Who is this priest?
Visit Bürgersaalkirche in central Munich to see a stunning Baroque interior, but more importantly, introduce yourself to a hero, Father Rupert Mayer.
It’s easy to overlook the Bürgersaalkirche in favor of other more well-known sites in central Munich, but you shouldn’t. We wandered in one morning, drawn in by the building’s appealing Baroque facade. When we walked back out, we’d been introduced to the story of a hero, Father Rupert Mayer.
Those of us who love Munich can find it hard to reconcile our feelings with the city’s 20th century past. Even with a history dating from the 12th century consisting of both ecclesiastical and imperial influences, it’s almost impossible not to associate modern Munich – aside from Octoberfest – for its links with the rise and downfall of the Third Reich. Stepping inside the Bürgersaalkirche, which dates back to the 18th century, the last thing we expected to see was a museum dedicated to a priest who resisted the Nazis. We took note of the brochures with the Jesuit’s portrait in the narthex area of the church, but still had no idea who Father Rupert Mayer was and what he stood for.
Interior of the Church after Allied Bombing Photo Credit: https://www.mmkbuergersaal.de/
The Marian Congregational history in Munich dates back to 1610 when seventeen individuals gathered. By 1710, when the Bürgersaalkirche was built by Swiss architect Giovanni Antonio Viscardi, the congregation numbered 3,000. Viscardi also worked on the Nymphenburg Palace expansion beginning in 1702, and Dreifaltigkeitskirche (Trinity Church) in Munich. Members of Marian Sodale congregations, referred to as Sodalen (for solidarity within Christ, the Catholic church and Mary – the mother of all believers) are called to face the demands of God in daily life, in their own environment.
The Bürgersaalkirche was virtually destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944. Today, it has been fully restored. Its exterior facade is pretty, but also rather unassuming by comparison with neighbors and contemporaries.
The exterior of Bürgersaalkirche in Munich
The Upper Church is entered from either side via a stairway, each adorned with impressive statuary.
The main sanctuary is in the style of a Baroque ballroom, glittering with silver and gold. The altar table has four silver busts of the holy men who had a special relationship with the Virgin Mary: St. Joseph, St. John the Baptist and the Apostles John and Joachim. Other niches hold additional statuary created in 1947.
Bürgersaalkirche Upper Sanctuary
Frescoes in certain windows of the church depict scenes from the life of Mary. The ceiling decor was reconstructed from old engravings in 1959. Other ceiling paintings were created as late as 1973. The church’s organ was consecrated in honor of Father Mayer in 1994. Built in Munich in accordance with an engraving that dates to 1730, it is contained in two boxes between the south windows. The organ has 50 stops with 2,905 pipes.
Frescoes depicting the life of the Virgin Mary
The lower church is comprised of an arched crypt-like room, which was originally used as a print shop for tracts and books in the 17th century. In the 19th century, it was converted into an alternative place of worship. Sculptures depicting Mary the Mother of God, the fall of Adam and Eve and angels holding the coats of arms of the city of Munich and the state of Bavaria were created about 1925 by Franz Drexler.
By far, the most stunning elements in the lower church are the life-size Stations of the Cross. These are neo-baroque carvings done out of linden wood between 1892 – 1898 by Hans Sprenger, from models by Joseph Elsner. I took quite a few photos of the Stations, but will just share several with you. You can click on each of my photos to see it in full, or if you’d like to see all of the Stations in greater detail, click here:
This charming “Christkind” came to the Marian congregation in 1817 and is displayed in the Upper Church at Christmas time.
The Christkind
There is a changing display in the Krippe (“Crib”) area of the under church which is comprised of architectural elements, and jointed figures who can be dressed and arranged in scenes that depict various texts in the Bible. In January 2014 when we visited, the scene was taken from Matthew 2:11, the Adoration of the Magi.
Adoration of the Magi Krippe depiction Photo Credit: www.mmkbuergersaal.de
Father Mayer’s remains are buried before the altar of the lower church. This is now a place of pilgrimage and prayers for intercession. Who was this priest and why the pilgrims? We were ashamed to admit we’d never heard of him.
Exhibition Rupert Mayer at Bürgersaalkirche – Munich Photo Credit: https://www.mmkbuergersaal.de/
Father Mayer in front of St. Michael’s Munich in 1935 Photo Credit: https://www.mmkbuergersaal.de/
Rupert Mayer was born in Stuttgart in 1876, attended high school in Ravensburg and took theological studies in Fribourg, (Switzerland), Munich and Tübingen.He was ordained in Rottenburg in 1899 and appointed vicar of Spaichingen in Baden-Württemburg the same year. In 1900 he entered the Jesuit order in Feldkirch and undertook further philosophical and theological studies in the Netherlands, where he simultaneously served in the novitiate, tertiate and Jesuit missionary outreach. After completion of his latter vows, Father Mayer arrived in Munich in 1912 as Chaplain for Catholic immigrants in the city.
When the first World War broke out, Father Mayer volunteered as a field hospital chaplain, but quickly asked for reassignment as a Division pastor. As such, he served with combat units in Alsace, Galicia and Romania. During the fighting at the front, he would crawl from soldier to soldier to speak God’s word and administer the Sacraments. For this, he was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery in 1915. In Romania the following year he sustained an injury from a grenade that resulted in the amputation of his left leg.
Following the war, Father Mayer served in various capacities in Munich: as prefect for the Marian congregation, and duties including preaching and confession at St. Michael’s. In 1925, he introduced services at the train station in Munich, and in 1926 was appointed prefects and church council at the Munich Civic Hall. As such, he became an influential leader in the city.
In 1933, when Hitler began a defamation campaign against German religious orders, Father Mayer spoke out from the pulpit of St. Michael’s, maintaining that man must obey God more than men. Between 1933 and 1938, he courageously confronted National Socialism despite a Gestapo gag order. His first arrest for failure to comply with the gag order occurred in 1937.
One of his superiors, Cardinal Michael Faulhaber, whose relationship with the Nazi government appears to have been complicated – he both opposed its policies as incompatible with Christianity but recognized it as a legitimate entity – actually took to the pulpit at St. Michael’s in support of Mayer’s arrest. Faulhaber believed that the clergy should be law abiding. After public trial before the Special Court in Munich, Father Rupert Mayer was sentenced to six months in prison for “vicious attacks on the party, and state and pulpit abuse.” This arrest was later repealed.
Several additional arrests for failure to comply with the speech ban occurred in 1938 and 1939, which led to Father Mayer being imprisoned in Wittelsbacherpalace in Munich, and then transfer to solitary confinement in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. When ill health threatened, the Nazis were determined he would not become martyred to the cause and transferred him to the Ettal Monastery, where he was liberated by the U.S. Army in May, 1945.
Bust of Father Mayer Photo Credit: www.mmkbuergersaal.de/
On November 1, 1945 while performing Mass at St. Michael’s, Father Mayer suffered a stroke and died. Ironically, Cardinal Faulhaber opened the process for Mayer’s beatification in 1950, which was solemnized by Pope John Paul II at the Olympic Stadium in Munich in 1987.
Since 1948, Father Rupert Mayer has lain at rest in the Bürgersaalkirche, and is visited daily by hundreds of people. There is a bronze bust of the priest so popular with pilgrims that the statue’s left side has been polished by their many touches.
Today, the Marian Men Congregation “Annunciation” in Munich practices charity in the spirit of Father Mayer, with a special emphasis on the weak and vulnerable. Their subsidies are given to established charities and welfare associations, but also to individuals who are in social, economic or psychological distress.
Why is the story of Father Rupert Mayer so captivating yet so relatively unknown? Again, it’s a complicated matter. While religious resisters like Protestant Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Archbishop of Toulouse have achieved a degree of notoriety, the relationships organized religion had with the National Socialist party remain open to debate. The ideological duality of Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany lay in the extent to which religious and moral issues overlapped those of politics and race. Religious personages were eager to defend the assaults made on religious organizations, but their vigor did not extend to all aspects of Nazi barbarism. Even so, by 1940, a dedicated “Clergy Barracks” was established at Dachau, housing around 3,000 with as many as 2800 not to survive the war.
It’s easy to make judgments on the past, thinking to ourselves that oh yes, we would be on the side of what’s right and true. Certainly we’d behave in the example of Father Rupert Mayer, standing up for God’s laws against a destructive political monolith. But perhaps not. Things are rarely as black and white as they seem looking back through the clarifying lens of the present. Nowadays there are greater extenuating circumstances, we tell ourselves. We should be able to coexist with conflicting viewpoints, to exercise patience as a strategy, to acknowledge the rights and claims of all, not just some. But it seems to me that’s exactly what was happening in Germany in the 1930’s. Those both for and against the tenets of National Socialism believed fervently in the righteousness of their cause. Others preferred to ride the fence of compromise, balancing appeasement with advocacy in a dance of equivocation. Throughout history, there have always been shades of grey more appealing.
Father Rupert Mayer doesn’t appear to have had the slightest moral equivalence, preaching as he did that the laws of God claim higher status than those of man. It’s a concept distilled by simplicity into a standard. Perhaps that’s what we’d best do today, as well. Distill a belief using simplicity without the need to equivocate. Draw a line in the sand. Say to ourselves, this is the way things should be and take an uncomplicated stand. Something to think about after a visit to the Bürgersaalkirche.
More Information: Bürgersaalkirche is located at Neuhauser Strasse 14 in central Munich. The church is open daily to visitors. Masses with sermons are held on Sundays and public holidays at 9:30 and 11:30 am. Holy Mass in Italian is held at 6pm on Sundays and public holidays. On weekdays, Rosary is said in the Upper Church at 11:15 am, with Holy Mass at noon. On Wednesdays, Holy Mass for the canonization of Father Rupert Mayer is held at 7:30 am in the Lower Church.
In March, 2014, Bavarian cinemas began showing “Father Rupert Mayer,” a feature film shot on location in the Bürgersaalkirche and other sites, and directed by the controversial Damian Chapa. Starring Stacy Keach, Daryl Hanna and Oliver Gruber, the film was backed by Sankt Michaelsbund in Munich. The film’s trailer is embedded below:
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Thought-provoking post. I too had not heard of Rupert Mayer. It’s good to heard about people who spoke out against the Nazis. As lovely as the Bürgersaalkirche appears to be, it’s often the history we discover and learn about in these places that make them so interesting.
Hi Donna – This visit to Bürgersaalkirche rekindled an interest in early to mid-20th century German history. I’ve spent the last year reading non-fiction and fiction associated with this period. Of course the more I learn, the more I realize there is so little I know.
Hi Betsy,
The view of history from our far-removed position is a good and clear one. I’m sure at the time, Father Mayer’s decisions were even more difficult. What an admirable man.
And your careful research is fantastic — thanks! The Bürgersaalkirche is remarkable in all its grandeur. Absolutely amazing — it’s so good to get off the beaten path!
Wishing you safe and happy travels,
Josie
Hi Josie – I tend to think perhaps Father Mayer’s decisions weren’t difficult for him to make at all. His faith was strong even from an early age when he announced to his father he would become a Jesuit priest. The difficulty, of course, was in the consequences, but he’d already demonstrated that he was a courageous man on the battlefield. We certainly didn’t expect the interior grandeur of the Bürgersaalkirche when we spied it across the street. Thanks!
I like your take on it — that Father Mayer’s decisions weren’t hard! I’ll have to think on that a while . . .
Hi Josie – Yes, I’ve often thought it’s an enviable position in which to be with such strong convictions.
On our last visit to Munich last September, I very much felt the dichotomy of man made beauty juxtaposed with the birthplace of such tremendous evil. We missed seeing this church, so I’m grateful for your stunning photos and research.
Hi Suzanne – Yes, the residual energy of a place can be powerful. After our visit to the Bürgersaalkirche, we were walking in another Munich neighborhood and came upon an anti-Nazi installation. Its organizers were handing out leaflets and very much engaged with passersby. Father Mayer lives on.
What’s a little scary is that Germans still have to be handing out anti-Nazi leaflets in 2015. When we visited Budapest, a Hungarian Jew who now lives in Tel Aviv and New York told us he would never move back to Hungary because of the rampant anti-Semitism. One taxi that stopped for him had a sign saying “No Jews Allowed in this Taxi.” I forgot to ask whether he got it.
Hi Suzanne – You’re right, there has been a resurgence of anti-Semitism from different groups throughout Europe, as we’ve seen with tragic consequences most recently in France. Our favorite restaurant in Budapest is right in the middle of a traditional Jewish neighborhood yet still keeps a low profile. Anti-Semitism was very strong after the war in Polish and other Central European nations, as well, and according to the author whose book I recently mentioned in another post, is still quite prevalent. With all this history, the lack of political support for Israel gains context. I find it very troubling.
We are always drawn to places like the Bürgersaalkirchehe and I love your phrase, “This is the way things should be…” You would hope that we humans would learn from the past but sadly, there is still so much evil that exists today. Thank you for the introduction and biography of Father Rupert Mayer, a truly brave and moral man.
Hi Anita – Thank you. Yes, you’re right that we don’t seem to learn, but awareness of an example of courage like Father Mayer’s may be the inspiration we need to emulate it during our own difficult times.
What a wonderful post! I enjoyed reading about this hero who stood up for what was right and decent.
Hi Irene – Yes, there’s quite a bit more to learn about individuals and groups who exhibited similar bravery. Thank you.
What a detailed and interesting post. I didn’t know anything about Munich outside of Oktoberfest. Great photos! I have come to a better understanding of the German people before and during WWII by watching some of what’s been going on in the USA the last few years. What a brave man Father Rupert Mayer was.
Hi Billie – Yes, Father Mayer is inspiring. I agree with you that there are many parallels with the modern-day U.S. As well, there are two distinct interpretations of what current events mean and are leading to. Eli Wiesel famously said we must decide and I believe that to be true.
Very interesting story, and I just love the stations of the cross. Very captivating.
Hi GypsyNesters – Yes, the Stations were breathtaking and my photos do not do them justice. I could have lingered with them for hours.
I think I made a quick visit to the Bürgersaalkirche when I was in Munich, but I missed the story of Father Rupert Mayer, and I wish I’d been there around Christmas so I could have seen that beautiful “Christkind.”
Hi Carole – The Christkind is kept in the lower church behind glass, so if you ever return you can see him. He is brought up to the upper sanctuary during Advent and Christmas. I was so captivated by what I interpreted to be a Bohemian or even Slavic aspect.
This is a remarkable look at a church and a man. Very detailed. I have not blogged this way, focusing on a place instead of a general picture of a locale. We will be in Munich in 2016 and will be sure to visit this place. By the way was Father Mayer’s sainthood completed?
Hi Carol – I’m glad you will plan a visit to the Bürgersaalkirche when you are in Munich. It will be interesting to compare impressions. No, Father Mayer has yet to be formally declared a saint. He has been beatified and now is referred to as “Blessed.” The next step is canonization for sainthood, but for that to happen, as I understand it (and I’m not Catholic, so forgive my ignorance), there must be a documented miracle. Thus, the prayers for intercession by pilgrims and the weekly Holy Mass dedicated to his canonization on Wednesday mornings.
What a stunning church and history about this amazing priest, thanks for sharing the story, I really enjoyed it.
Hi Noel – So happy to hear you did.
Bürgersaalkirche looks beautiful and unusual, especially the light and pretty sanctuary. I also had not heard of Father Rupert Mayer. There are so many terrible stories from that time, but it is inspiring to hear the stories of sacrifice and courage some had to stand up for what is right.
Hi Shelley – Yes, we were quite surprised to literally stumble in off the street. I don’t know why we were drawn in, other than I noticed people going in and out. Sometimes we just have to acknowledge that there is a reason we are led to go through a door, or take a certain side street.
What a stunning sanctuary to have stood in the midst of pure evil. Incredible to go with an incredible story. Kudos!
Hi Patti – Yes, the juxtaposition of beauty and evil creates such a powerful impression, doesn’t it?
What an amazing story. It’s so great to have these sorts of stories unearthed and kept alive as the world spirals downwards into new atrocities. I bet the heavy feeling of a grief stricken past was evident when you visited, although lifted by the capability of man to rebuild something beautiful and amazing around or over it. Thanks for commenting on ZigaZag earlier.
Hi Johanna – There was more a solemn feeling than a heavy feeling, if that makes sense. The Upper Sanctuary is so glorious and unexpected that we were blown away. When we descended into the lower sanctuary the Stations of the Cross couldn’t help but turn our thoughts to the suffering of mankind. The silhouette of Father Mayer entering into the museum dedicated to him was a very powerful reminder that one individual can make an impact.
What a courageous man, it makes you remember that there are so many good people out there and i can imagine how difficult it would have been to speak out against the nazis during that time. I’ve never heard of this place before though, hopefully one day I will make it to Germany and I can check it out.
Hi Lexi – Yes, there were the most severe consequences imaginable for opposing the Nazi regime. Glad to have introduced you to Father Mayer and the Bürgersaalkirche.
What an amazing story! I LOVE learning about the people from the places we are privileged to visit. We’ve been to Munich before, but never to the Bürgersaalkirche. The stations of the cross are amazing works of art…very humbling. This will definitely be on our list the next time we visit Germany. 🙂
Hi Lisa – Glad to have influenced your decision to visit next time.
What a brave man and a great history! Great to see they commemorated him with a movie!
Hi Els – Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
The building itself is gorgeous. I think that Rupert Mayer’s story makes it all the more appealing and special.
Hi Nancie – I totally agree.
Wow what a fascinating and extraordinary story. I admit I had never heard of Father Rupert Mayer either. But it was fabulous to read his story – thanks for sharing.
Hi Megsy – It makes you wonder about other obscure stories from this era, doesn’t it? Thanks.
This looks like an interesting place – somewhere I will have to keep in mind if I visit Munich! Love the photos too 🙂
Hi Emma – Glad to have made the introduction. 🙂
Visiting Germany and especially Berlin is a tough when you consider all the history. My heritage is German and I often struggle with that and trying to understand the tragic history. Thanks for sharing the information about the Burgersaalkirche and FatherMayer. I’ll be sure to visit there on my next visit to Berlin.
Hi Sue – I hear you. Both Pete and I have German immigrant ancestry, and we have friends in Germany, thanks to my brother being an exchange student there years ago. We were privileged to host their sons last year in Hawaii, and had a candid discussion about the repercussions of the war years which still live on today. Just make sure you’re not looking for the Bürgersaalkirche in Berlin, though. It’s in Munich. 😉
Wow, this is an incredible insight into a place I did not know existed! Thank you for sharing this, I think Rupert Mayer’s story makes it even more appealing and makes me want to visit Munich earlier than I have planned.
Hi MAD Travel Diaries – We love Munich for many reasons. This story is one more.
I hadn’t heard of Rupert Mayer before, but I absolutely love how you presented the facts, bringing it alive, almost as a story! (It would be wonderful to have you as the tour guide obviously!)
Hi Revati – Wow, thank you so much. I’m glad you enjoyed it. It really says something about the impression this place and Father Mayer had on me to be writing about it a year later.
I was curious to know the story of this man. Since I am the daughter of a WW II veteran and Purple Heart recipient I took great interest in his life especially when I read he too had lost a leg due to the war just as my father who was my hero. So many young people today know so little of this time in history I hope more stories are written in the future in hopes of rekindling an interest about the brave men and women of this time and knowing that our lives would not be as they are today without them Thank you
Hi Margot – Glad we could share our appreciation with you.
I know the story was about Father Rupert Mayer, but I jut need to say the interior of the Bürgersaalkirche Upper Sanctuary is spectacular. I think I would be looking up instead of paying attention to the front!
Hi Gus – Without a doubt, it is spectacular. It didn’t feel seemly to intrude upon the worshipers in the sanctuary to take photos, but we did spend quite a bit of time there. There is plenty of impressive detail to be sure.