Saint Meinrad
![[Saint Meinrad stained glass window]](stm77001.jpg "20kb jpg photograph of Saint Meinrad stained glass window, Saint Meinrad Abbey, Saint Meinrad, Indiana, USA; artist unknown; many thanks to Novice Shawn Henderson; pray for Shawn's vocation and novitiate; if you have information about this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
-
Maynard;
Meginrat;
Meinrad of Einsiedeln
- Memorial
- 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.
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.
- Born
- at Solgen, Swabia (Sülichgau near Wurtemberg)
- Died
- beaten to death with clubs by robbers on 21 January 861 at Einsiedeln, Switzerland;
relics in the abbey church at Einsiedeln
- Canonized
- Pre-Congregation
- Patronage
-
Einsiedeln, Switzerland;
hospitality;
Swabia, Germany
- Images
- Gallery of images of Saint Meinrad [3 images, ?? kb]
- Representation
-
dead monk with ravens pursuing his murderers;
dead monk with two ravens near him;
monk being beaten to death with clubs by two men;
monk eating fish with a widow;
monk holding a club and ciborium;
monk with a tau staff walking into the wilderness;
monk with Saint Benedict;
two ravens
- Additional Information
-
Google Directory
Kloster Einsideln [deutsch, francais, english]
Saint Meinrad Abbey, Saint Meinrad, Indiana
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
Ecole Glossary, by Matthew Stultz
New Catholic Dictionary
