Highly spiritual – The Black Forest was often a harsh and difficult living environment for its former inhabitants. There was no insurance in the event of illness, fire, poor harvests, or other turns of fate. Help and salvation was sought through the belief in the living God and the intercessions of the saints. Henceforth, chapels were built in the districts and hamlets far from the parish churches in the village. They are “small churches without their own clergy”. It was in these chapels that people once sought hope and assurance in times of need.
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St. Augustine, who came from Thagaste (North Africa), found faith and the church during his turbulent youth through his mother St. Monica. After hearing the preachings of St. Ambrose he had himself baptised in Milan in 387. He became a priest and later Bishop of Hippo Regius (North Africa). He died in 430 during the siege of the city by the Vandals. He was a renowned theologian, and nearly 1000 of his sermons, 113 books, and 218 letters have been preserved. His path to faith is described in his most famous book, the “Confessions”. He is honoured as a Doctor of the Church.
During the Middle Ages, Mettenberg along with other places belonged to the parish of Riedern am Wald. This was where the Augustinian canons built a monastery in 1190, taking on the pastoral care duties for this vast area.
In 1806, the monastery in Riedern am Wald was dissolved during the secularisation era. Mettenberg has belonged to the parish of Grafenhausen since 1980. The age of the chapel is not known, the previous chapel was however also already dedicated to St. Augustine.
The feast day of St. Augustine is on 28 August.
