Virgin Mary Sacrifice (Sigishofen)
The Chapel of the Sacrifice of Mary in the Sigishofen district of Ofterschwang is a building from the 18th century.
History and description
The chapel was built around 1770 and in 1771 received permission to use the Way of the Cross. On June 23, 1777, permission to trade was granted. Auxiliary Bishop Wilhelm Joseph Leopold von Konstanz consecrated the chapel on July 29, 1793. The relevant document has been preserved. It mentions that the chapel at that time still belonged to the Seifriedsberg parish : “We announce and testify to those present that in the year 1793 on the 29th day of July, in Sigishofen in the Seifriedsberg parish, we honored the branch church and the altar our Lady, St. Virgin , and set as the anniversary of the consecration the day on the feast of the sacrifice of the same mistress, our virgin. Desiring, therefore, that the afore-mentioned church is given appropriate honors and that the Christian faithful visit it numerous and piously, we allow it one year today and those who visit it on the anniversary of its consecration 40 days of true indulgence in the church Form. ”Despite the former affiliation to Seifriedsberg, the care of this chapel was incumbent on the local community of Sigishofen. In 1966 the chapel became the property of the Sigishofen Forest Cooperative, but it has been agreed with the Diocese of Augsburg since 1988 that the church administration will look after and maintain the church.
The rococo- style altar mentioned in the consecration certificate is still one of the chapel's furnishings. In the altar niche it contained a clothed Mother of God with a child in her arms; this figure was replaced by a new one in the 19th century. On the right of the altar niche is an image of Francis of Assisi , on the left one of St. Sebastian . The niche is surrounded by putti and angel heads.
A votive figure of St. Wendelin is attached to the right inner wall of the chapel, kneeling in front of a lying cow and stretching his right hand towards its head with a gesture of blessing. An inscription under the group of figures explains the background: In 1801 the people of Sigishofen learned of a cattle epidemic that had cost some farmers in the area their entire livestock, turned to Wendelin for help and lost only 36 of 115 horned cattle. The votive offering was donated by Joseph Kappeler, who at that time lived in house number 6 in the immediate vicinity of the chapel.
A figure of St. Christopher was once located in a niche above the east entrance of the chapel. It was moved inside and combined with memorial plaques for those who fell in World War II . Its former place is now taken by an image of St. Joseph , the patron saint of carpenters. Christophorus, venerated as a water saint, was probably just as important for the population of Sigishofen, since the village was regularly threatened by the flood levels of the Iller . This only changed when the Iller dams were strengthened in 1910.
The chapel was renovated in 1950, 1953 and 1974, after discovering moisture damage, another renovation was carried out from 1983 onwards, in which the wooden floor was removed, the central aisle was redesigned with existing stone slabs and the underground in the interior was filled with seepage gravel and poured with concrete. The forecourt was paved and a sidewalk was created. The chapel foundations were exposed and renovated from the outside, and the external plaster was also renewed. A saying from 1864 was discovered: "Work is man's bread, pale death robs small and large, young and old, poor and rich, everything, everything is the same to him."
literature
- Hans Bader, Ofterschwang. Parish church and chapels , Horb 1998, ISBN 3-89570-409-1 , pp. 47–55
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 47 ° 30 '13.18 " N , 10 ° 16' 0.44" E