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« Messaggio #81

Messaggio #83 »

Post N° 82

Post n°82 pubblicato il 07 Novembre 2008 da erda

Tag: Archbishop, Cologne, Henry VII, king, martyr

St. Engelbert of Cologne

Archbishop of that city (1216-1225); b. at Berg, about 1185; d. near
Schwelm, 7 November, 1225. His father was Engelbert, Count of Berg, his
mother, Margaret, daughter of the Count of Gelderland. He studied at
the cathedral school of Cologne and while still a boy was, according to
an abuse of that time, made provost of the churches of St. George and
St. Severin at Cologne, and of St. Mary's at Aachen. In 1199 he was
elected provost of the cathedral at Cologne. He led a worldly life and
in the conflict between Archbishops Adolf and Bruno sided with his
cousin Adolf, and waged war for him. He was in consequence
excommunicated by the pope together with his cousin and deposed in
1206. After his submission he was reinstated in 1208 and, to atone for
his sin, joined the crusade against the Albigenses in 1212. On 29 Feb.,
1216, the chapter of the cathedral elected him archbishop by a
unanimous vote. In appearance he was tall and handsome. He possessed a
penetrating mind and keen discernment, was kind and condescending and
loved justice and peace, but he was also ambitious and self willed. His
archiepiscopal see had passed through sever struggles and suffered
heavily, and he worked strenuously to repair the damage and to restore
order. He took care of its possessions and revenues and was on that
account compelled to resort to arms. He defeated the Duke of Limburg
and the Count of Cleves and defended against them also the countship of
Berg, which he had inherited in 1218 on the death of his brother. He
restrained the impetuous citizens of Cologne, broke the stubbornness of
the nobility, and erected strongholds for the defence of his
territories. He did not spare even his own relations when guilty. In
this way he gained the universal veneration of his people and increased
the number of his vassals from year to year. Although in exterior
bearing a sovereign rather than a bishop, for which he was blamed by
pious persons, he did not disregard his duties to the Church, but
strove to uplift the religious life of his people. The mendicant orders
which had been founded shortly before his accession, settled in cologne
during his administration, the Franciscans in 1219, the Dominicans in
1221. He was well disposed towards the monasteries and insisted on
strict religious observance in them. Ecclesiastical affairs were
regulated in provincial synods. Blameless in his own life, he was a
friend of the clergy and a helper of the poor.

In the affairs of the empire Engelbert exerted a strong influence.
Emperor Frederick II, who had taken up his residence permanently in
Sicily, gave Germany to his son, Henry VII, then still a minor, and in
1221 appointed Engelbert guardian of the king and administrator of the
empire. When the young king reached the age of twelve he was crowned at
Aachen, 8 May, 122, by Engelbert, who loved him as his own son and
honoured him as his sovereign. He watched over the king's education and
governed the empire in his name, careful above all to secure peace both
within and without the realm. At the Diet of Nordhausen (24 Sept.,
1223) he made an important treaty with Denmark; in the rupture between
England and France he sided with England and broke off relations with
France. The poet Walther von der Vogelweide extols him as "Master of
sovereigns", and "True guardian of the king, thy exalted traits do
honour to our emperor; chancellor whose like has never been".

Engelbert's devotion to duty, and his obedience to the pope and to the
emperor were eventually the cause of his ruin. Many of the nobility
feared rather than loved him, and he was obliged to surround himself
with a body-guard. The greatest danger threatened him from among his
relations. His cousin, count Frederick of Isenberg, the secular
administrator for the nuns of Essen, had grievously oppressed that
abbey. Honorius III and the emperor urged Engelbert to protect the nuns
in their rights. Frederick wished to forestall the archbishop, and his
wife incited him to murder. Even his two brothers, the Bishops of
M�nster and Osnabr�ck, were suspected as privy to the matter. Engelbert
was warned, commended himself to the protection of Divine Providence,
and amid tears made a confession of his whole life to the Bishop of
Minden. On 7 Nov., 1225, as he was journeying from Soest to Schwelm to
consecrate a church, he was attacked on a dark evening by Frederick and
his associates in a narrow defile, was wounded in the thigh, torn from
his horse and killed. His body was covered with forty-seven wounds. It
was placed on a dung-cart and brought to cologne on the fourth day.
King Henry wept bitterly over the remains, put the murderer under the
ban of the empire, and saw him broken on the wheel a year later at
Cologne. He died contrite, having acknowledged and confessed his guilt.
His associates also perished miserably within a short time. The crime,
moreover, was disastrous for the German Empire, for the young king had
now lost his best adviser and soon met a very sad fate, to the
misfortune of his house and country.

Engelbert, by his martyrdom made amends for his human weaknesses. His
body was placed in the old cathedral of Cologne, 24 Feb., 1226, by
Cardinal Conrad von Urach. The latter also declared him a martyr; a
formal canonization did not take place. In 1618 Archbishop Ferdinand
ordered that his feast be celebrated on 7 November and solemnly raised
his remains in 1622. In the martyrology Engelbert is commemorated on 7
Nov., as a martyr. A convent for nuns was erected at the place of his
death. By order of Engelbert's successor, Henry I, C�sarius of
Heisterbach, who possessed good information and a ready pen, wrote in
1226 the life of the saint in two books and added a third about his
miracles (See Surius, "Vit� Sanctorum", 7 Nov.).

Fonte: The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. V, New York, 1909

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Post N° 82