The miracle of the pilgrimage: new art installation in the crib box in the parish church

Created: 08/18/2022, 16:00

By: Sebastian Grauvogl

Wonderful work: Bettina von Boch next to her installation in the crib.

© Photo: Thomas Plettenberg

7,500 prayers are said to have been answered after pilgrimages in Miesbach.

An art installation in the crib box in the parish church is now a reminder of this special time.

Miesbach

– Bettina von Boch knows where people look first at her art installation in the parish church: at the text.

Of course, the white letters take up almost the entire glass pane of the crib box.

But reading becomes difficult.

German and Latin words alternate, there are no spaces between them.

"By the second line at the latest, it throws you off the curve," says the church painter from Miesbach.

Then the eye inevitably falls on what lies behind the letters: a historical replica of the Miesbach miraculous image from 1757, the heyday of the Marian pilgrimage, which once stood in the Portiuncula Church.

And a black sheet of paper with exactly 7,500 hand-punched holes, through which golden light shines, condensing behind the figure like a shadow.

Regularly new scenes in the new crib box

In August and September, Boch's installation adorns the crib box in the parish church.

As reported, the parish had it rebuilt last year so that it could be used all year round.

Not only with ecclesiastical scenes, but also with art and/or themes related to the history of the town – such as the pilgrimage in Miesbach.

Boch worked out the historical details from the town and church archives.

At the beginning of 1693 believers made a pilgrimage between Miesbach and Parsberg to a linden tree with a figure of Mary attached to its trunk.

When the number of believers increased and attendance at the parish church was increasingly restricted, the pastor prayed to Our Lady for a miracle.

And according to tradition, he was heard.

The figure of Mary shone so brightly at night that you could even have read the mass in its light.

Popes in Rome became aware of pilgrimages to Miesbach

When the first answer to prayer became known in July 1693, the onslaught of pilgrims could no longer be stopped.

Even the popes in Rome became aware of the Miesbach Mother of Grace.

So Innocent XIII.

In 1722 - exactly 300 years ago - the miraculous image was given the honorary title "mater dolorosa, miraculis gloriosa".

The result was elaborate Corpus Christi processions and even passion plays in Miesbach.

The figure created by Johann Millauer even survived the great city fire of 1783.

But she could no longer achieve the revival of the pilgrimage.

In view of increasingly anti-church tendencies, this slowly but surely came to a standstill around 1800.

Also read: Art installation in the crib box in Miesbach parish church

The fascination of the answers to prayer, however, remained.

And so also the attempts to explain them rationally and thus to demystify them.

This is exactly what Boch's installation ties into.

The text, which is difficult to read, stands for the (ultimately unsuccessful) search for an explanation of the miracles.

In the end, these all boil down to the simple amazement that is triggered by the sight of the figure of Mary and the golden light penetrating through the holes.

“One detaches oneself from the intellect and surrenders to admiration,” explains Boch.

And if you take the trouble to linger a bit in front of the nativity scene, you will discover another, equally wondrous effect if the light falls correctly: the great Mother of God behind the altar is reflected in the display case.

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so called