Pfarrkirche Deutsch Goritz

Our church is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of Mary. A statue of Our Lady of Lourdes adorns the high altar (1902), which, like all the other altars, was made by Calasantine Brother Alfonso. On the left and right are statues of St Joseph and St Anne, both patron saints of the Calasantine order. At the front left is the altar of St Joseph Calasanz (1902, enlarged 1920), the main patron saint and namesake of the Kalasantines. St Joseph Calasanz founded the Piarists in 1597 and opened the first free primary school in Europe in Rome.

In the centre of the church there are two further side altars (1908): on the left an altar of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and on the right an altar of the Virgin Mary with the image of ‘Our Lady of the Kalasantines’, who is particularly venerated as ‘Mary, Help of Christians’ in the mother house of the order in Vienna. The lively devotion to certain saints led to the erection of statues of St Anthony of Padua and St Aloyius of Gonzaga (1903) as well as St Theresa of Lisieux (1929). A picture of the founder of the order, Fr Anton Maria Schwartz, was hung in the church after his beatification in 1998.

The stained glass windows in the church were donated by the local population (see inscriptions).

The ceiling was painted by Brother Lukas, a Benedictine monk from Seckau Abbey (1934).