Maria Eich (Ebnat)

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Pilgrimage chapel Maria Eich

Maria bei der Eiche , usually called Maria Eich , is a Catholic forest and pilgrimage chapel near Ebnat in Baden-Württemberg , consecrated to St. Mary . The present building, erected in 1925, goes back to a place of prayer built into an oak in 1686 . It is located in the “Scheiterhau” forest area four hundred meters west of the hiking car park on the southwestern outskirts of Ebnat.

history

Place of prayer in an oak (1686)

In 1686, Christoph Uhl, Paul Baumgartner and Franz Strobel, three young Ebnat shepherds between the ages of thirteen and twenty, founded the place of prayer "Maria bei der Eiche". They hollowed out a niche about 60 centimeters in size in an oak and placed two figures of Mary and saints made of clay in it. Three years later, a wooden shed was built to protect visitors from bad weather.

Baroque statue of the Virgin Mary (1692) and wooden chapel (1738)

In 1692, strangers placed a baroque , painted wooden figure of the Virgin Mary with the child standing in the niche. Around 1720 "Maria bei der Eiche" mentioned answers to prayer. In 1738 the rotten oak was felled and a simple wooden chapel was built, where wax and candle offerings were laid and votive tablets were attached.

Ebnat, which has belonged to the then newly founded Diocese of Rottenburg since 1821 , was previously part of the Diocese of Augsburg . In 1731, the bishop's office in Augsburg banned all "solemnities" (festivities) at Maria Eich.

In 1738, the Augsburg Prince-Bishop Johann Franz Schenk von Stauffenberg arranged for the pilgrimage to be checked. He asked Christoph Uhl, the youngest of the three founders of the place of prayer, who was the only one who had witnessed the upswing of Maria Eich, was a church caretaker in Ebnat and died in 1754 at the age of over eighty, to give information about the history of its origins. In 1744, his successor, Prince-Bishop Joseph Ignaz Philipp von Hessen-Darmstadt , refused a request to celebrate the chapel, which made mass ceremonies there finally forbidden. It was ordered that the miraculous image of Maria Eich be transferred to the Ebnater parish church, and an indulgence was granted.

Installation of the Virgin Mary statue in the Ebnater parish church and demolition of the wooden chapel (1745)

In 1720 the originally Roman Catholic Ebnater parish church of the Immaculate Conception , which had been replaced by a new Gothic building from 1481 to 1485 , was demolished except for the tower. In 1725 a new baroque parish church, today's "Old Church", was consecrated. The lower floors of today's tower are from the first previous church.

View into the choir of the Ebnater parish church with the miraculous image above the high altar

Due to the episcopal order of 1744, the baroque statue of the Virgin Mary from 1692 was transferred in a solemn procession by Maria Eich to the Ebnater parish church on May 30th, 1745 and placed there on a small wooden altar. At the same time, the Maria Eich wooden chapel was demolished.

In 1791 the previous altars in the Ebnat parish church were removed and replaced by new altars in the classicist Baroque style . Since 1792, a hundred years after its installation in the oak in the forest area "Scheiterhau", the statue of the Virgin Mary has had its current place above the high altar, which was then newly built, which consists of the half-sculpture of an oak and a halo in which the miraculous image was inserted.

Stone wayside shrine at the site of the wooden chapel (1854)

In 1854, on the site of the former forest chapel, a stone wayside shrine was built on a private initiative, to which pilgrimages were organized from 1859.

Today's chapel (1925)

Pilgrimage site Maria Eich

The present chapel was planned in 1924 and consecrated on May 17, 1925. On September 20, a statue of the Virgin Mary made by the Ellwang sculptor Viktor Geiselhart and donated by Theresia Retzer was installed and consecrated in the chapel. In the 1920s the tradition of the annual "Festival of Ebnater Joy" developed.

Period of National Socialism (1933–1945)

In the first years of National Socialist rule, over two thousand visitors came to the forest chapel in 1933 and 1934 on the occasion of the "Festival of Ebnater Joy".

In 1936 the wood-carved picture of the Virgin Mary was placed on the chapel forecourt. It is based on the painting "Refuge of sinners" by Luigi Crosio (1898). This Mater Ter Admirabilis picture or MTA picture for short is the central devotional item of the Schoenstatt Movement . Above the carved Mary and Child are the letters MTA, underneath is the saying "Servus Mariae nunquam peribit" (English: A servant of Mary will never perish ) , which also comes from the Schoenstatt Movement .

Between 1936 and 1938 the votive cross and the fourteen wood-carved stations of the cross were erected.

In the war year 1942, over 4,000 pilgrims came to celebrate the 250th return of the insertion of the baroque figure of Mary into the oak in 1692. This caused anger among the National Socialist leadership of the community. Local pastor Anton Sorg was taken into custody for two days and interrogated by the police. However, since many frontline soldiers who were on home leave were among the pilgrims, the matter was left to rest. The fresco decorations were created in connection with a renovation in 1943.

After the Second World War (since 1945)

Since the end of the Second World War, the chapel has gained national importance through star pilgrimages and prominent visitors. In 1954, Bishop Carl Joseph Leiprecht von Rottenburg visited the forest chapel on the occasion of the then Pope Pius XII. proclaimed Marian Year . In 1958, Bishop Joseph Kiwánuka of Masaka in Uganda , who later became Archbishop of Kampala , visited the Marian Shrine. In 1999 the Association of Expellees celebrated the 50th anniversary of its annual pilgrimage to the stars, which has been held every year since 1949.

In 1967 and 1968 picture steles were placed on the paths to the chapel. On the night of April 22-23, 1979, the chapel was broken into and the statue of the Virgin Mary stolen. It was replaced on May 20, 1979 as part of a festive procession with a newly donated Madonna figure. In 2000 the chapel was restored for its 75th anniversary.

photos

  • Ebnater parish church of the Immaculate Conception

  • Baroque figure of Mary (1692), today above the high altar of the Ebnater parish church

  • Pilgrimage chapel Maria Eich (1925) with votive cross and stations of the cross (1938)

  • View inside the Maria Eich chapel

  • Virgin Mary statue in the Maria Eich chapel (1979)

  • Carved MTA picture of a maria on the forecourt by Maria Eich (1936)

  • "Refuge of Sinner" by Luigi Crosio (1898), model of the MTA image of Mary by Maria Eich

  • Stations 10 to 12 of the Way of the Cross near Maria Eich (1938)

Others

Pilgrimage song for Maria Eich

Festival of Ebnater Joy

To commemorate the transfer of the baroque statue of the Virgin Mary by Maria Eich to the Ebnater parish church on May 30, 1745, the annual "Feast of Ebnater Joy" has been celebrated since the 1920s with a pilgrimage and subsequent Eucharistic celebration at the chapel. While the historical event on the sixth Sunday after Easter, the Sunday before the feast of Pentecost took place the year 1745, the Pilgrimage is now always on the sixth Sunday of Easter (corresponding to the fifth Sunday after Easter), the Sunday before Ascension Day organized.

Pilgrimage song

“How much God loves people” by Hermann Angstenberger (melody and sentence) and Gerhard Wiesgerber (text) from 2008 is the pilgrimage song for Maria Eich.

Bus stop "Ebnat Maria Eich"

The “Ebnat Maria Eich” bus stop is located one kilometer northeast of the chapel on the L1084 between Unterkochen and Ebnat.

Web links

Commons : Maria Waldkapelle bei der Eiche Aalen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Josef Friedel: The emergence of Maria Eich 1686 with time table in: Catholic parish Ebnat: Maria Eich. Devotional booklet. Aalen 2001, pp. 9-17.
  2. ↑ Catholic Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception on se-haertsfeld-kochertal.de.
  3. ↑ Maria Eich prayer and pilgrimage site on se-haertsfeld-kochertal.de.
  4. ↑ Celebration of Ebnater Joy on se-haertsfeld-kochertal.de.
  5. ↑ Hermann Angstenberger on erzbistum-koeln.de.

Coordinates: 48 ° 47 ′ 39.8 "  N , 10 ° 9 ′ 52.6"  E