Kalasantinerkirche St. Josef

The Kalasantinerkirche St. Josef is a Roman Catholic parish church in Penzing, the fourteenth district of Vienna. It stands on Reinlgasse, dedicated to Saint Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. The church belongs to the fifteenth city deanery of the Archdiocese of Vienna. The church opened in 1897 when the Kalasantiner order established a new house there. Its first rector was Father Wenzel Siman. In 1912 the building was enlarged, adding two storeys and a large theatre hall to the monastery. By 1935 the parish had grown to serve more than twenty-four thousand people. During the Second World War the Nazis seized most of the premises, and several members faced persecution. Father Heinrich Wagner was repeatedly arrested by the Gestapo, and Dr Jakob Kastelic, a lay leader, was executed in 1944 after four years in a concentration camp. The church was badly damaged by a bomb in April 1945 but reopened the following year as the first rebuilt church after the war. A new organ with two manuals and pedal was installed in 1984 by Friedrich Heftner. Between 1995 and 1997 the interior was renovated and redesigned. Inside, the church contains a two-manual mechanical organ built by Friedrich Heftner. The instrument has thirteen registers and mechanical action for both playing and stops. The building also includes a large theatre hall added in 1912. The parish serves a district that once numbered over twenty-four thousand residents. Despite wartime destruction and later renovations, the church remains a place of worship and community life in Penzing.