Topography: Description of the Surroundings of Merano (Part 3)

Appendix.

Topography.

Description of the surroundings of Merano. 3/4

(Continued.)

Returning, one looks back with interest at the venerable ancestral castle of Tyrol; the eye once more beholds its surroundings; to the south-west it rises above the steep steps of the vineyards; on the north side it is surrounded by the fearsome mountain gorge extending far above and into the castle, immediately beyond lie again the green fields of the so-called Farmerhöfe, and above them the Muthhöfe rising obliquely to the west far between forests and ravines, with their steep meadows and dry pastures; finally the bare and craggy Muttspitze, reachable from the castle in scarcely 4 hours.

Shortly before reaching Merano from Botzen, one sees in the distance on the right, quite isolated from the scattered noble seats and residences of Mais, at the foot of a high amphitheatrical vine hill, the small church of St. Valentin, which Venantius Fortunatus visited as early as the 6th century on his journey back from the tomb of St. Martin of Tours. Here the holy apostle of Rhaetia, Valentin, ended his earthly pilgrimage around the year 470. Around the year 740, the Lombards transferred his earthly remains from Mais to Trent, and in the year 769 Duke Thissilo of Bavaria moved them from there to Passau.

In this lovely valley, high up on the eastern high mountains, one discovers a small church in a small depression and apparent plain, between two somewhat higher mountain ridges, dedicated to St. Catherine. On account of its steep location it is called St. Katharina in der Schart. It lies 2 good hours from Merano. From there two paths lead: eastwards over alps and passes to Sarnthal, one southwards via Vöran to Mölten etc.

The small church is just as old as the territorial rule of the Counts of Tyrol. It was built at the time when Albert, the last count of Schlosse Tirol, became the first count of Lande Tirol. – Bishop Egno of Brixen consecrated it on August 19, 1251. In the following year, 1252, the same bishop issued a collection letter to a hermit, encouraging the faithful with promises of indulgences to support the newly built church with gifts, especially church furnishings, and to contribute to the construction of a hermitage for this collector himself. Whether the curacy church of St. John the Baptist in Hafling, still ¾ of an hour away from St. Catherine and now a branch of St. Catherine's church, already existed at that time remains undecided, as neither of these two diplomas mentions it, but in the latter only the parish and mother church in Mais at the foot of the mountain is mentioned. The consecration document is still preserved in the rectory at Hafling. It is dated November 5, 1252.

By virtue of a contract established on St. John's Eve 1413 between the reverend fathers of Stams, who at that time only managed the estate in Mais, and their parish priest at Mais with the community of Hafling, the parish priest had in future to provide pastoral care there excurrendo through an assistant priest. Until then, therefore, the inhabitants of these high mountains had to come down to the parish church in Mais, where an addition plausibly built in the year 1400 is still called the Hafling chapel. At the time of Luther's Reformation, Hafling, and thus also the church of St. Katharina in der Schart, received its own resident priest. Already on the Friday before St. Simon and Jude's Day 1536, an agreement was reached between the Abbot of Stams, Pelagius, and the then parish priest in Mais, Simon Gaßler, on the one hand, and the community of Hafling on the other, by virtue of which, among other things, the church of St. John was to be the regular parish church, while at St. Katharina Mass was to be read and preached on certain days. This agreement was approved by Ferdinand I through a charter dated December 9, 1526, and also by the Prince-Bishop of Trent, the famous Cardinal Bernard of Cles, who on September 8, 1527 installed Priest Magnus Michael, proposed by the community of Hafling alongside two others to the Abbot of Stams, selected by him and presented to the bishop, as the first curate there. For endowment, the community handed over to its new pastor, among other things, a rent-free farm called Wegscheide. There he lived until the new rectory was completed in 1803.

In the year 1797, a part of the Austrian corps commanded by Major General Loudon, together with many Tyrolean Schützen, marched past St. Catherine's Church, via Vöran and Mölten to Jenesien, for the decisive blow that forced the French to leave the city of Botzen on the following night from April 3 to 4, which was soon followed by the complete liberation of the country from the enemy. The cannons had to be carried on the shoulders of the brave defenders of the homeland over narrow and steep paths to the battlefield. In the year 1809, a French column about 1000 men strong arrived in Hafling from Jenesien on November 23 and spent the night there. On the 24th, it marched down from St. Catherine into Merano.

Three hours above Merano, on the road to Mals, just outside the village of Naturns, one comes to the Schnalser-Brücke, which separates the Burggrafenamt from the Vinstgau. There, from the narrow valley, which at the entrance is barely 5 Klafter wide, the Schnalsbach rushes out between high rock walls. Still on this side, hard against the mountain on the right and the stream on the left, a narrow footpath leads into a wilderness where no tree sprouts any longer, no bird song resounds, and where between the steep and crumbly mountain walls one has barely a narrow strip of blue sky above. The footpath is extremely arduous and dangerous. Crumbly masses of stone threaten overhead, and at one's feet with every misstep the rushing stream offers a terrible grave. Therefore this path is rightly called the Forbidden. Only after a good half hour does the path become wider and safer; the anxious traveler breathes more freely. Soon one sees on the height of the opposite side of the valley the ruined castle of Jufahl. *) On this side the surface widens, one steps again upon flower-rich meadows, delights in the sight of waving fields of grain, fruit trees, from cherry to chestnut, even a few vineyards. In a good quarter of an hour one comes to a residential house with an outbuilding; above whose door one reads the words: Hier ist Ladurn.

*) The above-mentioned Jufahl was once a princely fief. Louis of Brandenburg granted it in 1349 to Erhard v. Halben; Archduke Frederick in 1424 to the v. Lebenberg family. In the year 1526 the Trieblers held it. From them Hans Swiker Sinkmoser, cellarer at Tirol, acquired it in 1540. He spent large sums on beautifying it between the years 1546 and 1554. On the many remaining fresco paintings by a by no means unskilled hand, the year 1550 is inscribed several times. In the same 16th century, Christoph Sigmund v. Hendl acquired it; it remained with his descendants until 1815, when it was sold with the many accompanying plots of land for 13,680 fl.

(Conclusion to follow.)