Freising Cold

Freising was a bit on the cold and rainy side while we where there, but it did not stop us from falling in love with the place! The worlds oldest brewery, legends and stories of saints, the city is rich and deep in history and heritage. It's not only cool because of its history, but the city today is vibrant, alive, energetic, and fun. Even late into the night, you will find people out and about, enjoying the town. One thing I have found consistently in my two trips to Germany, and having spend time in six different German cities, is that Germans are friendly and fun. I am most amazed about the German people. Germans are very friendly and happy. I love the mountains and cities and scenery, but most of all I love the people.

(It is pronounced "fry-zing," not "freezing." Regardless, whenever I say the name of the city, my wife tells me to get a jacket).

The city has its roots in the 8th century, established by a St. Korbinian. St Korbinian was named Waldegiso at birth. He was born in France.  His father died while Waldegiso/Korbinian was in infancy. He was then renamed by his mother, Corbiniana. Personally, I think Korbinian is a lot easier to say than Waldegiso, but I am not a medieval French dude, so I could be wrong. I do wonder, if after his name was changed, if they played a game of "Where's Waldegiso?"  They probably did, because he became a hermit monk for 14 years. He ended his hermacy with a trip to Rome. There the pope told him it was time to stop being a hermit, and go help develop the church in Germany. Korbinian/Where's Waldegiso stopped in what is now Freising, at a shrine to the Virgin Mary. He established a monastery, a school and a church, which became the core of Freising. The monks eventually began making beer, and when the monastery was disbanded, the brewery continued. It is the world's oldest continuously operating brewery, making beer since 1040.

On the way to Rome, legend has it, a bear killed Korbinian's pack horse. He was furious, and commanded the bear to carry his load the rest of the way to Rome. Commanding a bear to carry your luggage is pretty bad-ass, so the bear is the symbol of the city still to this day. I am surprised that Chuck Norris is not a saint.  Korbinian's bear is used as the symbol of Freising, and you will find painted statues of bears all over the city. The bear is also a part of Pope Benedict XVI's crest, due to his strong connection with the city. Then known as Joseph Ratzinger, he studied in Freising. He was ordained as a priest at St. Korbinian Cathedral in Freising. Father Ratzinger was later appointed Archbishop of Freising-Munich in March 1977. I was hoping that having a German pope would result in pretzel and beer communion, but apparently, he did not stay pope long enough to make it happen.

So naturally, my wife and I had to visit the Cathedral. It was beautiful, inside; mesmerizing and awe-inspiring. This is the Year of Mercy, as designated by Pope Francis; a year to focus on peace in the world. Several churches have been designated to have "holy doors" for the year, and you are supposed to enter them in prayer contemplating peace and humility. We reverently entered this door on the way in. The first church was built in 860 and rebuilt after a fire in 903. The church was completely destroyed by fire on Palm Sunday in 1159. Construction of the current Romanesque building started in 1159 and completed in 1205. The Romanesque wooden ceiling was replaced by a gothic vault in 1483.

Holy Doors at the Cathedral of Sts. Korbinian and Mary

Over time, several different small churches were built in the area. Later, these were all connected by building a large facility with connecting hallways, and all of these together comprise the Cathedral and current  Munich Diocese headquarters. So as we walked through the corridors of the cathedral, we entered various ancient churches and chapels that were once built separately and are now all connected.  There is a chapel to St. John of Nepomuk (I've never heard of him either, but the ancientness is kind of cool) that is now the Sacristy. There is a church of St. Benedict, and a church of St. John the Baptist. The basement has a crypt with the relics of three different saints, including the bones of St. Korbinian. It was a bit surreal, walking into a poorly lit basement. The displays were few and scattered, organized by any apparent logic. They were not well lit, and signage was obscure and esoteric. My German is far less than fluent, but I know enough to have a conversation with a four year old. There were not any 4 year olds to chat with in the crypts, so we studied the available sign, and felt immediately certain there were bones in these boxes, bones of saints. It took us about half an hour of google translator in a dark and isolated catacomb of an ancient church for us to realize we were standing in front of a crypt that held the remains of St. Korbinian himself. I'm just glad the bones of the bear were not around.

Crypt of Korbinian

Back up from the crypts, to the area of worship. The church was beautiful. The ceiling was filled with exquisite detail and endless frescoe paintings depicting heaven and other-world events. Some of the paintings in the church were done by Ruben. The Baroque and Renaissance paintings and frescos, sculptures are all breathtaking. Even the paintings not done by Ruben were very Rubenesque, which is better than being Picassoesque paintings in a church. Jesus with two eyes on the side of his nose would not be very reverent.

The church was one of the most beautiful places I saw that week in Germany, which says a lot, because we saw a lot of beautiful places.

There is so much more to say about Freising, I will conclude in another post. Freising is beautiful, peaceful, fun and cool. Cool, but not freezing. It is well worth the visit.

The rest of the photos are of the Cathedral and Diocese headquarters. It is a large complex.

Painting by Ruben