Mary Assistant and the Name of Mary in Kahlenberg (Vienna)

Marian devotion

Where is he?

The church of San José is in Kahlenberg in the Döbling district of Vienna. OpenStreetMap identifies the cult building with a precision of verified_building. The mountain and its surroundings were a strategic point during the lifting of the Vienna site of 1683, but the point of this sheet corresponds to the temple, not to the full front of the battle.

Documented history

In September 1683 Vienna was besieged by the Ottoman army. On 12 September, the relief forces led by John III Sobieski participated in the battle that raised the site. The Archdiocese of Vienna presents the church of St. Joseph as a place of memory of Sobieski and the events of 1683. The church had been destroyed during the site and its reconstruction was completed in 1734.

The devotion associated with the Name of Mary is related to the liturgical celebration promoted after the victory. The history of the church also recalls a copy of a Marian image linked to the protection of Vienna. These elements belong to the history of veneration and the memory of the place; they do not in themselves constitute a Marian apparition.

Capuchin priest Marco d'Aviano spiritually accompanied the allied army. The popular narrative places a mass in Kahlenberg before the battle and tells that Sobieski would have helped as a monaguillo. The historical research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences warns, however, that the exact place of this mass is discussed: some evidence points to the Leopoldsberg, whose historical name was then confused with Kahlenberg. This uncertainty is expressly preserved on the tab.

Tradition

The Viennese tradition interprets the liberation of the city as a help of God requested by Mary's intercession. The invocation "Mary, help" was linked to the memory of d'Aviano and the devotion of the defenders. Catholics venerate Mary and ask her to intercede before Jesus Christ; tradition does not authorize the presentation of the battle as proof that any subsequent military decision has supernatural support.

Legend or uncertainty

The phrase "Joannes, vinces" and the scene of Sobieski serving the mass personally are transmitted in devotional accounts, but they are discussed by historiography. Nor should the church of San José de Kahlenberg be confused with the church of San Leopold del Leopoldsberg. The historical changes in the name of the two mountains explain part of the confusion and advise to maintain the accuracy of the story.

Ecclesial State

Veneration allowed: the church of St. Joseph is a Catholic temple and devotion to the Name of Mary belongs to the Catholic cult. It is not a Marian apparition and there is no decree declaring the liberation of Vienna miraculous. The diocesan source documents the temple and its memory; the academic source consulted retains the discussion about the place of the mass.

Anecdotes and stories

The geography of Vienna itself retains several layers of memory: Kahlenberg, Leopoldsberg, the church of San José and the church of San Leopold. The displacement of the names of the mountains after 1693 caused the later tradition to identify in a simplified way the place of the mass. Visiting both places helps to understand that religious memory can be true as a tradition and at the same time need caution when it is intended to set an exact historical point.

Prayer

Mary, Mother of Jesus and help of Christians, intercede to your Son for Vienna, for Europe and for those who live under the threat of violence. Help us to seek the historical truth, not to feed hatred and to work for a peace that respects the dignity of each person. Amen.

Sources

• Archdiocese of Vienna, church of St. Joseph in Kahlenberg.
• Austrian Academy of Sciences, Marco d'Aviano and the tradition of mass.
• Austrian Academy of Sciences, Kahlenberg- Leopoldsberg discussion.
• OpenStreetMap Nominatim, iglesia de San José.

History of the Church of San José

The Archdiocese of Vienna describes San José in the Kahlenberg as a Catholic subsidiary church in the parish of Kahlenbergerdorf in the Viennese district of Döbling. Its origins are in the Camaldulan monastery established in the Kahlenberg: the first stone of the church was placed on August 10, 1629 and most of the work was completed in 1639. During the second Ottoman site in Vienna it was destroyed on 7 July 1683; the reconstruction was not completed until 1734.

The Josefin reforms dissolved the community by 1782. Leopold von Kriegl bought the church and much of the buildings of the hermitage in 1783, and the reopening took place on December 21 of that year. After damage suffered in 1809 and a period of deterioration, the church was taken over by the Resurrectionists in 1906. The presence of Polish priests and Polish pilgrims keeps alive the relationship with the memory of Juan Sobieski, who led from the Kahlenberg the relief army of 1683; the visit of St. John Paul II in September 1983 belongs to the documented history of the place.

Images and memory of 1683

The diocesan fountain describes the memorial chapel of Sobieski and numerous paintings and drawings on the battle. On the main altar a Madonna of the Kahlenberg is preserved, a copy of the image of the Most Holy Name of Mary which, according to the same institutional description, Pope Innocent XI gave to the church after the battle of 1683. The feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary was linked to the thanksgiving for the help attributed to Mary. In a side furnace there is also a copy of the Black Virgin of Częstochowa.

The cartography of this document represents the church of San José in the Kahlenberg. The diocesan history itself distinguishes the Kahlenberg from the north-eastern elevation called Leopoldsberg, where the chapel of San Leopold was built in 1693. Therefore it is not presented as a certainty that each episode of the memory of 1683 occurred at the same point. The status of the file is permitted veneration in a Catholic church; the memory of Marian intercession is preserved as devotion and not as an independent declaration of miracle or apparition.

Source of enlargement

• Archdiocese of Vienna, church of St. Joseph in the Kahlenberg.