Long before the Reformation, there was a pilgrimage chapel in honor of the Blessed Mother near the hamlet of Windshofen. A pious legend is entwined around the little church of St. Mary, which has been handed down to our times: Many centuries ago, when people began to build a chapel for Our Lady of Sorrows in the middle of the village, miraculous things happened there. Inexplicably, the building materials that had already been deposited for the construction disappeared overnight, and the next day they were found intact on a nearby mountain. The pious local people took this as a supernatural finger branch and built the chapel on this mountain instead of in the center of the village. For more than three hundred years, pilgrims flocked from near and far to pray in front of the miraculous image of the Blessed Mother and to ask for her intercession.
But up on the mountain the candles went out when the war and domain chamber of the Rezat district from Ansbach ordered the demolition of the venerable chapel of grace in 1807. Even today, the citizens of Windshofen deserve thanks and appreciation for saving the miraculous image. Renowned art historians rate the miraculous image as an important work of art, probably of Swabian origin with the original version. Stylistically, the baked clay sculpture, a pieta, is dated around 1430. (Today, for security reasons, it is on loan to the parish church in Aurach).
The secularization commissioners were convinced that with the demolition of the time-honoured pilgrimage chapel, the memory of the local citizens would also die. However, almost half a century had to pass before all the difficulties and harassment were overcome and the new building could begin. The farmer Lorenz Böckler donated the building ground for this in the midst of blooming fields. The cornerstone was laid on June 11, 1855. The master bricklayer Michael Leopold from Aurach and the master carpenter Franz Xaver Winter from Weinberg took part in the construction, whereby the citizens actively provided manual and tension services. As early as November 19, 1856, the church blessed the church.
Thanks to the energetic help and sacrifices of the local population (Gindelbach, Westheim, Windshofen), a lot has happened since then to preserve and modernize the "Windshöfer Kappel".
Even today, the members of the parishes of Aurach, Elbersroth, Neunstetten and Weinberg make a pilgrimage on foot to the "Mater Dolorosa im Wiesethgrund" on the 13th of the month from May to October.
Translated by Google •
In the know? Log-in to add a tip for other adventurers!