The Mettenbuch apparitions and pilgrimage

Advent 1876. A forest path ran through a gorge below the hamlet of Mettenbuch, in Lower Bavaria. Children took it on the way to services at Metten Abbey. That July, children at Marpingen, in Prussian Saarland, had begun reporting apparitions of the Virgin Mary.

Friday, 1 December 1876. About 7 pm. Three adults and two girls were praying the Rosary and the Litany of Loreto in the gorge. At the words "refuge of sinners, consoler of the afflicted," a light appeared.

It flamed up suddenly, large and bright, spraying sparks. Then it sank together. It hovered beside them, disappeared and reappeared. The youngest girl called out: "Ein Kinderl, ein Kinderl!" A little child.

Saturday, 2 December. Four children, kept apart from each other, reportedly called out at the same moment, "Unsere liebe Frau ist da," which means "Our dear Lady is here." They described a beautiful woman on a beautiful throne, wearing a blue dress, a flowing white veil and golden shoes, with the smiling Christ Child and his bright yellow curly hair on her lap. Two angels in white flanked her, while a man with a long beard, a broad hat and a staff stood behind. Stars ringed the whole figure, and throngs of angels descended from above with musical instruments in hand.

Asked who she was, she answered: "Maria, Trösterin der Betrübten." Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted. Asked what she wanted, she said: "Eine Kapelle, eine einfache Kapelle soll herkommen." A chapel, a simple chapel should come here.

The visions ran until 21 December. Star wreaths, saints, terrible images from the Passion. Xaverl Kraus, aged 10, saw the crucified Christ streaming with blood. Only the children saw the figures.

In late April 1877, a girl from a neighbouring community who had swallowed a needle was reported healed after praying to the Consoler of Mettenbuch. Over 2,000 people came to the gorge in the following days. A spring appeared, then a chapel, pilgrim shelters and medals. In all, 56 healings were recorded. Between 1876 and 1879, more than 100,000 believers came from Bavaria, Austria and Bohemia.

Bishop Ignatius von Senestrey of Regensburg ordered everything recorded and nothing made public. Four girls, including Therese Strobl, were confined for several months in the Cistercian convent at Waldsassen, forbidden to speak to each other. In autumn 1877 a commission of clergy and physicians reached a clearly negative verdict. A pharmacist said the spring water was in no way good drinking water. In 1878 all the children signed statements saying they had lied. A cathedral canon protested that the confession had been forced.

On 23 January 1879, a pastoral letter read in every church of the diocese declared the apparitions not genuine and ordered the chapel destroyed. Mathilde Sack, 14, the oldest, whom the bishop called a "master of lies and deception," was excommunicated for life. Two Benedictines were suspended.

On 7 June 1887, the seers, now older, withdrew their confessions. They said they had made them "out of fear and manifold confusion"; Mathilde Sack did not sign. The historian David Blackbourn later set Marpingen, Mettenbuch and Dietrichswalde against the pressure of the Kulturkampf and the example of Lourdes. The Church has never approved the cult. Yet a small stone chapel, built in 1985 and inscribed "Trösterin der Betrübten," stands in the gorge today, and a small pilgrimage continues.