Speaking of Faith!

Today was our first foray into the Alsatian countryside as we have really been taking it easy the last few days while we recovered from the journey here - guess we aren't quite as young as we used to be when I could bounce back from an overseas flight in less than a day.  The wonderful thing about today was that it was sunny without a single cloud in the sky with a high forecast of 21'.  Bliss!

With my sister's interest in religion (okay, much more than merely an "interest"), today we headed to Mont Sainte-Odile, a pilgrimage site which is considered to be emblematic of the Catholic church in Alsace, along with the cathedral in Strasbourg.  It dates from more than 1300 years ago.  The legend of Sainte-Odile is as follows:

Odile de Hohenbourg was born in 620 to the Duke of Alsace Adalric, better known as Etichon.  She was born blind and denied by her father.  Her mother then placed her in the monastery of Baume-les-Dames. The young woman regained her sight when St Erhard, her uncle, baptized her.  Her father offered her his castle of Hohenbourg as a penance, which she transformed into a convent around 700.  Difficult to access due to its geographical location, Odile also built an annex monastery at an altitude of 511m, the Abbey of Niedermünster.  It was on her way to Niedermunster one day that Odile crossed paths with a blind man who implored her to help him.  With the help of her stick, she made a spring gush out of the rock, which cured the blind man of his blindness.  The source then became an important place of pilgrimage for the sick with eye problems, and Sainte-Odile became the Holy Healer invoked by the blind.  The spring still flows against the side of Mont Sainte-Odile.  The saint disappeared around 720.  Her relics rest in a sarcophagus visible to visitors in a chapel of the Abbey.

The important places to visit at the site are the Chapel of Sainte-Odile's Tomb, the Chapel of the Angel (closed), the Chapel of Tears (closed) and the Chapel of Notre Dame of the Assumption.  In addition, the sandstone buildings and views from the mountain (753m) were impressive.  

The Chapel of the Angel

The Chapel of Sainte-Odile

Inside the Chapel of Our Lady of the Assumption

As I mentioned, the views from the site are spectacular so here are some additional photos.

For a much more detailed description of the legend and the history of the site, you could check out:  https://catholicmagazine.news/st-odile-of-alsace-blind-to-herself-an-eagle-for-god/ 

Following our visit to Mont Sainte-Odile, we headed down the mountain (very challenging and winding road to drive, by the way) to Obernai, one of my top 5 Alsatian wine villages on the Route des Vins d'Alsace.  There, we walked around a bit and had lunch.  The half-timbered buildings in the region of France are so charming and quaint.

Next up was another significant religious site in this area:  the Eglise Saint Maurice in Ebermunster.  Ebersmunster Abbey was a Benedictine abbey located in the commune of Ebersmunster in the Bas-Rhin department, not far from the town of Sélestat.  It was a Benedictine abbey until the French Revolution.  Today the baroque church, Eglise St. Maurice, serves as a parish church. 

The reason I took my sister here, aside from how very pretty the building is, was that the organ in the church is the last one built by the famous organ builder named Andreas Silbermann.  (Surely I must have already mentioned she studied the organ, is an organist and is sort of an organ aficionado.)  The church organ is considered one of two surviving mostly unaltered Andreas Silbermann organs in existence.  He started this instrument in 1730 and completed this (now) 29-stop/41-rank organ in 1731.  The instrumental part of the organ has been classified as a historical landmark on September 24, 1971 while the organ case was classified on December 6, 1972. 

Then, after a very busy day, we headed back to Rhinau where, I have to say, I was more than ready for a glass (or two or three) of Alsatian wine!