"Where the Black Madonna has welcomed pilgrims for a thousand years, and the monks still sing"
Our Lady of Einsiedeln
Einsiedeln, Canton Schwyz, Switzerland
In the Swiss Alps, a dark-faced Madonna has drawn seekers since the ninth century. The Chapel of Grace stands where a hermit once prayed, where legend says Christ himself descended to consecrate the space. Eight hundred thousand pilgrims come each year to this place where Benedictine monks have sung the Salve Regina every afternoon for nearly five centuries.
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Quick Facts
Location
Einsiedeln, Canton Schwyz, Switzerland
Tradition
Site Type
Coordinates
47.1278, 8.7431
Last Updated
Jan 8, 2026
Einsiedeln's history begins with a ninth-century hermit seeking God in the Dark Forest and continues through legendary miraculous consecration, medieval pilgrimage prominence, baroque reconstruction, Revolutionary suppression, and restoration to the living shrine it remains today. Through all changes, the continuity of Benedictine monastic life and Marian devotion has persisted.
Origin Story
The story begins with St. Meinrad, a Benedictine monk from the monastery of Reichenau on Lake Constance. Around 835, seeking deeper solitude for contemplative prayer, he withdrew to the Finsterwald—the Dark Forest—building a hermitage and small chapel. Abbess Hildegard of Zurich gave him a statue of the Virgin Mary for his chapel. For twenty-six years he lived there in prayer, becoming known for hospitality to travelers despite his solitude.
According to tradition, Meinrad raised two ravens from chicks after rescuing them from hawks. These birds became his companions in the forest. On January 21, 861, two men named Richard and Peter came to the hermitage. Though Meinrad had foreseen his death during that morning's mass, he received them with the hospitality he offered all guests. They murdered him for what little he possessed. As they fled toward Zurich, the ravens followed, screeching and circling above them until the townspeople became suspicious and the killers were captured and executed. The ravens remain on Einsiedeln's coat of arms to this day.
After Meinrad's death, others came to pray at his hermitage. In 934, a Benedictine named Eberhard formalized what had become an informal community, founding the monastery that would grow into one of the great Benedictine houses of Europe. The naming follows the German Einsiedelei—hermitage—honoring what Meinrad had begun.
Key Figures
St. Meinrad
Heiliger Meinrad
founder
The hermit whose twenty-six years of prayer in the Dark Forest established Einsiedeln as a sacred site. Known as the 'Martyr of Hospitality' for receiving his murderers as guests despite foreknowledge of his death. His hermitage became the location of the Chapel of Grace.
Abbess Hildegard of Zurich
historical
The abbess who gave St. Meinrad the original statue of the Virgin Mary in 853 for his hermitage chapel. This first Madonna was venerated for over six hundred years before being destroyed in the 1465 fire.
St. Konrad of Konstanz
Heiliger Konrad von Konstanz
saint
The bishop who came to consecrate the Chapel of Grace in 948 and experienced the vision of Christ consecrating it himself. His witness to the miraculous consecration established the chapel's unique spiritual status.
Eberhard
founder
The Benedictine priest who formalized the monastic community at Einsiedeln in 934, transforming Meinrad's hermitage into a monastery that has continued to the present day.
The Black Madonna
Schwarze Madonna von Einsiedeln
sacred_object
The dark-faced statue of Mary and the Christ Child that has been the focus of pilgrimage for centuries. The current statue dates to c. 1450-1466, replacing one destroyed by fire. Her darkness—from candle smoke or intention—has become integral to her veneration.
Spiritual Lineage
The monastery has maintained continuous Benedictine life since 934—interrupted only briefly during the French Revolutionary period when monks were expelled from 1798 to 1803. Throughout wars, Reformations, and the upheavals of modernity, the community has persisted in its founding purpose: the opus Dei (work of God) expressed through liturgical prayer and the hospitality of welcoming pilgrims. Approximately forty monks currently reside at Einsiedeln, following the Rule of St. Benedict as Meinrad did before them. The monastery has maintained various apostolates over the centuries—the abbey school, scholarly work, publishing—but the core remains the daily round of prayer. Seven times a day, as Benedict prescribed, the monks gather for the Liturgy of the Hours. This rhythm has continued for over a thousand years. The Black Madonna herself represents a different kind of lineage—the succession of images and the continuity of devotion. The first Madonna came from Abbess Hildegard; she was lost to fire in 1465. The current statue was carved anonymously in the late Gothic period. Each image has received the same devotion, heard the same prayers. The lineage is not of blood or office but of accumulated attention.
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