Feast of the Sacred Heart

Beacons across the mountains.
Even today, in early summer the mountain tops are ablaze with beacons to commemorate a solemn religious bond entered into by the Tyroleans in a time of emergency.

The refuge lights a Sacred Heart fire at the Rittner Horn around 8.30 p.m., dinner on reservation tel. +39 0471 1550602.

In 1511 the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I granted the Tyroleans special privileges. As part of the so-called “Landlibell” agreement the principle was established that in times of war the Tyroleans would not have to involve themselves beyond their regional borders. In return they were to be responsible for their homeland’s own defence. As the Napoleonic troops advanced closer and closer to Tyrol from northern Italy in 1796 the province prepared for war. The Tyrolean Landstände or Estates General – representatives of the nobility, the clergy, middle classes and peasants – assembled at a congress in Bolzano/Bozen in order to confer on a plan of action. Once all measures had been decided on Abbot Sebastian Stöckl of Stams suggested entrusting the province to the protection of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and so obtain divine help. On 1st June 1796 the solemn promise was made to celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart henceforth each year with a ceremonious Mass. The bond was first acknowledged by the lighting of beacons on the mountains 80 years later.