Church Maria im Elend, Catholic parish and pilgrimage church in Straßgang, Graz, Austria

Church Maria im Elend is a Roman Catholic parish and pilgrimage church on the northeastern slope of the Florianiberg above Straßgang. Its walls incorporate Roman tombstones from the 2nd or 3rd century, and remnants of a Romanesque St. George's church survive in the present fabric. The interior is Gothic, entered through neo-Gothic portals, with baroque furnishings; Johann Baptist Pozzo added two chapels and the sacristy to the nave.

A Romanesque St. George's church stood here from the 10th century, held by the Aribonen family, and traces of it survive in the present walls. It passed to the Benedictine abbey of Admont and became an independent parish church in 1140. In the 15th century the presbytery was added; in the Baroque period Johann Baptist Pozzo built two chapels and the sacristy onto the nave.

The name Maria im Elend recalls the Flight into Egypt from Herod's slaughter of the innocents, the second of the Seven Sorrows of Mary; the patronal feast is therefore kept on 15 September. The late-Gothic Straßgang Gnadenmutter, a Schutzmantelmadonna, stands at the centre of the high altar, and the figures sheltered under her cloak are portraits of Emperor Frederick III and Pope Pius II.

The church sits on the northeastern slope of the Florianiberg above Straßgang, reached by a climb from the valley; the ground around the building is uneven, so sturdy shoes help. The parish is one of the oldest in Styria and remains an active place of worship, so visits are best timed outside services.

The high altar, made by Graz sculptor Johann Jacob Schoy in 1727 and 1728, holds the late-Gothic Straßgang Gnadenmutter shown as a Schutzmantelmadonna. Under her cloak are portraits of Emperor Frederick III and Pope Pius II, and gilded relief panels show the patron saints of daughter churches that grew out of Maria Elend.