Obernau chapel
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Maria Frieden is a pilgrimage chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows in the Obernau Forest in the Aschaffenburg district of Obernau .
history
A long time ago a chapel was built on a hill above Obernau in the forest in gratitude in honor of the painful Mother of God Pietà . According to legend, the feast of the birth of the Virgin Mary on September 8th is the anniversary of the creation of the Chapel of Mercy. When the chapel was built cannot be determined today. However, the original part of the chapel with the miraculous image, today's choir, bears the year 1712. Three local residents (Hößbacher, Börger and Bergmann) are said to have built the chapel. There are some legends about the Obernau Chapel:
The legend
- 1. At Obernau lived a man whom God had richly blessed with goods. But he did not enjoy his wealth with a grateful heart towards the giver, but only sought to amass more and more money; he barely slept just to be at work early and late.
- On the day of the birth of Mary he had decided to mow Ohmet the following day . In order not to be late, he got up long before the day and went out to his meadow, which was next to the forest. In the bright moonlight he nodded his scythe under an oak tree . It was not yet past midnight and the holiday was desecrated by his greed.
- While he was still doing the unholy work, a neighbor came by with whom he had been at long enmity. The neighbor had been drinking late into the night and his head was warm. The argument quickly broke out; they threw harsh words and abuse at each other, words turned into violence and the neighbor killed the rich man with his own scythe.
- To atone for the double crime, the relatives of the slain donated a picture of the Mother of God which was placed on the oak tree, the witness to the murder.
- No one passed by who did not pray an Our Father for the soul of the slain. As the anniversary of the deed drew near, the pious heard the shoving of invisible hands near the picture, and this was repeated every year eight days before and eight days after the birth of Mary. A chapel was now built under the oak and the image of Our Lady was placed there. This is the Obernau chapel on the way from Obernau to Gailbach - and there you can still hear the wondrous Danish angel eight days before and eight days after the birth of Mary.
- 2. In the forest near Obernau there is an old gray pillar on which the painful Mother of God is attached. The following is said about this pillar: one day a man went home tipsy at night. When he came through the forest, he cursed violently. Suddenly he felt a heavy load on his back. As people say, he had to "crouch the devil" as punishment for his cursing. There he ran as he could and wanted to shake off the burden, but in vain. Every minute the burden grew heavier. The sweat of fear broke from all pores. Now, in his fear, he vowed to God that a pillar would be erected with Our Lady. And in no time it was off his back and gone. But at the place where the devil left him, the column still stands today. But the man's hair had turned gray on that terrible night.
In Obernau the story was told like this:
Many years ago, a man went home late at the Schweinheim parish fair ( Mary's birth ). He heard a scythe pounding from a distance . When he got to the chapel, he saw to his horror that his neighbor was tapping his scythe at the offering box in the chapel. The church fair visitor got angry, snatched Dengler's scythe and cut off his head with it. The next day he reported himself to the police. When this came up, the body of the slain was gone. All you could hear was a ghostly pounding, and many people have heard it.
Another story is told:
In the past Obernau had less forest than today, there were only a few beeches in the meadow above Obernau. A young shepherd loved to drive his cattle there and rest in the shade of a large beech tree. One day he heard soft singing and clinking. He was scared but told no one about it. The next day he came back there, he heard the singing again, and so it went day after day. One day the beech was felled. When striking, the worker's ax ricocheted off; it was as if he was chopping into a stone. He removed the bark and found a small picture of Our Lady. It was attached to a wayside shrine and today the forest chapel stands there.
Pilgrimage song to the Mother of Grace of the Obernau Chapel
(Melody: "God the Father look at your children" GL. 911)
1. Where quiet in the green forest floodplain;
the holy chapel stands.
Thither from the wide Mainesgaue,
the crowd of pious pilgrims goes.
We,
too, marry mildly, go to your noble image.
And beg'n: Oh pray to God's throne,
for us with Jesus your son!
2. Draw to you many long-suffering hearts,
O holy Mother of Sorrows.
Often you healed bitter pains,
as the comforter of the afflicted.
That is why we too, Maria Mild,
draw to your favored image.
And plead: Oh pray to God's throne,
for us with Jesus your Son!
The chapel
The door frame of the old chapel bore the year 1712. In 1844, in fulfillment of a vow, a wooden porch was built and a cross was attached.
In a letter to the newspaper, Pastor Kilian Huber wrote:
“The Obernau Chapel is an attraction for many visitors. It lies so gracefully in the lonely forest height. Its ancient construction makes it all the more venerable. The interior, however, is not in such a condition as a chapel of grace. Flowers, bouquets, pictures, candles are placed next to each other in bright colors so that the actual image of Mary is hardly visible. The interior can only hold a few worshipers and therefore a restoration and an extension at the same time would be very appropriate. But for that you need three things: 1st money, 2nd money and 3rd money. It must be a matter of honor for the surrounding villages, namely Obernau, Schweinheim, Sulzbach and, last but not least, Aschaffenburg to design this venerable chapel appropriately. The parish office of Obernau will certainly tackle the restoration if only funds are raised. Instead of the many candles and pictures, it would be better to send a gift to the Obernau parish for restoration. Supporters of the renovation, particularly in Aschaffenburg, should kindly contact the Willy Walter bookstore. The praises of Mary and home care apply "
.
He also wrote letters of appeal to friends and acquaintances and swung the “begging sack”, especially to the Obernau people who emigrated across the ocean to the “gold land of America” in the second half of the 19th century. His request was u. a. by Louis (Alois) Autz in Louisville (Kentucky) , who gave his home parish Obernau a check for the chapel expansion. H. of the equivalent of 10,000 M sent. 600 M came from Schweinfurt and 100 M from Ludwigshafen. With this base, the expansion of the chapel into a war memorial chapel could be tackled according to the plans drawn up by the architect Otto Leitolf in Aschaffenburg - the Obernau parsonage was also built according to his plans. The current building of the Obernau Chapel was built in 1921 by master builder Franz Hartmann according to the present building plan (1920). The good construction progress and the support from sponsors made it possible to bless the Chapel of Mercy, which was expanded to become the war memorial chapel “Maria Frieden” on May 1, 1921. The Episcopal professorship in Würzburg had been authorized to the day before blessing granted.
The warrior honor plaques were made in solid oak in 1921.
Together with three new bells for the parish church from the bell foundry in Apolda , a small bell for the forest chapel was consecrated on June 29, 1929. On February 25, 1942, the little bell had to be delivered to be melted down for war purposes. On the way home from work, a citizen of Obernau discovered the little bell of the Chapel of Mercy among the bells collected at the Aschaffenburg Südbahnhof and secretly fetched it at night. He first hid it in his barn and then buried it. At the end of the war, he gave it to Pastor Julius Pfister, who let it hang in the little tower of the chapel. It turned out, however, that this little bell belonged to a boatman who reclaimed it. In January 1946, Adam Wolfert from Obernau donated a new bell in Miltenberg .
For the chapel festival in September 1932, a new altar of grace for the chapel was made by the altar construction company Engelbert Hein in Altmühldorf b. Mühldorf am Inn executed and erected in rococo style .
The miraculous image restored with the permission of the episcopal ordinariate in Würzburg, a several hundred year old pieta made of clay (the unsightly overpainting was removed and restored in the original terracotta) was accompanied in a procession to the chapel and blessed there on June 25, 1937 .
The holidays
On the 1st Sunday in May ( Maria Schutzfest) , for the solemn devotion in the afternoon, processions come from downtown Aschaffenburg ( Our Lady , Stift and St. Agatha ), from Schweinheim , Gailbach and Sulzbach am Main . At the patronage of the Memory of the Sorrows of Mary on September 15, the Obernau residents celebrate the festive service in the morning and a solemn devotion in the afternoon. Later, the days of the Finding of the Cross (May 3rd) and Exaltation of the Cross (September 14th) were also celebrated as the Chapel Festival. A St. Rochus procession praised centuries ago during the plague (the day before the feast of the Assumption of Mary , August 15) was resumed a few years ago by the parish of St. Kilian , Aschaffenburg-Nilkheim .
Our Obernau Chapel can be found on Route 1 - Westschleife under Station 12 in the “ Fränkischen Marienweg ” (the cycling and hiking trail to 50 Marian shrines and sanctuaries in Lower Franconia) compiled by Rev. Josef Treutlein.
Ways of the cross
- A Way of the Cross has led to the Obernau Chapel since 1913, starting at the Wendelinus Chapel (entrance to the forest cemetery) and passing the Lourdes Grotto to the “Maria Frieden” chapel. The little sculptures were created by the architect of the chapel Otto Leitolf, the portraits made of Eichenbühler red sandstone by the Würzburg sculptors Helmuth and Arnulf Weber did not replace the earlier, industrially produced metal portraits until 2000. The latter are now in the funeral hall of the Obernau forest cemetery.
- Another way of the cross leads from Schweinheim over the Erbig to the Obernau chapel. The artist Alois Bergmann-Franken from Glattbach created these stations of the cross around 1930 .
literature
- The parish church of Obernau am Main , art guide from Schell & Steiner, No. S486, 1940.
- OBERNAU 1191 - 1991 Contributions to the past and present , edited by Hans-Bernd Spies and Renate Welsch, Aschaffenburg 1991 - City of Aschaffenburg - City and Stiftsarchiv, ISBN 3-922355-02-1
- Aschaffenburg studies. II. Documentation, Volume 6 - OBERNAU ONCE AND NOW - Village image in the course of time , compiled by Horst Schäfer, Verlag: Stadt Aschaffenburg, 1997, ISBN 3-922355-07-2
Web links
- Homepage Parish Obernau
- Culture trail Obernau
- Pilgrimages in the Diocese of Würzburg
- Spessartagen - The Obernauer Kapellchen
- Way of the Cross at the Erbig Schweinheim
Individual evidence
- ↑ Josef Adam Klug, handwritten Chronicle of Obernau
- ↑ Tales of the Spessart collected by Adalbert von Herrlein . Published by AH Häcker I. Volume Verlag C. Krebssche Buchhandlung (W. Hausmann) Aschaffenburg 1906.
- ↑ Tales of the Spessart. Collected and edited by Johann Schober II. Volume by Dr. Götz Werbrun. For the book trade: C. Krebs'sche Buchhandlung Aschaffenburg 1912 pp. 87/88
- ↑ Josef Adam Klug: Chronicle of Obernau. (Handwriting)
- ↑ Maria Gerlach claims to have heard this pounding very loud from Hauptstrasse 44 in Obernau during the First World War, mainly around the feast of the birth of Mary. After the chapel was rebuilt, she heard nothing more. Ulrich Debler: The parish of Obernau. Historical development and organization, buildings, pastors. In: Hans-Bernd Spies, Renate Welsch: Obernau 1191–1991. Contributions to the past and present. City and Abbey Archives u. a., Aschaffenburg 1991, p. 147 ISBN 3-922355-02-1 .
- ↑ Sebastian Waldhäuser: Memorial book of the parish Obernau. (Parish archive)
- ^ Parish archives Obernau, donation letter from November 1st, 1920
Coordinates: 49 ° 56 '7.08 " N , 9 ° 9' 23.4" E