From the beginning to recognition as a place of worship

On October 9, 1949, several girls from Heroldsbach went to the nearby birch forest to collect autumn leaves for school. Suddenly Our Lady appears to them. Pastor Johann Gailer from Heroldsbach is informed. There is great excitement in the village. An examination committee from Bamberg arrives. A temporary chapel is quickly built. Our Lady appears again and again, almost every day, for two years. A total of 3,000 times. She speaks to the girls and also touches the ground. She wants to be called the »Rose Queen of Heroldsbach«.

Huge streams of pilgrims head to Apparition Hill, sometimes up to 70,000 pilgrims a day. On December 8, 1949, 10,000 pilgrims witnessed a miracle of the sun. The village develops into the “Franconian Lourdes”.

The Catholic Church does not recognize the apparitions. In 1950 the Archdiocese of Bamberg banned the pilgrimage. All seer children are excommunicated. So does everyone who enters the mountain. The chapel is destroyed. Now the pilgrimage continues in secret and remains controversial. But people hold fast to Our Lady.

49 years later, in May 1998, the pilgrims' loyalty was rewarded. The Bamberg Archbishop Dr. Karl Braun with the approval of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith built a Marian place of worship in Heroldsbach, which Auxiliary Bishop Werner Radspieler consecrated in a festive service. However, the apparitions are still judged by the responsible church authorities to be non-supernatural.

The 90-minute docudrama shows the entire story from 1949 to 1998. Highlights are the re-enactment of the first apparition, the conversations with a seer and many other contemporary witnesses, only a few of whom are still with us, as well as a 20-minute excerpt from the opening celebrations and the important reconciliation sermon by Auxiliary Bishop Werner Radplayer.