Ash Wednesday

Ashes to go

Ahses to go is also available to everyone at Klagenfurt Cathedral, where Bishop Josef Marketz, head of the pastoral office Elisabeth Schneider-Brandauer (photo) and cathedral priest Peter Allmaier will give the blessing on Ash Wednesday from 12 noon to 4 pm.

(Bild: Stadtpastoral Klagenfurt/Binder, Krone KREATIV)

Time seems to be shrinking, all kinds of things are available "to go", i.e. to take away: Coffee, food - and the ash cross. The Catholic Church is offering Ashes to go for the fifth time. The blessing also takes place in unusual places in Klagenfurt.

The Ashes Cross is a ritual that should perhaps become increasingly important in our society. It calls for humility and repentance and reminds us that life is finite, which in turn should lead to a more conscious life with more gratitude and love.

Ashes: a symbol of transience and new beginnings
Since ancient times, ashes have stood for transience and also for purification. On Ash Wednesday, the priest or another blessing giver draws a cross of ashes on a person's forehead and reminds them: "Remember, man, that you are dust and will return to dust" or "Convert and believe in the Gospel".

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Ashes to go: City priest Gerhard Simonitti has donated the ash cross several times at the plague column on Alter Platz in Klagenfurt.

(Bild: St. Egid/NAgele)

This ritual is embedded in the Ash Wednesday liturgy, which is literally stormed by the faithful in the cathedral, for example. But for the past five years, the Catholic Church in Carinthia has also been responding to the trend that many people have less time, take less time - but still need the brief pause, the impulse: Ashes to go is the solution.

Ash Wednesday in the cathedral

Diocesan Bishop Josef Marketz celebrates the Ash Wednesday liturgy in Klagenfurt Cathedral at 7 pm with the distribution of the ash cross. The Holy Mass, which will also be broadcast via livestream on www.kath-kirche-kaernten.at/domklagenfurtlive, will be performed by the Klagenfurt Cathedral Choir under Cathedral Conductor Thomas Wasserfaller with the "Missa brevis" by Nikolaus Fheodoroff. Cathedral organist Klaus Kuchling will perform the organ work "Diptyque" by Olivier Messiaen, which will be complemented by a dance performance by Eva-Maria Gönitzer.

Three venues for Ashes to go
The ash cross can be obtained without a liturgy at three locations in Klagenfurt: At the plague column on Alter Platz from 9 am to 12 noon, at the weekly market on Baumbachplatz from 9.30 am to 10.30 am and in the cathedral from 12 noon to 4 pm, where Bishop Josef Marketz will give the blessing of ashes during the first half hour.

Visit your neighbor
While many people swear by fasting during Lent in the sense of giving up certain foods, others consciously leave their cars at home or spend less time on their cell phones, the Church has launched a new Lent initiative: "Your neighbor's door is your Holy Door". Under this motto, the Catholic Church is asking full-time and volunteer men and women to visit people in their neighborhoods during Lent and bring them blessings. Free postcards with blessings such as "Nice that you are my neighbor" are available in the "Mein Kirchenshop" (My Church Shop). "In the Holy Year, we want to keep giving people hope and blessings - in the jubilee churches, at the numerous places of blessing as well as in everyday places - in the office or at home," says Elisabeth Schneider-Brandauer, Director of the Pastoral Care Office, and calls for "the idea of the Holy Door to be transferred to our neighborhood, so to speak". Every Christian can be a bringer of blessings and, according to Schneider-Brandauer, "my neighbor's door can be a Holy Door".

In Gurnitz, the faithful have already burned their palm bushes from the previous year together in the parish of Bernd Wegscheider in order to obtain ashes for the ash crosses on Wednesday.

(Bild: KK Günther Gasper)

Great tradition of artistic Lenten cloths
From Ash Wednesday, altarpieces and crosses are draped with purple cloths. In color psychology, purple is considered the color of spirituality, of mental balance, and that is exactly what Christians strive for: During Lent, many give up certain foods, reduce calories, refrain from driving and also try to curb stress - completely at odds with the demands of the times to slow down.

A fasting of the eyes is also achieved with the purple cloths that cover images. More than 1000 years ago, fasting cloths were hung as "velum templi" between the chancel and the congregation - the faithful could not see priests and altar servers, so they fasted with their eyes.

An old tradition in Carinthia, unique in the Alpine countries, are the artistically designed Lenten cloths that cover the altars from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. With around 40 Lenten cloths in use from before 1800, Carinthia has the largest collection of historical Lenten cloths in Austria. 

Old, large, imposing
The oldest surviving Lenten cloth in Austria is the one in Gurk Cathedral; at 8.87 x 8.87 meters, it is also one of the largest painted hunger cloths in Europe. The painting of the two halves of the linen cloth was completed in 1458 in the workshop of Master Konrad von Friesach.

99 pictorial fields
On the left half of the cloth, 56 scenes from the Old Testament can be seen in ten rows in 50 fields, while on the right half of the cloth, 52 scenes from the New Testament can be seen in ten rows in 49 fields - from the creation of the world to the Last Judgement. The Gurk Lenten Shroud will be raised in front of the altar in the cathedral on March 5 at 6 pm. During the service, the ash cross will be administered.

A new Lenten cloth for St. Mark's Church in Wolfsberg has been designed by pupils of the BORG.

(Bild: Stadtpfarre Wolfsberg)

New, colorful and a sign of hope
"40 pictures - 40 chances" is the theme of the new Lenten cloth in St. Mark's Church, conceived and artistically realized by pupils of the BORG Wolfsberg. "It is a sign of hope! The young people have chosen topics that concern them, from war to digital challenges. They asked themselves: What is good for me? What is not good for me? Because fasting doesn't mean giving up something in order to suffer, it means looking at things: Do I still need this? Is it good for me at all? Is it better to give it up? And this way of thinking opens up new opportunities," says Christoph Kranicki, the parish priest, who is delighted with the Lenten cloth created by classes 6B and 7C. The new Lenten cloth will be presented on Ash Wednesday at 5.30 pm in St. Mark's Church in Wolfsberg; the Holy Mass with the blessing of the ash cross will begin at 6 pm. Of course, this inspiring work can also be seen in the church every day until Holy Saturday.

Art in the cathedral

The Ash Wednesday liturgy in Klagenfurt Cathedral marks the start of the "Art in the Cathedral" project: this year, Styrian light artist Anton Schnurrer is showing an installation that symbolizes the space between life and death. A walk-through tunnel (12 × 3 meters) formed by a black curtain in the chancel contains a video projection that symbolizes near-death experiences. Many of those affected describe this out-of-body experience as one of the most beautiful moments of their lives: serenity, freedom from any physical heaviness and illness as well as positive feelings and inner peace can be felt.

The once so formative experience of dying and death are almost invisible in modern times, dying is outsourced from the family to hospitals, death is repressed. The installation aims to encourage people to talk about death and hope again.

On display from March 5 until "White Sunday" (April 27).

Where do young people go missing?
On Ash Wednesday (5 pm) in the Protestant Johanneskirche in Klagenfurt, the series "Living by faith" entitled "Passion - Where are young people lost today?" will focus on the expulsion of Protestants in Defereggen. In 1684, 621 Protestants were expelled because of their faith. They had to leave 289 children under the age of 15 behind!

The East Tyrolean artist Margarethe Oberdorfer will present her characteristic clay head figures depicting the expulsion of the Protestants from Defereggen in 1684. The main focus is on the fate of the children left behind.

Pastor Margit Leuthold from Lienz, Pastor Gregor Schmoly from St. John's Church in Klagenfurt and youth advisor Jonas Ollischer (Evangelical Youth Carinthia) will explore the question of where young people can get lost today in an open discussion.