This Marian shrine is commonly called “the Lourdes of Germany”

Our Lady of Altötting, also known as the Chapel of Grace, is the national shrine of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. It is the most famous and oldest Marian shrine in Southern Germany, dating back to Carolingian times, at the time of the holy bishop St. Rupert. The current statue, blackened by time and candle smoke, however, was made in the 14th century.

Several important individuals - including the reigning dukes and kings of the Wittelsbach family (the family of the famous Empress "Sissi"), and the remains of the pious Commandant Tilly - have had their hearts placed in an urn or buried beneath the chapel's paving stones.

German Catholics remember these important dates:

• In 1650, the population made a 500 km pilgrimage on foot to thank Mary for preserving their Catholic faith after the wars of Religion.
• During the terrible Nazi period, the shrine and its pilgrims were persecuted, yet the number of visitors to Our Lady of Altötting continued to grow.
• In 1934, the Capuchin friar Conrad of Parzham (d. 1894) was canonized. Throughout his life, he had been the doorkeeper of the Capuchin convent in Altötting, and had a radiant Marian piety. More than half a million pilgrims came to visit the shrine that year!
• During the Second World War, the SS Nazi troops, seeing the arrival of the American army, entrenched themselves in the Altötting convent after having shot the dean. The Americans ordered them to turn on the electricity otherwise they would bomb the place. The Nazis refused, but a brave pilgrim managed to turn on the light, paying for this courageous act with his life while saving the shrine from destruction.

On November 18, 1980, Pope John Paul II visited Altötting, and on September 11, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI came to celebrate the Eucharist and the evening service.

 Attilio Galli, Madre della Chiesa nei cinque continenti, edizioni Segno, 1996.