With about 600 inhabitants, the place Hoxel, first mentioned in 1281, is the fifth largest district of the unified municipality of Morbach founded in 1975. Together with Morscheid-Riedenburg and Wolzburg, it forms the so-called "Balkan".
Four chapels in neighboring villages, which now belong to Morbach, were built in 1770: those of Odert, Riedenburg (replaced after a lightning strike in 1898 by a new building), Wolzburg, and of course St. Walburga in Hoxel. Only in 2022 could the postponed joint 250th anniversary be made up for with a chapel hike from Odert over Hoxel and Wolzburg to Riedenburg.
“According to legend, the money for these buildings came from a treasure that the then-serving pastor J. Anton Klee found in a house in Odert that had been bequeathed to the church. An officer is said to have buried the treasure there during the Thirty Years' War.” (see the very informative homepage www.balkan.city).
St. Walburga is very picturesque, located in the center of the village at the road junction to Morscheid-Riedenburg; the fountain right in front of the chapel and a playground right next to it emphasize the small village center, which is maintained by the citizens. The chapel is, similar to those of Odert and Wolzburg, a small hall building with a curved wooden ceiling, a bell tower, flat-arched windows, and a three-sided choir closure.
The most remarkable piece of equipment is the Baroque altar from the beginning of the 17th century with twisted columns adorned with vine leaves, which possibly comes from a church in Trier. Two smaller side figures of Saint Catherine and Saint Barbara date from the end of the 17th century; in the central field of the altar, a larger figure of the church patroness Walburga from the mid-17th century was positioned in 1960 during a renovation, replacing a lost painting.
Saint Walburga, originally from Wessex in southern England, lived in the 8th century. Her brothers Wunibald and Willibald followed the call of their uncle Boniface and evangelized in southern Germany. Walburga did the same a few years later and led a significant double monastery in Heidenheim.
From the reliquary of the saint in the Abbey of St. Walburg in Eichstätt, a liquid (“Walburgis oil”) is said to regularly seep out, which is why she is often depicted, as in Hoxel, with a small oil flask standing on a book.
Also noteworthy is a figure of Saint Apollonia placed to the right of the altar, presumably also from the 17th century.
The pretty filial chapel St. Walburga belonged to Berglicht in the Middle Ages, from 1569 to the newly founded parish of Morscheid-Walholz, and later to the parish of Morscheid. On January 1, 2022, it merged into the newly founded parish of Vierzehnheilige Morbach. On April 1, 2025, Michael Meiser was introduced as pastor.
