Wendelinkapelle (Alberschwende)

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Merbod Chapel
inside view

The Wendelinkapelle , better known in the vernacular as Merbodkapelle , is a Roman Catholic chapel and pilgrimage site southeast of the village center of the municipality of Alberschwende in the Bregenzerwald in the state of Vorarlberg . Located directly on Bregenzerwaldstrasse , it stands at the point where the blessed Merbod was murdered on March 23, 1120. The chapel is dedicated to St. Consecrated to Wendelin .

history

A chapel above Merbod's grave was first mentioned on February 6, 1420, when the residents of Alberschwende, with the consent of Count Wilhelm von Montfort, founded a weekly mass on Monday. The church was first mentioned in a document in 1374. A document from the Mehrerau monastery already reported in 1231 in a papal protection document of a church in Alberschwende.

Wilhelm Sydow carried out archaeological excavations in 1985, during which he came across the foundation walls of the foundation structure, a hall church with a rectangular choir from the 12th century. After a fire, this was expanded into a Gothic chapel. It is not clear whether it used to be the parish church or whether there were two churches due to property disputes.

The current baroque building was erected in 1742.

Architecture and equipment

The chapel is a rectangular building with a gable roof. An octagonal bell tower with a clapboard onion dome rises above the three-cone choir . There are three arched windows on the nave and another arched window on each side of the choir. The church has a gable facade and a round arch portal on the southern nave wall. The nave is three-bay with a groined vault that rests on narrow pilasters . The three-conch choir is equipped with stitch cap vaults.

The straight gallery in the west is equipped with a wooden parapet and rests on two wooden pillars with stairs on both sides. Walls and vaults are painted with imitation stucco. The frescoes in the choir by Fl. Scheel date from 1915 and show God the Father . The martyrdom of Merbod is depicted on a fresco in the nave, painted by C. Walch around 1870, as is the one on the back of the chapel, which shows Merbod with the women and pilgrims at the source. There are two angels on the choir arch, painted by Fl. Scheel in 1914.

The glass paintings by Carl Rieder from the years 1958/1959 come from the Tyrolean glass painting establishment . The windows in the choir are decorative windows. In the nave you can see Merbod healing sick people on the left and his murder on the right side of the nave. There are decorative windows to the left and right of the motif windows.

The high altar has a neo-Romanesque structure with an altarpiece by Melchior Paul von Deschwanden and shows the " Assumption of Mary ". To the left there is a figure of St. Notburga , on the right one of St. Wendelin. Like the two angels in the top and the crucifix in the tabernacle niche, they were created around 1870. The left side altar also has a neo-Romanesque structure. The altarpiece by Johann Boch from 1872 shows St. Anna with Maria reading . The altarpiece on the right side altar with its neo-Romanesque structure shows St. Joseph with Jesus . In front of the left side altar is the burial place of Merbod under a neo-Romanesque cafeteria , which is supported by four columns. Above it is a baroque figure of the "Blessed" n. Since it is customary to cut off a piece of the “Blessed Merbod's Club” and take it home with you, it is permitted to do so. These pieces are said to contribute to the miraculous effect of Merbod.

On the left wall of the nave there are votive tablets from the present. The Stations of the Cross in relief in stuccoed frames date from the second half of the 18th century. The neo-Romanesque choir stalls and a figure of St. Anthony on the right side altar date from the 19th century.

"Blessed" Merbod from Bregenz

"Blessed" Merbod

The "blessed" Merbod of Bregenz (* 11th century in Bregenz ; † March 23, 1120 in Alberschwende) was a pastor in Alberschwende. He probably came from the family of the Counts of Bregenz . His brother was the blessed Diedo von Andelsbuch and his sister the blessed Ilga von Schwarzenberg . First he lived as a Benedictine in Mehrerau Abbey on Lake Constance . Since he preferred the solitude of the hermit, he settled in Alberschwende in the Bregenz Forest and took over pastoral care in the local parish.

He was very popular among the population, who saw him as a good pastor and advisor. On March 23, 1120, however, he was found dead in front of the cell of his hermitage. It is believed that local farmers killed him because he had imposed a stricter lifestyle on them according to God's commandments . Other sources report that he was killed after curing a child of his illness. His grave is now in the Merbod Chapel. His feast day is on the first Thursday in Lent .

He is depicted in a black cloak with a hood, head wounds and a club .

Even if he was never beatified by the church, Merbod is still considered blessed by many believers, especially the residents of Alberschwende. His grave site was visited mainly for headaches and eye problems.

literature

  • Dehio manual . The art monuments of Austria: Vorarlberg. Alberschwende. Chapel of St. Wendelin. Bundesdenkmalamt (Ed.), Verlag Anton Schroll, Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-7031-0585-2 , p. 2f.

Web links

Commons : Wendelinkapelle  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c PDF on the life of Blessed Merbod
  2. ^ Dehio manual. The art monuments of Austria: Vorarlberg. Alberschwende. Chapel of St. Wendelin. Bundesdenkmalamt (Ed.), Verlag Anton Schroll, Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-7031-0585-2 , p. 2f.
  3. ↑ Data are not considered certain: 1120 goes back to Johann Konrad Herburger (1818). The day celebrated in Mehrerau is used as the date.
  4. ↑ Sel. Merbod
  5. ^ Homepage of the Alberschwende community

Coordinates: 47 ° 27 ′ 1 ″  N , 9 ° 49 ′ 56.8 ″  E