Two Ravens a Miracle

Two Ravens a Miracle

By Mr. Ghaz, May 28, 2010

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Two Ravens a Miracle

Nestled in a lakeside valley some 30 miles southeast of Zurich, Switzerland, lie the town and Benedictine monastery of Einsiedeln. Every year, the town plays host to thousands of pilgrims who come to pay homage to the monastery’s Black Madonna, an unusual black statue of the Virgin Mary. Visitors also hear the story of how the holy icon came to be there.

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In A.D. 840 Meinrad, a monk from the Benedictine abbey of Reichenau went into the mountains to become a hermit. He took with him a statue, the Black Madonna (a gift from the abbess of Zurich), and settled in a remote cave overlooking Lake Sihl.

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Meinrad lived in this simple cell for more than 20 years. Legend says that he befriended two ravens, so loyal they would bring the holy man food to eat.

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Simple as Meinrad’s life was, a pair of thieves suspected that the monk was hiding something of worldly value greater than his treasured icon. In 863 they attacked Meinrad in his cell and killed him. Their greed turned to terror when two candles in the cave lit of their own accord, and the two ravens began to shriek, cry, and harass them.

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Although the thieves fled as far as Zurich, the ravens pursued them, pecking at them and flapping their wings until the two villains were arrested.

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Holy Place: The Chapel of Grace, with the famous statue of the Black Madonna, is inside the church of the Benediction monastery of Einsiedeln in Switzerland.

In 940, in memory of Meinrad, the Benedictines established a monastery near the site of Meinrad’s cave, and in 948 a new church was built to house the Madonna. But as Bishop Conrad of Constance began the service of consecration, a great voice sounded three times throughout the church: “Stop, stop, brother! God Himself has consecrated this building,” it commanded.

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In 964, Pope Leo VIII issued a papal bull pronouncing the event a miracle, blessing all who made the pilgrimage to Einsiedeln.

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Meinrad was canonized in the 13th century. In memory of the ravens, for many years afterward the brothers at Einsiedeln used to catch a raven each fall, feed it through the winter, and set it free in spring.