St Beatus Caves
Up until the Reformation, St Beatus was venerated on the northern shore of Lake Thun in the Bernese Oberland as the “apostle” of Switzerland. According to a legend first printed in 1511, the apostle Peter personally authorised Beatus to undertake missionary work among the Helvetii. There is no evidence of this. It is a fact, however, that a settler called Beatus was venerated in the “Beatus Caves” and the chapel there was first mentioned in 1231. There were Christian communities at Lake Thun much earlier: for example, there is archaeological evidence that the first church in Spiez dates back to the 7th-8th century.
According to popular belief, St Beatus slew a wicked dragon that had been the cause of much suffering for the people living at Lake Thun. Before 1947, when Nicholas of Flüe was canonised, St Beatus was the patron saint of Switzerland and, together with Einsiedeln, the Beatus Caves were the most important place of pilgrimage in Switzerland from the 12th century onwards.
As the area became Protestant during the Reformation, the chapel was dismantled and the caves were bricked up. On 3 April 1904 a tomb cut into the rock was discovered during excavations outside the cell of Beatus.
Nowadays, the St Beatus Caves are occasionally visited by pilgrims from the nearby Way of St James, but mostly by tourists interested in visiting the caves, which are accessible.
Worth a visit:
St Beatus Caves