Saint Hulpe

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"From the holy cross in the city of Lucca, which is called Sunte Hulpe or God's help". Woodcut from the Lübeck Passional from 1492.

Under Sankt Hulpe , also sunte hulpe ( hulpe : Low German for help, helper; Sankt Hülfe , godes hulpe , Gehülfe , St. Hjaelper ) cult images of the clothed Christ on the cross were venerated before the Reformation in Northern Germany , which were of the type of Volto Santo of Lucca were replicated.

Related to the cult of sante hulpe is the veneration of St. Kümmernis and her predecessors, Wilgefortis and Ontkommer, see the main article Kümmernis .

In addition, a holy martyr Hulpe is mentioned in north German collections of legends and other sources . These different manifestations must therefore be kept apart, even if confusions, cult amalgamations and iconographic interactions are to be expected in the Middle Ages .

Christ clothed on the cross

Late medieval depictions of Christ clothed on the cross were repeatedly referred to in northern Germany as sunte hulpe or godes hulpe . A passage in the Lübeck Passional from 1492 (" Van deme hylligen kruce in the city of Luca, dat me sunte hulpe edder de godes hulpe heth ") shows the direct reference to the Volto Santo , the crucifix in Lucca, one of the most venerated European images of grace.

Christ clothed on the cross. Pilgrimage sign from an unknown place of pilgrimage. Focke Museum Bremen
Seal image of the Church of St. Hulpe in Nutlo

It shows the Savior clad in a long robe, belted and crowned, standing upright in front of the cross, which is caught by a lily arch. The oldest cult images so named come from the 14th century. The “assistant”, a crowned crucifix in Hülfensberg near Geismar in Eichsfeld , is even older, but his admiration as a “assistant” can only be proven from the middle of the 14th century, around 1356 the “crucifix of divine help” was created in St. Gangolf in Bamberg. Pilgrimages to Sunte hulpe are recorded in wills and pilgrimage signs of the Volto-Santo type are known, without these testimonies being able to be safely connected to specifically named destinations. In addition to Lucca itself, the aforementioned Hülfensberg or the former church in Nutlo near Diepholz , a place that is now called Sankt Hülfe , are possible. Its seal from 1511 shows the image of grace and names the Holy Cross Patronage . In the 13th century, the Stedinger farmers portrayed a similar picture in their state seal. It is not known which cult image was reproduced here and whether it was named as “help”. Wherever altar patrons or religious brotherhoods have been archived under the name of sunte hulpe , corresponding crucifix depictions of the type described may be assumed, even if they have not been preserved, for example in Beber , Lüdingworth, Stade, Lübeck, Schwerin, Lüneburg, Braunschweig , Flensburg, Grevesmühlen, Klinglev (Jutland). A few other depictions of the clothed crucified Christ from Mecklenburg , wrongly addressed as " Sorrow ", could be assigned to the Hulpe cult.

Where the sources are poor, it is not always possible to make a clear decision in individual representations from the decades around 1500 whether the female, but bearded saint St. Wilgefortis (Unkummer) or a Christ / St. Hulpe is meant. What is certain is that the name and the veneration of a “St. Kümmernis ”are not documented in medieval northern Germany.

The martyr St. Hulpe

The death of the martyr St. Hulpe. Woodcut from the Basel Passional, 1517

Some collections of Low German legends from the late Middle Ages describe the martyrdom of a martyr St. Hulpe . He is portrayed as the son of a king from Sicily who was subjected to a series of cruel tortures during the persecution of Christians because of his refusal to sacrifice to the pagan gods and who was ultimately beheaded. A woodcut printed in 1517 shows this scene. In northern Germany the saint was already worshiped in the early 14th century: In 1318 a Helperius patronage in Plön can be proven and two different statues of the martyr and Saint Hulpe are mentioned in two Bremen bishop's documents from 1369 and 1370.

The complexes of the clothed Christ on the cross are to be distinguished from that of the martyr in documentary tradition, history of veneration, legends and images.

literature

  • Gustav Schnürer and Joseph M. Ritz: Sankt Kümmernis and Volto Santo. ( Research on Folklore 13/15). Düsseldorf 1934 (rich in material, but out of date in important key statements)
  • Andreas Röpcke : Twice St. Hulpe. Investigations into a Low German cult figure of the late Middle Ages. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher 128, 2013, pp. 7–37.

proof

  1. In the church of St. Salvator (!) In the Danish town of Kliplev there was an un-preserved image of this type (JKHansen: Sønderjyske årbøger 1986, pp 37-55. 16 figs, quoted from Nordic archaeological abstracts )
  2. ^ Text in Röpcke, pp. 28–32 and Schnürer / Ritz, pp. 99 ff.
  3. The crucifix in Lucca is - unlike in the Lübeck Passional - actually not crowned in the original. On festive days, however, a crown is put on, which is more reminiscent of a papal than a prince's crown. Reproductions of the Volto Santo also usually show such a crown.
  4. A crowned crucifix is ​​mentioned in a vision of Charlemagne, which is described in Konrad Bote's Cronecken der Sassen : In the Saxon Wars, surrounded by enemies, he asked for help on a mountain, which was given to him by the crowned Christ. That points to the Hülfensberg. This story refers e.g. B. the Lüneburg Hulpe brotherhood. Besides Lucca, the Hülfensberg image of grace is another root of the Hulpe cult.
  5. Thomas T. and Gerhard Müller: The Salvator and his mountain. Reflections on the origin and early history of the Aid Cross . In: The Eichsfeld assistant. The Romanesque miraculous image on the Hülfensberg , Duderstadt 2011.
  6. Röpcke, p. 11, note 13
  7. In Bremen alone eight pilgrim signs were found, now the Focke Museum
  8. ^ Karl Sichart: St. Hulpe. On the interpretation of the Stedinger seal. In: Bremisches Jahrbuch 44, 1955, pp. 56 - 70. - An identification with a picture ("idolum") mentioned in the sources at the church in Berne as in J. Göhler: Ways of Faith , Stade 2006, p. 103 is overly speculative.
  9. Röpcke, p. 16 f.
  10. see note 1
  11. Röpcke, pp. 7-17
  12. Röpcke, p. 21.
  13. Andreas Röpcke (see lit.) provided this necessary differentiation for the first time in 2013.