Pilgrimage Church in Lower Bavaria: The Miracle Sammarei – Bavaria

Father Adam Litwin, who has been pastor in the Lower Bavarian pilgrimage church of Sammarei for 17 years, also confirms that this funny altar figure is unique. He refers to an old saying that says: Anyone who has ever visited Sammarei but has not seen this angel has not been to Sammarei. Unfortunately, the rich ornamentation of the altar makes it easy to overlook the putto hovering over a saint.

The sloppy angel, as it is called in the vernacular, confirms its reputation completely. It wears two different shoes, the right “Hax” (leg) is covered by a wrinkled stocking, there are no angel wings on the back, but the wings of a cockchafer. His nudity reveals unmistakably that we have a young man in front of us, although otherwise putti always appear genderless. He holds a drinking cup in his left hand and taps his forehead with the other hand. One could interpret this gesture like Pastor Litwin, who does not rule out that the bird is shown to the viewer.

With this early baroque putto, the altar carver Jakob Bendl, who comes from South Tyrol, allowed himself to have fun that inevitably makes you smile. Bendl had settled down in the Rottal as a host in 1640, which explains why the putto somehow reminds of a cheeky host boy. From 1647 he created the sensational altar wall in his workshop in Pfarrkirchen, which made Sammarei one of the most original Bavarian churches. Bendl’s theatrical productions can astonish even unbelievers at any time.

There are many other things that are extremely wondrous, even the name Sammarei is full of exoticism. “Yes, my,” says the sexton Anita Schneider when they meet in the church, “many believe that Sammarei is Japanese. But I’ll say right away, this is simply the Bavarian form of Our Lady Sancta Maria.” In fact, in the Rottal valley, Maria is also called Marei, “and if you speak it slowly, you can hear it,” says the sacristan. This is how Sanct Marei became the Sammarei.

And where else is there that, so to speak, two churches in one? In Sammarei, the early Baroque church of the Assumption of Mary, completed in 1631, was simply built over the original wooden church. In 1521, i.e. exactly 500 years ago, this wooden chapel was first mentioned in a document. A good century later it was to become the scene of a miracle. A neighboring farm burned down, the flames touched the roof of the chapel without setting it on fire. The apple quince tree next to the chapel was also scorched, except for a branch that protruded over the roof. It bloomed again and bore such wonderful fruits that the Electress Elisabeth enthusiastically supported the construction of the new pilgrimage church.

Father Adam and sexton Anita could spend hours spreading such stories. The impression of lingering in a place of strength is reinforced when looking at the picture book-like altar wall with the hundreds of playful figures. In the middle of it you can see through a grille that behind the altar follows a sacred world in which the shingled wooden chapel and bell tower rise up with magical force. The entrance is so low that you can only stoop to enter the interior with the old miraculous image.

The pilgrim supervisor Herbert Webersberger is in his element in the chapel. His speech is filled with all the wonders and sensations, the myth of which these rooms preserve to this day. In some people they have sparked a belief that nothing can shake. The best example is Webersberger himself. As he says, he would have been the sole heir of a four-sided farm. “But Our Lady of Sammarei drew me here. It’s the most beautiful place to work on earth,” he enthuses. The farm was taken over by the sister and her husband, and Webersberger has no doubt: “Our Lady and Brother Konrad took care of everything.” That holy brother Konrad von Parzham, who grew up nearby and often walked to Sammarei.

The grooves in the old door posts of the chapel are unmistakable. They testify that the pilgrims once cut in with knives to get hold of wood chips. They wanted to bring home something material, even if it was a small piece of wood. Human fallibility also resonates here. “Because a chip from Sammarei was also traded in card games,” says Webersberger with a wink.

The pilgrimage is still very popular in the present, shaken by crises of faith. It’s no harm that the area is dotted with wonderful hiking trails and bike routes. “We have even had guests here from South Africa and Korea,” recalls the sacristan, who is also responsible for the pilgrims’ souvenirs. The passage and the walls of the chapel are covered over and over with votive tablets. And there are always some. “With us every board is hung up, I can find a place there,” she says.

In the pictures you face all the misery and all the hope of this world. That was probably even more violent in the past, when high-performance medicine, insurance and all-round care were still a utopia and diseases such as diphtheria wiped out the whole crowd of children in an extended family. The panels tell of the “melancholy” that caused such hardships in people as well as of miraculous salvation. Miracles, says Anita Schneider, “they exist today as they used to be. You just have to recognize them”.

Faith moves mountains, so she cannot be deterred, also because she has often seen how hopelessly sick people who lay there were recovered. On the left side of the altar, the epidemic saint Corona is shown, whose body is stretched between palm trees so that she can be torn to pieces. Father Adam says that a visitor once complained: “This is not a problem, because it does not help us.” The sacristan rubbed him: “Of course the holy Corona helps, we just have to pray more.” Only once in her life was the intrepid woman speechless, in 2006, when her Pope Benedict XVI. shook hands at an audience in Rome: “I never knew what to say now.”

Father Adam considers Sammarei to be an effective remedy for the hectic pace and restlessness of the present. “God is in no hurry,” he says. Everything goes slowly with him. In the first hundred years, the wooden church received little attention. But after that an exciting story began. Based on a miracle that he believes is still having an impact today.