Mechthild from Hackeborn

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Statue of St. Mechthild at the Nepomuk altar from 1760 in the Engelszell collegiate church

Mechthild von Hackeborn , also Mechthild von Helfta (* 1241 at Helfta Castle near Eisleben , † November 19, 1299 in Helfta Monastery ), was a Cistercian and mystic . She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church ; their day of remembrance in the Benedictines , Cistercians and Trappists' own calendars is November 19th.

Life

Mechthild came from the East Saxon noble family von Hackeborn . At the age of seven she came to the Cistercian convent Rossdorf, founded in 1229/1234 on Mansfeld property, as a convent pupil and was first given to her older sister Gertrud von Hackeborn , who was later canonized as well, for education. Gertrud headed the monastery as abbess from 1251, which was moved to her family's estate in Helfta in 1258 .

Against her mother's wishes, Mechthild had asked to live with the nuns and could not be dissuaded by threats or encouragement. Since that time she stayed in the monastery and exulted with “sublime sweetness always in God”. In the same year Mechthild joined the convent . Due to her character traits and talents (biographical notes highlight humility, zeal and kindness, as well as her great devotion to prayer, musical talent and a beautiful voice) she was made a choirmaster. Mechthild later held the office of novice master and head of the monastery school. From 1261 she was also the education of St. Entrusted to Gertrude .

Mechthild composed several prayers. In addition, there is the practice of praying three Ave Maria daily in memory of the work of the Most Holy Trinity, following a vision of St. Mechthild back. In this vision, the Blessed Mother herself promised her assistance in the hour of death, if Mechthild granted her this wish. Mechthild's visions also contributed to the development of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus .

After a long and serious illness, Mechthild died at the age of 58 in a reputation for holiness. In the sixth volume of the Book of Special Grace it says about her death: “When her hour had come, Almighty God, the only consolation of the soul who loves him, said to her: 'Venite vos, benedicti Patris mei ... Come here, You who have been blessed by my Father take possession of the kingdom 'and receive them into his glory. "

reception

The poet Dante Alighieri was inspired for the description of the mountain of purification in his Divine Comedy of the Ascension of the Soul, as Mechthild described it.

Liber specialis gratiae

In the Liber specialis gratiae (“Book of Special Grace”), Mechthild's sisters almost exclusively recorded Mechthild's experiences after she was 50 years old. Descriptions of events prior to entering the monastery are very rare, apart from a few remarks about their childhood. The first book is a reproduction of what Mechthild entrusted to her fellow sisters, arranged according to the festivals of the church year . The appendix to the five-part work reports on the last days of Mechthild and Gertrud von Hackeborn's life. The sixth book is about her biological sister, the abbess Gertrud von Hackeborn. In 1503 the popular preacher and reading master studied this work in the Dominican monastery in Leipzig, Marcus von Weida, together with the Duchess Sidonie von Böhmen in Tharandt, and she prompted him to have Melchior Lotter print the “excellent book” .

Gertrud the Great was probably involved in the drafting of the script, which was distributed and revised by hand and was reprinted in two volumes in 1877 under the title Revelationes Gertrudianae et Mechtildianae ('The Gertrudschen and Mechthildschen Revelations'). Together with Mechthild von Magdeburg and Gertrud von Helfta, Mechthild von Hackeborn is one of the great German mystics . The book of special grace is said to have been written down initially without Mechthild's knowledge on the instructions of Abbess Sophie von Querfurt, but the distribution of the script was later authorized by Mechthild.

Mechthild talks about topics that are typically mystical about the bride. She feels like wax that is being melted by the fire of Jesus' love. Jesus hug her completely, press his rose-colored mouth into her mouth and unite his heart with hers. In other places it is described how she rocked the Christ Child, how she was wounded by a projectile from a cross, how she went to bed with God and numerous other graces.

The depictions of the baby Jesus take up more space. In a visionary experience, Mechthild hugged the baby Jesus so tightly that she heard his pulse, which, according to Boyenaems, she described medically correct.

In her work, Mechthild praises her mortifications . In one of her visions she once heard “a very sweet note echoing in the sky from the sound of the discipline which the sisters received at that hour for their common salvation. At the sound of this sound the angels cheered, the demons who tormented the soul fled far away, the souls were released from their punishments and the chains of guilt were broken. ”After hearing careless songs and secular chants, Mechthild be once in love with God inflamed. Wanting to offer God a substitute for the annoyance of these songs, she put broken glass in her bed and tossed around in it until her skin was broken and almost unable to move in the pain.

expenditure

  • Liber spiritualis gracie (sic!) Manuscript of the redactio brevior from the Kreuzherrenkonvent Marienfrede near Wesel 1489 ( online )
  • St. Mechtildis, virgin from the order of St. Benedict, book of special grace . From the Latin based on the edition of the Benedictines of Solesmes by J. Müller. Regensburg: Manz 1880.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mechthild von Hackeborn (1880). St. Mechtildis, virgin from the order of St. Benedict, book of special grace. From the Latin based on the edition of the Benedictines of Solesmes by J. Müller. Regensburg: Manz, p. 368 (Book VI, Chapter 6)
  2. ^ Mechthild von Hackeborn (1880). St. Mechtildis, virgin from the order of St. Benedict, book of special grace. From the Latin based on the edition of the Benedictines of Solesmes by J. Müller. Regensburg: Manz, p. 34 (Book I).
  3. ↑ Beate Korntner, Mystics in the Middle Ages: The three women of Helfta and Marguerite Porète - between recognition and persecution , Akademische Verlagsgemeinschaft München, 2012, p. 93
  4. ↑ https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/de/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100929.html
  5. ^ Thomas Döring, The Leipzig book printing before the Reformation, in: Bücher, Drucker, Libraries in Central Germany, edited by Enno Bünz, p. 95 f
  6. ↑ See Dinzelbacher, Peter (1994). Christian Mysticism in the Occident: Its History from the Beginnings to the End of the Middle Ages. Paderborn, Munich, Vienna, Zurich: Schöningh. P. 229. See also Mechthild von Hackeborn (1880). St. Mechtildis, virgin from the order of St. Benedict, book of special grace. From the Latin based on the edition of the Benedictines of Solesmes by J. Müller. Regensburg: Manz, p. 204 (Book II, Chapter 43) on the authorization of the book.
  7. ^ Mechthild von Hackeborn (1880). St. Mechtildis, virgin from the order of St. Benedict, book of special grace. From the Latin based on the edition of the Benedictines of Solesmes by J. Müller. Regensburg: Manz, p. 35 ff. (Book I, Chapter 1).
  8. ↑ Dinzelbacher, Peter (1994). Christian Mysticism in the Occident: Its History from the Beginnings to the End of the Middle Ages. Paderborn, Munich, Vienna, Zurich: Schöningh, p. 230.
  9. ↑ Boyenaems, P. (1964), Mechthild v. Hackeborn's warning of the 3rd and 4th hard tones. In: Scientiarum Historia 6, pp. 25-29. On the subject of the pulse rate, see also Mechthild von Hackeborn (1880), The holy Mechtildis, Virgin from the Order of Saint Benedict, Book of Special Grace. From the Latin based on the edition of the Benedictines of Solesmes by J. Müller. Regensburg: Manz, p. 173 (Book II, Chapter 20).
  10. ^ Mechthild von Hackeborn (1880). St. Mechtildis, virgin from the order of St. Benedict, book of special grace. From the Latin based on the edition of the Benedictines of Solesmes by J. Müller. Regensburg: Manz, p. 185 f. (Book II, chap. 183).

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Mechthild from Hackeborn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Christian mystic
DATE OF BIRTH 1241
PLACE OF BIRTH Helfta Castle near Eisleben
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1299
Place of death Helfta Monastery