Our Lady of Mary Taferl

Marian vocation of Maria Taferl (Lower Austria)

According to tradition, devotion to Our Lady of Mary Taferl it goes back to an old oak located on the hill where today the sanctuary rises, on the north bank of the Danube, on the Nibelungengau. In 1633, the Protestant pastor Thomas Pachmann He would have tried to cut that oak, within which was a small image of the Virgin Dolorosa; when he hit the tree, it is said that the axe bounced and wounded him, which was interpreted as a sign of Mary's protection. The fame of the place grew with stories of graces and cures attributed to the intercession of the Virgin venerated there.

Main data

Origin and history

According to tradition, devotion to Our Lady of Mary Taferl it goes back to an old oak located on the hill where today the sanctuary rises, on the north bank of the Danube, on the Nibelungengau. In 1633, the Protestant pastor Thomas Pachmann He would have tried to cut that oak, within which was a small image of the Virgin Dolorosa; when he hit the tree, it is said that the axe bounced and wounded him, which was interpreted as a sign of Mary's protection. The fame of the place grew with stories of graces and cures attributed to the intercession of the Virgin venerated there.

In the documented story, 1659 a first chapel was erected in the place of the venerated oak, which soon became the center of pilgrimages for the region of Nibelunggau and the Danube Valley. The construction of the current pilgrimage church began in the second half of the 17th century, under the patronage of nobles and with ecclesiastical approval, and was extended for several decades, in a context of strong Catholic renewal in Austria. Maria Taferl was consolidated as the second great Marian santuary of Austria, after Mariazell, recognition that popular piety and hierarchy have maintained so far.

The image and the sanctuary

The venerated image in Maria Taferl is a Virgin Dolorosa, associated with devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows. This is a Marian representation in an attitude of compassion to the passion of Christ, in line with the iconography of the Mater Dolorosa, although in the current sources of dissemination the author and the material of the original size or painting are not safely detailed; therefore, the material type (wood / painting) of the first image found in the oak is not accurately recorded. What is clear is that the figure of Mary Dolorosa linked to this place became the spiritual center of the pilgrimage and of the penitential and trusting piety of the region.

The sanctuary is the Basilica of Mary Taferl (Basilika María Taferl), a baroque church located on the top of a hill with wide views over the Danube valley and the Wachau region. This is a church of pilgrimage recognized as minor basilicaand is considered the second National Marian santuary of AustriaJust behind Mariazell. The temple has a baroque façade, rich interior decoration and a wide space to host pilgrims; around it has developed the small village of Maria Taferl as a pilgrimage destination, with views and spaces prepared for great celebrations.

Sponsorship and coronation

Our Lady of Mary Taferl is venerated as Patrona del Nibelunggauthe Danube area where the sanctuary is located. The place has relevance at the level of Austrian steel and, by extension, at national level, when the second Marian sanctuary of Austria. It is therefore a reference centre for Marian piety in the competent diocese (not always specified in the Spanish news sources), and it plays an important role in the religious life of the region.

As for coronation, the sources of Marian dissemination in Spanish point out that the image of Our Lady of Mary Taferl was coronada en 1961 as recognition of the spiritual antiquity and fertility of his veneration. However, the easily accessible online documentation does not clearly and incidentally specify whether it was a canonical coronation (by decree of the Holy See) neither the name of the Pontiff or the delegate who made it. Since these data are not with certainty from the sources consulted, it should be indicated: does not contain a documented canonical coronation with details of decree and delegate.

Party and devotion

The main feast of Our Lady of Mary Taferl is celebrated 13 September, in liturgical closeness with the memory of Our Lady of Sorrows (15 September), which underlines the painful character of this advocation. On this date, as well as during the months of good time, the main pilgrimages and Marian celebrations in the sanctuary.

Maria Taferl soon became a great pilgrimage center: for the year 1760 more than 700 proceeds and more than 19,000 Mass in the sanctuary, a figure that shows the magnitude of the flow of faithful already in the 18th century. Today it remains a place very frequented by pilgrims and tourists: it is emphasized that the people of Maria Taferl is "a pilgrimage destination" located on the top of a hill, with panoramic views over the Danube and the Wachau region, which increases its spiritual and cultural attraction. Devotion is especially expressed through votive masses, processions, promises, thanksgiving for favors received and the contemplation of the Virgin Dolorosa as a compassionate Mother who accompanies the suffering of the faithful.

Link to the Rosary

In the specific sources on the shrine of Mary Taferl there is no particular historical link of this advocation with the foundation of co-fradies of the Rosary, apparitions related to the Rosary or miracles expressly linked to this prayer. The main focus of devotion is the Virgin Dolorosa and in the character of a regional and national pilgrimage sanctuary.

However, as in most Marian shrines, the Rosary It is a regular part of the prayer of pilgrims and the ordinary Marian pastoral. In a painful advocation like Mary Taferl, the prayer of the Rosary allows us to contemplate, in a special way, the painful mysteries, uniting the sufferings of Christ and Mary's pains, and finding in the Mother compassion and hope. The Rosary thus becomes a way to internalize the spirituality of Mary Taferl: to accompany the Virgin in her pains, to meditate on the passion of the Lord and to open the heart to the grace that the sanctuary offers to so many pilgrims since the 17th century.