Pilgrimage to Mariazell

Between the unending stream of reading assignments, the prospect of my pilgrimage to Poland this coming weekend and my first midterm next week I cannot possibly post about the multitude of events that have occurred over the last few days and do them even an inkling of justice. Therefore, I will write solely on the highlight of this past weekend, namely, my pilgrimage to Mariazell.

The background behind Mariazell is rich in history and legend. A summary can be found at sacred-destinations.com.

The legend:

On the evening of December 21, 1157, a Benedictine monk named Magnus was in a forest looking for a place to build a monastery. At one point, his path became blocked by a huge boulder that was too big to go over or around, so Magnus took a small wooden statue of the Virgin Mary he had in his knapsack, knelt in prayer, and asked the Virgin Mary for guidance. Soon there was a great rumble and the rock split in two, allowing him to pass through.

Some facts:

Magnus and some locals built a shrine to the small wooden statue of Mary which was rebuilt multiple times to give us the Basilica in which the statue is housed which we have today.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Mariazell is the most-visited Marian shrine in Central Europe.

Emperor Joseph II dissolved the monastery and and banned pilgrimages there during his reign.

The ban was lifted sometime after Joseph II's death and today more than 1 million people visit Mariazell every year.

Conveniently, Mariazell is only about twenty miles from Gaming.

This used to be a small chapel

So, on Friday morning at 7AM roughly fifty or more students, faculty/staff and children of faculty/staff departed by bus where we were then dropped off at the nearby nature park. From there, we would have to hike 18 miles (or 29 kilometers) to Mariazell along the Erlauf River through the foothills of the Austrian Alps.

Erlauf River/foothills of the Austrian Alps

However, with eighteen miles to traverse I couldn't stay too long in one place to enjoy the trail's beauty without being left behind and so I walked, and walked, and walked. The first half of the hike was largely uneventful. I simply walked in silence, soaking in the natural beauty I had become completely immersed in. The Erlauf river was clear and vividly blue and green, there were countless waterfalls, high-arching bridges across the river that had to be crossed single-file, wild mountain goats and so much more.

Then the foothills opened up slightly, the river deepened and we got to do this:

Shortly after we discovered a cave:

Then, we found my favorite location along the entire hike:

And if you think it's cool when Kevin jumps from ten feet how much cooler is it when he does it from thirty?

For the final three hours of the hike we left the river, traveling instead through the countryside, passing by farms until we came a small town about five kilometers outside of Mariazell.

Without the beautiful Erlauf River and surrounding mountains to distract us, every minute of that final couple miles dragged on forever. However, we eventually made it - and just in time for 4PM Mass, after which we had some time to enjoy the beauty of the basilica and pray.

Then, after a full day consisting of an eight hour hike, Mass in Mariazell's Basilica, and some free time to explore the town and church ourselves, we finally boarded a bus back to Gaming. However, not before I got a souvenir: