In Gaißach, a chapel was once placed under the patronage of St. Corona. A search for traces.
Gaißach –Corona - this name of the rapidly spreading virus currently dominates everyday life and scares many people. But there is also a saint who bears this name and is considered the patron saint against epidemics. In Gaißach, a chapel was once placed under the patronage of St. Corona. This small church, which was built around 1470 in late Gothic style with a small tower, has long ceased to exist. And the once assigned field names "Koronafeld" and "Kapellfleck" have largely disappeared from the use of language - the two areas are located northeast of the village of Gaißach. A search for traces.
A portrait of St. Corona is preserved in the left side altar in the parish church of St. Michael in Gaißach. The historical painting is located above the Maria Altar.
© Krinner
The worship of St. Corona has been handed down in Lower Austria, Bohemia and Old Bavaria since the 14th century. In the local region, however, the work of the martyr, who, according to legend, was tied to two bent palm trees in the second century due to her belief and tore at the upward speed, was not so much in the foreground. In Upper Bavaria, apart from the Gaissacher Corona chapel, there was only one more in Arget and a St. Viktor and Corona secondary church in Unterzarnham in the parish of Mittergars (Wasserburg district). The latter two have been preserved to this day.
The area around the Gaissach chapel was steeped in history: to the east of the corona field lie burial mounds from the Bronze Age burial mound (1600 - 1300 BC). The chapel itself, however, enthroned more towards the village on a pleasant square with a beautiful panoramic view. The existence of the Gaissach Corona Chapel is documented, among other things, by a parchment document from 1493, which is kept in the local parish archive. The clergyman Anton Bauer (1901 - 1986), who came from the "Mair" courtyard in Steinbach / Wackersberg and who was also a passionate historian, expressed in his research records the presumption that the corona veneration here, for example, with the establishment of her own vicar in Gaißach in 1479 could have blossomed, or that she may have been "brought" to the Isarwinkel by local raftsmen from the Vienna area. In any case, in the second half of the 17th century, according to Bauer, in addition to renovation work on and in the chapel in 1673, the two "Glöckl" in the pointed tower were replaced: one was newly cast in Munich, another became the "main church" “St. Michael bought - the parish church should also come from the late Gothic core.
The corona chalice in the Gaißach parish church commemorates the martyr who died between two palm trees.
© Krinner
Almost 60 years later, however, the then vicar, Anton Christl, complained about the deterioration of the chapel and asked for permission from a herdsman for a new building that could be financed from his own resources. "The new church received two side altars, one in honor of St. Anna, the other in honor of St. Leonhard," says a transcript. The well-known Wessobrunner master builder and plasterer Josef Schmuzer, as well as the Tölz sculptor family Fröhlich, were most likely used as craftsmen. In addition, the organs of the subsidiary church of St. Corona and the parish church of St. Michael were exchanged. The Corona tower, however, had had to be replaced earlier. On September 19, 1735, the Freising bishop Johann Ferdinand Freiherr von Pödigheim consecrated the new chapel, which now shines in the Rococo style. The fact that the last brisk influx of pilgrims did not occur was later explained by the fact that the worship of the side altarpiece of the "Mother of Beautiful Love" in the parish church and the statue of the "Painful Mother of the Burnt Cross" in Puchen was on the rise.
In general, the new chapel should no longer have an excessively long existence: in the course of secularization, it was placed on the list of dispensable churches in 1803 and badly damaged by lightning in 1804. The end was sealed.
After “the foundations as well as the sacral and liturgical objects had been transferred to the parish church and the altar relics had been secured”, the remaining equipment and materials came up for auction. The demolition took place in December 1807. From the auction proceeds, 100 guilders were used for the new school building in the Mühl district.
And what is reminiscent of the Corona Chapel today? According to oral tradition, figures of saints from the neighboring church have been preserved in some Gaißach families. The late Gothic Corona statue, which was also transferred to the parish church, is considered lost. In St. Michael, on the other hand, the so-called Corona Chalice from the 18th century with an inlaid enamel medallion on which the patron saint is depicted is still in use. There is also a painting of the saints on the upper part of the altar in the parish church and in the northern entrance a tryptichon painted on wood, which shows the Michaels church and the Corona church in the background.
Saint Corona, whose name festival is celebrated on May 14, has been somewhat forgotten. Perhaps some believers are thinking of them more often these days. (Rosi Bauer)
sources
The information comes from the data collection of the Gaißacher Chronik from the commemorative publication "175 Years of the Vicariate of Gaißach to the Parish" and from the Tölz City Archives.
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