Eucharistic Miracle of Weingarten

The Story

Weingarten, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany, is home to one of Europe's most venerable devotions to the Precious Blood of Christ. The Basilica of St. Martin — the former abbey church of Weingarten Abbey and the largest baroque church north of the Alps — preserves the Heilig-Blut-Reliquie, a relic venerated as blood of Christ mingled with earth from Calvary. According to the traditional account, the relic derives from blood-stained earth gathered at the Crucifixion, associated in legend with the soldier Longinus, and preserved at Mantua in Italy, where portions were discovered and divided in the eleventh century. Tradition holds that a portion passed to Emperor Henry III and from him to Count Baldwin V of Flanders, whose daughter Judith of Flanders gave it to Weingarten Abbey in 1094. From that time the relic became the abbey's greatest treasure and the object of a pilgrimage that has continued for more than nine centuries. The most distinctive expression of the devotion is the Blutritt, or Blood Ride, held each year on Blutfreitag, the Friday after Ascension. A priest bearing the relic rides through the town and surrounding fields accompanied by thousands of mounted riders in traditional dress, invoking Christ's blessing on the land — a procession regarded as the largest equestrian procession in Europe. First recorded in writing in 1529 as already an old custom, it was interrupted in the early nineteenth century and restored in 1849. Devotion to the Precious Blood directs the faithful to the Passion of Christ, whose blood was shed for the salvation of the world, and to the Eucharist, in which that same blood is received sacramentally. Pilgrims today visit the basilica on the Martinsberg to venerate the relic, admire its famed Gabler organ and baroque interior, and — above all on Blood Friday — join a living tradition of faith that has shaped Upper Swabia for centuries.

Church Recognition

A devotion long sanctioned by the Church: the relic has been venerated at Weingarten since its donation by Judith of Flanders in 1094, and the annual Blutritt procession on the Friday after Ascension continues with the full participation of the local Church.

Catholic Teaching

The veneration of the Holy Blood relic reflects the Church's approval of the veneration of relics (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1674) and directs the faithful to the Passion of Christ, whose blood, poured out on the cross, is received sacramentally in the Eucharist.

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Practical

1 Additional Information ▾

Weingarten Basilica preserves the relic; the Blutritt is among Europe's largest mounted processions.

Go Deeper

The parish of St. Martin Weingarten (https://www.st-martin-weingarten.de) provides information on the basilica, the Holy Blood relic and the annual Blutritt. For the Church's teaching on relics and popular piety, see Catechism of the Catholic Church 1674–1676.