The Order of St Lazarus spring

General information

The spring which is fed by aquifers from the river Neumagen and was previously protected by a high embankment was credited with having miraculous powers. From looking at the pictures on the Fridolin altar in the church, it is possible to deduce that St Fridolin, who was active as a missionary here, preached to and baptised members of the congregation in the 6th Century. As late as the 18th Century, suckling babies are thought to have been dipped into the spring water here before their formal baptisms in the church. The spring also provides the water supply for the village. As long ago as 1866 the municipality constructed a central water supply system which was fed by the spring.

Parish church of St Sebastian

With the parish church of St Sebastian and the spring situated next to it, Schlatt represents one of the most picturesque locations in bad Krozingen. The documentary evidence for the church dates back to 1275, but the present church was built in the late Middle Ages and the beginning of the 16th Century. In addition to its main Patron saint, Saint Sebastian, Saints Fridolin and Apollinaris are also venerated in the church.

It is not only a side altar, but also the statue on the left of the main altar which are dedicated to Saint Apollinaris. The altar was created by Johann Baptist Sellinger. Whilst the veneration of the missionary Saint Fridolin, who died in 538 in Bad Säckingen and is buried in the cathedral there, perhaps goes back to an occasion when Saint Fridolin visited the source, it is thought that the veneration of Saint Apollinaris, who is a patron saint of water springs, is a much more recent phenomenon.

The ensemble of buildings around the church was supplemented, for example by the parish house, built in 1804, which features an enormous basement plinth. The parish was in the care of the Franciscans from the Thirty Years’ War onwards until secular priests took over the running of the parish in the 19th Century.

Worthy of especial mention here is the church historian and priest Dr. Theodor Kurrus (1916–1994), who was responsible for the spiritual guidance of the parishioners in Tunsel, where he lived, and in Schlatt. Dr Kurrus not only wrote many articles on church history, but in 1974 he also re-founded the Schlatt commandery of the Order of St Lazarus. He became well-known in other regions too because of his involvement in church groups who argued critically against the findings of the Second Vatican Council.