Pilgrimage to Germany

Abbeys are governed by abbots or abbesses who reside and oversee self-supported religious compound of buildings and land. Catholic holy men or women live, work, and worship together there, practicing extreme self-denial and abstaining from any form of indulgence within their everyday secluded lives. Abbeys must have a minimum of twelve members and most abbeys today belong to the Benedictine order. Abbeys must have a minimum of twelve members to be considered an abbey and most abbeys today belong to the Benedictine order.

A monastery is a religious complex which includes a chapel or church and also provides residence to those who have consecrated themselves to religious vows or a particular order. It is a place where one can focus on their faith in isolation, away from the distractions of the world. In its simplest form, it is a place where nuns or monks live in community together.

The Passion Play is performed once every decade in Oberammergau, a quaint German town in the Bavarian Alps. Except during times of war and/or pandemics, this play has been performed by the local townspeople every tenth year since 1634; a return gift from the villagers to God for sparing them from the bubonic plague that had devasted their population just a few years before. For more information, please see our Oberammergau page here.

Rich in history, this 18th century Rococo church was built in southern Germany among vineyards on the banks of Lake Constance. This lake shares borders with three different countries: Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The church and its predecessors have been a local and international pilgrimage destination since the early Middle Ages.

The Black Forest is a heavily wooded, mountainous region, located in the southwestern portion of Germany. The territory is about one-hundred miles long, and thirty miles wide and is where the Danube river originates, and where the majestic Rhine river skirts along the western edge of the forest. In German, it is known as the Schwartzwald and is famous for its cuckoo clocks, natural thermal hot springs, and natural beauty.

Also known as the “Lourdes of Germany,” this small chapel is situated on the banks of the Rhine River about 60 miles east of Munich. It is most likely the oldest church in Germany and attracts millions of pilgrims who seek miraculous healings every year. Pilgrimages to this shrine began after the first recorded miracle occurred here in 1489, when a desperate mother laid the dead body of her drowned child before the statue of Our Lady and the child came back to life and survived.