Arrest for a cardinal

Uuuuuuoooo, Ouuuuuuuu - Even if some may suspect it now: the introduction is not a misguided key combination. It is an attempt to put wolf howls into letters. After all, the following story is - also - about the Wolfsklamm. And since the spectacular gorge is called this way, one may assume that the name has its reason. Why should
there have been no wolves there? After all, bears have been hanging around there. The fate of the last bear living in North Tyrol is even involved in this story. But of it later....
Back to the Wolfsklamm.

Yes, and then you look at two churches. The pilgrimage church with its annexes and - on the right on the hillside - the "original church" of St. Georgenberg, the Linden Church. The church "zu unserer Lieben Frau unter der Linde", as it is called in full, is well worth a visit. In the course of recent restoration work, frescoes by the Baroque artist Christoph Anton Mayr (1720 - 1771) were discovered in the church ceiling. Some of the best-preserved scenes have now been uncovered and remain visible. The history of Georgenberg reaches back to the time around 950. At that time, the blessed Rathold of Aibling built a first chapel including a monastery for a small community of monks. On this old history

also referred to a legendary sentence of Abbot Albert Grauß (1895 - 1973) on the occasion of the abolition of the monastery of St. Georgenberg/Fiecht by the Nazi regime in 1941, which indeed dreamed of the "thousand-year Reich". "We already have the thousand years behind us," the superior of the order called out to the Gestapo henchmen. Back to the prehistory. The monastery was elevated to the status of a Benedictine abbey in 1138 and was soon granted extensive lands in the Inn Valley and Achen Valley (including Lake Achen). It became a much-visited place of pilgrimage and was the burial place of the Lords of Schlitters, of Rottenburg and other noble benefactors. In 1450 the monastery ARREST FOR A CARDINAL was granted the right of asylum by Emperor Frederick III, which is still commemorated by the Freiungssäule, the popularly known "Weiß-Marter" on the road to Georgenberg. Devastating fires in 1284, 1448 and 1637 required extensive rebuilding. By the way, from 1619 to 1622 the monastery was also a prison. Cardinal Melchior Khlesl, Bishop of Vienna and Chancellor of Emperor Matthias II (grandson of Emperor Charles V) and as such a gray eminence in the Empire, fell out of favor with the Emperor's brothers Ferdinand (the future Emperor) and Maxilian the "Deutschmeister" after his death and was arrested. Because of its exposed location, St. Georgenberg was chosen as the ideal prison. However, because of the prominent prisoner or to prevent his release, the pilgrims were subjected to rigorous controls (the guard force included 23 soldiers), which is why the pilgrimage almost came to a standstill. This meant an enormous loss of income and brought the monastery to the brink of ruin. The situation was aggravated by the fact that although the imperial house had agreed to pay the living expenses of the prisoner and his guards (in the end there were 7000 florins on the books), these debts were only paid off after 18 years. On the other hand, the table for the prisoner had to be - as it was stated in a contemporary document - "very rich, so that the Cardinal would hardly have cause to complain. The Georgenberg stay was certainly not a starvation cure for the ecclesiastical dignitary. He and his entourage were "entitled to 10 or 12 meals at noon and at night", namely "1 chicken in soup, 1 piece of beef, 1 castraun (castrated ram) or calf's pate, 1 pate of a lampl, pate of chickens or birds, carminades (cutlets) or little spit, At night for it from a Häpen (ham) a Speiß or Picädl (small, thin slices of veal or liver), 2 preserves, one from Castraunen and the other from a Lampfleisch, tear, cabbage, Arditschoppen (Artischoken), green Arbesen (peas) or from other obß (fruit) ain Spaiß, at night the associated salad. In the weeks twice from the tenantry a warm Pastetl or other Speiß". *) Moreover, Khlesl drank a lot of wine of the best quality - so he did not suffer from hunger and thirst, the highborn prisoner, whose picture can be admired in the refectory of St. Georgenberg.

And how did the mountain monastery become a valley monastery? After another fire in 1705 and because of the constant danger of avalanches, the monastery community moved to Fiecht in the valley. As early as 1725, however, the image of the Sorrowful Mother was transferred back to the holy mountain, where a pilgrimage hospice was built from the ruins. The refectory with stuccowork and the prelate's room, which are worth seeing, are still preserved from the former abbey. On the first floor there is a restaurant with a large garden. The vaults of the church are decorated with two large and several small frescoes in the Nazarene style, created in 1863 by Franz Lair. Artistically and for the pilgrimage is especially important the high altar from the 18th century, in which the carved image of the Mother of Sorrows from 1415 is integrated. The lateral figures of St. James and Blessed Rathold as well as the altar structure with the seven sorrows of Mary and the tabernacle were carved by the famous Franz Xaver Nissl (1731-1804) from Fügen in the Zillertal. The tower from the 17th century has two Romanesque basements with head consoles. The staircase-like end dates from 1866. At the foot of the rock, on which the pilgrimage ensemble can be seen from afar, the Stallenbach and the Georgenberger Bach join to form the Staner Bach. The Stallenbach rises in the Stallental, into which an easy hiking trail leads (fit marchers can continue to the Lamsenhütte and - past the Binsalm - to the Engalm). On the way to Stallental you pass the Bärenrast, which commemorates the shooting of the last North Tyrolean bear on May 14, 1898. Since Master Petz had been sighted several times in previous years, the May 24, 1897 issue of the "Boten für Tirol" recommended that St. Georgenberg pilgrims carry a shooting stick in addition to the rosary.... Logically, the hunting party led by Constantin Count Thun-Hohenstein, which blew out the life of this last North Tyrolean bear on May 14, 1898, carried a shooting stick. At that time Johann Lindebner (born 1878) from Stans was also part of the party. The "Obal Hansal", as the locals called him, was a fibber who would have held a candle to the lying baron Münchhausen. After the bear had been shot, he gave a drastic description of how he suddenly found himself face to face with the bear. On the tense question, what happened then, the Hansal did not hesitate long and answered like from the pistol shot: "G'fress'n hot er mi!" He survived the bear by 63 years...

@ Peter Hörhager