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THE CRYPT of SAINTS MATTHIAS, EUCHARIUS, and VALERIUS

THE abbey church has been an important pilgrimage-destination since the middle ages: more than 10,000 pilgrims come to the abbey annually to venerate the shrine of St. Matthias.  Pilgrim-Shields are displayed on columns adjacent to the entrance to the Matthias-Crypt.  These have been offered by towns and organizations that regularly make pilgrimages; some date from the seventeenth century.  The Crypt of St. Matthias contains the saint's relics as well as the sarcophagus-reliquaries of Saints Eucharius and Valerius.

 

SAINT MATTHIAS (c.1480) (Reliquary and Crypt Immediately Beneath)	PILGRIMAGE- SHIELDS

ENTRANCE to the MATTHIAS-CRYPT	RELIQUARY of SAINT MATTHIAS

SARCOPHAGI of SAINTS EUCHARIUS and VALERIUS (Archbishop-Founders of the Diocese of Trier)	CHAPEL in the MATTHIAS-CRYPT

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IMAGES and STATUES of SAINTS in the ABBEY CHURCH

THE Church of St. Matthias is considered a marian shrine, and contains a Gnadenbild, an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary that inspires particular devotion, since it depicts the pregnant Mary, gazing in contemplative wonder at the child she carries.

 

MARIAN SHRINE  (Shadow of Holy Cross Reliquary in window above shrine);	MARIAN CHAPEL

GNADENBILD: IMAGE of the BLESSED MOTHER

STATUES of Saints in the abbey church include Saints Anne, Antony of Egypt, and the founders of the Diocese of Trier, Saints Eucharius, Valerius and Maternus.  These statues and bas-relief were formerly part of side-altars that have been since transformed into smaller niche-shrines.  Also found in the abbey church are a statue of Saint Benedict and a depiction of Pope Saint Stephen III, as well as a Traubenmaria, a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary offering white grapes (the special product of the region surrounding Trier) to her infant Son.

 

ST. ANNE SHRINE (formerly baroque side-altar)	THE BLESSED VIRGIN, CHRIST, and ST. ANNE

TRAUBENMARIA (1480) Madonna of the Grapes	THE COMMISSIONING of Saints Eucharuus, Valerius, and Maternus, and the Miraculous raising of Saint Maternus from death with the staff of St. Peter.

ST. ANTONY SHRINE (formerly baroque side-altar)	SAINT ANTONY of EGYPT

ST BENEDICT (c.1500)	POPE ST. STEPHEN III as PEACEMAKER (intervening to prevent war between Roman factions)

→ The Abbey Church, Exterior and Interior

→  the Crypt of the Widow Albana and The Holy Cross Chapel

→ The Monastery Cloister and Associated Rooms