Meinolf

Saint Meinolf

Saint Meinolf ( Latin Meinolfus , Meinulfus or Meinulphus ; * around 795 ; † October 5, 857 in Böddeken ) was a priest, archdeacon and founder of the Böddeken monastery.

The name comes from Old High German and means "strong as a wolf".

Life

Meinolf was born around 795 and was of noble origin. His godfather was Charlemagne . Meinolf received his education under Bishop Hathumar in the cathedral school of Paderborn and was then accepted into the Paderborn cathedral monastery. He was ordained a deacon and in 836 became archdeacon of the diocese of Paderborn . In the same year he led the Paderborn delegation that brought the relics of St. Liborius from Le Mans . On the occasion of this translation , the two churches of Paderborn and Le Mans concluded a "covenant of love for eternal brotherhood", which still exists today.

Gut Böddeken with the ruins of the former monastery church

In 837 Meinolf founded the Böddeken canonical monastery near Büren. Today the place belongs to the Wewelsburg district of the city of Büren (Westphalia) .

Meinolf died on October 5th, 857 in Böddeken.

Legend

Legend has it that the Böddeken Monastery was founded at the point where Meinolf showed a stag with a cross between the antlers.

Adoration

The day of remembrance for Meinolf in the Catholic Church is the day of his death, October 5th. He is the oldest saint in the Bürener Land and is venerated in the Paderborn regional calendar.

Gobelin Person played a major role in the resumption and spread of the veneration of Meinolf : after the monastery fell in the 14th century , he reformed it and handed it over to Augustinian canons from Zwolle in 1409 . The re-blossoming Böddeken becomes one of the largest monasteries in Germany. The veneration of the saint is flourishing again, supported by the biography written by Gobelin Person, the “Vita Sancti Meinulfi”.

Depiction of Saint Meinolf at the gatehouse in Böddeken

Representation in art

The saint is represented together with a stag, often with a cross between the antlers, and is carrying a model of the Böddeken monastery he founded.

Buildings consecrated to Meinolf

St. Meinolf (Bielefeld)
St. Meinolphus-Mauritius , parish church of the Roman Catholic Church, Diocese of Essen, on Hattinger Strasse in the Ehrenfeld district of Bochum
St. Meinolfus (Dörenhagen) in Borchen
St. Meinolf (Bellersen) in Brakel
St. Meinolfus Church in Dortmund - Wambel
St. Meinolf (Paderborn)
Meinolfus Chapel in the Valley of Peace, built after the Second World War.
St. Meinolf in Delbrück-Schöning

literature

Gobelin Person : Vita Sancti Meinulfi , around 1415/1420 (biography of Saint Meinolf)
Wilhelm Schmidt: Life of St. Meinolph, deacon at the church in Paderborn, founder of the Böddeken monastery (793–857). Paderborn 1884 ( ULB Münster )
Klaus Terstesse: Meinolf von Böddeken. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 33, Bautz, Nordhausen 2012, ISBN 978-3-88309-690-2 , Sp. 817-819.
Meinulphus, p . In: Johann E. Stadler , Franz Joseph Heim, Johann N. Ginal (Eds.): Complete Lexicon of Saints ... , Volume 4 (M – P), B. Schmid'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung (A. Manz), Augsburg 1875, pp. 396-397 .

Web links

Commons : Meinolf - album with pictures, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Meinolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Meinolfus; Meinulfus; Meinulphus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Saint, founder of the Böddeken monastery
DATE OF BIRTH	at 795
DATE OF DEATH	October 5, 857
Place of death	Böddeken near Paderborn