Maria-Rickenbach Monastery
The Maria-Rickenbach Benedictine convent is located in the Swiss canton of Nidwalden , in the area of the municipality of Oberdorf . It is a popular place of pilgrimage . The monastery is a member of the Swiss Benedictine Federation .
location
Maria-Rickenbach lies at almost 1200 m above sea level, on the right shoulder of the Engelberg Valley . The place of pilgrimage can be reached on foot or by cable car. The historic Benediktusweg connects the monastery with Engelberg monastery .
Legend and place of pilgrimage
The story of the pilgrimage began after the Reformation in 1528 in the Bernese Oberland with the iconoclasm in Meiringen in the Haslital. The people of Bern had rejected the old faith by a majority and now professed the Reformation doctrine preached by Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich . The Haslitaler did not agree and vowed to the Landsgemeinde on June 7th, 1528 to defend their faith with body and soul.
At that time a young shepherd named Zumbühl from Büren in Nidwalden was tending a flock of sheep near Meiringen. He watched with horror as cult objects were insulted and thrown into the fire. There was also a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary in the fire. The young shepherd was amazed when the image rose from the fire. The miraculous seized him and he wanted to save the precious treasure. Undaunted, he hurried over, snatched the image of Mary and fled with it.
In the spring of 1529 Zumbühl moved with his sheep to the alp. There was an old, gnarled maple tree where the high altar stands today in the pilgrimage church. The tree trunk was hollow and well suited to accommodate the statue of the Virgin Mary. In the morning and in the evening the pious Shepherd knelt in front of his sanctuary and said the rosary . When he said goodbye to the alp in autumn he wanted to lift his statue of Mary out of the tree, but he couldn't.
Even his relatives, the pastor of Stans or secular lords, did not succeed in removing the statue of the Virgin Mary from the tree. Chronicles show that the picture could only be removed when it was decided to build a chapel at this point. First a stone wayside shrine was erected and the statue was carefully inserted. The chapel was built later, and Maria-Rickenbach soon became an important place of pilgrimage.
In 1649 the Capuchin Fathers considered it necessary to enlarge the chapel. At the end of the 17th century it was decided to build a new building and money and gifts in kind were collected across the country. On September 6, 1691, Abbot Ignatius Burnott of Engelberg Monastery consecrated the three altars. For the Magnus festival in 1742, Pope Benedict XIV . a bull of indulgence . This triggered a strong increase in pilgrimages. The chapel was renovated in 1770 under Pastor Michael von Büren in Stans and a chaplain was hired for Maria-Rickenbach.
Monastery and school
In 1857 Maria-Rickenbach became the permanent settlement of two Baldegger sisters , and the place of pilgrimage was subsequently converted into a devotional monastery. As an ecclesiastical institution, it received the episcopal confirmation in 1863 as the "Congregation of the Sacrificial Sisters of the Third Order of St. Benedict ", and the Abbot of Engelberg was appointed visitor . On June 17, 1860, the pastor and commissioner Remigi Niederberger laid the foundation stone for the third chapel. Auxiliary Bishop Kaspar Willi consecrated the new church on October 15, 1869. Today's monastery was rebuilt from 1973–1977, the church was rebuilt from 1979–1980.
From 1859 to 1981 the monastery also ran a boarding school for girls.
Architecture and equipment
The chapel in Maria-Rickenbach has probably the largest collection of votive pictures in Switzerland. Maria-Rickenbach is known for the large crib .
Personalities
In Maria-Rickenbach, the language expert and dialectologist Jakob Joseph Matthys worked as a chaplain from 1831 to 1845 ; here he wrote his autobiography, which was written in 35 languages.
literature
- Cécile Sommer-Ramer: Maria Rickenbach. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Josef Rohrer: Niederrickenbach, Maria-Rickenbach, pilgrimage church of Our Lady in the Ahorn, Benedictine monastery. Art publishing house Josef Fink.
- Hansjakob Achermann, Marita Haller-Dirr: The Benedictine convent Maria-Rickenbach in the past and present. Verlag Historischer Verein Nidwalden.
- Lothar Emanuel Kaiser: Pilgrimage Guide of Switzerland. Publishing house pilgrimage guide.
