Schüsserlbrunn pilgrimage chapel
The Roman Catholic Schüsserlbrunn pilgrimage chapel is located in Lantsch in the market town of Breitenau am Hochlantsch in the Bruck-Mürzzuschlag district in Styria . The pilgrimage chapel Maria Hilf in the parish church of Sankt Erhard in the Breitenau belongs to the deanery of Bruck an der Mur in the diocese of Graz-Seckau . The chapel is a listed building . The name "Schüsserlbrunn" is derived from the popular vernacular, healing spring, which rises from a rock face in the immediate vicinity. The water collects on it in hand-carved stone bowls.
Location
The little church, including the source that gives it its name, is 1363 m above sea level. A. in the Lantsch cadastral community of Breitenau am Hochlantsch . It sits enthroned on an artificial leveling at the foot of the Lantsch walls, the northern slopes of the Hochlantsch . The Steirischer Jokl inn is just a five-minute walk away, from which 198 steps lead down through the forest to the pilgrimage site. The gem in the Almenland Nature Park , which can only be reached on foot , is particularly popular in connection with Hochlantsch, Teichalm or Bärenschützklamm . Until the 19th century, the usual ascent led from the Breitenauertal via the Zirbiseggerhof.
history
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There are no records of the historical origins of the pilgrimages to Schüsserlbrunn, which is why most of the information is based on oral tradition . The senior teacher Maria Sametz from Mixnitz († 1961) collected this old knowledge in conversations - among others with the Breitenau native Margarete Elmer - as well as by studying the parish chronicle of today's branch church Sankt Jakob in the Breitenau and finally published it in 1952 in the Heimatschrift Ein Kirchlein stands im Blauen . She makes the vague assumption that the pilgrimages could have their origins in the 14th century, referring to the plagues of locusts and the earthquake of 1348 .
The legend first tells of a cattle that grazed on the slopes of the Hochlantsch and one day fell. It was only after a laborious search lasting days that the animal could be found and, to everyone's astonishment, was completely intact. At the site of the find, a portrait of the Virgin was discovered next to a spring flowing out of a crevice. Word quickly got around and was interpreted as a sign of God's grace, whereupon people flocked to the place in the forest. The fountain owes its healing powers to another story (see cult place source ).
For decades, Schüsserlbrunn was inhabited by hermits . The only two whose names are still known today were the Schüsserlbrunn-Flurl and the Maurermichl , who took care of a simple, makeshift chapel in the 19th century. In 1874 the pastor of Breitenau, Josef Mogg, commissioned Georg Häusler, a local hunter, to look after the pilgrimage site. Under his care, an inn with overnight accommodation developed, which attracted more visitors than ever. He was also significantly involved in the construction and improvement of the climbing systems. His success was so resounding that it was decided to build a new chapel. Before construction could begin, however, extensive rock blasting was necessary. The Schafferwerke donated the building site on the condition that the chapel would be preserved for posterity. The tree trunks came from the surrounding area and were laboriously lowered over the rock walls to the construction site. The gentlemen Schaffer and Mayr-Melnhof provided a large part of the wood, the construction was financed by donations and from the pastor's private treasury. The chapel was solemnly consecrated in 1882.
In 1915 the little church was elevated to the status of a mess chapel after Georg Häusler - although not a clerical dignitary, also known as the "Schüsserlbrunn pastor" - had campaigned for it. A year later, after 42 years, Häusler ended his work as a host and carer. After that, the place of pilgrimage fell a little into disrepute due to profit-oriented and unfriendly tenants. In addition, a competitor company established itself at the upper end of the climbing system with the Gasthof zum Steirischen Jokl. In July 1932, the 50th anniversary of the new chapel was celebrated with daily masses over a period of two weeks.
A rock fall in 1951 caused severe damage to the chapel. On the night of April 18-19, several boulders broke through the roof and ceiling of the wooden structure. The floor, windows and chandeliers were badly damaged , and the altar table was completely destroyed. In addition, the artificial terrace threatened to slide and destabilize the entire complex. The state government under Josef Krainer contributed financially to the reconstruction, as did the episcopal finance chamber and the Mayr-Melnhof family, which, as in 1882, provided timber. In 1974 another rock fall threatened to damage the chapel, whereupon the initiative Rettet Schüsserlbrunn decided to move the entire building ten meters to a new concrete foundation. The inn had to be demolished due to lack of space. The new consecration took place in 1982 and was celebrated at the same time as the 100th anniversary.
description
Since the new building in 1882, the chapel has been made almost entirely of wood. The building stands on a wooden foundation, to which seven steps lead. The nave is 7.5 meters long, 6.5 meters wide and 3 to 4 meters high. There used to be a bell in the roof turret that rang three times a day. The front facade is characterized by two pointed arched windows above the entrance door , to the left and right of the door there is a square window. Two pointed arched windows are let into the valley side. The double-leaf wooden door leads into an anteroom about two meters wide, which is separated from the rest of the interior by two wrought-iron windows and a door. There are four wooden benches each to the left and right, and the altar with an image of the Madonna is in the middle. A chandelier shines from the ceiling. Numerous votive pictures hang on three sides of the wall , some of which date from the 19th century and are older than the chapel itself.
The plan comes from the architect Mircovic from Graz , the construction was carried out by the room foreman Eustach Straßegger from Breitenau. Zimmermann Blasius Lackner was also significantly involved in the construction. The altar was made by the Graz carpenter's workshop Jungl, the substructure was made by the carpenter Schaffer in Breitenau. The barrel painting comes from the gilder Wilhelm Sirach. The altar was consecrated in 1900.
The chapel is open from May to October.
Cult place source
Just a few meters behind the chapel, there is a vertical rock wall in which a maximum one meter wide crevice opens at ground level. The water drips from the ceiling at irregular intervals, runs over a rock slab and collects in a bowl stone with a diameter of around 30 centimeters and several small bowls. The name Schüsserlbrunn goes back to these partially hand-chiseled depressions .
The legend tells of a Hungarian countess who one day found out about this place in a dream. With great difficulty she set out on foot with her blind son. When she finally arrived, she wet her son's eyes with the spring water, who then regained his eyesight. She is said to have donated a brick chapel out of gratitude. Since then, the water has been popularly considered healing. Margarete Elmer recorded this belief as part of a poem that she wrote on the occasion of the 50th anniversary in 1932.
Dös Brünnderl im Felsen
Hinterm Kircherl Some
have experienced this
as a good medicine.
A count's Bua from Hungary
who was born blind,
At Maria-Schüsserlbrunn's
sight found.
According to Gustav Gugitz , the source is an ancient, pre-Christian place of worship . Small iron animals and wood were sacrificed to obtain blessings for cattle. The mysterious attraction of the place (cult dynamics) was already there before the pilgrimages. The pyramid shape of the Hochlantsch and the alleged healing properties of the water also contribute to this. Pastor Alfred Hoppe commented on the popularity of the place: “You can safely say that no tourist who climbs the promising peak of the Hochlantsch leaves Schüsserlbrunn aside.” Overall, unlike Maria Sametz, both of them attached greater importance to the little fountain than to the chapel.
An alleged connection between the Schüsserlbrunn spring and the Heilantsch water in Fladnitz an der Teichalm has not yet been scientifically proven.
literature
- Maria Sametz: A church stands in the blue. Styria, Graz 1952.
- Franz Jantsch : Cult places in the state of Styria . Freya Verlag, Unterweitersdorf 1994, ISBN 3-901279-30-X , p. 35-37 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Maria Sametz: A little church stands in the blue.
- ↑ Ernst Grabmaier, Ulrich Höfer, Ferdinand Sattler, Peter Tatzl: display board on the back wall of the chapel (1993).
- ^ Marien- and pilgrimage church Schüsserlbrunn. Oststeiermark Tourismus, accessed on March 28, 2016 .
- ^ Franz Jantsch : Cult places in the state of Styria.
- ^ Alfred Hoppe: The Austrian pilgrimage sites. St. Norbertus Verlag, Vienna 1913, p. 743 ff.
- ^ Gustav Gugitz : Austria's places of grace in cult and custom. A topographical handbook on religious folklore in five volumes. 4. Carinthia and Styria Hollinek, Vienna 1956, pp. 252-253.
- ^ Siegrid Hirsch & Wolf Ruzicka: Holy Sources. Carinthia, Styria. Freya Verlag, Gallneukirchen 2004, ISBN 3-902134-31-3 , pp. 37-38.
Remarks
- ↑ The parish chronicle of St. Jakob in Breitenau states the year 1892, but Maria Sametz was able to determine 1882 as the year of construction in discussions with contemporary witnesses.
Coordinates: 47 ° 21 ′ 40 " N , 15 ° 24 ′ 48.7" E