The construction of the chapel in Gothic style began 400 years ago. Mesner Maria Schnupp has lived in the Mesnerhaus for 50 years and has experienced a lot there.
The year 1620 was when the Büttharders started to build a chapel. 350 years later, in May 1970, Maria Schnupp moved into the neat little house, which was replaced by a new building in 1879 and has always stood next to the church. The 71-year-old lives there and has been looking after the historic building outside the village in the middle of the green for half a century.
The friendly open-minded mesner tells her own story vividly. She begins by moving to the Mesnerhaus as a 21-year-old with her husband Horst Schnupp and taking care of the chapel.
The mistress never gets bored
The native of Allersheim, who keeps the chapel open every day from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in summer and until 6:00 p.m. in winter, has never lacked work. In addition to taking care of the family with the four children and the tasks as a mistress, she was fully engaged in shift work for decades.
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After the death of her husband in 1993, with whom she had cherished the chapel, house and garden, she had been alone for five years. Then her partner moved to her in the Mesnerhaus. If she lives alone outside the village again since his death in 2008, the Mesnerin will not be bored with body and soul.
In “her” Kappel, which she cares for like her living room and which, as she says, means “everything”, there is always something to do. The maial tar, richly decorated with hydrangeas, which she built with the help of Elisabeth Fuchs, has to be cleared away.
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In addition, she takes care of the church washing and constantly provides for “lights.” Maria Schnupp attributes the fact that the consumption of small candles has increased noticeably in the past few weeks due to the fact that more and more visitors are coming to the chapel.
For some years now, Maria Schnupp has also been a parishioner in the parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Bütthard. She says that in the past many believers had found their way “out here”, especially for the May devotions. She still fondly remembers how lively it sometimes was when, after the prayer, the visitors sat down on the “bench” under the ancient, mighty linden trees and rattled.
The old horse stable serves as a storage room
As the last one on the list of predecessors dating back to 1640, she also knows the income that was or was fixed a long time ago. These included free housing, 15-20 Marks annually from the chapel foundation for church services during church services in the chapel, the use of the garden and some land, as well as the collection of natural goods or money on New Year’s and church consecration in Bütthard and surrounding communities that visit the chapel. Collecting, she says, “never did.” Her mother-in-law was responsible for this.
The Schnupp family also kept small animals, as was the custom from ancient times. For years, goats and pigs and also two horses populated the ancient stable. The building, which was renovated by volunteers a few years ago, now serves as a storage room.
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“I never feel lonely,” says the Mesner, who wrote a 50-year chapter in the history of the Marienkapelle. According to old records, large processions often went out in earlier centuries at the time of the supplications and the Mother of God celebrations to celebrate solemn services in the “Kappel”, as the Büttharders call the church.
Even before the parish was established, services were held here and the dead buried in the shadow of the little church. The Kappel, which had served as a parish church since 1487, got its place at the southern end of the village, which at that time was probably not built contiguously. The individual farmsteads stood along the stream in groups separated from each other.
Julius Echter ordered the chapel to be repaired
The chapel was also damaged by the cremation of numerous houses in the battle of the Peasants’ War in 1525 in what is now the Sulzdorf district of Giebelstadt. Prince-Bishop Julius Echter (1545-1617) gave the order in 1610 to restore the little church. The renovation was only started after his death during the tenure of Prince Bishop Johann Gottfried Aschhausen (1617-1622).
The memorial plaque above the side door bears the following inscription: “In the six hundred and twentieth year when Johann Gottfried was bishop, to Bamberg and Würzburg at the same time, also great Unfried was in the Roman Empire , this cape was put in here by the whole office and Bütthard Gmain. “
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When the Gothic style construction began in 1620, the choir was probably left standing and repaired. The chapel, which was consecrated on August 10, 1624, is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Laurentius. The two listed linden trees probably got their place on the western side at the time of construction.
The Büttharders diligently donated
Because the 30-year war was still raging in large parts of the country and the congregation was very busy financially with the construction of the town hall (1605) and the parish church (1594-96), the long house remained open and the furnishing of the Kappel was very simple and humble. It was only around 100 years later that the Büttharders started to equip the little church as it can still be seen today.
The local chronicle, written by the pastor Paul Hartung in Bütthard between 1927 and 1945 and later supplemented by Hermann Gramlich, shows the great willingness to donate with which the citizens helped to decorate “their” Marienkapelle with the works of well-known Franconian artists and craftsmen.
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The image of Our Lady on the high altar, which represents the three times wonderful Mother of God, is probably a gift from a benefactor from the time when Jesuits worked in Würzburg. In 1924 the chapel was extensively renovated on the occasion of its 300th consecration, before the outside was painted in 1836.
During the heavy fighting in World War II in 1945 in Vilchbander-Oesfelder and Stalldorfer Wald, almost all windows on the northern side broke. This damage was repaired in 1948. The fact that young and old people and pilgrims on the Marienweg still seek and find the support of the Mother of God here today is borne out by the votive tablets, which usually read: “Maria helped.”
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