Einsiedeln - Black Madonna Monastery

Einsiedeln is a large monastery and the most famous pilgrimage site in Switzerland. Einzideln means “recluse of the hermit” and is so named because Saint Meginrat in 828 settled in solitude here in the wild forest, devoting his time to prayer, feeding on what brought him two forest crows. On January 21, 861, the hermit was killed by two robbers, Richard Nemtz and Peter Retijtz, who wanted to take possession of the mysterious treasure. Two devoted Meginrat crows followed the villains to Zurich, circling over their heads and karting so loudly that they attracted attention. The killers were arrested, they confessed to their crime and were executed. The new hermits followed in the footsteps of Meginrat and, like him, retired to the thicket, using the cell left by him. Gradually, the cell collapsed, only a small altar remained, before which the saint prayed. A small chapel was built over it. In 934 Eberhard, rector of the cathedral in Strasbourg, came here and persuaded the hermits to organize a Benedictine community. He himself became their first abbot and ordered the construction of a church here, which was to be consecrated by Bishop Conrad of Constanta. But before the bishop could finish the ceremony of consecrating the new church, a mysterious voice was heard shouting three times that Christ had already sanctified him. It is said that this happened with the help of the apostles - St. Peter and St. Gregory the Great. Pope Leo VIII declared the incident a miracle and issued a bull in which he blessed the pilgrimage to Einzideln. The bull was approved by his successors. Since then, the Benedictine monastery and church have enjoyed special privileges and received substantial financial aid and protection from kings. By 1286, the chapel of Our Lady, built on the ruins of a small cell of St. Meginrat, became a center of pilgrimage. There was a statue of the Virgin Mary in the Romanesque style, presented to Meginrat Hildegarde, the abbess of the Zurich convent, but in 1468 it was damaged in a fire and replaced by a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus. This late statue, 1.25 m high, darkened over the centuries by the soot of many candles, became a major relic for pilgrims and is now known as the "Black Madonna". The library of the abbey is astounding: it contains about fifty thousand volumes, including many rare manuscripts, some dating back to 946. The library reflects the wide range of the monastery’s work, including a mission sent to America in 1854. Among those who visited the abbey were three future saints: Charles Borromeo, Benedict Joseph Labre and Nicola of Flu, patron of Switzerland. In 1865 Emperor Napoleon III made a pilgrimage here. For some time in popularity, Einsilden rivaled Rome and Santiago de Compostela and was a kind of intermediate point for believers traveling to Santiago. Currently, the shrine is visited annually by about a quarter of a million people. The main days of pilgrimages are September 14 and October 13 – the date of the miraculous consecration of the temple and the anniversary of the transfer of the remains of St. Meginrat from Reichenau to Einzideln in 1039. The most striking event for pilgrims is the exit of the monks, who every day at half-four go to the chapel of Our Lady with the singing of the hymn to the Virgin “Salva, Regina” – a tradition that exists since the XVI century.