Blutritt

On the day of the Blutritt, the "Rider of the Holy Blood" (German: Heilig-Blut-Reiter) carries the relic through Weingarten and the surrounding areas.

Despite the fact that after liturgical reforms the feast is no longer on the official calendar, many pilgrimage sites retain the customary celebration.

After being baptized by the Apostles, he left Jerusalem and traveled on a ship to the Italian Mantua where he preached Christianity and was consequently prosecuted.

As a consequence, the object of dispute was apportioned: one piece for Pope Leo IX, one for the Duke of Mantua, and a third for Emperor Henry III.

Pope Leo IX (1049–1054) called a synod of the church in 1053 in Mantua and wanted to take the relic of the precious blood to Rome.

[5] When Emperor Henry III died in 1056, the relic was bequeathed to Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, (1035–1067) as a sign of reconciliation.

Therefore, the fathers marched with their sons who had just come of age and gave them a slapping in the face as a memory backing at prominent sites.

Since 1890, as a prelude to Blutritt, after the evening Mass on Ascension Thursday, thousands of pilgrims take part in a light procession from the Basilica of St.Martin to the Kreuzberg.

[2] The actual Blutritt starts on Blood Friday at about 7 o'clock in the morning[2] and leads through the streets and adjacent fields of Weingarten for about ten kilometres.

In the upper swabian city of Bad Wurzach, the Blutritt is traditionally part of the Festival of the Holy Blood, which takes place on the second Friday of July.

Tradition has it that in Rome, a pilgrim received a piece of cloth drenched in blood from Pope Innocent XII in the year of 1693.

The procession starts at 7 o'clock with the collection of the relic at the town church, and ends with a sermon on top of the Gottesberg (German: God's hill).