Maternus
Maternus (saint festival: September 14,; † about 328) was as Bishop of Trier lists the third Bishop of Trier and is the first historically attested bishop of Cologne ( Civitas Agrippinensium ) in the years 313 and 314 as a participant in councils in Rome and Arles mentioned . He is considered the patron saint against fever, contagious diseases and the flourishing of grapevines. According to the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints, Maternus means "the maternal one". The family name Mattern is derived from Saint Maternus .
Maternus is shown in the so-called Maternus portal on the north transept of Cologne Cathedral .
Life
The origin and the year of birth are not known. According to records from the High Middle Ages, the year of death is assumed to be 328. His resting place was perhaps in Trier , which in the High Middle Ages claimed Maternus for its own list of bishops. This tradition should be viewed with just as much caution as that of Maternus as the founding bishop of Tongeren .
Cologne probably never had the bones of Maternus, while in Trier relics of St. Maternus have been handed down historically from around 760. The so-called bishop's staff of St. Maternus is kept in the Cologne Cathedral Treasury and is still used today on important church occasions.
As a confidante of the Roman Emperor Constantine I, Maternus took part in the Lateran Synod in Rome in 313 and in the Synod in Arles in 314 , so it can be assumed that it was of great importance outside the Germanic provinces.
At the time of Bishop Maternus, Pope Silvester I presided over the church. According to the Constantine donation , which was later recognized as a forgery, the church in Rome is said to have been compensated for the persecution by Emperor Constantine, including the Lateran Palace in Rome. In addition, the emperor had the Church of the Redeemer (today San Giovanni in Laterano ) built. The Pope consecrated the first St. Peter's Church in 326 . It is not known where the first Christian church stood in Cologne.
Maternus was always involved in the medieval rank disputes between the archbishopric of Trier and Cologne : Allegedly he was in possession of the original St. Peter's rod , the possession of which was decisive for the rank as the oldest church in Germany.
Various medieval institutions of the church were named after him, such as the Maternihospital in Dresden. As part of the redesign of the sculpture program for the Cologne town hall tower in the 1980s, Maternus was honored with a figure on the fourth floor on the east side of the tower. In 1967, a Maternus church was built in the Heiligkreuz district of Trier .
literature
- Georg Gresser : Art. Maternus v. Cologne , in: Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche , 3rd edition, Volume 6, Freiburg 1997, Sp. 1469-1470 with the sources and further literature.
- Franz Xaver Kraus : Maternus, the saint . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 584 f.
- Sebastian Ristow : Maternus ( Memento from November 20, 2002 in the Internet Archive ). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 20, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 994-997.
Individual evidence
- ↑ stadt-koeln.de: Sculptures on the fourth floor , accessed on January 15, 2015
Web links
- Toni Diederich , Ulrich Helbach , Joachim Oepen : Archbishopric and Archbishops: The bishops and archbishops from the 4th to the 20th century ; Christians on the Rhine: Testimonies to the church history of Cologne from two millennia, accessed on November 6, 2013
- Joachim Conrad: Maternus ; in: Saarland biographies online; Retrieved November 6, 2013
- Joachim Oepen: Maternus (mentioned 313/314), Cologne bishop and saint ; Landschaftsverband Rheinland: Portal Rhenish History, March 12, 2013; Retrieved November 6, 2013
predecessor | Office | successor |
---|---|---|
Valerius |
Bishop of Trier after 300 |
Agritius |
- |
Bishop of Cologne 314 |
Euphrates |
- |
Bishop of Tongeren 315 |
Servatius |
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Maternus |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bishop of Cologne |
DATE OF BIRTH | 3rd century |
DATE OF DEATH | at 328 |
Place of death | unsure: Trier |