Jesuitenkirche Luzern (Lucerne, Switzerland)
Jesuitenkirche Luzern
The Jesuit Church of St. Francis Xaver (German Jesuitenkirche St. Franz Xaver) is a Catholic church located on the embankment of the Reuss River in Lucerne. The first church in Switzerland built in the Baroque style. It is the first architectural symbol of the Counter-Reformation in the country and is often called the most beautiful religious building in Lucerne.
To overcome the lack of education of the priests of Lucerne, as well as the superstitions widespread at that time among the local population, at the request of the city council in 1574, Pope Gregory XIII sent three Jesuit priests from Augsburg to Lucerne. Three years later, the first Jesuit college in Switzerland was organized in the city; in the second half of the 17th century, there were up to 400 theological students. Since the small chapels located to the west of the Knight's Palace and on its ground floor were now clearly insufficient to meet the increased needs of the Catholic community, the decision was made to build a new church, and Francis Xavier, patron saint of the canton of Lucerne, was chosen as its patron.