Luthern Bad
The Black Madonna,
Our Lady of Einsiedeln, copy
In the pilgrimage church Maria Heilbronn in the village 6156 Luthern, a 3 minute walk from the healing well, Canton Lucerne, between Bern and Lucerne. photo: Pius Häfliger
An ex voto depicting the Black Madonna’s meeting with Jakob Minder in his dream. Screen shot from the documentary mentioned below.
In 1581, a poor farmer by name of Jakob Minder lived with his wife and six daughters on his little farm. He had been suffering from gout for years and it had gotten so bad that he couldn’t even work at all. His family suffered hunger. At that point, Our Lady came to his aid in a dream: He saw himself praying before the Black Madonna of Einsiedeln and she instructed him to dig for water behind his house and wash himself with it. She also told him that she was going to take the place of a mother for his daughters.
The next morning, he dug with his wife in the place the Mother of God had shown him. Immediately water gushed forth. He washed himself as instructed and was healed instantly.
The news of this spread quickly, a chapel was built, and pilgrims came from near and far.
Only, the price for this miracle and gift to the world was steep: That same year, it became clear what the Madonna had meant by “taking the place of mother to his daughters”: they all died during the week before Christmas.[i] Poor Jakob was accused of murder.
We have to consider that in the 16th century, especially for a poor family, six daughters spelled catastrophe, because one needed a dowry to marry them off. If one couldn’t afford that, they had to remain unwed and serve as maids for the more wealthy, a shame on the family and themselves.
The Lucerne council and the church authorities investigated the whole thing closely but thankfully concluded that the events were truly of divine origin.
This story reminds me of Lourdes, where the one who uncovered the sacred, healing well (St. Bernadette Soubirou) had to live a harsh life in a convent and die young after a very painful illness. Two of the three visionaries in Fatima also got to go home to heaven soon after the apparitions and the third wished she could have gone with them. As Isaih 55:8-9 says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
The White Madonna in the old chapel of Luthern Bad
photo: Josef Brülisauer
In 1752, a larger pilgrimage church and monastery was built in Luthern (right next to Luthern Bad) and called “Maria Heilbronn” (Mary Healing Well). From 1846-1904, it served as the headquarters and novitiate of the Forest Brothers and hermits for the dioceses of Basel and Chur.
For some reason the Madonna that came out of the old church and also the one at the well are White. Only the modern copy of the Black Madonna of Einsiedeln in the new church built in the 1950s is truly Black. Why? Hans Herrmann, in his article: “Das Wunderwasser der Luzerner Bauern” suggests that maybe the story of the Madonna taking those six girls “home” was too scary a reminder of the ancient black goddesses like Hekate, Queen of the underworld, who demanded the sacrifice of foods, dogs, and sometimes even humans. Maybe white Madonnas were brought in because people wanted to forget this “dark” side of Mary taking the children.[ii] She had put the fear of the Black Madonna into them.
The healing spring, the “Badbrünneli”, still enjoys great appeal today and makes Luthern-Bad one of the most important Marian pilgrimage sites. According to Isidor Lustenberger, it is “the Einsiedeln of the little man”, but its appeal is growing. In 2018, a beautiful “arm and foot bath” was built in a man-made cave next to the old chapel and spring. I would call it the Lourdes of Switzerland. Here as there miraculous healings continue to this day.
The old chapel and the “well of grace” (Gnadenbrunnen)
the modern underground bathhouse with open skylight next to the old chapel and well of grace
the arm bath and open skylight
the foot bath
There is a traditional inn in the village and a yurt village for the alternative pilgrim.
Footnotes:
[i] Father Alois Schuermann says that within half a year from the apparition all 6 daughters were dead, see: documentary film by Margrit R. Schmid “Schwarz bin ich und schoen: die Verehrung der schwarzen Madonna in der Schweiz” aired by the Swiss public broadcasting Company SRF. Hans Herrmann explains that they all died the week before Christmas of the year of the apparition. See the article: Das Wunderwasser der Luzerner Bauern (the Miracle Water of the Peasants of Luzern)
[ii] ibid. under sub heading “Russ oder Kohle?”
Other sources:
luzernerzeitung.ch/zentralschweiz/luzern/sommerserie-wasser-die-heilende-kraft-des-wassers-von-luthern-bad
https://www.kathbern.ch/pfarrblatt/sommerserie-2021/luthern-bad
https://www.a6-architekten.ch/projekte/oeffentliche-bauten/produkt-detail/badehaus-luthern-bad/