Bernardus (Marienfeld)

Bernardus OCist († March 3, 1357 ) was a priest and abbot of the Marienfeld monastery .

Life

Church career

Before Bernardus entered the Cistercian order, he was canon in Minden and official of the diocese . In 1344 Bernardus was elected abbot. In the same year he traveled to Avignon to see Pope Clement VI. and there obtained a letter of protection for the monastery. The abbot of St. Pantaleon in Cologne and the cathedral dean of Münster and Hildesheim were appointed as mediators .

During his tenure, Bernardus acquired some properties in the area. In the Greffener Mark, fish ponds were dug on the site of what is now the Niedick estate.

assassination

At that time the monastery fed several monks who were assigned to the preaching office. All but one of the monks were sent to Münster for the ordination of priests . Abbot Bernardus considered this deacon , named Heydenricus, unsuitable for becoming a priest because of “poor spiritual qualities”. The monk was very angry about this. When the abbot was praying in front of the altar of Saints Peter and Paul on March 3, 1357, he was killed by the monk with three blows of the hammer on the head. The murderer managed to escape at first, but was caught and imprisoned until his death.

Abbot Bernardus found his final resting place in the chapter house of the monastery. It read on his tombstone:

On March 3rd, hear the cruel agony,
Abbot Bernardus, scented like a nard during his lifetime ,
was slaughtered here, alas, like a sacrificial lamb.
The terrible hammer struck his head three times
in the church when he was praying to the apostles.
The holy virgin be gracious to him.

Bernardus had three sisters with the family name Grüter . In 1348 they can be identified in Kamen as Cunegundis, Alheidis and Beatrix.

literature

• Rudolf Böhmer, Paul Leidinger: Chronicles and documents on the history of the Cistercian Abbey Marienfeld 1185–1803. Self-published by the parish, Marienfeld 1998, ISBN 3-921961-09-8 .
• Walter Werland: Marienfelder Chronik . Marienfeld 1981 (published on behalf of the Marienfeld community).

predecessor	Office	successor
Nicholas of Munster	Abbot of Marienfeld 1344-1357	John II