Name: Rosenkranzfest Kloster Banz 2026
Start: 2026-10-04T00:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-10-04T00:00:00+00:00
Location: Kloster Banz (Klosterkirche St. Petrus und St. Dionysius)

Rosenkranzfest

About Rosenkranzfest

On the Banzberg above the Maintal valley, pilgrims gather on the first Sunday in October for the annual celebration of the Rosenkranzfest (Rosary Festival) at Kloster Banz. In the Baroque church of St. Petrus and St. Dionysius, the Marian High Feast is celebrated in its oldest Upper Franconian tradition – as a remembrance of the former Rosary Brotherhood and as a Marian feast in the Archdiocese of Bamberg.

Dates 04 Oct — 04 Oct 2026

Venue Bad Staffelstein (09478)

Prices Free

Status Confirmed

Edition 2026

Rosenkranzfest — edition 2026

On the first Sunday in October — Rosary Sunday — Kloster Banz celebrates its traditional Rosenkranzfest. In 2026, the date falls on Sunday, October 4. The celebration continues the Marian devotion of the monastery's former Rosary Brotherhood.

The Rosenkranzfest 2026 at Kloster Banz takes place on Sunday, October 4, 2026. The date is fixed on the first Sunday of October, in accordance with the Catholic Church's centuries-old tradition of celebrating the feast of »Maria, Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii« (Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary) on this day.

The High Mass in the Baroque monastery church of St. Petrus and St. Dionysius is at the center of the celebration. The devotional image »Maria vom guten Rat« (Mary of Good Counsel) — venerated in Kloster Banz for about 300 years — forms the iconographic focal point. Program items: Opening in the morning, festive Marian praise, joint Rosary prayer, Eucharistic adoration in the afternoon.

Highlights Rosenkranzfest 2026

High Mass in the Baroque monastery church of St. Petrus and St. Dionysius
Devotional image »Maria vom guten Rat« as the iconographic focal point
Rosary prayer in the tradition of the former monastery brotherhood
Date on Rosenkranzsonntag — the first Sunday in October

Programme Rosenkranzfest 2026

Sunday, October 4, 2026 — Rosenkranzfest

Morning: Opening of the festival day
High Mass in the monastery church of St. Petrus and St. Dionysius
Festival sermon with special reference to the Rosary prayer and the Marian devotional image
Afternoon: Rosary prayer and Marian devotion
Opportunity for confession and personal prayer before the devotional image »Maria vom guten Rat«
Closing blessing in the late afternoon

Detailed times and the festival preacher will be published by the Archdiocese of Bamberg on the website of the Marian pilgrimage sites of the upper Maintal valley shortly before the date.

Prices Rosenkranzfest 2026

Free admission. Collection during the High Mass.

Practical information

Practical information — Rosenkranzfest

Getting There

By car via the A73 (Bamberg – Lichtenfels, Bad Staffelstein exit) and up to the Banzberg. By train: Bad Staffelstein station, then bus or taxi.

Admission

Free (collection during the service).

Organizer

Archdiocese of Bamberg, Diocesan Pilgrimage Office, Domplatz 5, 96049 Bamberg, Tel. +49 951-5022501.

Kloster Banz — Baroque Gem above the Maintal Valley

The former Benedictine monastery Banz was founded around 1070 and, after the Reformation and secularization, developed into one of the most magnificent monastery complexes in Franconia during the Baroque era. The monastery church of St. Petrus and St. Dionysius, consecrated in 1719 and built according to plans by Johann Dientzenhofer, is considered one of the most important sacred buildings of Franconian Baroque.

Marian Devotion on the Banzberg

Although Kloster Banz is not a classic pilgrimage church, it houses several Marian points of reference: the ceiling fresco depicting Mary amidst the Apostles at the event of Pentecost, and the revered devotional image »Maria vom guten Rat« (Mary of Good Counsel), which has been in the monastery church for about 300 years. Both references make Banz a focal point on the Upper Franconian Marian pilgrimage route.

Rosary Brotherhood as the Root

The Rosenkranzfest holds special significance in Kloster Banz because the monastic community maintained a Rosary Brotherhood for centuries – an association of the faithful particularly devoted to the Rosary prayer. This tradition lives on to this day in the annual Rosenkranzfest on the first Sunday in October ("Rosenkranzsonntag" - Rosary Sunday).

Hanns Seidel Foundation as New User

Since the late 1970s, the former monastery complex has served as an educational center for the Hanns Seidel Foundation, affiliated with the CSU party. This combines three aspects in one location: Political education, cultural events, and religious tradition. The Rosenkranzfest belongs to the third of these dimensions and is organized by the Archdiocese of Bamberg.

Bad Staffelstein and the Vierzehnheiligen Region

Bad Staffelstein is located in the upper Maintal valley in the Lichtenfels district (Upper Franconia, AGS 09478) and is the starting point for the famous Marian pilgrimage route to Vierzehnheiligen – the pilgrimage church built by Balthasar Neumann on the opposite side of the Maintal valley. Kloster Banz and Vierzehnheiligen are the two major Baroque sacred buildings in this section of the Maintal valley.