Sargans, St. Oswald und Cassian. Foto/Photo: TES.

The church of St. Oswald and Cassian

Bishop Ulrich VII. of Chur consecrated the church of St. Oswald and Cassian in Sargans on 28 June 1711. The baroque interior was not yet in place, however, due to a lack of financial means. The late Gothic medieval tower was nor replaced neither.

The medieval castle of the Counts of Montfort and Werdenberg-Sargans still overlooks the town.

The Eidgenossenschaft governed the city as subject territory (Untertanengebiet) from 1483 until 1798. The bailiffs resided in the castle.  

The Religious history of the town is also typically Swiss. The Eidgenossenschaft was an alliance of Catholic and Protestant cantons, a remarkable accomplishment for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

Sargans remained Catholic but was free to profess the catholic faith. 28 June 1711 is an example of this tolerance.  Sargans fell under several Catholic jurisdictions: until 1798 the abbey of Mehrerau (Lake Constance), the monastery of Pfäfers after 1815. The town belonged to the bishopric of Chur. 

The church of St. Oswald and Cassian symbolise the medieval and (early) modern and religious (Swiss) history and architecture of Sargans.