The pilgrimage church Maria Birnbaum and the German Order

After almost 200 years the German Order returned. The German brother province established a settlement in the monastery Maria Birnbaum, Sielenbach, county of Aichach-Friedberg. The pastoral care in the pilgrimage church was taken over as per 1 January 1999. Brothers of the Teutonic Order of the nearby Kommende Blumenthal planned and erected the pilgrimage church “Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows“ in the middle of the 17th century. The Teutonic Order provided pastoral care until the secularization. The Blumenthal castle is now partly a home for the elderly, run by the sisters of the German Order.

History of the Pilgrimage

After the year 1600 the inhabitants of the castle of Stuntzberg posted a small Pietà in a vineyard carved a few years before. In 1632 the Pietà was thrown in the so-called Jochmoos at the foot of the mountain by Swedish troops, where the shepherd of Sielenbach, Johann Vogl, fetched it and put it into a hollow pear next to the street. At the end of 1659 a first miracle healing took place: The small Pietà appeared to Mrs. Anna of Meran in South Tyrol in a dream. Once she had found the Pietà, she and her son were healed. Shortly thereafter, the deaf-mute Magdalena Schnader regained her speech in front of the pear. Subsequently, a great pilgrimage to “Our Lady in the Pear“ started.

Philipp Jacob of Kaltenthal, commander (Komtur) of the Kommende of the Teutonic Order Blumenthal, on whose ground the Pietà now stood, decided to encompass the pear with the Pietà by a respectable grand church“ and started building the church in 1661, consecrated by the auxiliary bishop of Freising, Kaspar Kühner, in 1668. The clergymen of Sielenbach and Klingen provided the pastoral care at first, later – from 1670 to the secularization – priests of the Teutonic Order were responsible for that. In 1685 the brotherhood of the Seven Sorrows of our Lady was established, counting almost 2000 members still today. In 1803 it was planned to dissolve the church and the pilgrimage, but the countrymen of the surroundings took over the obligation to build and maintain, until the municipality of Sielenbach bought the church later on. In 1867/68 the Capuchins got the pilgrimage. On 4 November 1984 they were withdrawn. On 11 October 1998 the German Order reassumed the pilgrimage church. It refurbished the convent building and established a pilgrim’s tavern as well as a monastery shop in order to animate the pilgrimage. In 2001, the noviciate of the German brother province was furthermore relocated to Maria Birnbaum.

The Church

Kaltenthal has drafted the building with many allusions to Italian architecture jointly with local master builders. The stylistic elements did not fit in the year of its construction 1661. The baroque building anticipates future tendencies. Only in the 18th century were there constructions of further churches with a similar architecture in Bavaria. Bright and lucid round bodies, intertwining and crowned by a rotunda in the form of the Roman Pantheon create a room direct the thoughts to higher things. Maria Birnbaum is the vision of an individual turned to stone – to do honour to Mary, the mother of God.
The construction started in 1661, already in 1662 the first Mass could be celebrated, the church was consecrated in 1668, the baroque altars were built in 1670. As of 1670 until the secularization the priests of the Teutonic Order took over the pastoral care. During this period the building had to be profoundly renovated several times. In 1803 it was planned to dissolve the church and the pilgrimage, but the countrymen of the region took them over with all obligations. In 1867 there was the plan to tear down the church because of the danger of collapse, but the countrymen put through the reparation and reopening of the church.
The pilgrimage was assigned to the Capuchins; in 1984 the monks were withdrawn again. Since then the monastery was deserted, the parish of Sielenbach did not look after the pilgrimage. Between 1972 and 1980 the church was refurbished and shines again today as the visionary Kaltenthal dreamt of.