Franciscan Monastery and Basilica of the Visitation, Güssing

The Franciscan monastery and monastery church of Güssing are located in the town of Güssing in the district of the same name in the Austrian state of Burgenland. The entire complex was originally part of the former city fortifications and is now a listed monument (list entry). The monastery and pilgrimage church of the Visitation of Mary, which was elevated to a minor basilica in 2013, belongs to the deanery of Güssing in the diocese of Eisenstadt.

In 1648/49 Adam Count Batthyány I donated the magnificent monastery. The family coat of arms adorns the high altar. In the crypt is the final resting place of the Batthyàny family of counts, after the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna is the second largest family crypt in Austria.
The monastery's valuable library is home to 3,500 books.The monastery church, meanwhile Basilica Minor, has become a destination for pilgrims in recent years, especially from the Hungarian region, because this is where the reliquary of the Blessed Ladislaus Batthyàny-Strattmann is located.Contact and request for guided tours:
7540 Güssing, Franziskanerplatz 1
Tel .: 03322/42339
pfarre.guessing@franziskaner.atguessing.co.at/index.php/sehenswuerdigkeits/264-franziskanerkirche-und-kloster

One of the few saints who is also highly valued outside of Christianity is San Francesco, known in the German-speaking world as Francis of Assisi. Francis was born in Assisi in 1181/82 and died in 1226. In his youth as the son of wealthy parents he was a bon vivant, but later he turned to Christ. In the half-ruined little church of San Damiano, on the hillside outside the city walls of Assisi, he was praying one day and heard the voice of Christ coming down from the cross, urging him to “rebuild his church”. At first he took this request literally and restored the church building, later he came to realize that this is primarily about the church as the community of believers.
Many people joined him, and the Order of the Friars Minor of Francis of Assisi was born. Today in the broad Franciscan religious family there are three male branches: the Franciscans, the Minorites and the Capuchins; and two females: the Franciscans and the Poor Clares.
His burial church in Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco, which did not even exist during Francis' lifetime, is nevertheless one of the great "original shrines" of the Franciscan religious family. It can be found here as a hiking highlight under this link: komoot.de/highlight/138624