Theodor van der Eem
Theodor van der Eem (also Dietrich, Dirk van der Eems ; * 1499 in Amersfoort , province of Utrecht , Netherlands ; † July 9, 1572 in Brielle , province of South Holland , Netherlands) is, as one of the martyrs of Gorkum , a saint of the Roman catholic church .
Life
Theodor was born into a wealthy family. He was intended for a spiritual career. Against the wishes of his parents, he entered the Franciscan order . For the Order, he took over the care of the Tertiaries - Monastery of Saint Agnes in Gorinchem (Gorkum).
With the iconoclasm of 1566 began a difficult time for the Catholic clergy in the Netherlands, which came to a head with the Eighty Years War (1568-1648). During the fighting between the predominantly Calvinist Geusen and the troops of the Catholic Habsburgs , there were repeated attacks on churches and priests from the other side.
The Geusen conquered Brielle and Vlissingen on April 1, 1572, and Dordrecht and Gorinchem fell in June 1572 . In Gorinchem, the Catholic residents holed up in the fortress. Only with the assurance of free withdrawal by the Geusen did they give up the resistance. However, the Geusen captured several clergymen, including Theodorus van der Eem. From June 26th to July 6th, 1572, the clergy in Gorinchem were imprisoned and tortured. This was followed by the transfer to Brielle.
Here, on the orders of Wilhelm II von der Mark, a show trial against the clergy was carried out. On the night of July 8th to 9th, 1572, a total of nineteen clergymen who refused to renounce the Catholic faith were hanged. Wilhelm von Orange had meanwhile ordered the release by letter, but this was not followed by Wilhelm II von der Mark.
Canonization
On 24 November 1675 the nineteen Gorkumer martyrs by Pope Clement X beatified . On June 29, 1867, he was canonized by Pope Pius IX. The relics of Theodor van der Eem are kept in various churches in Belgium .
His feast day is July 9th. Theodore is portrayed as a Franciscan. His attributes are a rope around his neck as an indication of his way of death and the martyr's palm .
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Theodor van der Eem |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Dietrich van der Eem; Dirk van der Eems |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | catholic martyr and saint |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1499 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Amersfoort |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 9, 1572 |
| Place of death | Brielle |