Last modified: 2025-03-22 by martin karner
Keywords: einsiedeln | crows | st. meinrad |
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![[Flag of Einsiedeln]](../images/c/ch-sz001.gif)
image by Pascal Gross
On red two flying black ravens one above the other, with white eyes.
The emblem of Einsiedeln is the same as the one of the monastery in the town,
with different background colour. It is connected with the
legend of St. Meinrad and the two ravens. It tells that in the 9th century there was once a nest with two
young orphaned ravens. The ravens were attacked by a sparrowhawk, as the hermit Meinrad passed by and
drove the sparrowhawk away. He took the young ravens with him and built a new hermitage
(German: Einsiedelei, the place where later the monastery was built) in the woods at
a dwell. He lived there many years with the ravens as his domestic pets. One day two burglars passed by
and killed Meinrad. The ravens pursued the murderers cawing and fluttering until Zurich, where they were
identified, arrested and executed after they confessed. The ravens then returned to the woods.
(source,
source)