Sankt Katharinen lies in the Naheland at the southern edge of the Gauchswald (forest) and therefore the Hunsrück. Sankt Katharinen sits at an elevation of 217 m above sea level and its municipal area measures 1.70 km2.[3]
Neighbouring municipalities
Clockwise from the north, Sankt Katharinen’s neighbours are the municipalities of Sommerloch, Roxheim, Mandel and Braunweiler, all of which likewise lie within the Bad Kreuznach district.
History
The village of Sankt Katharinen goes back to the Cistercian monastery of the same name that stood here from the early 13th century until 1574. This monastery was home to Cistercian nuns. In the early 13th century, it was founded by the nuns from Kumbd Abbey (Kloster Kumbd in German; the village there is still called Klosterkumbd), and in 1219, Archbishop of MainzSiegfried II acknowledged the settlement. In 1574, however, the Electorate of the Palatinate put an end to its days as a monastic institution. Oversight was exercised by the Abbot of Eberbach Abbey in the Rheingau. Sankt Katharinen was among Eberbach’s incorporated monasteries. The founding story translated into German by Johann Christian von Stramberg and Heinrich Pröhle, farmer Adalbert’s epic poem, goes back to Johannes Trithemius’s Sponheim Chronicle, which was in Latin. Nothing now remains of the monastery, but the village that sprang up with it is still there.
Religion
As at 31 December 2013, there are 367 full-time residents in Sankt Katharinen, and of those, 88 are Evangelical (23.978%), 208 are Catholic (56.676%) and 71 (19.346%) either have no religion or will not reveal their religious affiliation.[4]
Politics
Municipal council
The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.[5]
Mayor
Sankt Katharinen’s mayor is Manuel Schneider, and his deputies are Hans-Walter Nies and Markus Krieg.[6]
Coat of arms
The municipality’s arms might be described thus: Argent in base an inescutcheon chequy of twenty azure and Or standing behind and above which Saint Catherine vested gules, crined and crowned of the third holding in her dexter hand a sword of the fourth hilted and pommelled of the third palewise point to base, and in her sinister hand half a wheel spoked of four sable.
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[7]
Johannes Trithemius: Chronicon Sponheimense. In: Opera historica. Bd. 2. Hrsg. von Marquard Freher. Frankfurt 1601, S. 261-267 Dilibri
Johann Goswin Widder: Versuch einer vollständigen geographisch-historischen Beschreibung der Kurfürstl. Pfalz am Rheine. Bd. 4, Frankfurt/Leipzig 1788, S. 92f. Google
Eduard Schneegans: Kreuznach. Erinnerungen eines Kurgastes [...]. Siegen/Wiesbaden 1844, S. 100f. Google