Saint Meinrad of Einsiedeln

Jan 202013

[Saint Meinrad]
Also known as

Meinrad of Reichenau
Maynard….
Meginrad….
Meginrat….
Meino….

21 January

Profile

May have been a member of the noble Hohenzollern family. Educated, professed as a Benedictine monk, and ordained at the abbey on the island of Reichenau, in Lake Constance in Switzerland. Teacher in Zurich, Switzerland. Around 829 he withdrew to live in prayer as a hermit in the Black Forest. As word of his holiness and wisdom spread, he attracted many visitors and would-be students. In 836 he retreated to a more remote location near Einsiedeln (which means hermitage).

On 21 January 861 he received, fed, sheltered and entertained two rough-looking travellers. They were thieves, and when they found that Meinrad was a holy hermit who owned nothing worth stealing, they were so angry that they beat him to death. Legend says that his body was protected by ravens who attacked and chased away the murderers. Because he was such a holy man, he was considered a martyr, but there is no evidence that he died defending the faith.

In the years following his death, a series of hermits, including Blessed Benno, used his hermitage. In 934 a Benedictine monastery was built there. It survives today, still serving as monastery, retreat center, and pilgrimage site. The statue of the Blessed Virgin in its huge church is thought to have belonged to Meinrad himself.