Kreuzschwestern Church Linz

Since its foundation by Father Theodosius Florentini, the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross has always tried anew to sense the needs of the times and to give a human-Christian response.

In 1861, the first three Sisters of the Cross settled in Linz. In the city life of the time, they appeared mainly at lunchtime, when they carried food from the kitchens of wealthy families to the homes of the elderly and needy. In the course of the following five years, ten branches were established in Upper Austria. The sisters moved into the provincial house in Wurmstraße in 1872, and ten years later the convent church was also completed.
This church existed until 1959 and was built in neo-Gothic style according to plans by Otto Schirmer. It was replaced by a new building consecrated in 1961. The entrance facade is flanked by residential buildings and elevated from the street by stone steps. A three-part bronze portal by Peter Dimmel leads to the interior. Here opens a high hall church with a just completed choir. During the last remodeling by architect Josef Oemer in 1999, a glass front was inserted between the entrance area and the church interior, as well as a false ceiling throughout the church. A cross hangs on the central chancel wall, and the chancel opens in front of it on a raised zone; its furnishings with liturgical places were created during the 1999 redesign.
In an open side room befinds a 19th-century Russian icon of the Mother of God Tikhvinskaya painted on wood. The Sisters of the Cross are active in Linz above all in the kindergarten and school system as well as in b