The Herrgottswinkel (Catholic Prayer Corner): Origin, Meaning and Setting One Up

In the old farmhouse parlours of Upper Bavaria and Vorarlberg, the cross did not hang just anywhere on the wall but in one particular corner. The family turned towards it for grace at meals, the blessed palm branches were tucked behind it, and it was the place of honour in the room. This corner is the Herrgottswinkel, the prayer corner. This guide explains where the custom comes from, what belongs in a prayer corner and how you can set one up worthily today, even in a flat without a corner bench.

What is a Herrgottswinkel, or Catholic prayer corner?

A Herrgottswinkel is the corner of the living room where the crucifix hangs, surrounded by pictures of the saints, blessed palm branches and often a holy water font. This prayer corner is found above all in Bavaria and Austria and serves the family as a fixed place for daily prayer.

The name comes from “Herrgott”, the Lord God. In popular speech the word denotes not only God himself but also the crucifix. The German Dictionary of the Brothers Grimm notes in its entry “Herrgott”: “by Herrgott one means in particular also the carved image of the Crucified” (translated from the German), and refers in this connection to the Herrgottswinkel. In the Ammergau region, those who carved crucifixes were accordingly called Herrgottschnitzer, “Lord God carvers”.

A Herrgottswinkel, then, is neither an altar nor a room of its own. It is a place in the living room where Christ on the cross hangs visibly above the daily life of the family. Anyone who wants to set up a whole prayer area with a statue, candles and a small table would rather speak of a home altar.

Where does the Herrgottswinkel come from?

The Herrgottswinkel comes from the farmhouse parlour of the Catholic Alpine lands. The stove, the table and the crucifix each had their fixed place there. Writers such as Ludwig Ganghofer and Franz Michael Felder mention the Herrgottswinkel as a natural part of the parlour.

In his story “Der Herrgottschnitzer von Ammergau” (The Crucifix Carver of Ammergau), Ganghofer describes the parlour of a carver in Ammergau, a room that served its purpose “like every other of the same kind in the other houses of the village”: “the crucifix in the Herrgottswinkel with the melancholy drooping palm branches, then the usual tiled stove in one corner, in the other the massive oak table before the benches set into the wall” (translated from the German). Franz Michael Felder of Vorarlberg (1839–1869), in his two-volume village tale “Sonderlinge” (Eccentrics) of 1867, mentions the parlour “with the little crucifix in the Herrgottswinkel” and speaks of the “place of honour in the Herrgottswinkel” (translated from the German).

Theologically, the Church’s teaching on images stands behind this. In December 1563 the Council of Trent decreed that images of Christ, of the Mother of God and of the saints are to be had and honoured “especially in churches”. The home is not thereby excluded. The 1917 Code of Canon Law calls it “good and useful” to venerate the images of the saints (can. 1276).

“The honour which is shown to them is referred to the prototypes which they represent, so that through the images which we kiss, and before which we uncover the head and prostrate ourselves, we adore Christ and venerate the saints whose likeness they bear.”

Council of Trent, Session XXV (December 1563), Decree on the invocation of the saints and on sacred images; our translation from the Latin

What belongs in a Catholic prayer corner?

A prayer corner needs first of all a crucifix, that is, a cross bearing the corpus of the Saviour. To this are added pictures of Our Lady and the patron saints of the house, the palm branches blessed on Palm Sunday and a small font of holy water. A Herrgottswinkel needs nothing more.

The palm branches stay in the prayer corner until they are returned to the parish before Ash Wednesday or replaced by new ones on the following Palm Sunday. In the prayer of blessing in the 1962 Missal, the priest asks that the people may accomplish spiritually what they do bodily with the branches, “bearing away the victory over the enemy” (our translation). Choose the pictures according to the devotion of your household: Our Lady, St Joseph or the patron saints of the family. You will find a selection among our Catholic wall pictures.

Where should a Herrgottswinkel be placed?

Traditionally the Herrgottswinkel is set up in the corner of the room where the family eats and spends time together, clearly visible from the table. There is no Church regulation on its position or height. All that matters is that the prayer corner lies within sight of the household.

Felder speaks of the “place of honour in the Herrgottswinkel”: whoever sat there sat beneath the cross. In a modern home, the corner by the dining table suggests itself, or a quiet living-room wall, or the hallway through which everyone passes when coming and going. The cross is best hung high enough that you look up to it when seated without having to tip your head right back.

If there is no corner, a narrow wall with a small shelf beneath it will do. Palm branches and holy water need little space. The only important thing is that the corner does not become a place to drop keys and post, for under canon law blessed objects are to be treated with reverence (CIC 1917, can. 1150).

Which cross is suitable for a prayer corner?

A crucifix with a corpus, that is, a cross showing the crucified Saviour, is suitable for the prayer corner. A wooden wall cross 35 to 55 centimetres high suits most living rooms. For a small corner in the hallway, a 35-centimetre wall cross is enough.

Two kinds are common. In a carved cross, both the beams and the corpus are of wood, often limewood, and painted by hand. In a wall crucifix with a resin corpus, a cast and painted figure is mounted on a wooden cross; it is less expensive. Both serve their purpose in the prayer corner. What matters is that the face of the Saviour is worthily worked, for the family looks upon this face every day.

Our wall crosses range from hand-carved Siena crosses of limewood to wall crucifixes with a resin corpus. A standing cross, for instance for a shelf beneath the prayer corner, can be found among our standing crosses.

Mentioned in this article Siena Baroque Wall Cross, 45 cm Hand-carved from limewood in Italy and painted in colour in the Siena style. View the wall cross

Does the cross in a prayer corner have to be blessed?

The cross in a prayer corner does not have to be blessed, but having it blessed is an old and good custom. Any priest may bless a cross for private use without special permission. Once blessed, the cross is a sacramental and is to be treated with reverence.

The Rituale Romanum, the Church’s book of rites, contains a blessing of its own for a cross (Tit. VIII, cap. 24). The solemn blessing of crosses that are publicly venerated is reserved to the Ordinary, as a rule the bishop, who can delegate it to any priest; “privately, however, any priest may perform this blessing without the permission of the Ordinary” (our translation). In it the Church asks that all who bow and pray before this cross for the Lord’s sake may “find health of body and soul”.

The cross does not work of itself. The Council of Trent states that images are not venerated because any divinity or power dwells in them, and that no trust is to be placed in them, as the heathen once did in their idols. Sacramentals obtain their effect through the intercession of the Church (CIC 1917, can. 1144). Bring the cross to the priest after Holy Mass; the blessing consists of two short prayers and the sprinkling with holy water.

How do you pray in a prayer corner?

In the prayer corner the family says grace at meals, morning and evening prayers and, in many homes, the Rosary. One turns towards the crucifix, makes the sign of the cross, preferably with holy water, and bows before the image of the Crucified.

A short prayer before the cross is the aspiration Adoramus te, Christe. The collection of indulgenced prayers Preces et pia opera lists it under no. 191: whoever says it in the state of grace (CIC 1917, can. 925) gains an indulgence of three years (Sacred Penitentiary, 2 February 1934). If you cannot get to church on weekdays, you can pray the whole Rosary before the cross at home with our Rosary prayer companion.

Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi; quia per sanctam Crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee; because by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Preces et pia opera, Vatican 1952, no. 191; English: traditional version

Frequently asked questions about the Herrgottswinkel