Máriapócs Basilica
The Church of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady is one of the most important pilgrimage churches in Hungary . It is located in Máriapócs and is subordinate to the Hungarian-Greek diocese of Hajdúdorog . In 1948 she was founded by Pope Pius XII. raised to the minor basilica .
The reason for the pilgrimages to this Greek Catholic Church is an image of grace , of the Hodegetria type , which shows Mary with the baby Jesus on her left arm. The original of the miraculous image of the Madonna von Pötsch from 1696 was brought to St. Stephen's Cathedral a year later . The reason was the continuous tears of the picture. But two miracles of tears also occurred on the copy in Máriapócs : 1715 and 1905. These tears lasted for several months, from summer to the end of the year. This forms the basis for the large-scale pilgrimages. In 1991 Pope John Paul II visited the miraculous image . During the communist era the pilgrimages were dormant. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, there have been 16 pilgrimages a year again, with up to 800,000 believers taking part over the year. Nearby is a thermal lake with 52 ° C warm water, which is included in the pilgrimages.
Even before the second miracle of tears, there was a church built between 1731 and 1756 in the early Baroque style. The two towers with onion helmets were completed in 1856. The influx of pilgrims from 1905 made an expansion of the church inevitable. In 1893–96 and 1991 the basilica was completely restored. Greek Catholic bishops and priests are buried in the crypt under the church.
The images of the iconostasis built in 1785–88 were swapped in 1896. The altar of grace and the altar of the Holy Cross date from the last third of the 18th century. Together with the Basilius Altar, they were rebuilt at the end of the 19th century and in 1945. During this time, the miraculous image was also moved from the iconostasis next to the entrance to the church.
The church was painted in 1944–45 by Józef Boksay and Emanuel Petrasovsky .
Web links
- Official website (also in German)
Coordinates: 47 ° 52 ′ 41 ″ N , 22 ° 1 ′ 26.6 ″ E