St. Wolfgang was the Bishop of Regensburg. Later in life he decided to become a hermit and disappeared into the mountains.
Legend has it that he wanted to build a church in the wilderness to honor God, but could not find the spot, so he asked for divine intervention and vowed to throw his axe and where it landed his church would be built. He hurled the axe, lightening crashed and the axe came to rest in a cleft in the rocks.
Now his problem was who would help to build the church. He asked a wolf, but the wolf was on the run from the hunter. He asked the hunter, but he had spent his life chasing the wolf and had no time. Finally, the Devil came by and Wolfgang asked the Devil to help. Understandably surprised, the Devil made a bargain. He would help build the church, but the first soul how entered would be his. Wolfgang agreed and the church was built.
Once completed, Wolfgang and the devil were admiring the work when they heard a loud noise from inside the church. Rushing in, they discovered the wolf hiding from the hunter. Wolfgang declared that the Devil now had the soul he was owed. The Devil protested as did the wolf. Just then the hunter arrived and he was also upset at the events because he had spent his life chasing the wolf and was denied the pelt.
In the end, St. Wolfgang is the only one that got what he wanted. His church was built, the Devil was denied a human soul, the wolf lost his freedom and the hunter was denied the pelt he had long sought.
That is the story and now the reality. St. Wolfgang died in 994 and there seems to be little doubt that he built the church. He built it on a site that was most likely inhabited long before Wolfgang came along. There is a spring beside the church and it sits on the only flat piece of ground along the path for some distance either way. Nearby sits a shrine that makes the highest point of the trail and another that marks the place Wolfie first met the Devil. He was canonized in 1054 and the small church became a pilgrimage site, but I am guessing the path over the mountain, wedged between the high peaks on one side and sheer cliff drop to a lake on the other has been used for thousands of years by the inhabitants and later anyone traveling between the villages of St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang. The small church is part of a larger group of chapels and shrines that occupy the path leading to the top. On a personal note, the most important shrine to me was the one at the very top that marked the start of the downhill trip.
The story of Wolfgang and the Devil inspired at a famous painting by Renaissance artist Michael Pacher who also did the altar piece in St. Wolfgang Church. The altar piece is a masterwork and is an absolute must see if you are anywhere in the area. The town and lake now carry the name of the venerated saint.
The trail up to the church is not long, but it is steep. There are plenty of benches to rest and catch your breath. The climb is a little more than 2km. While we were doing it, I hated it and thought of the punitive nature of pilgrim trails, but in the end, I am happy we did it. It ended up being one of the more interesting places we saw and tied to together some places we visited in Regensburg last winter.
