St. Rochus Chapel

Eslohe, St.-Rochus-Weg (51.253599 | 8.153797)

Perseverance

Chapel from 1637 with fragmentary wall painting on the pass between the Kückelheimer Höhe and the Steltenberg.

The year was 1637 and the country was in the midst of a war that would last for thirty years. Farms were plundered by marauding soldiers, villages were set on fire and many people were killed. What the war spared was ravaged by a sinister disease that is still deeply engraved in Europe's memory as a trauma: the plague. Entire regions were depopulated. At some point, the great death also reached the Sauerland. It is said to have started in Medebach and then struck Eslohe. A legend says: "The plague raged and gnawed at the town with a greedy mouth. It could not be scared away, not by prayers and blessings, not by drinking schnapps from large crenellated jugs and by smoking with cow dung. Tore the tool out of the strongest man's hand and killed the baby at its mother's breast."

What could help now? In their desperation, the people of Eslohe decided to build a chapel to St. Roch. To him, who had cared for plague sufferers; to him, whose own body had also been full of boils; to him, who had been miraculously healed. They did not want to build comfortably in the valley. They chose a hill as the building site, overlooking the village, proof of their zeal for God. So decided, so done. Quarry stones were hauled up the hill, "on the branch", as they say in Sauerland when something is shouldered. Every heavily laden walk was a penance, a plea, a supplication. Every drop of sweat consecrated the work. Then the miracle happened: the plague raging subsided, the Black Death retreated.

At the same time, the fervor died down. The people asked themselves: Do we really have to keep dragging up stone after stone, beam after beam? In these barren times? When our children barely have anything to eat? The chapel stood half-finished on the summit between the Kückelheimer Höhe and the Steltenberg, like an open account with St. Roch. Then came the shock: on a hot summer's day, the epidemic returned. It killed even more people and even faster than before. Coincidence? Fate? Or the punishment for a broken vow? Who knows. In any case, the people of Eslohe hurried to finish building their chapel. Ten years after construction began, it was consecrated. The plague fire went out and never flared up again. One year later, the Great War also ended.

Franz-Josef Huß tells me this story as we sit on a wooden bench in the chapel. Half-light filters through a stained glass window depicting St. Roch pointing to a plague bump on his thigh. On the walls are wonderful frescoes, painted in the 17th century and only uncovered at the end of the 1960s, touching depictions of the Passion of Christ. Huß, 75, who is involved in the Rochuskapelle Chapel Preservation Association, fears that the images could fade or be damaged, as happened years ago when a falling fir tree tore away the walls and paintings.

The people of Eslohe protect their patron saint. The chapel was secured against theft and given a new roof. Wood carvings were impregnated against worm damage and walls were dried out. Just like 400 years ago, it is important not to let up, to persevere in order to preserve what is valuable.

The story makes me think. I can easily relate it to my own life. I have plenty of ideas, I don't run out so quickly. But when I have started a work, I sometimes realize how difficult it is to stick with it and do everything I can to realize the idea. After the creative impulse, the power of preservation is needed for a work to unfold. Love, care, nourishment, protection - like raising a child.

On the same day, I have the opportunity to practise perseverance. Huß had told me that the chapel is illuminated at night. I actually wanted to leave already. However, my photographic imagination imagined that it would be even more impressive in its solitary height in the evening than in the harsh midday light. I return late in the evening. I wait in the twilight, which slowly covers the hill like a dark veil. I have my camera and tripod ready. Then the spotlights come on. The chapel glows golden far into the night blue. A miracle of color and form unfolds. The wooden cross at the front becomes a sign of light in the night. I take my pictures. As I pack my equipment into the car, I am certain that my patience has paid off.

Tip:

The inside of the chapel can be viewed through a small window on the back wall "in all weathers". A key can be obtained from the Eslohe parish office during opening hours. Opening hours: https://www.pv-se.de/gemeinden/esloher-land/eslohe/