Ansverus
Ansverus (also Ansuerus, German Answer ) (* 1038 in Schleswig / Haithabu ; † July 15, 1066 near Ratzeburg ) was a Benedictine monk . He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church .
Life
Ansverus came from a noble and wealthy Saxon family and was brought up in the Christian faith . At the age of 15, after a dream, he traveled to the Ratzeburg, which belongs to the Abodritic Empire, under a pretext to enter the Benedictine monastery of St. George on the mountain . In the monastery he became a priest and monk with a serious orientation towards the Benedictine rule and a strong missionary commitment, which brought some success. The Polabians , who have lived around Ratzeburg for around 300 years, worshiped the goddess Siwa on the nearby Ratzeburg island . In the summer of 1066 the Abodrites rose up against their Christian ruler Gottschalk . Church and monastery were partially destroyed. On July 15, the abbot Ansverus was captured with his 18 monks, brought to Einhaus near Ratzeburg and killed there on the Rinsberg by stoning . He died a martyr at the age of 28 .
Ansverus was first buried in the ruins of the Church of St. George on the Mountain. In 1170 his bones were transferred to the recently completed Ratzeburg Cathedral .
Since the middle of the 15th century, a wheel cross made of Gotland limestone, the Ansverus cross, has stood in memory of the presumed stoning near Einhaus . Since 1950, a pilgrimage of the Catholic Church has taken place there on the second Sunday in September.
A picture panel from the pre-Reformation period in the chancel of the Ratzeburg Cathedral depicts the life and martyrdom of Ansverus in 12 pictures with signatures. Pictorial representations from different times can also be found in St. Laurentius in Ziethen near Ratzeburg and in the Church of St. Georg auf dem Mountains in Ratzeburg.
Ansverus is the namesake of the Catholic parish of St. Answer in Ratzeburg and the parish of St. Ansverus, based in Ahrensburg.
literature
- Fritz Castagne: The monk Ansverus and the Heidenmission in Holstein and Lauenburg. Pfeiffer, Hanover 1966 ( Volk und Welt 2, ZDB -ID 540545-2 ).
- Reno Stutz: Ansverus (d. 1066). Monk and martyr. In: Reno Stutz: Ratzeburger Land. Mecklenburg's unusual part of the country between Wismar and Lübeck . Neuer Hochschulschriften Verlag, Rostock 1996, ISBN 3-929544-37-7 , pp. 92-97.
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Ansuerus (Answer). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 188.
Web links
- Homepage of the Ansverus house in Aumühle near Hamburg
- Homepage of the Ansverus House in Lübeck
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ansverus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ansuerus; Answer |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Benedictine monk and saint |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1038 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Schleswig , Haithabu |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 15, 1066 |
| Place of death | near Ratzeburg |