Madonna von Pötsch (Vienna)
The Madonna von Pötsch is a famous and highly venerated miraculous image in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna , the original of all representations made after him, which originally comes from Pötsch (Hungarian: Máriapócs ) in Hungary , where a copy has been venerated after its transfer to the capital. Both pictures - the Viennese original and the copy in Máriapócs - are also known as the "Weeping Madonnas", since, according to testimonies and an official examination by the Church, both pictures caused tears to flow from the eyes.
The original Viennese picture
The miraculous image of the "Weeping Madonna von Pötsch" has been in St. Stephen's Cathedral since December 1, 1697 - initially on the high altar, from 1945 on a separate altar under the so-called Öchsel canopy . It is a very simple, icon-like tempera painting on wood that originally hardly noticed, hung for 20 years in the Greek Catholic parish church in Pötsch ( Máriapócs ) until tears flowed from the eyes of the portrait of Mary on November 4, 1696, a process that repeated. The phenomenon was confirmed by testimony, including Austrian soldiers without a Catholic denomination. As a result, there was a strong pilgrimage to this picture, so that the responsible military commander, Count Johann Andreas Corbelli , Austrian field marshal lieutenant, and various church dignitaries had the incidents investigated.
The flow of tears was declared supernatural by an episcopal commission of inquiry and the picture came to Vienna at the request of Emperor Leopold I , through the mediation of Count von Corbelli . The driving forces behind the transfer of the miraculous painting to the capital were Empress Eleonore Magdalena , the pious daughter of the Palatinate Elector Philipp Wilhelm and the Capuchin Marco d'Aviano, who was later beatified . The Empress decorated the icon transferred to the main altar of St. Stephen's Cathedral with a diamond rose and named it "Rosa mystica". Since then, the miraculous image has been one of the very special shrines of the Vienna Cathedral and is highly venerated to the present day. Your intercession was u. a. the victory over the Turks at Zenta , attributed to September 11, 1697, an opinion also held by the well-known preacher Abraham a Sancta Clara . In the collection of the Army History Museum Vienna there is a contemporary painting of the battle, over which the miraculous image of the Pötscher Madonna hovers.
Copies
In Pötsch itself
The village of Pötsch in Hungary received a true-to-original copy of its former miraculous image in 1707, which was venerated there again in the Basilica of Máriapócs and wept tears again in 1715 and 1905, whereas this never happened again with the original in Vienna. Both later cases in Pötsch were again examined in detail and also declared supernatural by an episcopal commission. Pope Pius XII reaffirmed this judgment in an apostolic letter dated March 25, 1948, when he elevated the pilgrimage church to a minor basilica . Today, Máriapócs is considered the Hungarian national shrine and the most important place of pilgrimage in the country.
In Gnigl
A copy of the miraculous image has been in the Gnigler Church near Salzburg since 1697/98 , where it is called Maria Schutz , and a locally important pilgrimage tradition began.
In Kindsbach
In Germany, in the Palatinate town of Kindsbach , a copy of the Viennese miraculous image of the Madonna von Pötsch made around 1700 is venerated. Here in 1704 an Austrian officer named "DPH Biot", who was an eyewitness to the flow of tears from 1696, gave this image painted on linen to a local Lady Chapel. In addition to the original, it bears a Latin donor note, which translates as:
“ True picture of the holy Mother of God picture by Pötsch in Hungary, which started on November 3rd, 1696 to shed tears in both eyes. The witness was the KK Regiment Erbeville, among which, as first lieutenant, DPH gave biot and testimony. "
The picture inscription is also reproduced in the memorial book of the Kindsbach parish church and it is noted that Lieutenant Biot, from the Erbeville regiment, was the donor of the picture and was present at the miracle events in Pötsch himself. The Erbeville regiment were Austrian dragoons . The Kindsbach picture is today in a splendid Art Nouveau frame on the altar of the local parish church "Mariä Heimsuchung" and is one of the official pilgrimage sites of the responsible diocese of Speyer .
Worship in other places
Further copies of the Madonna von Pötsch can also be found in many other places, are often associated with a regional pilgrimage, but usually have no direct reference to the original or to the phenomenon of tears in Pötsch, such as the Kindsbach image of grace. The type of "Pötscher Madonna" is one of the most common depictions of Mary.
literature
- Clemens Jöckle: Pilgrimage sites in the diocese of Speyer , pages 42–43, Verlag Schnell u. Steiner, Munich, 1983, ISBN 3-7954-0499-1
- Peter Csendes : Vienna, History of a City , Böhlau Verlag Vienna, 2002, ISBN 3-205-99267-9 ; Excerpt from text with mention of the image of grace in Vienna
- Eva Bauer: Wien in seine Sagen , page 137, Vienna 2002; Text on the Pötscher image of grace in St. Stephen's Cathedral
Web links
- On the history of the miraculous image “Maria von Pötsch” in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna
- Website of the Kindsbach parish for the local image of grace
Individual evidence
- ↑ Website on the history of the image of grace
- ↑ The Gnigl parish church , pfarre-gnigl.at
- ^ Official website of the Diocese of Speyer on the pilgrimage in Kindsbach ( Memento from January 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive )