The Buschberg Chapel on Wittnau's Buschberg has been attracting pilgrims since 1668, after the miller Benedikt Martin avoided a serious accident thanks to a "lucky stone". This miraculous story spread quickly and made the place famous. After the Second World War, pilgrimages decreased, but the chapel remained an important place of worship. In 1994, an unusually strong earth energy was detected at the chapel, which is used for healing and meditation. There are also attractive hiking trails and circular routes near the chapel.
The wonder
In 1668, the miller Benedikt Martin and the carter Johann Rim brought a millstone from a quarry north of Rheinfelden to Kienberg. 14 horses pulled the wagon from Wegenstetten to the top of the Buschberg. It happened up on the plain: Benedikt Martin slipped and fell so badly that both legs got caught under the wheels of the moving car. "Jesus and Mary, help him!" cried Carter Rim. «Meanwhile the wheels with the load on them went over both shins [of the miller]. Who would not have thought that such a 23 hundredweight heavy load should not have squeezed the marrow out of the legs of this pious man? No doubt such a thing should have happened naturally, unless a well-proven lucky stone intervened. O wondrous power of this Marian stone!» Martin got up with a great shock, but unharmed. Out of gratitude, he had a cross erected at the site of the event and made a pilgrimage to Mariastein Monastery, whose book of miracles tells us the above story.
The rise and fall of pilgrimage
The cross on the Buschberg became a well-known place of pilgrimage. When three drunk woodworkers knocked down the cross in 1843, this outrage caused a great stir. The municipality of Wittnau immediately had a new cross erected, which was renewed in 1906. In the 19th century, pilgrimages experienced an upswing. In 1868, a chapel open on three sides was built in front of the cross with donations from the Fricktal villages. Every year, surrounding parishes organized processions to the “miracle-working cross”, and pilgrimages even reached the Buschberg plateau from Alsace and Baden. The First World War led to a decline in pilgrimage. Today it is mainly individual pilgrims and hikers who visit the chapel.
In 2000 the roof of the cross was renewed and a belfry was added. It carries a Marienbell cast in 1663 and weighing 67 kg, which once hung in the Wittnau church tower.
Strong place of power
In recent years, the Buschberg has gained a certain notoriety as a place of power. In 1994, a group of ten people opened an "Earth Energy Center" in the forest just behind the chapel, and strange sounds emanated from the ground, recorded on tape. The chapel itself is also considered a place of power with a strength of 22,000 to 34,000 Bovis units. This force is determined with a pendulum and a rod, but cannot be measured with the scientific measuring methods of physics. (lh)