Wunderblutweg
Dynamic cardsPilgrimage from Berlin to Bad Wilsnack and from there to Tangermünde
In 1383 the robber baron Heinrich von Bülow, who was in feud with the Bishop of Havelberg, burned down the village of Wilsnack. The following day the pastor Johannes Cabbuez found three red-colored hosts in the ruins of the burned down village church on a white linen cloth. What the robber baron didn't want at all happened now.
Wilsnack developed into the third largest pilgrimage destination in Europe. Pilgrims from the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and the British Isles moved to the shrine, which now contained the three blood hosts recognized by the Vatican. Findings of pilgrim badges and engravings on church bells, but also crosses with a hand pointing to the destination Wilsnack, testify to all of this today. The pilgrims came from Germany mainly from Hesse, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Until, yes, until it all came to an end with the Reformation. The local pastor and Lutheran supporter of the time gave the hosts to the fire in 1552.
According to information from Sister Annelies from Linum, a West Berliner who was interested in the path took care of history as early as the GDR era.
The Oefelein family from Kremmen brought the old way back to new honors, documented the route from Berlin, found interested parties who made themselves available as hostel parents, opened many a church door that had been closed until then.
For 130 kilometers it is now back on historic lonely dirt roads, through forests and meadows, along picturesque avenues with little traffic through the Prignitz.
Route
Tangermünde | Bad Wilsnack | Plattenburg | Great Leppin | Little Leppin | Söllenthin | Gorike | Barenthin | Berlitt | Rehfeld | Kyritz | Wusterhausen / Dosse | Butcher | Barsikov | Garz | Manker | Splurge | Fehrbellin | Tarmow | Hook mountain | Linum | Flatow | Bötzow | Hennigsdorf | Berlin-Heiligensee | Berlin Tegel | Berlin center
It is beneficial that the way from Berlin is easy to reach with the S-Bahn (Hennigsdorf).
Crossroads
A copy of the Lübeck wayside cross can be found in Bad Wilsnack today. You have to know that many pilgrims from Scandinavia came to Germany by ship at that time. They landed in Lübeck. The original of the wayside cross on Roeckstrasse can still be found in the Hanseatic city today.
The cross is surrounded with a circle, possibly a halo. "Anno 1396" can be read on the crossbar and the three hosts are enclosed in a kind of house. Crosses sit on the upper two hosts. In the middle of the cross you can read: "to den Wilsnack" (after Wilsnack), an arrow shows the direction and "orate ibi pro nobis" / pray for us.
Pilgrim sign
For the many arriving pilgrims, hardworking monks made lead replicas of the miraculous blood host. You can still buy them today on the annual pilgrimage day in August in Bad Wilsnack. Pilgrims wore them on hats or cloaks as an outward sign of the forgiveness of sins, a sign of a completed pilgrimage and for believing contemplation.
The pilgrim sign consists of three round circles, which are backed by a triangle. The sharp corner also serves as a fastening eyelet. There are two crosses on the top two circles. The circles contain three representations from the passion of Jesus.
Miracles associated with Wilsnack
- Blood host, see above
- Burning candles that were carried from Groß Lüben to the Holy Sacrament in Wilsnack did not leak despite the wind and weather on the way
- the altar in the destroyed church did not get wet even when it rained
- a knight who mocked the miraculous blood went blind and regained his sight because he vowed a pilgrimage to Wilsnack
- Bishop Dietrich von Havelberg had doubts. At the first service after the fire, he consecrated a fourth host, on which there were also drops of blood
Wilsnack - The Santiago of Northern Europe
The pilgrims' destination was and is the late Gothic, three-aisled, cruciform and rib-vaulted hall church of St. Nikolai with the shrine in which the three hosts were kept. With its massive silhouette, it defines the Wilsnacker Land on the edge of the Elbe Valley, halfway between Hamburg and Berlin.
It doesn't seem to fit right in these days, in this little Brandenburg town. And yet the size of this church building is living proof of the importance of this place of pilgrimage. Today the exhibition "Miracles, pilgrimages, adversaries" can be viewed here.
What we know today
... is that a harmless type of bacteria can produce blood-red, viscous stains, especially on moist bread as a breeding ground.
But that doesn't detract from Wilsnack's miracle.
Crossroads Lübeck
Havelberg crossroads
Bad Wilsnack crossroads
Wunderblutkirche
Old town Bad Wilsnack
On the pilgrimage
