Photo: ThiedeAn arched portal building: The dome that towers over the Roman model characterizes the sacred building of St. Martin and Oswald
St. Martin and Oswald
Half the size of St. Peter’s Basilica, but twice as important for Weingarten – the “superior” basilica was consecrated 300 years ago
A 35 millimeter long and two millimeter wide stick of blood-soaked earth prompted the construction of the largest baroque church north of the Alps. It was consecrated 300 years ago. Visible from afar, the former monastery church on Martinsberg towers over the Upper Swabian town of Weingarten.
The commemorative publication published for the consecration says: “Behold and consider the current miraculous building and newly erected temple; Sebastianus dedicated this in his vineyard to (…) “resting” in (…) his most precious drop of blood and heart. The builder of the church built to store the Holy Blood relic was Abbot Sebastian Hyller. Its consecration took place on September 10, 1724, followed by a week of jubilee with celebratory sermons.
300 years later, the consecration of the church is celebrated with a month of celebration from September 10th to October 6th. During construction site tours, visitors can even access areas that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. For example, you can examine the roof structure. And “finally, the fresco painting, which has been widely praised and praised by intelligent people, should not be forgotten”.
Thanks to scaffolding, you can see some of the ceiling frescoes up close. They are Cosmas Damian Asam’s first and, at 1,100 square meters, largest masterpiece. The Catholic parish church of St. Martin and Oswald, which is also a pilgrimage church for the Precious Blood of Christ, will undergo total renovation in sections by the end of 2028.
After the step-long climb to the forecourt of the church, you stand in front of the western facade, built from Rorschach sandstone according to the design of the master builder Donato Guiseppe Frisoni. The portal building arches between the two towers. In the middle niche of the gable is the statue of the Madonna and Child. Above it sparkles the gilded and greatly enlarged replica of the Holy Blood Reliquary attached to the gable. The church forms the central axis of the former monastery complex.
Based on the Roman model, the church is surmounted by a dome whose peak height is 66.8 meters. The building is also known as the “Swabian Saint Peter” because, with a length of 102 meters and a vault height of 26.6 meters, it is about half the length and height of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
In the radiant white church interior, Cosmas Damian Asam’s colorful ceiling frescoes and the altars made of colorful stucco marble come into their own. Abbot Hyller is buried at the foot of the Sebastian Altar. The builder of today’s basilica had the previous Romanesque building of the Benedictine monastery founded by Welf IV in 1056 demolished. In its western part was the burial place of nine men and women from the Guelph family. Abbot Hyller had a crypt set up for them in the northern arm of his new building.
Swinging stucco figures
The Guelph crypt, which is normally closed to church visitors, is accessible on public tours during the festival month. Likewise the choir, whose stalls from 1720/21 are considered the first major work of the carver Anton Feuchtmayer. On the choir stalls are Feuchtmayer’s figures of St. Benedict, his sister Scholastica and his students Placidus and Maurus. These extremely slender ascetics have their heads tilted and appear very moved.
The white stucco figures of the high altar created by Diego Carlone are similarly lively, and visitors are allowed to get very close to them on guided tours during the festival month.
The Holy Blood Relic is located at the intersection of the crossing and the choir. She lies in the red and white Holy Blood Altar, made in 1931, behind bulletproof glass on a red parade cushion, surrounded by her reliquary made of 14-carat gold. The reliquary, decorated with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds, consists of a small cross with an enamel depiction of the crucified man, with blood streaming from his side wound. The small cross sits on a larger one, in the center of which is a rock crystal that encloses the Holy Blood relic.
This reliquary from 1956 is modeled on three predecessors. Abbot Berthold had the oldest one made in 1206. This and the one donated by Abbot Hyller no longer exist. After the dissolved Weingarten monastery and its property fell to the Kingdom of Württemberg in 1806, its financial administration confiscated the valuable reliquary in 1809 and gave the Catholic parish a replica made of gilded bronze as a replacement.
During the Blood Ride, which takes place every year on the Friday after Ascension Day, the relic leaves the church for five hours in the hands of the priest, who acts as the Holy Blood Rider. More than 2,000 riders follow him as he rides through Weingarten and the surrounding fields. According to the local council’s decision in 2020, women are also allowed to ride in the largest equestrian procession in Europe.
But how did the Holy Blood relic come to Weingarten in the first place? Two ceiling frescoes by Asam tell of this. One shows Christ standing next to the cross, whose blood splashes from his side wound in a high arc onto Longinus. He had given him the wound in his side. According to his legend, he was converted and took earth soaked with drops of Christ’s blood from the execution site of Golgotha.
In Asam’s fresco, Longinus presents the Holy Blood Reliquary lying on the red parade cushion to church visitors. The other fresco shows Welf IV with his wife Judith of Flanders, who holds the Holy Blood Reliquary in her right hand.
According to legend, Longinus took the relic to Mantua, where a blind man found it in 1048. The blood-soaked earth was shared by the Duke of Mantua, Pope Leo IX. and Emperor Henry III. among themselves. The emperor bequeathed his share to Count Baldwin V of Flanders. He left it to Judith. The abbot and convent of the Weingarten monastery inherited the Holy Blood relic from her on March 5, 1094.
www.300jahrebasilika.de
