Ernst von Zwiefalten

Ernst von Zwiefalten (* before 1119; † probably November 7, 1148 in Mecca ) was a German clergyman and crusader. He was abbot of the Benedictine monastery in Zwiefalten in Baden-Württemberg .

Life

Ernst von Zwiefalten was the son of a Swabian noble noblewoman von Steuslingen, who used to live on the Finkenburg, which was located in Altsteusslingen.

As a Benedictine monk, Ernst von Zwiefalten went to the monastery in Zwiefalten in 1119 . In 1141 he became abbot of the monastery. Five years later, in 1146, Zwiefalten resigned from his position as abbot, around 1147 with the Staufer King Konrad III. and his half-brother, Bishop Otto von Freising , to take part in the 2nd crusade .

Rumor has it that he was martyred in 1147 or 1148 (probably November 7th, 1148) in Mecca at the hands of the Saracens . According to legends, he was of them to Mecca brought in Saudi Arabia, where they have torn from the body of his bowels, then dressed him only a loincloth, have tied to a tree and then each his hands and feet are said to have cut off . The resulting high blood loss led to death.

Today, the abbot of is Benedictine in Neresheim revered as Ernst von Neresheim. The abbot Ernst von Neresheim , who is revered in Neresheim, is a fictional person who was composed of the traditions of Ernst von Zwiefalten.

He is venerated as a blessed and saint , but is not in the saints calendar . His feast day is November 7th.

presentation

Today he is represented in the Catholic Church as a Benedictine monk with a reel and a winch, which can be traced back to his death, because according to tradition, the entrails were torn out of his body.

literature

• Vera Schauber : Image dictionary of the saints. Pattloch, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-629-00705-8 .

Web links

• Ernst von Zwiefalten in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
• Ernst von Zwiefalten in the enzyklo.de encyclopedia
• Chronicle of the Ernst family from Kirdorf - special page: Der Heilige Ernst