Bamberg believes the silver madonna will be followed
Rooty scent filled the packed st. James church. Many men and women had brought herb bushes with them, which are traditionally used for the feast of the assumption of the blessed virgin mary to be bound and blessed. Although it was not so easy this year to look for herbs in the wild: "everything has dried up," laughed christine neubauer, christine neubauer from tutschengereuth, for example, regretted that she had put together a bunch of her own watered garden: peppermint, clover, golden rue, thyme and blood drop made a handsome bouquet. "It’s going to be in the house all year", laughed christine neubauer.
400 years of sodality
For them it was not only a pious duty to attend the festive service with auxiliary bishop herwig gossl. "I am in the sodalitat, already my parents-in-law were members", the tutschengereuther paid off. The marianische herren- und burgersodalitat bamberg, a catholic lay association with currently 330 members, was already confirmed by rome in 1618. Exists now for exactly 400 years and celebrated on the occasion of this anniversary their titular feast "maria himmelfahrt" just especially wordig.
Professor peter bruns celebrated with the suffragan bishop, deacon georg paszek fulfilled his part of the service, organist florian walz supported the powerful congregational singing with all stops, and cantor ulrich bosch sang the kyrie or the hallelujah with a warm baritone.
An intimate atmosphere prevailed in st. Jacob, enriched by the consecration of a votive offering to the mother of god, which sodality prefect martin sauer held out to suffragan bishop gossl on a velvet cushion: a silver heart in which the names of all the members are engraved. "This votive offering is a sign of what we should do in every service, namely open our hearts to christ and sincere faith", the auxiliary bishop declared, blessing the gift and "all who are included in it".
From "imagine to the worship of mary
In his appealing sermon, he managed to bridge the gap from the song "imagine" of the beatle john lennon to the strong belief in god, to the veneration of mary, whose admission into heaven is "the last consequence of her orientation towards god and mankind" be.
It was also consistent for both celebrants and worshipers to openly declare their testimony of faith. In the "little procession of mary we went out through the mountain area, past houses decorated with female yellow flags and flowers to the st. Faithful church and back again.
The center of the procession was, of course, the holy of holies, which the priests took turns carrying in the monstrance under the baldachin. All the prayers, litanies and songs were sung to the mother of god, but always as a mediator to her son jesus christ. The "O heavenly queen" sounded all the more moving: "we give you into your hand our homeland, our frankenland…"
Yes, in this friendly demonstration of french piety nothing was missing that belongs to a good procession: a brass band – the music association of muhlendorf under the direction of johannes luft -, the decorated silver madonna, curious spectators at the side of the road, police cars as roadblocks or sanitarians of the malteser relief service for possible emergencies.
Residents with shining eyes
Only one thing was unusual and therefore all the more eye-catching: in rows of chairs the elderly residents of the walburgis home watched the event unfold. Helpful nurses had placed them in the gate area and made sure that even old eyes began to shine.
