Our Dear Lady's 'chapel of grace' is the oldest Christian site in Bavaria. It dates back to 680 when St. Rupert baptized the first prince of Bavaria in this holy place. What used to be the octagonal baptismal chapel is now the church tower and heart of the sanctuary. A nave for services and a gallery have been added. The latter houses hundreds of ex-voti, which cover the walls and ceiling. There is not an inch left for more of these illustrated miracle stories. It's an impressive testimony to Our Dear Lady's power and compassion, as well as the faith and gratitude of her devotees.

Monique Scheer analyzed the ex-voti and reports that the Madonna is portrayed as white until 1730, and after 1750 she is always depicted as dark.(*1) Not that she necessarily wasn't dark before that. According to Brigitte Romankiewicz, she was already invoked as a Black Mary during the 30 Years War in the first half of the 17th century. She may have been intentionally darkened a little during the 1730s, but more likely many people just didn't perceive her as a Black Madonna until then. Somehow people apparently started really appreciating her color during the first half of the 18th century. They valued the mystery of her darkness so much that they painted the whole inside of her chapel black. Now all who step inside as it were enter the dark, nurturing womb of their Heavenly Mother.

In 907 Altötting was ransacked by the Hungarians and laid waste for 300 years. The present image of Mary, probably replacing an earlier one, was installed in 1330, but did not become famous until 1489. What happened that year?

They say a three year old boy fell into a creek and floated in it for half an hour until he was pulled out "completely dead." The distraught mother, with great trust in the Virgin, carried the dead child to the holy chapel and laid it on the altar. With her companions she fell on her knees and begged for the revival of her child. Immediately her son came back to life.

Soon another miracle happened: A farmer, returning home from the fields with a horse drawn wagon full of grain, had set his six year old son on the horse. The boy fell off and under the wagon. He was crushed so badly that there was no hope for his life. But the family made an oath and called upon the Mother of God. On the next day the boy's health was restored one hundred percent.(*2)

News of the intercessory power of Our Dear Lady of Altötting spread like wild fire and soon hundreds of thousands of pilgrims started coming each year from all over Europe. And so it continues to this day.

During the 30 Years War King Maximilian of Bavaria consecrated himself and his country to the Virgin of Altötting by writing her a letter, using his own blood as the ink. Since then the hearts of the kings of Bavaria, including Emperor Karl VII, have been set to rest in this Chapel of Grace, keeping a sort of royal honor guard.

*1: Monique Scheer, www.historycooperative.press.uiuc.edu/journals/ahr/107.5/ah0502001412.html , p. 22
* 2: These medieval accounts are quoted in Brigitte Romankiewicz, Die schwarze Madonna:Hintergründe einer Symbolgestalt, p. 44