Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, Heiligenkreuz

[1][2] Heiligenkreuz lies on the Via Sacra pilgrimage route from Vienna to Austria's national Marian shrine Mariazell, and has always been a stopping point of many pilgrims.

[3] That is why a special place for pilgrims – the Cave of Our Lady of Lourdes – was created in the immediate vicinity of Heiligenkreuz Abbey.

This Marian grotto was built in the summer of 2017 in a natural rock next to the Sattelbach stream, near the medieval granary, and was solemnly consecrated on the eve of the Assumption of Mary (14 August) by the Apostolic Nuncio in Austria, archbishop Peter Stephan Zurbriggen.

[2] Since August 2020, a small statue of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, donated by an unidentified benefactor, has also been part of the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Heiligenkreuz: the abbot of Lilienfeld Abbey Pius Martin Maurer blessed it during the great candlelight procession on 14 August 2020.

The recognized places of Marian apparitions such as Lourdes and Fátima point to Mary's motherly closeness and love.