Willehad

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bishop Willehad
The Willehadus fountain at the St. Hippolyt Church in Blexen
1200 years of the bishopric of Bremen: The stamp from 1987 shows Charlemagne and Willehad next to the Bremen Cathedral .

Willehad , originally Vilhaed , latinized Vilhadus , (* around 740 in Northumbria ; † November 8, 789 in Blexen an der Weser ) was active as a missionary in Friesland and in the Saxon area from around 770 and became the first bishop of Bremen . His name means "the strong-willed fighter".

Life

From around 772 Willehad first worked in Friesland in the area of Dokkum . From 780 he missioned on behalf of Charlemagne on the Lower Weser in the Gau Wigmodi , but then had to flee during the Saxony uprising of 782. He went on a pilgrimage to Rome . He then spent two years in the Echternach monastery .

After the baptism of the Saxon leader Widukind in 785, Willehad immediately went back to his former mission area. On July 13, 787 Willehad was consecrated in Worms in the presence of Charlemagne as bishop of Wigmodi , Laras, Riustri, Asterga, Nordendi and Wanga (on the lower Weser and between the mouth of the Weser and Ems). On July 14th, 788, Charlemagne established the diocese of Bremen for the northern part of Saxony in Speyer according to the old Roman custom and awarded this new diocese to Willehad on behalf of Pope Hadrian I and after the advice of Archbishop Lullus of Mainz and the bishops present. This made Bremen his residence. Following the example of the Northumbrian church system, Willehad had traveling priests carry out the pastoral care of the Saxons in Gau Wigmodi. Church foundations in the Elbe-Weser area were initially rare.

On All Saints' Day (November 1st) 789 he consecrated the first cathedral in Bremen , which was still a wooden structure. A week later he died of a severe fever in Blexen. He was first buried in a burial chapel by the cathedral. Later the Wilhadi Chapel was built to hold the remains of Willehad. On November 8, 860, Archbishop Ansgar had the remains of Willehad, increasingly venerated as a saint, transferred from the chapel to the cathedral. This day was determined by Ansgar as the feast day of the saint, it was one of the six highest-ranking holidays in the cathedral around 1230 and is still considered a church day of remembrance , which is in the calendars of the Protestant (in the Evangelical name calendar ), Roman Catholic (not required day of remembrance in the dioceses of Hildesheim, Münster and Osnabrück) and the Orthodox Church. At least eighteen churches and chapels were consecrated to the saint between North Jutland and Wittenburg near Hildesheim. His bones, venerated as relics , were lost during the Reformation - with the exception of a coconut reliquary from the cathedral treasury in Münster .

Willehad also became part of the secular city foundation legend of Bremen. On the city seal of the 13th century, the well-known mural in the upper town hall and on the Domlettner, he poses at eye level across from Emperor Karl, whom the people of Bremen claimed to be the founder of their city in the late Middle Ages. The annual fair in Bremen, which was privileged under the imperial rule in 1035, was called Wilhadi-Markt for a long time until the name Freimarkt caught on.

Our knowledge of the life of Willehad is essentially based on the two texts of the early Middle Ages dealt with below, which have been handed down in Latin manuscripts from the 12th century.

Vita Sancti Willehadi

The description of his life was made after 838, but probably not until the middle of the 9th century, probably in the Echternach monastery , where the bishop stayed in 783/784. The author is unknown. An origin in Bremen can be ruled out because Archbishop Ansgar , the author of the miracle reports, did not know it. The author points out Willehad as a role model, and it is assumed that the emphasis on monastic-ascetic traits was aimed specifically at the Echternach monastery inmates. In spite of all the idealization typical of the time, the representation contains pleasantly concrete information, on which the life data given above are based. It also contains two important statements. The first line of thought concerns the description and valuation of Charlemagne's coronation as emperor : "It is the earliest reference to [the] ... transfer of the continuing Roman Empire to the Franks, an idea that was to have a lasting impact on the history of Central Europe."

On the other hand, the vita is of particular importance for the history of Bremen, which is mentioned here for the first time, also its upgrading to the bishopric and mission center, from which the diocese of Bremen grew, as well as information about the first cathedral building can be accessed.

Miracula Willehadi

The Miracle of St. Willehad wrote Archbishop Ansgar to between 860 and his death 865th In 36 individual cases he describes how the blind seeing, the lame and crippled, the deaf and the mute were healed at his grave. For the first time, a number of place names from the area around Bremen give precise information about the origin of the sick.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Documents dated July 13, 787 = RI I n.290d, in: Regesta Imperii Online , (accessed March 1, 2015).
  2. ↑ Documents dated July 14, 788 = RI I n.295, in: Regesta Imperii Online , (accessed on March 1, 2015).
  3. ↑ Willehad. The life of St. Willehad, Bishop of Bremen, and the description of the miracles on his grave . Introduced, translated and revised by Andreas Röpke. Schünemann, Bremen 1982, p. 98
  4. ↑ Willehad in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
  5. ↑ Andreas Röpcke: Life and Afterlife Willehads , Bremen: Donat & Temmen, 1987, note 29 lists them
  6. ↑ Willehad. The life of St. Willehad, Bishop of Bremen, and the description of the miracles on his grave . Introduced, translated and revised by Andreas Röpke. Schünemann, Bremen 1982, pp. 28-31. A formal canonization was not necessary and customary at that time, the miraculous healings that Ansgar reports were a sufficient reason for a corresponding veneration.
  7. ↑ Willehad. The life of St. Willehad, Bishop of Bremen, and the description of the miracles on his grave . Introduced, translated and revised by Andreas Röpke. Schünemann, Bremen 1982, p. 17 u. 73
  8. ↑ Willehad. The life of St. Willehad, Bishop of Bremen, and the description of the miracles on his grave . Introduced, translated and revised by Andreas Röpke. Schünemann, Bremen 1982, pp. 42-47
  9. ↑ Willehad. The life of St. Willehad, Bishop of Bremen, and the description of the miracles on his grave . Introduced, translated and revised by Andreas Röpke. Schünemann, Bremen 1982, pp. 51-72
  10. ↑ Willehad. The life of St. Willehad, Bishop of Bremen, and the description of the miracles on his grave . Introduced, translated and revised by Andreas Röpke. Schünemann, Bremen 1982, p. 32

Web links

Commons : Willehad  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: St. Willehad, the first bishop of Bremen  - sources and full texts
predecessor Office successor
--- Bishop of Bremen
787–789 		Willerich
personal data
SURNAME Willehad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vilhaed; Willehad of Bremen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Missionary in Friesland and Saxony, first bishop of Bremen, saint
DATE OF BIRTH at 740
PLACE OF BIRTH Northumbria
DATE OF DEATH November 8, 789
Place of death Blexen on the Weser