Hülfensberg
Encyclopedia
The Hülfensberg is a 448 m high, heavily wooded mountain in the Geismar
municipality in the Eichsfeld district
, Thuringia
, Germany
. The mountain has been a pilgrimage
site since the late Middle Ages, and on its summit are a church containing a 12th-century crucifix
, a Franciscan
monastery, a chapel dedicated to Saint Boniface
, and a large free-standing cross.
The medieval name for the mountain was Stuffenberg, from which the supposed Germanic god Stuffo
derives his name. According to some sources the name was changed in the 14th century (or around 1400) because of a famous crucifix in the church, the Hülfenskreuz; another etymology for the modern name was given in 1575, based on the legend that Boniface had defeated an army of unbelievers on the mountain, which was subsequently named Hülfensberg (helfen: to help) in reference to divine help
.
crucifix. It is one of the most popular pieces of sacral art in the Erfurt diocese as well as one of the most important.
The wooden sculpture is of Christ as a king looking straight ahead (in a "strong frontality"), wearing a crown. A renovation in 1850 reconnected the legs with the cross. While the 12th-century origin of the cross is oft-repeated, Georg Dehio
's Handbuch der deutschen kunstdenkmäler states that it may well be a later imitation.
The crucifix is placed on a red background covered with gold stars. The frame bears a motto in Latin, Salve Crux Pretiosa (Hail, precious cross). According to the local Franciscans, occasionally miracles happen on the site.
), dated circa 1000.
The oldest document pertaining to the Hülfensberg is a papal deed from 1351, which names the parish St. Salvator auf dem Stuffenberg. A later deed naming the location is dated 30 May 1352; at this time the Hülfensberg belonged to the St. Martin monastery in Heilbad Heiligenstadt
, which in turn handed over the patronage to the Cistercian monastery of Anrode in 1357. Pilgrimages to the Hülfenskreuz, found at the church's Gnadenaltar, started from Anrode.
In 1583 the area and its church were transferred to the Archbishopric of Mainz
, and remained Catholic during the Protestant Reformation
. In the course of time, the St. Salvator church was expanded and renovated a number of times, most notably during the Baroque
era. In 1810, the Anrode monastery was dissolved by Jérôme Bonaparte
and sold, with all its possessions, to Franz Just Wedemeyer, of the Wedemeyer family, making the Hülfensberg private property. Eleven years later, Wedemeyer gave the top of the mountain, with its church, to the bishop. In 1890, the church was again expanded, in a neo-Gothic style
, by Franciscan architect Paschalis Gratze. The original Boniface chapel, adjacent to the church, was torn down and rebuilt on a different location; the foundation of the old chapel was the base for the new apse
, with altar
and choir. In 1984, while the church was located in East-Germany, the roof on a church tower was renovated with materials paid for in West-German money through Genex, the East-German commercial exchange.
, built in 1903 on the foundations of an earlier chapel. According to local legend, this is where Boniface cut down a Donar Oak, a sacred, pagan tree, in the early 8th century. This legend is based on the proximity of the village Geismar, a place mentioned in the Boniface vitae—but, scholars agree now, this is in reference to another Geismar, now a part of Fritzlar
in northern Hesse
.
Another legend says that Boniface stood on the top of the Hülfensberg and said, Wann wird endlich Frieden schweben über dieser schönen Aue ("when will peace at last hover over this lovely forest?"). Folk etymology derived from his supposed words the local place names Wanfried
, Frieda (in Meinhard)
, Schwebda (likewise in Meinhard), and Aue (in Wanfried).
During the Kulturkampf
, the monastery was forced to close for twelve years. When in May 1952 the East-German government strengthened the nearby border and its Sperrzone (which placed the Hülfensberg inside the protected zone), the monastery and the church suffered a steep drop in attendance.
As of 2011, four Franciscans live in the monastery, which belongs to the German Franciscan province of St. Elisabeth
, whose seat is in Munich
.
Geismar
Geismar is a Thuringian municipality in the district of Eichsfeld in Germany....
municipality in the Eichsfeld district
Eichsfeld (district)
Eichsfeld is a district in Thuringia, Germany, and part of the historical region of Eichsfeld. It is bounded by the districts of Nordhausen, Kyffhäuserkreis and Unstrut-Hainich, and by the states of Hesse and Lower Saxony .-History:In medieval times the Eichsfeld, which is larger than the...
, Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The mountain has been a pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
site since the late Middle Ages, and on its summit are a church containing a 12th-century crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
, a Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
monastery, a chapel dedicated to Saint Boniface
Saint Boniface
Saint Boniface , the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid, Wynfrith, or Wynfryth in the kingdom of Wessex, probably at Crediton , was a missionary who propagated Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He is the patron saint of Germany and the first archbishop of Mainz...
, and a large free-standing cross.
The medieval name for the mountain was Stuffenberg, from which the supposed Germanic god Stuffo
Stuffo
Stuffo is the name of a supposed Germanic god, who originates from various late medieval legends from Germany related to Saint Boniface.-Origin:...
derives his name. According to some sources the name was changed in the 14th century (or around 1400) because of a famous crucifix in the church, the Hülfenskreuz; another etymology for the modern name was given in 1575, based on the legend that Boniface had defeated an army of unbelievers on the mountain, which was subsequently named Hülfensberg (helfen: to help) in reference to divine help
Divine providence
In Christian theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's activity in the world. " Providence" is also used as a title of God exercising His providence, and then the word are usually capitalized...
.
Pilgrimage
The Hülfensberg has been a pilgrimage site since the late Middle Ages, and at one point was one of the seven most popular such sites in Germany; the goal of these pilgrimages was a 12th-century crucifix. Today pilgrimages occur throughout the year. During the East-West division of Germany, the Hülfensberg was less than a kilometer from the border, on the eastern side, meaning that opportunities for pilgrimage were restricted to a small number of people. According to Father Heribert (one of the Franciscan monks, 2010), attendance dropped by two-thirds in 1953, the year after the Hülfensberg was placed inside the expanded and protected border area. Permission for visits to the mountain was usually only granted to locals; all others interested in pilgrimage had to request permission, and half were denied. As of 2010, some 250 pilgrims attend Sunday mass in the church, and 1000 to 2000 people participate in each of the four major pilgrimages per year.Hülfenskreuz
The focal point of pilgrimage on the Hülfensberg is the Hülfenskreuz, a 12th-century RomanesqueRomanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
crucifix. It is one of the most popular pieces of sacral art in the Erfurt diocese as well as one of the most important.
The wooden sculpture is of Christ as a king looking straight ahead (in a "strong frontality"), wearing a crown. A renovation in 1850 reconnected the legs with the cross. While the 12th-century origin of the cross is oft-repeated, Georg Dehio
Georg Dehio
Georg Gottfried Julius Dehio , was a Baltic German art historian ....
's Handbuch der deutschen kunstdenkmäler states that it may well be a later imitation.
The crucifix is placed on a red background covered with gold stars. The frame bears a motto in Latin, Salve Crux Pretiosa (Hail, precious cross). According to the local Franciscans, occasionally miracles happen on the site.
St. Salvator church
On top of the Hülfensberg is the St. Salvator church, which was built circa 1360–1367 as a sanctuary, on the remains of an older church (on the south side of the current church, next to the sacristySacristy
A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...
), dated circa 1000.
The oldest document pertaining to the Hülfensberg is a papal deed from 1351, which names the parish St. Salvator auf dem Stuffenberg. A later deed naming the location is dated 30 May 1352; at this time the Hülfensberg belonged to the St. Martin monastery in Heilbad Heiligenstadt
Heilbad Heiligenstadt
Heilbad Heiligenstadt is a spa town in Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the Eichsfeld district.-Geography:Heiligenstadt is approximately 14 km east of the tripoint where the states of Thuringia, Hesse and Lower Saxony meet...
, which in turn handed over the patronage to the Cistercian monastery of Anrode in 1357. Pilgrimages to the Hülfenskreuz, found at the church's Gnadenaltar, started from Anrode.
In 1583 the area and its church were transferred to the Archbishopric of Mainz
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...
, and remained Catholic during the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. In the course of time, the St. Salvator church was expanded and renovated a number of times, most notably during the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
era. In 1810, the Anrode monastery was dissolved by Jérôme Bonaparte
Jérôme Bonaparte
Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...
and sold, with all its possessions, to Franz Just Wedemeyer, of the Wedemeyer family, making the Hülfensberg private property. Eleven years later, Wedemeyer gave the top of the mountain, with its church, to the bishop. In 1890, the church was again expanded, in a neo-Gothic style
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
, by Franciscan architect Paschalis Gratze. The original Boniface chapel, adjacent to the church, was torn down and rebuilt on a different location; the foundation of the old chapel was the base for the new apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
, with altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
and choir. In 1984, while the church was located in East-Germany, the roof on a church tower was renovated with materials paid for in West-German money through Genex, the East-German commercial exchange.
Boniface chapel
Next to the church is a chapel dedicated to Saint BonifaceSaint Boniface
Saint Boniface , the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid, Wynfrith, or Wynfryth in the kingdom of Wessex, probably at Crediton , was a missionary who propagated Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He is the patron saint of Germany and the first archbishop of Mainz...
, built in 1903 on the foundations of an earlier chapel. According to local legend, this is where Boniface cut down a Donar Oak, a sacred, pagan tree, in the early 8th century. This legend is based on the proximity of the village Geismar, a place mentioned in the Boniface vitae—but, scholars agree now, this is in reference to another Geismar, now a part of Fritzlar
Fritzlar
Fritzlar is a small German town in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, north of Frankfurt, with a storied history. It can reasonably be argued that the town is the site where the Christianization of northern Germany began and the birthplace of the German empire as a political entity.The...
in northern Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
.
Another legend says that Boniface stood on the top of the Hülfensberg and said, Wann wird endlich Frieden schweben über dieser schönen Aue ("when will peace at last hover over this lovely forest?"). Folk etymology derived from his supposed words the local place names Wanfried
Wanfried
Wanfried is a town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeasternmost Hesse, Germany. It is classified as a Landstadt, a designation given in Germany to a municipality that is officially a town , but whose population is below 5,000. It literally means “country town”.-Location:The town lies right on the...
, Frieda (in Meinhard)
Meinhard
Meinhard is a community in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in Hesse, Germany.-Location:The community lies in the North Hesse Low Mountain Range landscape on the edge of the Werra valley, 3 km from the district seat of Eschwege....
, Schwebda (likewise in Meinhard), and Aue (in Wanfried).
Franciscan monastery
Franciscans founded a monastery (the oldest in the Eichsfeld area), also named Hülfensberg, on top of the mountain; on 16 April 1860, two priests and two lay brothers dedicated the monastery—originally, these were to found a new sanctuary at Klüschen Hagis, with the Hülfensberg being nothing but a provisional church.During the Kulturkampf
Kulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
, the monastery was forced to close for twelve years. When in May 1952 the East-German government strengthened the nearby border and its Sperrzone (which placed the Hülfensberg inside the protected zone), the monastery and the church suffered a steep drop in attendance.
As of 2011, four Franciscans live in the monastery, which belongs to the German Franciscan province of St. Elisabeth
Elisabeth of Hungary
Elizabeth of Hungary, T.O.S.F., was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Countess of Thuringia, Germany and a greatly-venerated Catholic saint. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. She then became one of the first members of the newly-founded Third Order of St. Francis,...
, whose seat is in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
.