Our church was first mentioned in a document in 1391. In a tax register of the Regensburg rulership over the Hofmark Pöchlarn, to which Klein-Pöchlarn also belonged, a vineyard was named "hinder der chirchn".
Bishop Nikolaus presumably carried out the consecration in honor of St. Otmar around 1400. Bishop Nicholas seems v. 1393-1409 as auxiliary bishop of Passau. He died in Krems around 1410 and is buried in the Dominican church there. St. Otmar was born around 689 in the Lake Constance area and from 719 he was abbot of the St. Gallen monastery. He died on November 16, 759. Buried in the Otmar Church in St. Gallen, he was canonized in 864.
Incidentally, our parish church is the only church dedicated to this saint in the diocese of St. Pölten.
The oldest parts, dating back to the original period, are undoubtedly the presbytery with 3 of the 5 high two-part windows.
The church was given its current form around 1500 by Hans Geyer, the chief imperial architect and then caretaker of the Pöchlarn dominion, who widened the nave of the church by 2.60 m to the north and transformed it into a three-part hall with 2 octagonal slender pillars on a round base. The year "1517" visible on the entrance to the music choir probably indicates the completion of this work.
The Mount of Olives relief on the south side of the church probably dates from this period.
Under the then Vicar Melchior Opilio, the church received its baroque furnishings.
1706: Church pews (whose side panels were placed on the new pews during the interior renovation in 1969)
1716: High altar with an altarpiece by the Melk artist Ursus Viktor Stöbler, flanked by the figures of St. Leopold (1075-1136, Babenberg, as Leopold III Margrave of Austria, patron saint of Lower Austria) and the church patron Otmar. This altar had to make way for a neo-Gothic high altar between 1894 and 1969.
Around 1720: Cross altar with Saints Wolfgang and Sebastian. St. Wolfgang, born in 924 and ordained Bishop of Regensburg in 972, often stayed in the Hofmark Pöchlarn on his many visitation trips. On one of these trips he died on October 31st. 994 in Pupping near Eferding (Upper Austria).
St. Sebastian, who lived in Italy in the 3rd century and allegedly died a martyr's death there on January 21, 288, is also revered as a saint of the plague. The plague that has raged in our place several times reveals a connection to this saint.
1721: Marian altar with flanking Saints Anne and Joachim, the parents of the Mother of Christ.
The hexagonal pulpit dates from 1758.
The baptismal font was also built in the second half of the 18th century. prepared.
Part of the interior paving with Kehlheimer slabs was laid in 1807.
The red marble slab in the center of the church covers a priest's tomb. Priests and special benefactors of the church used to be buried within the church.
The four large paintings with the apostles Matthew, Simon, James the Greater and James the Less were made in the mid-18th century. made and came here in 1830 as a gift from Maria Taferl. The church in Klein-Pöchlarn was considered the mother church of the well-known basilica for a long time.
The 14 Stations of the Cross were painted in 1841 by Anton Mayr, a student of the famous "Kremser Schmidt".
The original date of the organ is 1840 (electrified in 1965), that of the first tower clock 1845, which was replaced in 1980 by the current electric clock.
In the course of the already mentioned interior renovation in 1969, a people's altar was erected (dedication on October 8, 1969).
In the years 2000 - 2004 the exterior of our church and the vicarage were completely renovated, the square around the church was newly paved or redesigned and surrounded by a wrought-iron fence.
The ringing of the church of St. Otmar consists of 4 bells:
Bell with the E tone, weight 106 kg, with the inscription "St. Otmar, pray for us", bell with the C sharp tone, weight 213 kg, with the inscription "St. Joseph, pray for us", bell with the tone A, weight 423 kg with the inscription "Maria, Friedenskönigin, pray for us" as well as a bell weighing 54 kg from the year 1757. The first three bells were consecrated on June 4th, 1950, the last one serves as a death bell.
Klein-Pöchlarn was occupied by a permanent vicar from 1429 (mother church was Pöchlarn on the other bank of the Danube).
In 1792 the place became a princely parish. Today it belongs to the diocese of St. Pölten and is one of 18 parishes of the Maria Taferl deanery.
Pastor Mag. Josef GORNICKI has been working here as provisional since 1996 and as pastor of Klein-Pöchlarn since 2004.
Compiled by Horst Erhart in July 2009
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