Blessed Heinrich von Ebrantshausen

According to legend, Blessed Henry of Ebrantshausen (born c. 1120 in Regensburg; died c. 1185 near Ebrantshausen) was one of the Counts of Riedenburg who, after many years of pilgrimage, lived in quiet seclusion near Ebrantshausen, subsisting on the charitable gifts of the people. After his death, his body was to be transported by an ox-drawn cart to the ancestral tomb. However, the team of oxen stood stock-still in front of the church and would not take another step. The body was then laid to rest at that very spot. Shortly thereafter, a wooden chapel was built over his grave. Today, the Heinrichskirch stands on this site. Every year on the Sunday before Pentecost, Ebrantshausen celebrates its St. Henry Festival. On this occasion, pilgrims come to honor the Blessed, who has no other place of devotion besides the St. Henry Chapel. Some pilgrimage customs have survived through the centuries: for the St. Henry Festival, there are still the blessed Heinrichszeltln (shaped breads) made of rye flour—small, cross-stamped holy breads the size of a ten-pfennig coin, which farmers mix into their livestock's feed and sometimes eat themselves—and the Heinrichsbildln (small devotional pictures), which the faithful also attach to stable doors to protect their animals.