Qualla: Einsiedeln Abbey

Einsiedeln Abbey: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roland zh, CC BY-SA 3.0. Eight hundred thousand people visit each year, and most of them come for the same reason pilgrims have come since the Middle Ages: a small dark statue in a small dark chapel, inside one of the grandest Baroque churches in Switzerland. The Black Madonna of Einsiedeln sits in the Chapel of Grace, dressed in elaborate vestments that are changed regularly, her carved face darkened by centuries of candle smoke and devotion. She is not the oldest reason to come here -- that would be the legend that Christ himself consecrated this chapel in 948 -- but she is the reason people keep coming back.

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Image: Roland zh | CC BY-SA 3.0

Einsiedeln Abbey: The Hermit and the Robbers

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tschubby, CC BY-SA 3.0. The story begins with a murder. Meinrad of Einsiedeln, born in 797 in Sulchen, was educated at the abbey school on Reichenau Island before becoming a Benedictine monk and priest. After gaining unwanted public attention for reportedly performing miracles, he retreated in 828 to th...

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Image: Tschubby | CC BY-SA 3.0

Einsiedeln Abbey: Consecrated by Christ, Claimed by Pilgrims

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roland zh, CC BY-SA 3.0. According to legend, when the new church was to be consecrated in 948, Christ himself performed the rite, honoring his mother Mary. The story of this miraculous consecration launched one of the great medieval pilgrimages. Originally, visitors came for the chapel that Christ had b...

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Image: Roland zh | CC BY-SA 3.0

Einsiedeln Abbey: Invasion, Exile, and the Monks of Indiana

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MarkusMark, CC BY-SA 3.0. The abbey's independence was shattered in 1798 when French revolutionary soldiers occupied the monastery, stripping Einsiedeln of its status as an independent principality. The monks were expelled but returned in 1801, and the abbey was formally reinstated by the Act of Mediation...

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Image: MarkusMark | CC BY-SA 3.0

Einsiedeln Abbey: A Living Monastery

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Monster4711, CC BY-SA 4.0. Einsiedeln is not a museum. Forty Benedictine monks live and work here, a number that has held steady thanks to a continuous stream of new vocations -- unusual for European monasteries. The community operates a private high school with over 400 students, a winery, a sawmill, a re...

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Image: Monster4711 | CC BY-SA 4.0