Griesstetten

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Griesstetten
Coordinates: 49 ° 1 ′ 34 "  N , 11 ° 34 ′ 53"  E
Height : 361 m
Residents : 45  (May 25 1987)
Incorporation : January 1, 1972
Postal code : 92345
Area code : 08464
Griesstetten
Griesstetten

Griesstetten is a hamlet with a pilgrimage church in the lower Altmühltal , near Dietfurt ( Neumarkt district in the Upper Palatinate ), directly on the Main-Danube Canal on the edge of the valley.

history

Pilgrimage church to the "three wretched saints" in Griesstetten in the Altmühltal. Watercolor by Siegfried Schieweck-Mauk, Eichstätt (No. 1197)

A burial mound field with at least 40 burial mounds was found near Griesstetten, as well as settlement finds from the Urnfield period . Neolithic farmers founded the area around 2500 BC. A large village that was discovered during the construction of the new canal and archaeologically excavated, accompanied by scientific research on the climate and vegetation of that time .

Already in the 12th century the veneration of the "three wretched saints" can be proven, "wretched" in the sense of "foreign, coming from abroad". Because around 1140 two Irish Benedictines , the religious priest Zimius and the lay brother Vimius, came from the Schottenkloster St. Jakob in Regensburg to the lower Altmühltal. They settled in the nearby settlement (today "Einsiedel") and built a house with a small oratory (place of prayer) there. Later, the third hermit was the prior of St. Jacob, Father Marinus. Numerous people came to them with their most diverse concerns and found help. In 1153 Father Marinus died and his brothers buried him in the oratory. His grave soon developed into a place of pilgrimage for residents from the area. Due to the large number of visitors, Zimius and Vimius felt badly disturbed in their monastic life. Abbot Christian III. therefore left in Griesstetten in honor of St. Bishop Martin built his own small chapel in which Marinus found a new resting place. According to a folk legend, his bones swam upstream to the newly built church. When Vimius and Zimius died a year later, they too were buried in the church.

In the following centuries the pilgrimage to the "three wretched saints" flourished. In 1212 a letter of protection from Emperor Friedrich II mentions Griesstetten with the chapel and the Einsiedelhof as property of the Scots monks of St. Jakob in Regensburg .

During the Thirty Years' War , the church was looted by Swedish troops in 1633, badly damaged and only sparsely saved from total ruin in the following period. Pilgrimage flourished again at the end of the 17th century, initiated by the Auxiliary Bishop of Regensburg, Albert Ernst von Wartenberg . He had the relics of the three monks raised and reburied in a large common coffin behind the high altar for veneration.

Pilgrimage church to the "three wretched saints" in Griesstetten in the Altmühltal. Pen and ink drawing by Siegfried Schieweck-Mauk, Eichstätt (No. 1148)
Pilgrimage church to the three wretched saints

In the Baroque period , from 1740 to 1747, a larger pilgrimage church was built in the form of an eight-sided central building , with Tuscan pilasters on the outer facade . The stucco was made by Johann Michael Berg , brother of the Eichstätter court stucco maker Johann Jakob Berg . The dome painting shows the three miserable saints in the midst of friars in heaven, painted by Johannes Adam Fux Maller . In 1750 the tower had to be lowered by half for structural reasons. The high altar was erected around the same time . In the tower there is a three-part paternoster chime (approx. D '' - e '' - f sharp ''); the bells date from 1500, 1949 and 1971. In 1783 the relics of the three saints were transferred to a wall niche on the Gospel side. Numerous votive pictures testify to the popularity of the three saints.

Soon after the building was completed, the Scots monks withdrew from Griesstetten. In 1849 the community had three large reliquary boxes made with beautifully set wax figures of the "three wretched saints". This was how the relics should be displayed on the side walls or on the three altars of the church for worship. The project failed, however, because the congregation wanted a separate feast day for the three saints. A canonization process would have to take place for this, which was not strained for reasons of cost. Not until 1858 was it possible to dispel concerns about public veneration and to obtain episcopal approval. A decree of the Regensburg Bishop Ignatius of Senestrey from 1861 allowed the relics to be rewritten, to be shown publicly and to be worshiped "which is sanctified by the most ancient tradition". Since then, the relics have rested in a container made of zinc in the chest of every wax figure. On July 2, 1862, the solemn transfer of the revised relics from the Franciscan monastery in Dietfurt to their present location took place.

The hamlet of Griesstetten belongs politically to Dietfurt, ecclesiastically to the parish Altmühlmünster ( Diocese of Regensburg ), but has been looked after by the Dietfurt Franciscans since 1832 . Next to the parish church there is a path chapel “St. Trinity ”from the 2nd half of the 19th century.

literature

  • Franz Kerschensteiner: Griesstetten pilgrimage church (= Small Art Guide. No. 743). 3rd, revised edition. Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2001, ISBN 3-7954-4476-4 (there further references).

Web links

Commons : Griesstetten  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bavarian State Office for Statistics and Data Processing (Ed.): Official local directory for Bavaria, territorial status: May 25, 1987 . Issue 450 of the articles on Bavaria's statistics. Munich November 1991, DNB  94240937X , p. 258 ( digitized version ).