The figure stood on a 12 foot high wayside shrine. The day labourer rested at the site of the statue of Our Lady on his daily way to work. Inspired by a vision, Eberhard decided to build a little house on the site of the wayside shrine.
The landlords of the area provided him with a piece of land for this little Marian hut in the Krames district, on which Eberhard completed the small building ("clausa") in 1442 with the help of the local inhabitants. It was three steps long, two steps wide, three steps high and had a pyramidal rising roof on all sides. There was a window in the south side, while the north side was open. After the construction of the hermitage, Eberhard sold all his possessions and bought a portable bell, an iron candlestick and an image of the Virgin Mary similar to the first one. He placed this in front of the window on the south side, and closed off the north side with an iron grille. Soon the first pilgrims arrived and often left offerings in front of the image. After these were often stolen, Eberhard built a hut next to the Marian hut and lived there as a hermit.
"Miracles" in the Marian hut
Over time, the place gained a certain notoriety because of the "miracles" that kept occurring. The development became unpleasant for the parish priest of Piesport, who feared an impairment of his competence and a reduction of his income. Therefore, he took every opportunity to disturb the work that had begun.
The following incident has been handed down: Anna, the wife of Gotthard von Esch, fell seriously ill. She instructed her chaplain, Nikolaus, to hold a mass for her recovery in the unconsecrated Marian hut. In the course of this, Anna was cured after receiving communion. The parish priest of Piesport, Johann Ordonis, then sued Father Nikolaus at the Offizialamt in Trier. This found him guilty of having celebrated without permission. Nikolaus remained unpunished, but Ordonis managed to have Eberhard's image of the Virgin Mary moved to the Piesport parish church of St. Michael.
When Wilhelm von Esch, a landlord, learned of this, he had Eberhard locked up in a house in the secret hope that his deed would mobilise the population against the Piesport priest. In fact, the Bishop of Trier later allowed the image to be returned to the Marian Cottage. Eberhard was released and hung the picture in its old place.
From the Mary's Cottage to the Chapel
Due to the increase in pilgrims, Eberhard decided to replace the Mary's Cottage with a chapel. Archbishop Jakob von Sierk gave his consent.
In 1444, the Mary's hut was demolished and a square chapel was built, five steps in length and width. It was not consecrated.
A stretcher altar was used to enable the reading of mass. Another enlargement took place in 1447-1448. A church ("ecclesia") was built, called a chapel in the documents, which was 26 steps long and 12 steps wide and had two altars inside. A two-storey tower was added and a sacristy nearby. The chapel built in 1445 remained, but was, it is assumed, incorporated into the overall complex and also received an altar. On 25 March 1449, Archbishop von Sierk consecrated the new church. Mary became the main patron saint.
On 04.02.1451, von Sierk issued a document to regulate the affairs of the church factory of Eberhardsklausen.
Founding of the monastery by the Windesheim Congregation
After Eberhard's death, the number of pilgrims continued to increase, which made it necessary to organise the pastoral situation in the long term. At this time, the foundation of the monastery was in the offing. It was probably due to Cardinal Nikolaus von Kues that a monastery of the Windesheim Congregation was founded in Eberhardsklausen. In 1456, Archbishop Jakob von Sierk arranged for the first Augustinian canons from the monasteries of Niederwerth near Koblenz and Bödekken in Westphalia to settle in Eberhardsklausen. They were followed by others from the Netherlands.
In 1459, the archbishop transferred the church with all its rights and goods to the canons of this congregation and placed it under the church supervision of the general chapter.
In 1461, the newly built monastery was accepted into the Windesheim Monastery Association. From then on, the Augustinian canons of the Windesheim Congregation worked in Eberhardsklausen for four and a half centuries. In the 15th century, they brought about a renewal of church and religious life. The monastic ascetic way of life was in its heyday. In the 16th century, Eberhardsklausen attained an outstanding position. The religious clergy became active in reforming. Examples include St. Agneten in Trier, the St. Thomas Monastery in Andernach, the St. Nikolaus Hospital in Bernkastel-Kues and many others. Due to extensive offerings, the monastery was able to expand its land holdings. These were mainly vineyards on the Middle Moselle. In the 18th century, the monastery owned about 350,000 vines. In 1802, the convent was dissolved due to the occupation by the French. The monastery church became the parish church. In 1927, the parish was elevated to the seat of a deanery. The flourishing pilgrimage was decisive for the development of the village. After several obstructions to pilgrimages during the French period around 1800, during the Kulturkampf and National Socialism, pilgrimage was resumed after the Second World War. Since 1950, around 120,000 pilgrims and about 700 organised pilgrimage groups visit our place of pilgrimage every year.
Foundation of a new monastery in August 2008
On 15 August 2008, the Dominican Convent "St. Catherine of Siena", a small monastery, was newly founded in Klausen. The Dominicans want to support the pilgrimage with their presence and strengthen Klausen as a spiritual centre.
Klausen is now the largest place of pilgrimage in the diocese of Trier. The pilgrimage season begins in the Marian month of May and ends in October.