausen church thus became a so-called proprietary church of Werden Abbey. The abbots were feudal lords of Lüdinghausen for centuries.

In 839, relics of St. Felicity were brought from Rome to Vreden, where the family of Saxon Duke Widukind was based. It was from there that Felicity became known in the Münsterland region, but her veneration may also have reached Lüdinghausen from Werden Abbey. When a new church was consecrated in 1037, the patron saint of St. Stephen was replaced