Also known as Our Lady of Altotting, the shrine of the Chapel of Grace in Bavaria lies amid the mountains about three miles south of Oberammergau in upper Bavaria. The miraculous healings that have occurred there are so numerous, that the shrine is thought of today as the “Lourdes of Germany.” There are many votive offerings that have been left at the shrine as testimony of graces received and miraculous healings.
What is perhaps the most famous miracle occurred in the year 1489. A young boy had drowned, and his mother, full of faith, brought his body to lay at the feet of the image of the Mother of God, seeking a miracle. She was not disappointed, as her son was restored to life before many witnesses. From that time on, the chapel became a popular place of pilgrimage.
A Benedictine monastery was founded there in 1330 by the Emperor Ludwig IV, who established a community of twelve knights with their families to guard the place. However, it is the Capuchin friars who have served the shrine now for centuries, among them Brother Conrad of Parzham, who acted as porter for over forty years.
The emperor Ludwig gave a small statue of the Mother of God, carved in Italy; and the place was soon famous both for its shrine of Mary and the learning of the monks. In 1744, the medieval church was burnt down, its successor being built and decorated in the German baroque manner. The chapel has an unusual octagonal shape, and it is thought to be the oldest Marian shrine in Germany. The other buildings had been remodeled mostly as they appear today.
A century later the abbey was suppressed, with other Bavarian religious houses; but it was restored in 1904, and Our Lady is still a resort of pilgrims. This great sanctuary has a truly magnificent mountain setting.
Pope John Paul II visited the shrine in 1980, and Pope Benedict XVI went there in 2006, leaving the Episcopal ring he had worn while the Archbishop of Munich.
A Bavarian saying has it that “from every doorstep, a path leads to Altötting.” Each year innumerable pilgrims journey to this national shrine located in Bavaria. Whether pledged to old traditions, moved by deep faith or out of sport-related ambition, everyone treading the paths to Altötting is motivated by the heart. For over 1250 years the town has been the spiritual centre of Bavaria and for more than five centuries it’s been the most important Marian pilgrimage site in the German-speaking world. Since the blossoming of pilgrimages here in 1489, an incalculable number of pilgrims have flocked to the Chapel of Grace with its Black Madonna: among them prince-electors, emperors and kings of Bavaria and Austria, as well as three popes.
The pilgrimage calendar is highlighted by many traditions and festivities such as the first of May, marking the beginning of the Marian month, the impressive Corpus Christi procession and the Feast of the Assumption on August 15th, which is preceded by a solemn procession of lights, the evening before. Above all, the three-day Whitsun celebration marks the arrival of numerous traditional groups of pilgrims, the origins of which go back hundreds of years. This event is bathed in a very special atmosphere.
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