St. Radegund (meadows)
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The St. Radegund Church, consecrated to St. Radegundis, is located at the exit of the Radegundergraben between the villages of Wiesen and St. Lorenzen in the municipality of Lesachtal in Carinthia .
history
Originally the only road that crossed the Lesach Valley in its main direction (west-east) (today Bundesstrasse 111, Gailtal Strasse ) crossed the Radegundergraben and crossed the Radegunderbach immediately below the church. The 227 m long Radegund Bridge has spanned this deepest of the Lesachtal side ditches since October 1964.
For centuries, the Radegundergraben itself was part of a north-south mule track, coming from the Lienz Basin over the Zochen Pass in the Lienz Dolomites or from the historic bishopric Lavant and the Lavanter Törl, over the Radegundergraben, then near the confluence Crossing the Radegunderbach into the Gail, further through the frontal and finally through the massif of the Hochweißstein (Italian: Monte Peralba ) from a Zwieselung at the Hochweißsteinhaus on the one hand further to the southeast over the Öfnerjoch (also Öfnerjoch, Origonipass, Passo dell'Oregone) to Forni Avoltri and on the other hand to the southwest to the Hochalpljoch (also Bladnerjoch) and from there finally to Bladen (Italian: Sappada ). The destination of the route in the south is ultimately the headwaters of the Tagliamento, Udine and the northern Italian plain.
Trade goods were negotiated in both directions via this transport route, including the coveted wood felled in the Lesach Valley, which was transported to Venice and on which, as pilots, pilots rammed the Serenissima into the bottom of the lagoon.
From this location of the intersection of two important traffic routes, the location and origin of the sanctuary can be explained and understood, especially since it is roughly in the middle of the route between the demanding passes in the south and north. It is a day's hike to both the Upper Italian Degano Valley (Italian: Val Degano ) and the Lienz Basin. The place and its surroundings are therefore ideal for a rest. Places of worship and shrines are among the features considered necessary in such places. Here we were able to thank for the successful course of the company and implore good fortune and blessings for the next section of the journey. The Christophorus fresco on the church wall also follows the needs of travelers: According to an ancient popular belief, whoever sees a Christophorus picture and says a prayer should be protected against accidents on the way, especially against sudden accidental death.
St. Radegund originally belonged as a branch church to the parish of St. Daniel im Gailtal (the place now belongs to the municipality of Dellach ), the mother parish of the area, then to the vicariate of St. Lorenzen , between 1594 and 1628 to the parish of the Servite monastery in Maria Luggau and since then again to the current parish of St. Lorenzen.
The church was of regional importance as a pilgrimage church early on . The church service order of the parish Maria Luggau from 1754 shows closed processions of the parish every (!) Sunday between Ascension Day and the Sunday after the last grain cut in autumn from 6:00 a.m. and after a prayer there, back to the main church service. That means about 3 km of walking and overcoming about 300 meters in altitude in both directions. With an assumed procession speed of about 2 km / h and a duration of the devotion of 30 to 60 minutes, the Sunday mass probably began at 10:00 a.m. Since, according to Catholic regulations at the time, the Mass visit had to be done soberly, this effort was made after being sober for 24 hours.
Star processions of the parishes of Tilliach , Maria Luggau, St. Lorenzen and Liesing are documented for June 26th (St. John's Day) , the first and last implementation of which are unclear.
Since 1671, the day of St. Radegund (August 13th) has been a public holiday of the parish Maria Luggau, following a pledge, on which a request was made to the Radegunderkircherl. It is unclear until what year.
From 1768 the population of Ausservillgraten made an annual pilgrimage to St. Radegund in a procession to pray to avoid spring ripe , a dangerous damage to young field crops that sometimes occurs in the mountains until late June. Which at least meant overcoming a distance of about 35 km in one direction. The pilgrimage was relocated to Maria Schnee im Kalkstein in 1875 with the permission of the Prince-Bishop of Brixen (which meant that the route was shortened by 15 km in one direction).
The parish of Strassen bei Silian asked with a men’s pilgrimage on St. Vitus's Day (June 28th) to Radegund to spare the oats. This pilgrimage led through the seven churches of St. Oswald , Kartitsch , Obertilliach , St. Jenewein and the parish church of St. Florian in Untertilliach , pilgrimage, monastery and parish church to Maria Schnee in Maria Luggau and finally St. Radegund Men with a loaf of house bread, which he gave to the two Radegund church provosts. They distributed the bread to the poor in the area. This procession was abandoned around 1880.
A special custom was the so-called "crusading", which was celebrated by the believers from St. Lorenzen and Maria Luggau on every Good Friday . In both places a procession was formed in which the farmer, a son or a servant from each house carried a wooden cross weighing up to 50 kg in memory of Christ's Way of the Cross. Children carried small cross beams. Statues of Saints Mary and John were also carried. Christ's fall three times under the cross was symbolized by the kneeling of the believers at three fixed points along the way. When they arrived in St. Radegund, a short prayer was held, then the processional parades returned to the villages and celebrated the Good Friday liturgy. The Luggau people suspended this Good Friday procession as early as the time of Emperor Josef II , the Lorenzians upheld the custom, but renounced the crosses after the First World War .
Furthermore, the Prayer Wednesday , that is the day before Ascension Day and four "weather measurements", one each on Candidustag (May 22), on the Friday after Corpus Christi , on St John's Day (June 24th) and on Peter and Paul Day ( June 29) and was committed until the 1960s.
On the second Sunday in October, the St. Radegund parish festival used to gather many pilgrims from the valley in St. Radegund. These brought sacrifices in kind (bread, grain, travelers, wool, eggs, meat, fachents etc.) but also money. These gifts were subsequently distributed to those in need in the area.
The St. Lorenzern, Wieser , Bergern and Fronern still celebrate the Radegunder Kirtag on August 13th with a high mass and a subsequent festival with dance together with guests and friends. Parish, volunteer fire brigade , church choir, brass band, traditional costume group and the rest of the population work together in the preparation and implementation of the festival, which is very unique due to the location in the depths of the Radegund Graben, the wild rushing of the Radegunderbach and the archaic appearance of the little St. Radegund Church. has a charming mood.
Building history
The church, first mentioned in a document in 1370 and consecrated to the holy bread patroness Radegundis , is essentially a Romanesque building built around 1058 , which originally had a flat roof and a round apse . A late Gothic reconstruction took place in the second half of the 15th century.
During a renovation in 1882, the frescoes inside the church were whitewashed. During a further renovation in 1932, attempts were made to expose them again, but were severely damaged. The pulpit was also torn down at that time.
During the restoration in 1999, the late Gothic architectural polychromy was restored inside and out and the small Romanesque arched window from 1058 was reopened.
Building
The tall building with a steep roof and wooden roof turret with pointed gable helmet has a 3/8 end. In the west, a lower brick porch is built in the width of a ship. The end of the choir is supported by simply stepped triangular struts. The church has three lancet windows with original tracery in the choir , as well as another on the south side of the nave. A late Gothic fresco from the 15th century can be seen on the south wall, which was damaged by the wall excavation for the window (around 1500). Of the saints, only St. Catherine with the crown and the wheel is recognizable. The Christophorus fresco from 1520 is attributed to Urban Görtschacher . While the saint's robe is still painted in the Gothic style, the painting style of the rest of the picture can already be attributed to the Renaissance . A net rib vault extends over the three-bay nave , which rests on grooved pillars with a semicircular template. A retracted, pointed triumphal arch connects the nave with the choir. The one-yoke choir with a 3/8 end is spanned by a ribbed vault on circular services . Inside the church, frescoes from the 14th to 15th centuries were discovered on the north and south walls in 1946. They show the adoration of the kings , standing saints and angels.
Furnishing
The high altar, built in 1653, a columned pedicure altar with a blasted segmented gable, cartilage decoration and a tabernacle added in the 18th century , contains the statue of St. Radegundis in the niche. During the restoration in 1999, the altarpiece with the image of Anthony of Padua was removed and placed as a separate altar on the north wall of the choir. The carved busts of Saints Augustine and Nicholas , as well as the figure of Saint Sorrow from the 17th century as early as 1932 , were transferred to the Diocesan Museum in Klagenfurt .
The current chime is the third known. The first two known bells had to be delivered in March 1917. Those acquired from donations in 1933 only hung until 1942. They too fell victim to a war-related metal collection. On Easter Sunday 1952, the two current bells, one in honor of St. Radegund and the other in honor of the weather saints John and Paul, were consecrated.
swell
literature
- Dehio manual. The art monuments of Austria. Carinthia . Anton Schroll, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-7031-0712-X , p. 1067 f.
- Thomas Tiefenbacher: The Lesachtal, Oberstes Gailtal - Carinthia, East Tyrol . Self-published, without location, 1958.
- Thomas Tiefenbacher: The Lesachtal, Tyrolean Gailtal - Carinthia / East Tyrol . Self-published, no location, 3rd edition 1965.
- Thomas Tiefenbacher: 900 years of St. Radegund in the Lesachtal . without publisher, without location, originally 1958, probably supplemented new edition after 1964.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thomas Tiefenbacher: 900 years of St. Radegund in the Lesachtal . without publisher, without location, originally 1958, probably supplemented new edition after 1964.
- ↑ Thomas Tiefenbacher: Das Lesachtal, Oberstes Gailtal , self-published in 1951.
Coordinates: 46 ° 42 ′ 13.1 " N , 12 ° 46 ′ 31.3" E