Our Lady of Mary Schmolln

Marian vocation of Maria Schmolln (Alta Austria)

La advocación de Our Lady of Mary Schmolln is linked to an old Marian pilgrimage place in the town of Maria Schmolln, in Innviertel, Alta Austria region (Austria). Tradition places the origin of veneration in a image of the Virgin placed in an oak in the 17th centuryto which the peasants began to pray and leave exvotes in gratitude for the favors received. In this context, Mary was particularly venerated as a protector of peasant life and work in the countryside.

Main data

Origin and history

La advocación de Our Lady of Mary Schmolln is linked to an old Marian pilgrimage place in the town of Maria Schmolln, in Innviertel, Alta Austria region (Austria). Tradition places the origin of veneration in a image of the Virgin placed in an oak in the 17th centuryto which the peasants began to pray and leave exvotes in gratitude for the favors received. In this context, Mary was particularly venerated as a protector of peasant life and work in the countryside.

As for the documented historyIt is clear that over time this place of popular prayer gave rise to a Marian sanctuary recognized as a pilgrimage church, which is attended by faithful from the region and other areas of Austria. However, in regularly accessible sources (synthesis pages on Marian advocacy, general devotional repertories and dissemination references) do not clearly record the exact dates of the first written documentation of the sanctuary and of the first organized pilgrimages. Similarly, a detailed chronology is not available, so the mention of the 17th century must remain within the scope of local tradition until precise historical documents are provided.

The image and the sanctuary

La image of Our Lady of Mary Schmolln is described in devotional synthesis as a Marian image originally venerated in a product, rodeada de exvotes who testified thanks attributed to the intercession of the Virgin. However, in the usual sources of consultation the material, the author and a detailed iconographic description are not safely recorded (type of size, style, position of the Virgin, presence or not of the Child, etc.). In the absence of verifiable data, it can only be said rigorously that it is a Marian image of popular devotion, linked to the rural piety of the area; the rest of the details do not contain.

The cult is developed in the Mary Schmolln's pilgrimage churchin the town of the same name, in Innviertel (Alta Austria). The temple is known as a Marian pilgrimage churchwith a spiritual function focused on the reception of pilgrims and the celebration of the Eucharist and other practices of Marian piety. It is not recorded in the available information that the temple has received the title of minor basilicaor that it has been declared National sanctuaryIt can be considered, with rigour, as a sanctuary or church of pilgrimage in the field. diocesano/regionalwithout other officially documented titles.

Sponsorship and coronation

The tradition presents Our Lady of Mary Schmolln as patron of the peasants of the region, that is, protection especially invoked by those who work the land and live from agriculture. It does not contain, in the sources consulted, a pontifical or episcopal decree defining an official patronage at the level of diocese, region or nation, so it's safer to talk about a Local and popular patronage on the peasants and rural communities around the sanctuary.

On the coronationthe image was coronada en 1965. However, in accessible sources, the canonical coronation decree nor the reference to the Pontiff or the delegate who gave it. Since it cannot be confirmed with certainty if it is a canonical coronation formally recognized by the Holy See or a solemn coronation of local scope, it can only be affirmed in accordance with the rules indicated: does not contain a documented canonical coronation.

Party and devotion

La main party of Our Lady of Mary Schmolln is celebrated the August 15, solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. This date, which throughout the Latin Church is a Marian day par excellence, in Mary Schmolln acquires a particular character of patronal fiesta of the sanctuarywith solemn liturgical celebrations and an influx of pilgrims.

The sanctuary is a regional pilgrimage placewith a devotion marked by peasant simplicity: thanksgiving for the crops, pleas for good time, prayer for families and for the protection of the work of the countryside. The ofrendas y exvotos they are part of the visible expression of this piety, as a sign of gratitude for the graces received. There are no official figures of influx or detailed description of all popular traditions in the consulting sources, although it can be said that the sanctuary is inserted into the common Central European tradition of Marian pilgrimages around the great holidays of the Virgin, especially in August.

Link to the Rosary

The specific sources about Maria Schmolln do not point to a particular or exclusive link with the prayer of the Rosary (for example, a historical fellowship of the Rosary that is the place's own or a Marian title explicitly linked to the Rosary). In this regard, it should be said with rigour: no consta a special documented relationship between the advocation of Our Lady of Mary Schmolln and a devotion of her own to the Rosary other than that of the Marian shrines.

However, as in virtually all Marian shrines, the Rosary is a natural part of the piety of the pilgrims: it is Marian prayer par excellence, strongly recommended by the Magisterium, which helps to to contemplate the mysteries of Christ in the hand of Mary and to present by their intercession the concrete needs of daily life, also those of the rural world. In this way, devotion to Our Lady of Mary Schmolln is spontaneously aligned with the practice of the Rosary, which accompanies the pilgrimages, Marian vigil and celebrations linked to her feast of August 15, even if there is no specific formal institution linked to the Rosary in this sanctuary.