Cornelius (Bishop of Rome)

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Saint Cornelius, 12th century mosaic in the apse of the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere , Rome
St. Cornelius, detail from the altar of the chapel hll. Kornelius and Cyprianus in Oberduerenbach

Cornelius († June 253 in Centumcellae, today Civitavecchia , Italy ) was Bishop of Rome ( Pope ) from March 251 to June 253 . He is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church .

Life

In 251, after a vacancy of more than a year , Cornelius was elected during a brief period of calm in the persecution of Christians by Emperor Trajanus Decius . Novatian accused him of having obtained a certificate for money during the persecution under Decius that he had sacrificed to the gods. Three southern Italian bishops consecrated Novatian as an opposing bishop. Since Novatian refused to accept the apostates ( lat. Lapsi ) again, but Cornelius took a milder stance, there was a definitive break and probably the first split in the church (see Hippolytic Schism in 217). At a synod in Rome in the autumn of 251, in which 60 bishops took part, Novatian and his followers were excommunicated (Novatian schism ).

Cornelius expanded the hierarchy of the church and was a good acquaintance of Cyprian , who supported him against the attacks of Novatian. An important source for the dispute with Novatian is the correspondence between Cornelius and Cyprian; in Cyprian's letter collection are the letters ep. 49 and ep. 50 addressed by Cornelius to Cyprian; eight further letters (from ep. 44) are from Cyprian to Cornelius.

Under Emperor Trebonianus Gallus he was exiled to Centumcellae (Civitavecchia) in 253, where he also died. His portrait can be seen on a mural in the Catacomb of Calixtus .

Cornelius belongs together with the Saints Quirinus , Hubertus and Antonius to the four holy marshals of God . His feast day is September 16, which is not the day of his death, however, he died in June 253. Obligatory day of remembrance ( laying of bones ) is September 14.

Martyr or not?

Cornelius, who has always been venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church , is also considered a martyr , although the situation is ambiguous. According to the Legenda aurea , Cornelius healed a woman who had been paralyzed for five years and was tortured to death in Rome with other Christians. In other sources, which are also not certain, it is specified that he was beheaded with the sword because he refused to sacrifice to the god Mars . In publications from the last few decades it is usually doubted, if not even rejected, that Pope Cornelius died a martyr. He apparently died of exhaustion in 253 while exiled in Centumcellae. Apparently, he was not officially considered a martyr at first, although Cyprian greeted him as such. He is not listed in the Depositio Martyrum, a listing of martyrs from the 4th century. His body was apparently transferred to the Calixtus catacomb towards the end of the 3rd century, which is located in a prominent place, namely on the Via Appia Antica in front of the former city walls of Rome. On this road, the most representative of the famous were patrician family of Cornelius buried. The Catacomb of Calixtus has been the most important Christian burial site in Rome since the 3rd century. The grave of Cornelius is somewhat apart from the other papal graves in the formerly independent coemeterium (= grave complex) of the Lucina , directly on the Via Appia.

The word MARTYR was later added to a marble slab for Cornelius, which was later found in the Lucina crypt. In any case, from a certain point onwards Cornelius was venerated as a martyr in the catacombs. In the canon of the mass, too , Cornelius is named among the twelve martyrs of the first four centuries who were particularly venerated in the Roman mother church.

Of the Cornelier family?

It is also unclear whether Cornelius came from the republican patrician dynasty of the Cornelier, which was one of the most respected in the Roman Empire . This cannot be deduced from the name alone. At that time, a large number of people bore the name of one of the famous Roman families without any relationship. In Rome it was customary for freedmen to bear the name of the person who gave them their freedom. This was a far larger number than the actual members of the sex in question. The politician and general Lucius Cornelius Sulla alone is said to have been around 80 BC. Around 10,000 people released who then bore the name Cornelius. After the Liber Pontificalis , Bishop Cornelius was Roman and son of a certain Castinus, who belonged to the Cornelier family. Because this source is not considered reliable, no evidence can be derived from it. In addition, there were a number of individual families in the Roman Empire that were derived in some way from the environment of the old Cornelii , but even in the time of the republic there were a few individual gentes who came from an original family and differed by their surnames (e.g. B. the Scipiones, Cinnae, Dolabellae). Since in the 3rd century AD the rule still applied to designate free persons, not slaves, by three names ( tria nomina ), and this bishop is only known by the one nomen gentile (family name), it was probably about a man who did not belong to the senatorial nobility and was simply stylized as a member of the traditional ruling class to increase his prestige as bishop of Rome.

Rediscovery of the Cornelius Crypt

The Cornelius tomb was lost for many centuries, just as the catacombs were largely lost in the Middle Ages. It was discovered by the archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi in the mid-19th century . While rummaging through rubble in an abandoned church near the Via Appia in 1849, he found the fragment of a marble plaque bearing the inscription ... NELIUS MARTYR. De Rossi immediately combined that this meant CORNELIUS and then the tomb of this Pope could not be far. In 1852, during a further search, he came across a room that could later be unequivocally identified as the tomb of Pope Cornelius. As it turned out, he had rediscovered one of the most important catacombs, namely the Calixtus Catacomb. Another fragment of the marble slab with the letters COR and EP was found in the grave niche, which exactly matched the fragment found three years earlier and which now resulted in the inscription CORNELIUS MARTYR EP (= Cornelius Märtyrer Bischof). The discovery of the lost Cornelius grave in the Calixtus catacomb caused a sensation at the time and is considered the beginning of scientific catacomb research.

Representations in art

Cornelius reliquary in Kornelimünster

The earliest illustrations of Pope Cornelius date from the 6th century. It is a fresco near his tomb in the Catacomb of Calixtus, which shows him together with St. Cyprian. Cornelius is depicted with a tonsure , without a tiara , holding a closed book in his hands. Similarly, Cornelius can be seen on a mosaic from the 6th century, in the procession of the martyrs in the church of S. Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna , here with a crown in veiled hands. Another illustration, perhaps even older, could be a fragment of a portrait from the monastery of S. Paolo fuori le Mura in Rome. His early veneration in Rome is also evidenced by a representation in the mosaic of the apse of the church of S. Maria in Trastevere from the 12th century and a picture in the previous building of St. Peter's Basilica . Around the same time, Cornelius was depicted in the miniatures of the Passion of Stuttgart with a halo and in episcopal regalia . A fresco in the Severinskirche in Cologne and a Cornelius reliquary in the Abbey Church of St. Kornelius von Kornelimünster date from the 14th century . In the Alte Pinakothek in Munich there is an altar painting created by Stefan Lochner around 1440/45 showing Cornelius between Antonius the Hermit and Maria Magdalena . It is likely to be one of the earliest depictions of Cornelius with a horn . Another early representation with a horn is in the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, which was probably painted around 1460 by the so-called Aachen master. In the cathedral of Burgos in Spain you can see the painting by an unknown German painter from the end of the 15th century, which shows Cornelius with another saint and Christ in the middle as the Man of Sorrows. In the Sistine Chapel in Rome, one of the eleven portraits of the Pope painted by Sandro Botticelli (1481–1482) is that of Cornelius.

Due to the great popularity of the saint, a large number of other pictures and statues were created, especially from the 16th century onwards. There are also several modern representations. Worth mentioning are the stained glass window in the main choir of the parish church of Dülken, created by Gustav Fünders around 1955, and the so-called century arch from 1989 by the sculptor Werner Klenk next to the church tower of the parish church of Lippborg, or the larger than life statue of Cornelius on the outside of the parish church of Alsdorf, which was consecrated in 1951. Hoengen . In 1985 the Dutch artist Siem van Bleisem created a painting for the parish church of Limmen in North Holland.

Most of the depictions show Cornelius as Pope, mainly indicated by the tiara and the cross staff . Since there were a number of holy popes, like many other saints in the Middle Ages, he was given an attribute for clear identification , a horn, derived from his name, which contains the Latin word cornu = horn. In a number of depictions, however, Cornelius does not hold a horn in his hand, but a sword because, according to legend, he was beheaded, or a palm tree as a symbol of his martyrdom. Some pictures also show scenes of his legendary martyrdom. He is often represented with a book, sometimes with a book and horn. Some depictions show him as the patron saint of horned cattle with a cattle.

Cornelius horns

Korneliushorn from Kornelimünster

Korneliushorn from Kornelimünster

Along with the bust of St. Cornelius and his arm bone, the Korneliushorn is one of the most important cult objects of the Imperial Abbey of Kornelimünster .

It dates back to the 10th century and was originally located in the Stavelot Abbey . According to Matthias Zender , the most important researcher of the Cornelius cult, this is the horn of a water buffalo that could have served as a drinking vessel for consecrated water.

According to estimates, the Corneliushorn by Kornelimünster was set in engraved silver in the 15th or 16th century and was attached to two silver griffin claws. At its thickest point there is an attached medallion with a small relic . Finally, a representation of St. Cornelius was engraved between this and the griffin claws.

Korneliushorn from St. Severin

Protector of the horned cattle

For many centuries - and to a lesser extent still today - Cornelius was considered to be a helper for diseases of pets or for epilepsy and other nervous diseases . However, this does not go back to the life of the Pope, not even in his legendary form. He is considered the patron saint of livestock diseases because of his name, which contains the Latin word cornu = horn. This has been preserved in the languages ​​that emerged from Latin. In French, the horned cattle are called “bêtes à cornes”. In the case of other saints, too, their helper capacity is derived solely from their name, such as Valentin in the case of "falling disease" or epilepsy, Lucia and Klara in eye problems, Blasius as the patron saint of hornblowers, Lambertus as an assistant against lameness. However, in the German language corn is not the same as horn as in Latin, Italian and French. In the German-speaking area, the connection to the horned cattle was not made. The veneration of the saint as the patron saint of the horned cattle, which began early in Brittany, probably had an impact on the Dutch-German-speaking area. The representations of the saint with a horn in hand, which have been observed since the middle of the 15th century, are likely to have reinforced this trend. Originally, Cornelius was only the patron saint of horned cattle; this then spread to other pets over time.

It became a custom to drink water consecrated from the horn, as is known from many pilgrimage sites of St. Cornelius. In addition, the horn has often been used as a reliquary vessel because of its rarity . The horns were often viewed as the claws of the legendary griffin , a bird-like monster that has had many stories to tell. According to legend, the Cornelius horn in Kornelimünster was a griffin claw that Cornelius used as a drinking vessel. Several places have a horn in their coat of arms that goes back to the local veneration of the saint, including Kornelimünster and the two Aachen districts of Brand and Eilendorf as a sign of former membership of the Imperial Abbey of Kornelimünster as well as Wallscheid , Monschau- Rohren , Riveris and Wanroy in the Netherlands .

In the 14./15. In the 19th century, special pilgrim horns made of clay, called "Heiltumshorn" or "Aachenhorn", were also in use. Since the “Heiltumsfahrt” to Aachen, which takes place every seven years, was followed by a detour to Kornelimünster , the “Aachenhorn” should mean the Cornelius Horn in Kornelimünster. But the horn was not only the attribute of St. Cornelius. Saints Hubertus of Liège , Oswald , King of Northumbria, Blasius of Sebaste and Eustachius were also depicted with a horn.

Helper with Kornel's disease

In addition, Cornelius was for a long time the most important saint in epilepsy and other nervous diseases. His invocation was so popular that epilepsy was also known as "Kornel's disease" or "Cornelius disease". To put it simply: In the Romansh-speaking countries Cornelius was - due to the linguistic equality of Corn = Horn = Hornvieh - above all the patron saint of livestock diseases, while in the Dutch / German-speaking countries the focus was on helping with epilepsy. The veneration as epilepsy patron appeared relatively late, generally not until the 15th century and later. It was particularly interspersed with folk customs because until recently epilepsy appeared mysterious and caused by magical powers. The people did not make a strong distinction between her and diseases of similar manifestations. So Cornelius was called for all convulsive seizures up to whooping cough . Since one saw the origin of these diseases in the head, one finally called on Cornelius as a helper for all diseases of the head such as stroke , earache and blindness. If similar appearances occurred with the cattle, the same applied to the horned cattle, insofar completely independent of his patronage. So Cornelius was called in Nusbaum -Freilingen in the Eifel as a helper against horse and pig diseases, in the Belgian towns of Aalbeke near Menen , Rossem near Wolverthem, in Bekkerzeel and Erps as a patron saint against chicken diseases.

With epilepsy, the explanation of the patronage is more difficult. The literature is largely silent on this question. The explanation could perhaps be that one of the most important deeds of this Pope was that he stood up for the apostates and was therefore chosen as an advocate for those suffering from epilepsy. In the Cornelius litany of the Lamersdorf parish , Düren district, the "falling disease" is spoken of. In Dutch, epilepsy is called vallende ziekte , the apostates afgevallenen . Another explanation would be that, according to legend, Cornelius healed a nervous patient, namely Sallustia, the wife of Captain Cerealis, who "was bedridden for 15 years due to paralysis due to a nervous disease". The most probable reason, however, is that the head of Cornelius is kept in Kornelimünster and the head was considered the seat of nervous diseases; maybe also because, according to legend, he was beheaded. There are similar cases, such as with Saint Apollinaris , who is called in Remagen for epilepsy because his head is there, and with John the Baptist , in the Middle Ages patron against headaches and cramps, because he was beheaded. Frequently in the Rhineland John the Baptist and Pope Cornelius were venerated together as epilepsy patrons, with Johannes being replaced by Cornelius over time.

Besides Kornelimünster, other places also claim (s) to own the head of Pope Cornelius. A forged document, the so-called New Year's Agritius Diploma, lists the head of Cornelius in the Gesta Trevirorum around the year 1000 among the relics allegedly brought to Trier by St. Helena , mother of Constantine the Great . In addition, two Cistercian monasteries in the Trier area , namely the one on the Helenenberg and the former monastery Machern ad Mosel , believed that they had owned their heads since the 13th century. Also in the monastery church of St. Veit in Freising , Bavaria, there was a head relic of Cornelius (and Cyprian) from the year 860, which was exhibited on certain festive days until 1803. Furthermore, Rome, Compiègne in France, Ninove in Belgium and some other places believed to have the head of the saint or parts of it. The explanation for this phenomenon can be assumed that in most of these places the development took place in reverse order: Since the saint was worshiped there mainly because of epilepsy, this led to the assumption that one had the head.

Name forms

The popularity of Pope Cornelius is also evident in the fact that different languages ​​have their own form of this name. In the German language, the original form has not been changed, but at least the spelling was Germanized in the 19th century and especially after the spelling reform of 1901 and Cornelius was spelled with K. In the meantime, Kornelimünster spells himself with K and accordingly his patron saint is also written with K. Even in official Catholic literature, “Kornelius” is almost always used. written. In French the Pope is called Corneille . In Brittany it is called Cornély or Cornéli . In Italian and Spanish, Cornelius became Cornelio . This applies both to the famous politicians and writers of the Romans from the Cornelier family, to the captain Cornelius from the Acts of the Apostles, to Pope Cornelius (papa Cornelio in Italian) and to later bearers of the name Cornelius. The Portuguese write Cornélio (with an accent on the e). In Dutch the name became Cornelis , but officially it stayed with Cornelius. In English the Pope is still called Cornelius (but is pronounced in English), in Greek in the Latin script Kornilios and in Polish Korneliusz (sz is pronounced sch there). In Flemish , in addition to the semi-official Cornelis (first letter also K) with the diminutive Cornelisje , (pronounced Cornelic) the forms Sint Knilles or Sinterkurnellis are or were in use. The popular short form Cor is also used in North Holland . In Luxembourg there is the name St. Cornilli in the Moselle-Franconian dialect ; in Eppeldorf in northern Luxembourg, Cornelius was simply called Conni . The inhabitants of the German-speaking part of Belgium near Kornelimünster call the place Krinelle-Mönster and the mass in honor of the Holy Kornällesmess in dialect .

The reasons for the great popularity of St. Cornelius are not entirely clear. He was pope for only a good two years and little is known about him. It is likely to be based largely on the fact that, as a helper in cattle and nervous diseases, he was of considerable importance for people's lives in earlier centuries. But he was already in high regard. This can be seen, among other things, in the fact that in 875 the then Pope John VIII gave the bones of Cornelius Karl the Bald as a gift at the imperial coronation. Cornelius and Cyprian are likely to have belonged to the family patrons of the Carolingian royal house in the 9th century. This probably also radiated to the nobility associated with the royal family , so that they particularly encouraged the veneration of the two saints when churches were founded, as the patronage in Bad Buchau , Compiègne and Metelen suggest. The high esteem was probably reinforced by the fact that Cornelius is one of the few people listed in the Mass canon .

Spread of the cult

In the course of the 9th century, Cornelius relics appeared almost suddenly in very different places in the north, without any particular dependence of the individual cult sites on one another. It is hardly possible to clarify this very complicated situation. The most important and largest areas of the Cornelius cult since the 11th century are the Rhineland and the Netherlands in the old borders (including the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium).

In Matthias Zender's work, Rooms and Layers of Medieval Adoration of Saints , 1973, around 630 Cornelius cult sites are listed in the countries he studied. Of this, around 210 or 33% are in Belgium , 185 or around 30% in Germany , around 80 or 13% in France , around 70 or 11% in the Netherlands and 20 or 3% in Luxembourg, all within today's political limits. In contrast to many other saints, the worship of Cornelius among the people did not decrease until the 1970s, when the general secularism became stronger and stronger.

Adored together with Cyprian

Cornelius is often worshiped together with St. Cyprian . They are considered "liturgical twins". One of the earliest evidence of this is the fresco in the crypt of Cornelius in the Calixtus catacomb, which was probably made in the 6th century and shows both saints side by side in the same picture. When Emperor Charles the Bald brought the remains of Cornelius to Compiègne from his coronation as emperor in Rome in 875, he possibly also brought those of Cyprian with him. Cyprian's head and arm, which are considered to be the most important relics of a saint, are now in Kornelimünster, as are the skullcap and arm of Cornelius. The reason for the common admiration is probably their common day of remembrance, September 16, reinforced by the fact that Cyprian stood up for Cornelius in the schism of the time and comforted him in exile. The feast day of the two saints was later moved to September 16 due to other holidays. In popular piety, the veneration of Cornelius was evidently more pronounced than that of Cyprian, who was invoked as the patron saint against the plague .

Italy

In Rome, Cornelius enjoyed very special veneration, at least until the bones were transferred to Compiègne by Emperor Charles the Bald in 875/76. Pope Leo the Great built a basilica in honor of Cornelius in the 5th century . At the end of the 8th century, Pope Hadrian I is said to have brought his remains to the area of ​​Capracoro in Agro Veiente. Under Pope Gregory IV the bones were transferred to the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere . This Pope already sent some of the bones to the Abbey of Fulda in Germany and to the Abbey of Cysoing in northern France. In Trastevere the bones apparently enjoyed great veneration. They were reburied inside the church. From there, Emperor Charles the Bald brought most of the bones to Compiègne in France in 875/76, which he had chosen to be the capital of his empire.

France

In order to receive even more prestigious relics, the emperor exchanged - according to the prevailing opinion - the skullcap and right arm of Cornelius as well as a piece of the skullcap of Cyprian for one half of the shroud of Christ from the monastery in the later Kornelimünster. In Compiègne, however, most of the bones of the two saints still rest today. As a result of the reliquary exchange, the Rhine-Maas area developed later, starting from Kornelimünster, to the center of the devotion to Cornelius. In France itself, Compiègne and Brittany are the most significant places of worship of Cornelius. Across the whole of the country there are a total of more than 80 places, including 26 where Pope Cornelius was or is parish church or monastery patron. Four places even apparently got their names because of the devotion to Cornelius, namely Cornilly - formerly called Corneliacum -, St. Cornier-des-Landes, St. Corneille near Montfort-le-Rotrou / Sarthe and St. Corneille-au-Bois. According to a not very likely assumption, the first Cornelius relic north of the Alps is said to have come to Lyon as early as 801/806 ; from there it was transferred to Compiègne in 875/877. What is certain, however, is that the worship of Cyprian in southern France began very early, before the turn of the millennium. In contrast to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, Cornelius is almost exclusively revered in France as the protector of cattle, not or hardly as a patron against epilepsy and other nervous diseases.

Germany

In the Federal Republic of Germany there are today 32 churches whose patron is Pope Cornelius - mostly together with Cyprian. They are all located in the westernmost area and are spread over seven dioceses, nine of which are in the Diocese of Trier, eight in the Diocese of Aachen, five in the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, four in the Diocese of Münster, three in the Diocese of Cologne, two in the Diocese of Freiburg and one in the Diocese Augsburg.

Fulda occupies a special position in relation to Cornelius , although the place is far from the traditional centers of his worship. It is likely to be the oldest cult site of the saint in Germany, albeit in a certain way in competition with St. Severin in Cologne and Bad Buchau. The relics in Fulda did not come there via Compiègne / Kornelimünster or Cologne, but directly from Rome. It is possible that Cornelius relics came to Bavaria very early on . But they stayed there without any major impact on the cult of saints. Already in a document from 860 it is mentioned that in Freising there are relics from the head of Cornelius and Cyprian in the former monastery church S. Vitus. Until 1803 the head of Cornelius was exhibited at certain festivals. There are also Cornelius relics in other places in Bavaria, for example in Bamberg , Regensburg ( Sankt Emmeram Abbey ) and Probstried . Overall, Cornelius was rare in the Bavarian-Austrian region, but more common in the Swabian-Alemannic area, especially in today's Switzerland . In the middle and in the east of Germany (in the former borders) there was hardly any devotion to Cornelius. Some places of worship can also be found here, for example in Halberstadt (St. Stephen's Church), Hildesheim (Cathedral), Braunschweig (Blasius Church), Erfurt , Glogau (Cathedral), Breslau (Cathedral) and in Kieth / Mecklenburg .

Due to the currents of the Enlightenment and rationalism , the veneration of saints generally declined significantly in the second half of the 18th century. However, there are many indications that the worship of Cornelius was less affected and that in the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, at least in the Rhineland, a certain upswing even took off. Many liturgical texts seem to have been written or revised during this period.

Belgium

In the area of ​​today's Belgium, where by far most of the Cornelius cult sites are located, it is disputed how far these go back to Compiègne in France or to Kornelimünster in Germany. The influence of Kornelimünster was probably also decisive here. Mostly Cornelius was appealed to for assistance against epilepsy. In the northern, Flemish part of Belgium four churches are consecrated to Cornelius today, namely in Ninove , Gebrode, Horebeke and Ruien. In addition to Ninove, where the Premonstratensian Abbey founded in the 12th century had Cornelius and Cyprian as patrons from the beginning, Ronse was a main place of worship of Cornelius. His relics are said to have been brought here from Kornelimünster as early as 860. Cornelius is venerated in the Basilica of St. Hermes , the main church of the city.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands there are eleven parishes that have Cornelius as their patron and are named after him, namely in Achtmaal, Beuningen , ( Maastricht -) Borgharen, Den Hout, Lamswaarde, Limmen, Luttenberg, Swartbroek, Vortum en Mullem, Wanroy, Steenbergen Welberg . A total of 28 places of pilgrimage in honor of the saint are known. Most of these places are in the south-east of the Netherlands in the provinces of Limburg and Noord-Brabant , so in relative proximity to Kornelimünster. However, a large part of the Netherlands is Protestant , so that veneration of the saint is no longer an option, even if this was the case before the Reformation .

Other countries

There are three known places in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg where Cornelius is venerated today, namely Angelsberg, Eppeldorf and Winseler . The veneration was probably more pronounced in earlier times. Matthias Zender's study of the veneration of saints in the Middle Ages lists 20 places of worship for Luxembourg. In Austria , as in Bavaria, there was only a minor worship of Cornelius. At Zender there are only two places to be found: the Cistercian monastery Zwettl in Lower Austria , founded in 1138 , which had a Cornelius relic as early as the 13th century, and Hall in Tirol , where relics from the Dutch area were in the healings of the knight Waldauf and Cornelius as one of the four marshals was venerated. There is also the parish church of St. Corneli in Tosters. In England there are only traces of an earlier worship of Cornelius. In the church of Portlemouth ( Devon ) there is a painting of the saint in the rood screen , dressed as Pope and holding the Pope's cross and a horn. Relics of the saint are also attested for two churches, namely for Exeter Cathedral as early as 1030 and for Durham Cathedral in northern England in the 14th century. There's a place in Cornwall called Cornelly. Formerly his name is said to have been S. Cornelius with Cornelius as church patron. In Denmark there are two Minorite churches with Cornelius relics: in Roskilde , there together with those of Cyprian, and in Copenhagen . The Cornelius cult is or was widespread in German-speaking Switzerland as part of the Alemannic region. Zender lists 22 locations. Little is known about the worship of Cornelius in Spain. There are two places whose parish church is dedicated to Cornelius and Cyprian: San Cebrián de Campos , about 20 km north of the town of Palencia and San Cebrián de Mudá, about 20 km northwest of the Aguilar de Campoo reservoir. In the cathedral museum of the cathedral of Burgos there is a painting with Pope Cornelius from the end of the 15th century, some of the inscriptions are in German.

How far there is a Cornelius worship in other countries remains open. Not much should be expected to the east of Germany, since the Cornelius cult sites are already in decline in Germany even to the east. However, Cornelius is not unknown as a first name in Poland and Hungary .

Worship customs

Almost all churches in which Cornelius is venerated have one Cornelius relic, sometimes two or more. On his feast day, September 16, a procession or a parade was often held inside or around the church , with relics of the saint or a statue being carried. Special Cornelius songs or litanies were sung and prayed here. In many places a Cornelius blessing was given with the Cornelius relic, often - especially in Belgium and the Netherlands - a special blessing for children. Children were seen as particularly at risk from cramps and similar complaints. The distribution of Cornelius water and Cornelius bread was widespread. In many places the faithful lay their hands on the container with the relics for worship; in earlier times this was usually kissed. In many cases, under certain conditions, an indulgence is associated with a visit to the church. The feast day of the saint was often celebrated as a kind of folk festival together with a fair. There were special customs in many places. The most notable of these are as follows:

"Weighing" the body weight

Weighing was practiced at several pilgrimage sites. This custom is said to have had its origin in Kornelimünster. There, sick pilgrims used to bring wheat according to their body weight and give it to St. Sacrifice Cornelius. Bread was then baked from this wheat and distributed free of charge to the pilgrims. Even today, pilgrims and visitors at the annual Korneli Octave receive a small, dry, salt-free white bread roll, the so-called "Korneli bread roll", free of charge as a refreshment. In the past they were also given to cattle in their feed. In the Dutch pilgrimage sites of Heerlerheide, Dieteren and Posterholt, weighing used to be practiced in order to recover from illness as an epileptic. So in Heerlerheide the patient had to collect as much grain as he weighed and put the equivalent of this grain in money in the church's offering box. He was then only allowed one meal on Fridays for a year. He had to celebrate the name day of Cornelius like a Sunday and he had to bring a silver penny to the church every year. It was similar in Sint Pieters-Voeren in Belgium. Cornelius was also called there mainly by epileptics. The patient offered his weight in grain or the equivalent in money. On Corneliustag it was time off for him, he had to sacrifice a silver penny and - he or a deputy - to fast . In Achtmaal (Netherlands), a silver franc was held to the patient's forehead to recover from convulsions and sourdough was placed on his feet; the franc was then sacrificed. In Hekelgem (Belgium) the victim dipped the sacrificial money in the holy water of the sickroom in front of the victim .

With teething troubles

In Leur (Netherlands), mothers brought their little ones to church at the “kindjeskermis”, which took place on the Cornelius Festival (September 16) or the next Sunday, to have them blessed with a relic of the saint. In Machern on the Moselle, the relics of Saints Cornelius and Valentin were used to bless water that had to be drunk three times a day for nine days. This should make children well or die. In Meerlo (Netherlands) the faithful lined up the so-called “S. Cornelius-kralen ”, consecrated seeds of the peony, on a string and hung around the neck of children as a remedy for cramps. To this end, the person concerned should pray the Cornelius litany daily for nine days. In Bokhoven (Netherlands), many members of the Cornelius Brotherhood there already had their newborns accepted as members and called this “being enrolled against cramps”; A Cornelius medal was then pinned to the children's shirt. In Gutschoven (Belgium) the hair and braids of children and children's clothes were sacrificed. The pilgrims there had a cow horn consecrated and used it to give the children consecrated water to drink. In Diegem (Belgium) a live rabbit was sacrificed in the case of child cramps. In Lamswaarde, the Netherlands, the children were given new clothes at the Cornelius Festival.

Cornelius was called in various places about other ailments, such as lameness, contagious diseases, plague, febrile diseases, head ailments, blindness, meningitis, ergot fungus , ear pain, throat diseases, whooping cough, scabies , warts, bleeding, fractures, childlessness (Ninove in Belgium) , Stress and relationship problems, against strokes and sudden death, to maintain chastity and as the patron of lovers (Neuss- Selikum ).

With animal ailments

In Brittany, where Cornelius was venerated primarily as the patron saint of horned cattle, the cattle were blessed and the pilgrims sacrificed cattle during the pilgrimages to Plumélieu at the Cornelius Festival. In return, they received consecrated ribbons, which were used to stroke the animal's body against fever, colic and tremors. Another custom was to raise an animal and give all or half of it to the saint after two to three years. The animal was then sold during the pilgrimage and the proceeds were given in whole or in part to the church, depending on the vow. In Passchendaele in Belgium cows and horses were sacrificed on the feast day of Cornelius. A priest blessed them, then they were bought back and allowed to roam free in the courtyard. They could not be sold, but died of natural causes. In Denderbelle (Belgium) as in several other places, “een levend hart” (= a living heart) was sacrificed. What was meant was a live animal that was sold for the benefit of the Church; in Denderbelle it was a chicken. In Lützkampen -Welchenhausen, too, sheep farmers and shepherds used to sacrifice live sheep and lambs, so-called chapel sheep, and wool. They then continued to feed the sacrificed sheep free of charge. The proceeds from the sale of the animals were given to the chapel. It was similar in Scheid. In Aalbeke (Belgium) two chickens were blessed for each pilgrim; one was sacrificed, the other remained in the yard as protection.

Another saint named Cornelius

Besides the Roman captain Cornelius from the Acts of the Apostles and Pope Cornelius, there are a number of other saints with this name. Probably the most extensive work in German on this, namely the Complete Lexicon of Saints from 1858, lists 22 saints named Cornelius, plus three Cornelia and two Cornelianus. Some of them are again named after Pope Cornelius. More recently books of saints list much fewer saints of his name, there usually written with K. They vary between nine and one or two Cornelius in contemporary works; in most cases it is pope and captain. There are also a number of saints with the first name Cornelius. Little is known about most of them. Three of them are mentioned here:

Cornelius of Damascus , whose feast day is celebrated on May 28, is considered the patron saint of actors and jugglers. He is said to have decided to study the Christians carefully so that he can mock them on the stage. However, through his studies he soon became a convinced Christian himself.

Cornelius McConchailleach was born in Armagh , Northern Ireland in 1120 and was called to the bishopric of that diocese in 1174. He died in 1176 on his return from a trip to Rome in Lémenc near Chambéry in France in the local priory . From there, where his bones rest in a chapel, his worship spread throughout the region as far as Grenoble . It had its peak in the 17th century. According to other sources, his original name is not Cornelius, but Conor, derived from the Celtic name Conchoard. In France he was worshiped under the name Concors and Concord.

John Cornelius, who was born in Cornwall around 1557 to Irish parents, was a Catholic priest. Originally he was called John Conor O'Mahoney; Conor was then latinized to Cornelius. He was sentenced to death for his priestly activity and hanged as treason in Dorchester in 1594 with three other Catholics who had supported him.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Cornelius  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual proof

  1. ↑ www.glasmalerei-ev.net
  2. ↑ www.corneliuskerk-limmen.nl
  3. ↑ Corneliushorn by Kornelimünster on picture index
predecessor Office successor
Fabianus Bishop of Rome
(the term Pope was first used after 384)
251–253 		Lucius I.
personal data
SURNAME Cornelius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Rome from March 251 to June 253
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century or 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH June 253
Place of death Centumcellae today Civitavecchia , Italy