Morandus

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St. Morandus, devotional pictures around 1900
St. Morandus, lithograph around 1890

Morandus (* around 1075 near Worms ; † June 3, 1115 near Altkirch in Alsace ) was a monk and is considered the "Apostle of the Sundgau ". He is a saint of the Catholic and (within the meaning of Article 21 of the Confessio Augustana ) Protestant Church. In the Roman Catholic Church he is considered the patron saint of the House of Habsburg , the winemaker , of wine and is invoked against obsession.

Life

According to tradition, Morandus was born in Wormsgau, was a pupil of the episcopal school of the diocese of Worms and was probably ordained a priest in the episcopal town. On his way back from a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela , he entered Cluny Abbey as a Benedictine monk . Abbot Hugo the Great sent him to a monastery in Auvergne . Around 1106 he was called to Altkirch in the St. Christoph branch monastery, which Friedrich Graf von Pfirt had donated in Upper Alsace near Basel .

In the village of Altkirch there was an ancient one, St. Church consecrated to Christopher, which was said to date from the time when Christianity was introduced here. It was therefore called "old church" , from which the name of the place is derived. The local Count Friedrich I. von Pfirt - great-great-nephew of St. Leo IX. - enlarged that old church, founded a Benedictine monastery there and asked St. Hugo von Cluny a number of religious. The deed of donation for the new monastery was signed by Count Friedrich I von Pfirt on July 3, 1105 and in the first weeks of 1106 it was confirmed by Pope Paschal II.

The first prior, Constantius, immediately recognized that at least one German-speaking monk was necessary here in Alsace, which is why the German brother Morandus was allowed to come. As a result of his pastoral zeal, Morandus soon rose to prior himself ; the piety and mercy of the priest were widely famous. In an old biography it says:

“ You saw him in every season of the year, whether it was raining or snowing, wandering with his head uncovered, a book in one hand and a pilgrim's staff in the other. His words, now severe, now loving, softened the hardest hearts, and converted the most wicked sinners. Even great and distinguished gentlemen let him lead them back to God. But innumerable were the sick, needy and unhappy people who came from all regions and found comfort and help in him. "

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Morandus literally became the pastor of the entire region, which is why he is still called the "Apostle of the Sundgau" today .

Death and adoration

The Benedictine died on June 3, 1115 in the Altkirch monastery . His grave can be found in the monastery church there. After Morandus was canonized towards the end of the 12th century , a stone tomb was erected for him in the middle of the church in 1191 and he was elected as the new church patron. Many miracles have been handed down from his life, as well as numerous answers to prayer on the grave. Altkirch became a regionally important place of pilgrimage. In the book "The Saints of Alsace" (Alsatia Verlag, Colmar, 1931), two healings from 1889 are documented in addition to earlier incidents (page 292).

Head reliquary of St. Morandus, from 1428

Duke Rudolf IV of Austria (1339–1365), who came from the family of the Counts of Pfirt on his mother's side , acquired Morandus relics in Basel , which he transferred to the newly built St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. There he had the northern chapel of the westwork consecrated to the saint, the so-called Morandus or Kreuzkapelle, today also Tirna or Savoy Chapel, as Prince Eugene of Savoy rests there. Duke Rudolf IV, known as "Rudolf the Founder" , personally laid the Morandus relics under the floor of the new chapel. St. Morandus became a house patron of the Habsburgs and was highly venerated there; he was even considered a member of the family and blood relatives. Duke Frederick IV (Tyrol) (1382–1439), who ruled over Alsace in 1411, venerated St. Morandus especially. He had the skull removed from the Altkirch saint grave and its upper part (cranium) set in a precious head reliquary in 1428. He donated this to the Altkirch monastery and it is still in the pilgrimage church there today. The lower part of the head came to Vienna . The so-called “Morandus Officium” from 1482 is kept in the Austrian National Library, a prayer book in honor of St. Morandus, from the possession of Emperor Friedrich III. In 1899, under Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria , the Habsburg saint was honored in his chapel in St. Stephen's Cathedral with new windows depicting scenes from his life.

In 1444 Armagnaks looted the Morandus Church in Altkirch and broke open the burial site. The bones were scattered, but picked up again and buried. Something similar happened in the Peasants' War and in 1793 in the French Revolution. Nevertheless, the relics were saved in our day and the regional worship in Alsace is unbroken.

In 1620 Emperor Ferdinand donated the Morandus Monastery in Altkirch to the Jesuits, who looked after it until the order was abolished in 1773. The Benedictines of Cluny took over it again for a short time, after the French Revolution the pilgrimage site came into the care of the diocese of Strasbourg . The Sisters of Mercy founded a hospital in the former monastery, and in 1886 a new pilgrimage church was built over the Morandus grave. Under Bishop Adolf Fritzen , the Altkirch relics were examined, sorted and given new documents in 1892. His successor Charles Joseph Eugène Ruch approved the following prayer in 1929 in honor of the saint:

“ Let us, O Lord, the prayers of St. Morandus, your confessor, so that you may grant the means of eternal salvation to your servants, to whom he preached the teachings of Christian perfection through him in our homeland, also at his intercession. Through Christ our Lord. Holy Morand, pray for us! Amen. "

- Prayer by Bishop Charles Ruch, Strasbourg, June 11, 1929

The Roman Catholic feast day of St. Morandus is the day of his death, June 3rd; According to the Evangelical Calendar of Names , the Protestant Day of Remembrance is one day later, on June 4th . On June 3rd and the following Sunday, Altkirch also celebrates the traditional day of pilgrimage. In art, Morandus is mostly depicted as a pilgrim or a Benedictine with a book and a pilgrim's staff . His attributes are a vine knife and grapes. He is considered the patron saint of (Alsatian) winemakers and patron saint against obsession. An Austrian wine cuvée , i.e. a wine blend with a fixed recipe, is named after St. Morandus.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Morandus, p. (2) . 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.  493-495 . - (Mainz 1869)
  2. ^ Morandus Chapel, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna.
  3. ↑ On the depositing of the Morandus relics in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna
  4. ^ Website of the Morandus Officium, Vienna
personal data
SURNAME Morandus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Monk and saint of the Catholic Church
DATE OF BIRTH around 1075
PLACE OF BIRTH Worms
DATE OF DEATH around 1115
Place of death near Altkirch , Alsace