Marienbrunnen (Mary’s Well)

Gnadenbrunnen  (Blessed Well)

 

These two holy wells in the small Saarland town of Marpingen have a complex and fascinating history.  Marpingen is located between the towns of St. Wendel and Tholey (both ancient religious sites).  It is east of the border town of Saarlouis and north of Saarbruecken.  At various times in its history it has been alternately under French or German control.

 

The settlement dates to the 5^th century, during the time of the great invasions following the collapse of the Roman Empire.  Marpingen is thought to derive from an early landowner or settler named Marbod or Merbod. It was first mentioned in documents during the 11^th century.

 

About a kilometer east of the present village is the crossroads of two ancient and important trade routes.  The north-south route connected Strasbourg and Trier, via the “Alte Roemerstrasse” or Old Roman Road.  The east –west route connected Metz and Mainz, and ran through the present town of Marpingen.  The present intersection is marked by a hamlet called “Rheinstrasse” or Rhine Road or Road to the Rhine, Mainz being located on the Rhine River.

 

Near the parish church, located atop a steep hill at the west side of town is the “Marienbrunnen” or Mary’s Well.  This holy well has been in use at least since the 14^th century.  According to the local folklore, an image of the Virgin Mary was found in the well, and many miraculous cures followed. A lovely stone chapel has been built just above the well, which also has a stone surround.  This well was in use until 1876 exclusively

 

 

 

The stone well surround at the Marienbrunnen (Mary’s Well)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marienkapelle or St. Mary’s Chapel at the Marienbrunnen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the summer of 1876, three eight year old girls were picking berries in the Haertel Woods just east of town when they saw a “White lady”.  Further apparitions occurred to these children and other villagers. The “White Lady” identified herself as the Virgin Mary, and among other messages, directed the villages to stop using the Marienbrunnen and start using a spring in the Haertel Woods.  This spring is located about 400 meters uphill from the chapel at the site of the first of many apparitions in the summer of 1876.

 

 

 

 

Gnadenbrunnen or blessed Well. White and red sign at left is an official warning about health hazards in using the well water.

 

The news of the appearance of the Virgin Mary and many cures using the waters of the Haertel Woods spring spread, and first hundreds and then thousands of pilgrims descended upon the small town.

 

At this time, Marpingen and much of the Saarland, was under the control of Prussia, and gatherings of the people of any sort were frowned on. Prussian control seems to have been of a rigid and unsympathetic type.  Within several weeks, troops were sent to Marpingen and forcibly quartered there. The three little girls and the local parish priest were relentlessly questioned. The site of the first apparitions and the spring in the woods was forbidden; in fact it was turned into a military restricted area and remained so until 1917. The three little girls were even taken from their families and put in a Protestant home for children.  They were returned to their families, probably because of local outrage.

 

Chancellor Otto von Bismarck stated flatly “There will be no Lourdes in Germany.”  However, once the troops were removed from Marpingen, I feel quite sure the local people continued to use the Haertel Wood Spring, now called the “Gnadenbrunnen” or Blessed Well surreptiously.  After the end of WWI, a chapel was built on the site of the apparitions, with Stations of the Cross stretching up the steep hill to the Gnadenbrunnen. A small open-air chapel was built beside the capped and covered Gnadenbrunnen.

 

Both of these chapels have images of St. Michael the Archangel, which leads me to suspect the holy wells here have been in use a very long time.

 

 

Images in well chapel.  According to local German beliefs, St. Michael was given protection of healing and holy waters with the advent of Christianity.  Previously waters had been in the care of Apollo and later, Odin or Woden.

 

 

 

 

Now to May of 1999.  Three young women reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary again, at the same site where the chapel stands. The Catholic Church and Bishop of Trier took a very cautious view of these apparitions and a great deal of controversy developed.  The visions continued all summer.  The 13^th and last apparitions occurred early in October.  Up to 30,000 people came to Marpingen, many of them spending a very cold night in the woods and meadow near the chapel.

 

As before, the Virgin Mary urged believers to use the water of the Gnadenbrunnen for healing, and water was dispensed to the faithful.  Both wells now bear the sign “Kein Trinkwasser”  (Non-potable water) and the water of the Gnadenbrunnen has been tested and found to be polluted.

 

The people of Marpingen are reported as not favoring their town turning into a German Lourdes. However, pilgrims continue to visit the holy wells and the chapel.

 

Bill and I went to Marpingen on a rainy, foggy Saturday afternoon. The chapel was not easy to find (since we had a map and still ended up at the old road intersection near Rheinstrasse!) but we found it at last and parked beside the small white chapel.  Just east of the chapel is a grotto with a statue of the Virgin and Child.  We climbed up the steep path through the drizzle, past the Stations of the Cross and the Calvary group.  The Gnadenbrunnen and outdoor chapel are just under the crest of the hill. The well is capped and no water was flowing.  The cap has taps so the water can be drawn as needed.

 

We walked back down the hill, meeting a nun near the bottom. She asked it the way was slippery, and we answered while steep it was not slippery. She said the steeper, the more blessings.  We sat in the little chapel, glad to be out of the rain for a while. The building may hold 50 or 60 people, and during the last apparition weekend, it must have been jammed.  The spot between the two north windows is where the apparitions occurred. One window shows St. Michael the Archangel, the other the Virgin and children.

 

There are two Internet sites available.  http://aweb.de/marpingen/historie/index.htm  is the Community site giving the history of the town and information about it.

www.marienerscheinung.de gives information of the past and present apparitions and has many pictures.

 

We took the photos you see here. At the top is a postcard we purchased at the chapel and scanned in.

 

“Die Muttergottes-Erscheinung in Marpingen (Saar), Friedrich Ritter von Lama, A. Ruhland, Altoetting

 

“St. Michael und die Kirchen zu Weilerbach”, Willi Ludwig Lafrenz. Heimatjahrbuch des Landkreises Kaiserslautern 1989. Arbogast, Otterberg.