Our Lady of Mariazell

The Foundational Legend: Brother Magnus and the Rock Parted

The history of Mariazell begins in 1157, when the Abbot Otker of the Benedictine monastery of San Lamberto (St. Lambrecht) sent one of his monks, Brother Magnus, to the mountain region of Styria to attend spiritually to the pastors and woodsmen who inhabited those remote valleys. With the permission of the abbot, Magnus carried with him a small figure of the Virgin with the Child, carved in tile wood, which had been given to him.

The tradition tells that, as the night of December 21 fell, when brother Magnus was already near his destiny, a rock of enormous dimensions blocked the way. Unable to continue, the monk kneeled and begged the intercession of the Virgin Mary. At that time, according to the monastery's chronicle, the rock split in two, opening a step. Magnus interpreted the sign as a divine confirmation of his mission. When he arrived at the place that today occupies the basilica, he placed the figure of the Virgin on the touch of a tree and built a small "cella" - a wooden hermitage - to serve both as a chapel and as a house. From that "cello" comes the name of Mariazell: "Mary in the cell."

The first illustrious pilgrims

The first pilgrims to be documented were Margrave Henry of Moravia and his wife, who, following an indication of St. Wenceslao, pilgrimaged Mariazell and were miraculously cured of a severe rheumatic disease. In thanksgiving, around 1200, the margrave financed the construction of a Romanesque stone church around the humble cell of Magnus. Thus was born the first temple of Mariazell.

In 1330, a document by the Archbishop of Salzburg, Federico III, gave a indulgence to the pilgrims who visited Mariazell, which showed that the sanctuary was already a place of established pilgrimage. The first written mention of the place under the name "Cella" dates from 1243, and in 1269 already consists of an independent parish.

King Louis I of Hungary (1342-1382), after defeating a much higher enemy army in number by invoking the name of Mary, donated to the church a valuable Gothic altar and an altarpiece of the Virgin. The Gothic chapel he ordered to build - the Chapel of King Louis - is still today one of the jewels of the sanctuary, especially venerated by the Hungarian pilgrims.

Architecture: a goth and baroque jewel

The present basilica is the result of several constructive phases. The oldest visible part is the 90-meter-high Gothic tower, belonging to the 14th century church. This tower, with its characteristic eye needle, dominates the landscape of the valley. In 1420 and again in 1474, the Gothic church suffered serious fires that destroyed parts of the temple.

After the counterreform, the Habsburg - especially Emperor Fernando III - promoted a profound transformation of the sanctuary, which should become the symbol of Catholicism restored in the centre of Europe. Between 1644 and 1683, the architect Domenico Sciassia, master of works of the monastery of San Lamberto, directed the colossal task of transforming the church. The result is a fascinating pairing between the original Gothic tower and the new Baroque structure: on both sides of the tower were raised two baroque towers with bulbiform domes, the ship was expanded with five side chapels on each side with upper tribune, and a large dome was added on the eastern side. Sciassia died in 1679, four years before the completion of his work, and was buried in the crypt of the temple.

The main altar, designed by the great architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, was consecrated on August 31, 1704. It is considered a masterpiece of the Central European Baroque. Each of the twelve side chapels contains widely decorated baroque altars. The organ gallery and its console are the work of Viennese Johann Peter Alexander Wagner (1740). In front of the main entrance, two lead statues of Balthasar Moll (1757) represent Louis I of Hungary and Ladislao III of Bohemia, historical protectors of the sanctuary.

The Chapel of Grace and the Magna Mater Austriae

The heart of the sanctuary is the Gnadenkapelle (Chapel of Grace), built in 1690 and located behind the main altar. It is the oldest part of the current building and contains the venerated image: the Magna Mater Austriae (Grand Mother of Austria), a late Romanesque size of 48 centimeters high, made of tile wood.

The image represents the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus. The size of an extraordinary delicacy shows Mary with a serene and maternal expression, while the Child blesses with his right hand. Over the centuries, the image has been richly decorated with golden silver crowns and embroidered blankets donated by royalty and the faithful.

The Chapel of Grace miraculously survived the great fire of the night of All Saints of 1827, which destroyed much of the basilica. The image was saved from the flames and the chapel became, after the restoration, the focal point of the pilgrimage.

The protection of the Habsburg and the national sanctuary

Mariazell owes its Baroque splendor to the sponsorship of the Habsburg House. After the Counter-Reformation, the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire made Mariazell the national sanctuary of the Habsburgic monarchy. He was Pilgrieved by Emperor Leopold I, Charles VI, Mary Teresa and Joseph II. The latter, however, influenced by the illustrated currents of the time, dissolved the monastery in 1783 and prohibited pilgrimages in 1787. After his death, the prohibitions were lifted and the pilgrimages returned more forcefully than ever.

In the 19th century, the basilica suffered the great fire of 1827, which required a deep restoration between 1828 and 1830, in which some ornamental elements were simplified and for the first time pararrayos were installed. In 1907, Pope Pius X raised the church to the rank of lower basilica. Between 1992 and 2007, the sanctuary was subjected to a comprehensive restoration that returned the original splendor to its frescoes, stuccos and marbles.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI granted the Golden Rose to the sanctuary, one of the highest honors of the Church. In May 2004, the Central European Catholic Day (Catholic Day of the Countries of Central Europe) brought together tens of thousands of faithful from all over Central Europe in Mariazell.

The pilgrimage today

Mariazell receives about one million visitors a year, making it the most important pilgrimage destination in Austria and one of the most relevant in Central Europe. The pilgrims come from all over the Danubian basin: Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Poland. Many make the way on foot, following the historical pilgrimage routes that cross the Alps of Styria.

The basilica, with its 12 side chapels and its imposing dome, is the largest church in Austria. Since 1907, the sanctuary is a minor basilica and is guarded by the Benedictine monks, who keep alive the tradition of reception and prayer that brother Magnus began in 1157.

Prayer to the Magna Mater Austriae