Pankratiuskapelle, Sankt Aegidi

The St Pankratius chapel stands apart in the hamlet of Schauern, part of the village of St Aegidi in Upper Austria. It sits on the edge of a small wood, screened from the main settlement. The building is listed as a protected monument, marking its quiet importance. The chapel’s past reaches back to a vanished church on the same site. By 1293 a nearby monastery, Engelszell, already knew the place, and from 1302 its monks looked after the spiritual needs of the community. Pilgrims came in their thousands after relics of Saint Pankratius arrived in 1446, drawn by reports of healing water from a spring inside the church. Records speak of up to three thousand horses arriving each year on the Sunday after Peter and Paul, their eyes washed with the water and then ridden three times around the building. The old church was rebuilt in 1550 using stones taken from a ruined castle, but it fell into disrepair and was closed by Emperor Joseph II in 1784. Today’s chapel, completed in 1877, keeps the tradition alive. A restored altar picture from the earlier church now hangs in the parish church, but the chapel itself still shelters the healing spring. The simple whitewashed walls frame an image of the Virgin on a crescent moon. Villagers continue to honour the site, and the clear water still flows beneath the floor, ready for those who seek its help.