Joachim Ellefeld

Joachim Ellefeld (* approx. 1510 in Pritzwalk ; † before 1600 in Schnackenburg ) was a German theologian and reformer and destroyer of the hosts in the Wunderblutkirche in Wilsnack .

Life

It is only known that Joachim Ellefeld was born in Pritzwalk and was preacher in Wilsnack at the Wunderblutkirche St. Nikolai in 1552 . The date of birth and death are not recorded.

prehistory

Wunderblutkirche, west and south side

The miracle blood church of St. Nikolai in Wilsnack in the Brandenburg town of Prignitz was an important pilgrimage destination until the middle of the 16th century . The reason for this was the "legend of the miraculous blood". In 1383, after the fire in the village church of Wilsnack, the local pastor found three undamaged hosts in the rubble, each with a drop of red blood. This event was widely discussed at the time and it was inevitable that the blood was connected with that of Christ. Theologians took the view that the drops of blood on the intact hosts were undoubtedly the blood of Christ. This view was not undisputed. There was an intense argument about it, in which several popes intervened with cops .

The background was the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist . It is about the "dispute over the question of how the body and blood of Jesus Christ are present in bread and wine: real, transformed or symbolic" .

Despite the theological concerns as to whether the blood of Jesus Christ really appeared on the hosts, popular belief prevailed. Another church, the Wunderblutkirche St. Nikolai, was built on the ashes of the burned church and completed in 1396. In the 15th century, Wilsnack was a place of pilgrimage as important as Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Since a forgery could not be ruled out and there was a possibility that the pilgrims were threatened with idolatry, the idea finally came to lay down a fresh consecrated host and thus overcome the remaining uncertainty about the three "blood hosts".

Destruction of the hosts

The miracle blood shrine with painted doors

Against the will of the dean in Havelberg, Petrus Conradi (Peter Cords) , who was still committed to the Catholic faith, Ellefeld had been appointed professor in Wilsnack. He tried to put an end to " idolatry ". Conradi, on the other hand, wanted to preserve the population of the Catholic religion and went into the sacristy of the church after Ellefeld had preached, stepped in front of the altar in a chasuble with the miraculous blood host and struck an antiphon that Ellefeld regarded as superstitious .

Ellefeld consulted with Johannes Agricola . On behalf of the elector, he worked as a court preacher at the cathedral and palace church in Berlin and as general superintendent and visitor to the establishment of the Protestant church in Brandenburg. He also questioned the inspector of Kyritz Lorenz Pascha, a learned theologian and zealot for religion, who apparently supported him in his plan to destroy the hosts. Ellefeld was also able to rely on the reformer Martin Luther , who called for the destruction of the "wild chapels and field churches ... as there is Welsnacht (Wilsnack), Sternberg ...".

Therefore Ellefeld went to the miracle blood chapel on May 28, 1562 with his chaplain Lucas Lindenberg, the schoolmaster Johann Meurer and the sexton Thomas Bremer, took the crystal vessel in which the "blood host" ("the blood") was from the container, smashed it and burned the “blood”, but not the consecrated hosts that were lying there, on a charcoal fire. The next day he distributed the consecrated hosts with communion .

Consequences of destruction

Plattenburg Castle around 1860, Alexander Duncker collection

The pilgrimages ended with the destruction of the hosts.

The captain of Plattenburg Caspar Welle reported this deed to the cathedral chapter in Havelberg, which immediately imprisoned Ellefeld and Lindenberg at the Plattenburg castle. The chaplain and the sexton escaped arrest by fleeing.

The matter was dealt with by the Elector of Brandenburg Joachim II , who had introduced the Reformation in Brandenburg in 1539 , the Bishop of Magdeburg and Halberstadt Margrave Friedrich , the last Catholic cathedral provost of Havelberg Johann von Wallwitz (deceased 1557), who also Canon of Magdeburg and Halberstadt was. Von Wallwitz advocated execution by burning. However, reports were obtained from universities and Schöppenstühlen that advocate Ellefeld. He also received support from the other estates and the preachers. The governor in Prignitz Curt von Rohr was therefore ordered by the elector, who did not want to intervene personally, to indicate to the cathedral chapter that it should release the prisoners by grace. This also happened.

Ellefeld had to leave the Mark Brandenburg knowing that he did not deserve such a punishment for his act. He died in Schnackenburg in the Lüneburg region .

The original pilgrimage route Berlin – Wilsnack had as its starting point the Marienkirche or the Heilig-Geist-Spital in Berlin-Mitte . Since the exploration of the pilgrimage route at the end of the 20th century, the pilgrimage route has experienced a renaissance.

Literature (selection)

• Matthäus Luidke ( Matthäus Ludecus ): Historia of the invention, miracles and destruction of the supposed holy blood to Wilssnagk. Wittenberg 1581, digital [9] The story of the destruction is on the scanned pages 133-134.
• Klaus Stolte: Ephemeral pilgrimage. The dispute over Wilsnack's miraculous blood as reflected in papal pronouncements, at the same time a contribution to the building history of the Nikolaikirche. In: Reports and research from the Brandenburg Cathedral Foundation, Nordhausen 2008, vol. 1, p. 5 ff., Digital [10]
• Samuel Buchholz : Attempting a history of the Churmarck Brandenburg…., Third part: New history Berlin 1767, p. 431 ff., E-Book free of charge [11]
• Julius Heidemann: The Reformation in the Mark Brandenburg. Berlin 1889, p. 335 ff [12]
• Jan Peters : Märkische Lebenswelten: Social history of the rule Plattenburg -Wilsnack, Prignitz 1500-1800. Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-8305-1387-2 , p. 155 ff., Digital preview [13]
• Henrike Döring: The pilgrim signs of the Stader harbor excavation. Bachelor thesis at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, 2012, p. 17 ff., Figures 18 ff (p. 54 ff) digital: [14]
• Valentin Schmidt, Historisches portefeuille, 7th item, 2nd volume, Vienna, Breslau, Leipzig, Berlin Hamburg, July 1788, belief in miracles about Wilsnack , pp. 1 to 25, digital [15]
• Wolfgang Achnitz (Hrsg.): Deutsches Literatur-Lexikon , Vol. 3. Travel reports and historical poetry , Vol. 3, Berlin / Boston 2012, ISBN 978-3-598-24992-1 , excerpt from the Wilsnacker miracle blood around 1500, p. 1157–1160, [16]
• Jan Hrdina and Hartmut Kühne: Beginnings of a European place of pilgrimage , in: Clemens Bergstedt (ed.): In dialogue with robber barons and beautiful Madonnas: the Mark Brandenburg in the late Middle Ages , Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86732-118-1 , p . 194 ff., Digital excerpt: [17]

References and comments

1. ↑ Christoph Kunz (Ed.): Lexicon Ethics - Religion: Technical terms and people . Stark, Freising 2001: Last Supper
2. ↑ Ulrike Klehmet: The legend of the miraculous blood in Bad Wilsnack. In: Paternoster. The magazine of the Emmaus-Ölberg-Gemeinde 1/2005, p. 16 ff., On the website of the Emmaus-Ölberg-Kirchengemeinde Berlin Kreuzberg, digital [1]
3. ^ Klaus Stolte: Transient pilgrimage. The dispute over Wilsnack's miraculous blood as reflected in papal pronouncements, at the same time a contribution to the building history of the Nikolaikirche. In: Reports and research from the Brandenburg Cathedral Foundation, Nordhausen 2008, vol. 1, p. 32 ff., Digital [2]
4. ↑ Martin Luther : The most noble, most powerful Imperial Majesty and the Christian nobility of the German nation . 1520, printed in: Martin Luthers Deutsche Schriften, partly complete, partly in ..., Volume 1, edited by Friedrich Wilhelm Lomler , Gotha 1816, p. 205 [3]
5. ↑ Samuel Buchholz : attempt at a history of the Churmarck Brandenburg…., Third part: new history. Berlin 1767, p. 431 ff., E-book free of charge [4]
6. ↑ The holy miracle blood in Wilsnack im Havelberg, in: Allgemeine Anzeiger der Deutschen , Gotha 1823, first volume, p. 1914, digital [5]
7. ↑ In his "Historia", Matthäus Ludecus , who himself came from Wilsnack and was the first Protestant dean in Havelberg, reports on the content of the statements obtained. The entire process can be read on the scanned pages from page 131 [6]
8. ↑ Valentin Schmidt, Historisches portefeuille, 7th item, 2nd volume, Vienna, Breslau, Leipzig, Berlin Hamburg, July 1788, belief in miracles to Wilsnack, p. 25, digital [7]
9. ^ Rainer Oefelein † and Felix Oefelein: Path research. Ecumenical pilgrimage route Berlin-Wilsnack: A medieval pilgrimage route is being rediscovered. Retrieved April 17, 2016, digitally [8]