10th March : Our Lady Of The Vine
10th March
Our Lady Of The Vine
Country : Italy
Year : 1112
The origin of this German shrine near Wurzburg, was toward the end of the fifteenth century when a vinegrower set up a small “pieta” as a wayside alter.
In 1504 attention was called to it in connection with the sudden cure of a man who had been hurt in a quarrel. A small wooden chapel was built, then a stone one, and in 1613 this was enlarged. The shrine was first called Our Lady in the Sandy Place, but is now known locally as Our Lady of the vineyards or of the Vine. Dettelbach is a lovely example of a quiet, lesser-known German sanctuary. For four hundred years, the Friars Minor cared for it, and the seal of St. Francis is stamped on the place.
The “pieta” is a very small image, only about eighteen inches tall’ it stands on a pedestal, beneath a marble canopy that towers up to the vault of the church.
