Vault Our-Lady-of-Wood of Erbsenthal

The Notre-Dame vault of Wood is located in the Commune Frenchwoman of Eguelshardt and the department of the the Moselle. The building is apart from the Village, in full heart of the Forêt, well off Erbsenthal.

History

In 1859, Malvina Creutzer, the girl of the owner of the field of Erbsenthal, makes rebuild the vault such as it exists today, on the site of the first, undoubtedly destroyed during the Guerre Thirty Year old. The news Chapelle is built in sandstone and stone of size and is covered with tiles punts, Bois and Ardoise. It follows a lengthened plan, with single vessel with a Voûte of warheads. It is about a church-barn with polygonal Chevet. It has a Campanile on the first span of the Nef. Its Toit is with long sides, with croup and polygonal arrow.

In 1860, the priest Rope-maker of Bitche, in a letter addressed to Monseigneur Dupont of the Cabins, bishop of Metz, request the authorization to celebrate the " there; Holy Mass " . He addresses to him a very detailed description of the Chapelle: " Built in the ogival style of on the edge of a thicket of pine S, the Chapelle is ten meters length on three meters of width and four meters height. It is surmounted by elegant a Campanile and has six side Fenêtre S furnished with stained glasses. The furnace bridge in stone carved has two meters sixty centimetres of width on one meter height. A gate vault hones some containing a trunk in Fer with Serrure indécrochetable, a Crucifix and four Chandelier S form the trimming of the furnace bridge. The Vault has splendid a chalice in Vermeil, a rich person Statue representing the beautiful Virgin-Mother and four Chasuble S, of which one in cloth of Or and others in Velours, according to the liturgical colors. All the other objects concerning Holy Sacrifice of the Mass of the Mass and the ornamentation, are worthy of the saint employment for which they are intended. "

After the Second world war, although still upright, the Chapelle is ravaged: the roof is damaged, the Banc S, the Chandelier S as well as the Statue of Notre-Dame disappeared, just as the remainder of the objects of worship. The walls inside were covered from top to bottom of inscriptions, of names of soldiers of the Ligne Maginot. It was even used as stable. The main door is gray, without color. It misses a line of letters to the inscription above the gantry, which, supplements, would be: Our-Lady-of-Wood Request For Us . The Grill of Fer inside is entirely rusted. This description is due to the Langenfeld priest of Saint-Louis-the-Bitche, born in 1902 with the Erbsenthal, whereas his/her father was manager near the Famille of Creutzer. It lived there nine years with his three brothers and sisters. In 1967, it turns over to the field in order to re-examine the ground of its childhood. To reach the vault, it must pass over a netting which surrounds the surroundings of the vault and it is there that it discovers desolation. He wants to react, but does not know how to be caught there, the field being private. In the years 1970 - 1971, it in vain seeks a photograph of its native house but nobody can help it. The July 14th 1973, it turns over to the field with its family and on the spot meets a family originating in Illkirch. They make knowledge and put continuation of agreement: the Ulrich family begins to provide the Statue Blessed Virgin and promises to help with the restoration of the Chapelle.

Thus in be 1973, the Langenfeld abbot comes every Wednesday to the field with Truelle, Plâtre, Eau, buckets and provisions until late in the night. Often, only all the day, it can work without embarrassment. It remakes with the nine all walls and repairs the roof. In May and June 1974, the Rimlinger family proposes her assistance to him. The July 14th 1974 it organizes a small festival in company of the families Ulrich and Rimlinger. After having celebrated a Mass in the honor of the Virgin Mary, they bless the Statue Notre-Dame, two Ange S and the bell, which was regarded a long time as lost. Indeed the Langenfeld abbot is assembled, at the beginning of his work of restoration, in the Campanile and on the roof, and cannot see the bell because of darkness. Jean-Pierre Mischler affirms to him that a bell was found in Forêt after the war and that it gave it to his family, in the village of Bousseviller, because of absence of bell in this Paroisse. However, the latter is not that of Erbsenthal. This is why the Langenfeld abbot goes up in the Campanile, but this time with a flashlight. As he hoped for it, he finds the bell. However it was impossible to make it sound, because the leaf was broken. It is repaired in a forging mill with Saint-Louis-the-Bitche.

The abbot Scheidt, administrator of Eguelshardt, obtains to Famille DE DIETRICH, current owners of the field, the renewable authorization each year, to open the vault with a pilgrimage which takes place every Monday of Pentecost since 1974. In 1987, the roof is renovated, the Langenfeld abbot refreshes the interior and the stained glasses are repaired by the Famille DE DIETRICH in 1989. The Chapelle is registered with the topographic Inventory of the area Lorraine. For these last years, the Chapelle has accommodated several hundreds of tourists which walk in the Forêt S of Hanau, or quite simply of accustomed which likes to be collected in this place, if calm and so charged with Histoire at the same time. ----

Random links: