Benedicta of Origny

Benedictine shrine in Wedinghausen Abbey from the 17th century

Benedicta von Origny († October 8, 362 ) was an early Christian martyr , virgin and saint of the Catholic Church . She is often depicted with a church bell and an ax.

Lore

Benedicta was first mentioned in writing in the entry of October 8th in Usuardus' martyrology , which was written between 863 and 896 . The most important source is that of the Abbey of Benedictine given of Sainte-Benoite in 1312 in order parchment manuscript "Vie de Sainte Benoite." This is now in the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett and is also referred to as the "Berlin Codex". The work was created by an unnamed “Master of the Life of Saint Benoîte of Origny”. The manuscript comprises around 700 pages and contains a 54-page cycle of pictures, a calendar, the Benedicta legend in various versions, explanations on the liturgy , festivals and the history of the monastery. The manuscript is considered one of the most important works by European women's convents.

Life and lore

If Bendicta was a historical figure, it has around 300. Chr. In Rome lived and in the persecution of Christians under Diocletian the martyrdom suffered.

According to tradition, Benedicta came from a Roman senatorial family . Benedicta went to Gaul in the 4th century with 12 consecrated virgins , where she baptized and preached . Later she came to Laon with a companion , drove away a demon and took her power from a pagan place of worship . She was arrested by the Roman governor Matroculus in Origny . As a result, angels delivered her and her wounds were healed. The arrests, tortures and rescues were repeated several times before the governor killed her with an ax on October 8, 362.

Adoration

About 300 years after Benedicta's death, a blind man had a vision of her burial place. According to tradition, he led eighteen bishops from different countries to the place. These transferred the body on May 26, 674 to the church of Origny. This church was settled by Benedictine nuns at the end of the 9th century , who founded the Sainte-Benoite monastery there . This experienced a steady boom since the 13th century and lasted until it was abolished in 1792.

The monastery with the relics of the saints became the center of Benedictine veneration. For the main relics, a silver and gold shrine was made in 1246 . Every year on May 26th, the reliquary was carried through the city in procession along with a bell and an ax .

From Origny, the veneration spread to various places in what is now France , Belgium , the Netherlands and Germany . There the veneration began in the Braunschweiger Blasiusstift in the 10th century. The veneration of Benedictine experienced an upswing there in the 13th century. Relics of Benedicta came to the Wedinghausen Abbey near Arnsberg through contacts with the Marienweerd mother monastery or the original monastery of the Premonstratensian Prémontré . In the monastery chronicle (Codex 246), the life of St. Benedicta was reproduced as in the Berlin Codex. The saint was depicted on the no longer preserved medieval church windows . In Wedinghausen there is a depiction of the saints in the apse (probably from the 17th century) and a reliquary.

literature

• Winfried Ortmann: Benedicta of Origny. A European saint and her veneration in Wedinghausen . In: Heimatblätter. Journal of the Arnsberger Heimatbund. Vol. 2007 pp. 7-12.

Web links

• Review of Ingrid Gardill's monograph on the manuscript of the life of Benedicta (PDF file; 54 kB)
• Gardill, Chapter 1 of her book