Altötting: the hearts of Bavaria
Altötting, Bavaria, Alemania · s. VII – present
The oldest octagonal chapel in Germany
In the heart of the Bavarian plain, on the banks of the Inn River, there is a city that since the 7th century is the most sacred place in Bavaria: Altötting. The Gnadenkapelle - Chapel of Grace - is an octagonal structure of stone dating from approximately 660 AD, making it the oldest Marian sanctuary in Germany. Its octagonal form is typical of the Paleocristic churches dedicated to purification and baptism.
In the interior of the chapel the Black Virgin o Schwarze Madonna: a size of tile wood of 66 centimeters, sculpted about 1330 in early Gothic style, representing Mary enthroned with the Child in arms. The dark color of the image is due to centuries of smoke from the countless vocal candles that burn in the sanctuary. The Virgin saw rich embroidery blankets that are changed in liturgical festivities.
The miracle of 1489 - the drowned child resurrects
In 1489, the episode took place, which triggered the universal fame of the sanctuary. A three-year-old from the town fell into a well and drowned. His mother, desperate, did not take the body to the doctor or the cemetery: he held it in his arms until the Gnadenkapelle and placed it on the altar of the Black Virgin, praying for hours. The boy came back to life. The prodigy was investigated by the ecclesiastical authorities and recognized as a miracle; since then, the cures attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Altötting are so numerous that the sanctuary receives the appeal of "the Lourdes of Germany."
The hearts of the Wittelsbach
On the west side of the Gnadenkapelle 28 silver urns are aligned that contain the embalmed hearts of the members of the royal house of Bavaria - the Wittelsbach - from the 16th to the 20th century. It is the most unique funeral tradition in Europe: the Bavarian rulers ordered their bodies to be buried in Munich, but their hearts will rest forever with the Black Virgin of Altötting. Among them, the heart of King Louis I and that of the Maximilian I elector, the great patron of the Bavarian baroque.
Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger, was born in the neighboring town of Marktl am Inn in 1927 and grew up with Altötting as a reference sanctuary. In 2005 he left his cardinals ring there when he was elected Pope, and in 2006 he returned in pastoral visit. John Paul II also pilgrimed to Altötting in 1980. More than a million faithful visit the sanctuary every year.
"Our Lady of Graces of Altötting,
the heart of Bavaria and the hope of the sick,
He gets our heart like the Wittelsbach offered you his. "