Pusinna

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The tower of the Herford Minster St. Marien and Pusinna

Saint Pusinna (* 5th / 6th century near Corbie in what is now France , † in Binson near Châlons-en-Champagne ) was the patron saint of Herford until the Reformation .

Life and aftermath

In her parents' house Pusinna (Latin for "the girl") lived together with her sisters Liutrud and Menechildis and three other sisters, celibate and godly. In later years she withdrew as a hermit to her genetic makeup " vicus bausionensis " (Binson) near Châlons-en-Champagne near Corbie , where she also died. Her bones were transferred from her hermitage in Binson to Herford Abbey in 860 , which was later named “St. Marien und Pusinna ”received. The fact that the relic came into the possession of the women's monastery was due to the commitment of the abbess Haduwy (Hedwig) and her influential brother, Count Cobbo the Younger , who were related to the court of the West Franconian King Charles the Bald .

The Herford Imperial Abbey had with the translation of the bones of St. Pusinna hoped in vain to gain importance through the possession of her relics and to be able to initiate a flourishing pilgrimage. In order to put the Pusinnen worship on a broader basis, parts of the relics were also given to the Herford daughter monastery Wendhusen in today's Thale . From there, the relics are said to have reached the Quedlinburg Imperial Abbey .

Reliquary of the Pusinnen in the high altar of St. Johannes Baptist zu Herford
The high altar in St. John Baptist

The historian Bodarwé sees the reasons for the fact that the worship of Pusinnen was not granted any great success in the long term, on the one hand in her colorless life story, which does not note any pithy miracles or memorable deeds. Vita as well as translation report portray Pusinna as an exemplary devotee, less her miracle work than her godly way of life distinguishes her. They were suitable as models for foundation-oriented women's communities such as Herford, Wendhusen and Quedlinburg . On the other hand, it may also have been significant that Herford had already been overshadowed in the Ottonian times by younger convents such as Gandersheim , Quedlinburg or Essen , who preferred other saints and cultivated them. So Pusinna was ultimately limited to the rank of local saint.

When the tower of the Herford Minster was completed in 1490, parts of the bones of St. Pusinna enclosed in the tower knob together with a certificate of authenticity from the Herford abbess and the city council . The relics and the certificate were found again in 1854 during a renovation of the tower and after the completion of the work at that time, the presbytery of the Evangelical Lutheran decided. Munster parish again included in the tower knob.

Parts of the relics of St. Pusinna, which were formerly owned by the Herford women's monastery, are now kept in the Catholic Church of St. Johannes Baptist in Herford. Since the restoration of the church in 2007/08, they have been in a black shrine under the winged altar in the church's choir. These relics were returned to Herford in 1949 after they were found in a sealed envelope in the church of Heddinghausen (Sauerland) in 1939 . In 1677 the Herford princess Elisabeth von der Pfalz gave these relics from the still existing cathedral treasure to Prince-Bishop Ferdinand II of Paderborn . It is only thanks to this circumstance that they are saved. On January 9, 1944, the relics were divided between the Paderborn Cathedral , the Catholic. Parish church in Herford and Heddinghausen.

The feast day of St. Pusinna is April 23rd .

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Bodarwé 2003, p. 2
  2. ↑ Rüthing 1989, p 283f.
  3. ↑ Neue Westfälische , article “Restored Church in liturgical light” from May 17, 2008.

Web links

Commons : Pusinna  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Pusinna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Christian saint, patron saint of Herford
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century or 6th century
PLACE OF BIRTH at Corbie , Franconia
DATE OF DEATH 6th century
Place of death vicus Bausionensis near Catalauni , Franconia (today: Binson-et-Orquigny , France )