Busskirch

Beginning in the 1st century A.D., Busskirch was a Roman lakeside settlement that served as a stage town on the intersection of the streets to Kempraten (Latin: Centum Prata) respectively Zürich (Turicum), Winterthur (Vitudurum) and to Chur (Curia Rhaetorum) respectively on the waterway Walensee–Zürichsee to Rome's alpine route.[1]

Busskirch is first mentioned in 842/843 A.D. as Fossonas ecclesiam, in 854 as Fussinchirichun and in 1209 as Buschilche. «A little church dreaming on the lake» wrote Pius Rickenmann, a poet from Rapperswil, in his poem Busskirch. The early medieval Parish church of St. Martin Busskirch with its cemetery rests on the remains of a Roman building (1st to 4th century A.D.). Beginning in the 8th century, the village belonged to the Pfäfers Abbey. Busskirch is one of the oldest churches around the Lake Zürich. Even the citizens of Rapperswil had to attend services in Busskirch until Count Rudolf II of Rapperswil built his own church and a chapel next to Rapperswil Castle in 1253. In 1351 St. Martin Busskirch was incorporated by the monastery (until 1838). In co-operation with Jona the settlement formed an Allmendgenossenschaft (farmer's association), reigned by the Counts of Rapperswil, latter by the city of Rapperswil. In 1253 the parish churches of Rapperswil (St. John's Church) and Jona were established: St. Martin Busskirch lost its former importance and was in 1945 integrated in the Roman Catholic parish Rapperswil.