How a Village Prays For Its Glacier

For times immemorial, humans have prayed to their gods to look favorably upon them, to keep them safe, and to grant their wishes. But what happens once the wish has been granted? This real life story tells you exactly what. The village of Fiesch in the canton of Valais in Switzerland does a yearly pilgrimage to ask God and Saint Ignatius of Loyola for help.

In 1678, the village of Fiesch in the Republic of The Seven Tithes of Valais (today part of Switzerland) was under constant threat. The threat was not one of armies or invasion by human migrants but the much mightier threat of invasion by the growing Aletsch Glacier. During the period of global cooling around 1650, the glacier had started to grow at an alarming rate.

The growing of the glacier not only ate up acreage needed to graze cattle, it also provoked natural catastrophes such as rock slides and spring floods that severely damaged village, roads and fields. The villagers therefore decided that nothing less than a major alliance could get them out of their troubles; they decided to enter into a pact with God.

The Swiss have remarkable access to higher up (well, not quite THAT high). They petitioned Pope Innocence XI to grant them the boon of entering into a pact with God. They swore to live a good life in fear of God, and in return they were allowed to petition God directly on a yearly basis. The petition included their wishes: To be kept from harm, to be spared natural catastrophes, and to stop the glacier from growing.

After Innocence XI had granted their request, the villagers started to send up their prayers every year on the Feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola on July 31st. They did this unfaltering and unfailingly, and still there were rock slides and floods coming from their greatest enemy.

In 1862, Pope Pius IX granted the villagers the right to step up pressure on God. They were now allowed to hold a yearly procession to the chapel of Maria Heimsuchung (Chapel of the Visitation of Mary) to pray for assistance. The procession is a form of penance as well; the ascent to the chapel takes six hours.

300 years of badgering God with the combined assistance of Saint Ignatius and Saint Mary finally showed results. The Aletsch Glacier is in fast retreat. Guess what the villagers did next?

In 2009, they petitioned Pope Benedict XVI to grant them a change in their oath. Instead of praying for the glacier to go back, they now want it to grow. The Pope in his infinite wisdom and reflecting the ever unchanging Catholic Faith granted their request for a complete u-turn in 2010. While the Pope is infallible, this seems to not to apply to dead popes. As of 2011, the new prayers will be used on the feast of Saint Ignatius at the Church of Saint Mary.

What can we learn from this story? Be careful what you wish for from God, your wish might be granted. There is also a positive side for all the Cassandras carping about global warming: I am sure that in 300 years the pious people of Fiesch will have prayed down a further ice-age. Problem solved, sort of.

Further reading
History in The Alps: Bernina Pass
The Village of St Silvester, Switzerland
History of The FIS Alpine Ski Championship