| Austria: the great shrine of Mariazell |
| 'Mary, the creation of Heaven and Earth is being praised in you' (inscription above the portal of the basilica of Mariazell) Mariazell is the greatest Marian shrine of Central Europe. According to Zsolt Aradi* (1954) it is a unique place of peace and devotion in this still largely divided area. Mariazell is the most famous place of pilgrimage in all of Central Europe. When we speak of Central Europe, we include here Bavaria, Hungary, Croatia, Czech, Slovenia and Slovene parts of former Yugoslavia. The Polish shrine of Czestochowa is on the borderline. Its origins are distinctly Eastern and is image of the Virgin is highly venerated by the Polish people, as well as by the Russians. In the Central European area, which abounds in places of veneration to the Virgin Mary, Mariazell evidently must be something out of the ordinary. The extraordinary element of Mariazell is not the age of its foundation, nor is it the statue itself nor some outstanding miracle that has won it fame; Mariazell is most famous because it is venerated by the people of such different and varied nations. Many people in the region know of its existence, regardless of national boundaries and distances. In an area scarred by national strives and century-old feuds, such a phenomenon is extraordinary indeed. The manifold pilgrimages to the shrine of Mariazell also justify its high rank. The pilgrims took all their problems to the feet of the Madonna. There is probably no other shrine that can claim ex-voto’s of so many different nationalities as Mariazell. The origin of the shrine The story of the shrine at Mariazell begins in 1157, when the Benedictine monk Magnus left his abbey to retire in the wilderness, taking a statue of the Virgin and Child with him. Allegedly, he could no proceed walking at a certain point because the forest was to thick. The legend says that he prayed to the Virgin for help and soon after that the bush and the rocks opened up to make way for him. A little further down he stopped and set up his abode. He placed his statue of Mary on a white branch of a tree. A few years later, Magnus built a little chapel around a linden tree. In it he placed the statue that is still today venerated at Mariazell. The statue of Our Lady of Mariazell is twenty-two inches high and carved in linden wood. The gaze of the Virgin is directed upon the onlooker. Written records of pilgrimages dating back to the fifteenth century mention that people saw the statue’s face, eyes and lips moving as if it were alive. The basilica of Mariazell The first church, a Romanesque one, was built around 1200. In 1340 a greater one, built by King Louis the Great of Hungary, replaced the Romanesque church. The third transformation of the church was done in the Baroque style, in the late seventeenth century. The architect was an Italian. The high altar and the interior are the work of a famous Austrian Baroque architect, the old Fischer von Erlach (click here for images). The church has three remarkable spires; the two outer ones are Baroque, the middle one is Gothic. The treasures of Mariazell can only be equalled by those of Altoetting. At the end of the thirteenth century, when Vienna became the capital of the Habsburg Empire, Mariazell became the most cherished shrine of the Austrian dynasty and nobility. Great gifts were bestowed upon the shrine. Magna Mater Austriae Nowadays, Our Lady of Mariazell is called ‘Magna Mater Austriae’ (the great Mother of Austria). The shrine has been so famous that people who cannot make the pilgrimage but feel that there prayers to Our Lady of Mariazell have been heard, have written letters which are preserved in the shrine’s archives. As a rule these letters are addressed: ‘To Our Beloved Mother of Grace.’ Each year on Palm Sunday the Palm procession is held. This tradition is especially popular with the Southern European pilgrims, who for the blessings often bring palms from their home country. We leave the shrine of Mariazell with an emotional song which pilgrims would sing before their departure from the shrine: |
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| ‘O Mary, you are my life, My heart breaks inside me For I must leave you now And separate myself from your presence.’ *Most of the information on the shrine of Mariazell was taken from his book “Shrines to Our Lady Around the World” (1954) Farrar, Straus & Young |
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| To see a beautiful collection of holy cards from Mariazell please visit www.wallfahrt-mariazell.com HOME |