The Church of St. Vincent

It started with an avalanche and a flask of Holy Blood. At the foot of Grossglockner—the tallest mountain in Austria—the majestic Church of St. Vincent presides over the valley. But its prime location in the Central Eastern Alps and even its marvel of a steeple are no match for its origin story.

Legend tells of a Danish knight named Briccius who obtained a flask of Holy Blood in 914 from Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia. En route home across the Alps, an avalanche overtook him. Facing death, his last act was to secure the flask inside an open wound in his calf, in a sense giving it shelter from the frost. After the snow, locals found his corpse at a place where three ears of wheat had broken through the snow. Today, that triad is depicted in the town’s coat of arms.

A small church was built on the site and the first pilgrimage to the Heiligen Blut (or Holy Blood), which Briccius was carrying, took place in 1273. A little over a century later, the community decided to upgrade their relatively modest church into a much grander monument, a construction project that outlived those who originally made the journey (and the following generation as well). The new pilgrimage church, named for Saint Vincent of Saragossa, was consecrated on November 1, 1491, and has continued accommodating the ever-growing number of pilgrims and visitors who come to pay their respects.

Inside, a high-winged altarpiece accompanies the crypt and the remains of Saint Briccius, along with the Iron Book, which lists the names of those who have died on Grossglockner. The legend of Briccius is told through a series of paintings inside the church, while the Holy Blood remains in a locked box or “sacrament house,” presumed safe from the threat of future avalanches.

📖 Full Story Page 96