Parish of Seewalchen rediscovers its forgotten patron saint

2023-06-29 16:10:00

The Seewalchen parish church is dedicated to St. James. But that’s not all: A document from the year 1491 that has now become public also mentions Saint Margaretha as the patron saint of the church – which has obviously been forgotten.

The reason for the historical document is as relevant as it is today: employees were being sought for the church. 1439 the current church construction was started. And although an inscription on the triumphal arch in 1486 marks the end of the construction work, in 1491 – more than 50 years following the start of construction – believers are still being sought to lend a hand on “walls and decorations” on Jacobean and the feasts of the Purification of the Virgin Mary and the Conception of the Virgin Mary. These were promised a reprieve of one hundred days’ punishment for sins, and it still applies in theory today: “These words apply to all times to come.”

The parish council took the historic document as an opportunity to remember Margareta and reinstate the patronage. “For me, it is a sign of the times to make women visible in the church and to strengthen their roles,” says Markus Himmelbauer, senior pastor of the Seewalchen parish. “Apart from the Marian pilgrimage site of Attersee, there is no parish church in our deanery with a female patroness. I think it is symbolically very important that we are now setting this sign. For our church, I hope that the appreciation of women will not remain on this symbolic level.”

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