Funeral rooms in Austria: places of memory and hope for orphaned

Funeral rooms in Austria: places of memory and hope for orphaned

In the time around All Saints' Day and All Souls, many people have the need to think of deceased and become aware of their own transience. For this reason, numerous parishes and church organizations all over Austria open special offers for coping with mourning. These initiatives create spaces in which mourners can pause, recharge their batteries and express their emotions.

A central place for such experiences is the Archdiocese of Salzburg, which offers churches and chapels as "funeral rooms" at 17 different locations. These are available from October 26 to November 15th. In these funeral rooms, which range from Abtenau to Maxglan, people can express their grief. Br. Alexander Schröter from the pastoral office of the Archdiocese emphasizes that these places aim to heal wounds that leaves the loss of loved ones. Visitors find seating, quiet music, candles and strengthening words in the rooms. Pastor is also ready to have supporting conversations.

diverse offers for mourning processing

Special funeral rooms are also set up in Vienna. The "Merry Trees" of the Caritas of the Archdiocese of Vienna and the "conversation island" in the Romanesque chapel in the Schottenstift open their doors from October 31 to November 3. Not only places of calm and reflection are offered here; There are also pastoral accompaniment, hiking days and creative afternoons for grieving part of the program.

Another highlight takes place in the Klosterneuburg Abbey. In cooperation with the St. Martin Hospice, a mourning option is offered here from November 1 to 4, which creates space for silence and reflection in the impressive vault of the abbey. Visitors can symbolically attach white ligaments to an olive tree or express their feelings on a wailing wall. Doris Zeilllinger, the coordinator of the Hospiz St. Martin Association, describes these opportunities as powerful symbols for healing and new beginning.

In St. Pölten, the competence center invites mourning from October 31 to November 3 to the "mourning room" at the main cemetery. Here mourners can bring up their memories in a protected space. Gerti Ziselsberger, the head of the competence center, emphasizes that this space should be a place where people can simply be there and take time to remember.

Lower Austria also offers several funeral rooms, such as in the parish church of Niedernondorf and in the parish church of Purgstall, which are accessible to mourners at certain times. There are also many offers in Tyrolean space that enable people to process their grief in a personal way.

Think about your finiteness

In addition to the funeral rooms, Hospiz Vorarlberg will present the exhibition "Continuation, packing a suitcase for the last trip" in the Dornbirn hospital from October 29. This exhibition encourages you to think about the meaning of life and your own finiteness. Among the exhibits there are suitcases that were symbolically packed by various personalities for their “last trip”. The show is accessible until November 17th during the visiting times and is flanked by the hiking exhibition “Life to the end” on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Vorarlberg hospice movement.

Overall, numerous initiatives and offers are created throughout Austria to support people in their grief and give them the opportunity to deal with their emotions. These exempted rooms are an invitation to a valuable process of coping with grief.

For more information, interested parties can be the website www.katholisch.at Visit.