The Habsberg near Velburg in the county of Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate is a place of pilgrimage in the Oberpfalz Jura. On the mountain is the church of Our Lady of Health (''Maria Heil der Kranken''), a chapel of grace, and a diocesan youth house belonging to the

Diocese of Eichstätt In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

. The mountain is 621 metres high.

History

In the Middle Ages there was a small castle on the Habsberg known as

Habsberg Castle The Habsberg near Velburg in the county of Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate is a place of pilgrimage in the Oberpfalz Jura. On the mountain is the church of Our Lady of Health (''Maria Heil der Kranken''), a chapel of grace, and a diocesan yo ...

, of which a

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

has survived to the present day. The origin of the pilgrimage is associated with the construction of the first chapel around 1680. According to local accounts a man fell from the Helfenburg near Lengenfeld fell very ill with gout. As he prayed, he heard a voice that said to him that he should build a chapel on the Habsberg. So the estate was purchased and, in 1682, the chapel was completed. The Habsberg became well known for being the site of several

miraculous healing Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

s. As a result, in 1730 a larger chapel was built. In 1760 the church of Our Lady of Health (''Maria Heil der Kranken'') was built in the rococo style. Today it is the pilgrimage church. In 1961 a youth house was built which has been remodelled several times. Halfway up the mountain is a woodland cemetery.

External links

Haus am Habsberg

Habsberg on the diocesan website

{{Coord, 49.31321, N, 11.63201, E, type:landmark_region:DE-BY, display=title, format=dms Neumarkt (district) Catholic pilgrimage sites Roman Catholic churches in Bavaria Pilgrimage churches in Germany