Patrician brotherhood

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The Patrizibruderschaft was a Catholic brotherhood , which in Wenigzell in Eastern Styria , the pilgrimages to the image of the Holy Patrizius organized in the local parish church.

Pilgrimages to the portrait of St. Patrizius in Wenigzell are first mentioned in 1682. Then in 1692 Pastor Georg Tentius founded the Brotherhood of St. Patrizius, which was established by Pope Innocent XII. confirmed and provided with several outlets .

The influx of St. Patrizius to Wenigzell increased so strongly in the following years that on Patrician Day in 1716 a pilgrim was crushed in the parish church and two others were in mortal danger. To better care for the pilgrims, two chaplains had to work continuously in Wenigzell from 1727 , and the construction of the parish church between 1733 and 1735 was replaced by a more suitable new building. Around the middle of the 18th century, 22 processions came regularly to Wenigzell, and there were also numerous individual processions that were carried out to redeem a vow . At that time, instead of money , the pilgrims sacrificed iron votive offerings that depict the cattle entrusted to the protection of the saint.

A letter from 1765 documents the activities of the brotherhood. She celebrated two festivals annually: the titular feast of St. Patrizius and the brotherhood meeting on Whit Monday . It also financed four vigils for the dead and funeral masses on the four Quatembern . Furthermore, the brotherhood paid the expenses for devotional pictures , which were distributed to the pilgrims, some of which have survived to this day.

In 1770 a relic of St. Patrizius was acquired and from 1777 the number of chaplains was increased to three, so that, including the pastor, four clergy now looked after the pilgrimages.

In 1783, Emperor Joseph II banned pilgrimages and the patrician brotherhood was also abolished. In the same year the votive pictures were removed from the church. In 1787 the number of chaplains was reduced to one.

The pilgrimage revived in the Biedermeier period , and around the turn of the century eleven processions came to Wenigzell, which fell to seven in 1925. Today three processions still come to Wenigzell every year: From Raach am Hochgebirge (since 1825); from Götzendorf near Pinggau (since 1825) and from Kirchberg am Wechsel .