MOST HOLY VIRGIN MARY OF EINSIEDELN. - Abbey nullius in the canton of Schwyz in the center of Switzerland.
The beginnings of the cult of the Madonna under the title of "Unsere liebe Frau von E." go back to the 9th century. In the place of today's sanctuary there lived from 828 the hermit
St. Meinrad (Meginrat), a monk of Reichenau near Constance (an abbey consecrated to the Madonna), who, after a period of teaching in a monastery near the lake of Zurich, driven by the desire for solitude, had withdrawn into the Alpine valley, where he lived until 801. Subsequently, other hermits settled near his cell, among them Bishop Benno of Metz. Around 930 Eberhard, formerly provost of Strasbourg, gathered the hermits into a monastery; in 934 he obtained its recognition and considerable donations from the King. In 948 Bishop Conrad of Constance consecrated in honor of the Madonna the first church that enclosed the cell of St. Meinrad, transformed into a chapel and dedicated by Conrad himself, on September 14, to the Most Holy Savior. Already in the 13th century the people began to pilgrimage to this chapel and to venerate there an image of Mary Most Holy; in the following century there is news of miracles that occurred and of the establishment of the belief that the chapel had been consecrated by the Lord himself. The proofs drawn from papal bulls and from the annals of the monastery in confirmation of this tradition, however, meet with much criticism. The pilgrimages took place especially when the feast of the "Angelic Consecration" (September 14) fell on a Sunday (v. DEDICAZIONE, D. angelica). There is talk of an attendance of up to two hundred thousand pilgrims both in the 15th and in the 18th century. Even in our own days there are collective pilgrimages from Switzerland and from abroad, besides numerous individual pilgrimages. The sacred image, venerated today, dates from 1400. The original color of the face and hands in the course of the centuries remained blackened by the smoke of the votive candles of the small chapel. The principal feasts are those of the Madonna of E. (July 16) and of the Assumption. A particular feature of the Marian cult in E. is constituted by the solemn singing of the Salve Regina, practiced every day after vespers since 1548. The monks of the Benedictine abbey devote themselves to the spiritual assistance of the pilgrims; it counts (1952) 126 priests, 10 professed non-priests and 59 lay brothers; about eighty between priests and lay brothers are, however, occupied elsewhere, especially in institutes and schools of Switzerland and abroad. The present monastery, built in 1700, and its basilica, consecrated in 1735, are numbered among the most notable Baroque buildings north of the Alps.
Pius X with a motu proprio of May 7, 1907 declared it an abbey nullius. Pius XII with the apostolic constitution Insignis Einsiedlensis of December 13, 1947 reconfirmed the privilege granted in perpetuity to the abbot pro tempore and all the rights, powers and privileges proper to nullius prelatures, expressly derogating from the provision of can. 319, 2 of the CIC (AAS. 40 [1948], pp. 142-43).
Bibliography6 works
Teodoro Schwegler