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RELIGIOUS FEELING

Description

In the Virgen Valley in the East Tyrol, the first Saturday after Easter, Karsamstag (White Saturday) takes place. A white ram is bedecked for the occasion in remembrance of the solemn promise made by the valley-dwellers during the plague epidemic of 1634-36. In order to rid the area of the disease the people of Virgen and Prägraten are said to have undertaken to erect a votive pillar and to sacrifice a white ram each year from then on. The romantic country path which runs from Virgen to the Maria Schnee Sanctuary in Obermauern [1] is undoubtedly a popular route with pilgrims. As you enter the sanctuary, you will be struck by the extraordinarily vibrant colours of the Late-Gothic frescoes painted by Simon von Taisten before 1500. Kalkstein [2] is another destination for pilgrims: on a large open square at an altitude of 1639 m, another sanctuary dedicated to Maria Schnee, the Virgin of the Snow, lies at the end of the road which crosses the delightful Villgraten Valley .

The story goes that the sanctuary was built here in fulfilment of a solemn promise made by the villagers in the hope that it would rid the valley of the plague. The people of Belluno also show great devotion to the Virgin Mary, and pray to her to be cured from disease or protected from misfortune. On the occasion of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, pilgrims - many of them also from the neighbouring provinces - make their way to the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Runal in Farra D’Alpago [3], while another procession in honour of Mary takes place in Belluno [4] on Passion Sunday, when the effigy of the Madonna dei Dolori from the Church of Santo Stefano is carried through the streets of the city. In the church of Travagola in Pedavena [5], near Feltre, you can find one of the most important Marian chapels in the Feltre and Belluno areas, dedicated to the Madonna del Caravaggio; also of great significance for the people of Feltre are the pilgrimages which take place in May and September up to the Sanctuary of San Vittore and Santa Corona, the patron saints of the diocese of Feltre. [R.D.N.]

by the way

In Sappada, in the north of the province of Belluno, visitors can follow a superb Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, which runs through the Muhlbach neighbourhood of the town. The first little chapel on the Way is called dell’Orto di Getsemani ( Garden of Gethsemane ), and was built in 1824 by Cristoforo Kratter. In 1859 his son Pietro built the remaining stations as well as a little church. The Via Crucis remains to this day a place of prayer and refl ection, and the people of Sappada walk along it every Friday during Lent and on Good Friday. Another common religious practice in the area is the Pilgrimage which is made each year from Sappada to the Sanctuary of Maria Luggau in Austria. The pilgrimage attracts thousands of people, who set out at three in the morning and walk for nine hours to attend the mass in the little church. It dates back to 1804, when the local people prayed for the Virgin’s help to combat an outbreak of disease, and now takes place every year on the third weekend in September.

Information

Sanctuary of Maria Schnee, Obermauern:
Virgental Staße, 77 - Virgen
Tel. +43 (0)4874 5210
www.virgen.at

Pilgrimage to the Madonna del Runal:
Farra d’Alpago Tourist Information Office
Viale al Lago, 16/a
Tel. +39 0437 46448

Feast of the Madonna dei Dolori:
Belluno Tourist Information Office
Piazza Duomo, 2
Tel. +39 0437 940083

Madonna del Caravaggio chapel, Pedavena:
Feltre Tourist Information Office
Piazza Trento-Trieste, 9
Tel. +39 0439 2540

Way of the Cross, Sappada, pilgrimage to Luggau:
Sappada Tourist Information Office
Borgata Bach, 11
Tel. +39 0435 469131