Die Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Kasern

Kasern is a small village with around 90 inhabitants and is located at an altitude of 1,582 m at the head of the Ahrntal valley. Here we are very close to the state border with Austria. At the end of the valley rises the 2,913 m high Klockenkarkopf, which has been the northernmost point of Italy since the treaties of St. Germain and was therefore christened Vetta d'Italia as part of the Italianization of the 1920s.

About 20 minutes' walk from Kasern, you can reach the Holy Spirit Chapel via the Kaserer Kreuzweg, a small church that was probably built around 1450 and expanded around 1500. It is possible that there was already a church at this location earlier, perhaps even a pre-Christian cult site. According to legend, farmers are said to have heard a bell ringing from the earth at this very spot. When they began to dig, they found an image of the Holy Spirit. Although this image was taken away, it kept reappearing at the rock that still rises behind the apse today. Therefore, it was decided to build a chapel here.

Subsequently, the chapel served as a place of worship for the miners of the Prettau copper mine, as well as for travelers over the Kimmler Tauern. There was also a cemetery near the chapel, where mainly miners or travelers who had died in accidents were buried. The chapel is richly decorated with frescoes, and there are wooden statues of the saints Kilian, Ursula, Oswald, Francis, and Andrew, as well as a representation of the Trinity inside.

The Holy Spirit Chapel is famous, however, mainly for the pierced cross, around which an old folk tale revolves. Once upon a time, a large shooting competition took place in the Pinzgau region of Salzburg, and a Puster Valley marksman tested his accuracy on the way there at a wayside cross located under the Tauernhaus. His three shots hit the Savior right in the heart. The marksman also won the first prize at the shooting competition, a magnificent bull, with which he set off on the way home. But when they passed by the wayside cross, the bull went wild and gored the blasphemous marksman with its horns. Later, the pierced cross was brought to the Holy Spirit Chapel. All attempts to close the bullet holes were in vain, the wooden dowels kept falling out on their own.

Today, the cross is still carried at the annual procession of the people of Ahrn to the Corn Mother in Ehrenburg, which takes place in May.