Heribert of Cologne

Heribert of Cologne

Left: Heribert of Cologne, town hall tower Cologne
Born c. 970
Worms
Died March 16, 1021
Cologne
Venerated in Roman Catholicism,
Eastern Orthodoxy
Canonized 1075 by Pope Gregory VII
Major shrine Deutz
Feast March 16
Patronage Rain

Saint Heribert (c. 970 16 March 1021) was Archbishop of Cologne and Chancellor of Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, and was canonized c. 1074.

Life

He was born in Worms, the son of Hugo, count of Worms. He was educated in the school of Worms Cathedral and at the Benedictine Gorze Abbey in Lorraine. He returned to Worms Cathedral to be provost and was ordained a priest in 994.

In the same year Otto III appointed him chancellor for Italy and four years later also for Germany, a position which he held until Otto's death on 23 January 1002. Heribert accompanied Otto to Rome in 996 and again in 997, and was still in Italy when he was elected Archbishop of Cologne. At Benevento he received investiture and the pallium from Pope Sylvester II on 9 July 999, and on the following Christmas Day he was consecrated at Cologne.

In 1002, he was present at the death-bed of the Emperor at Paterno. While returning to Germany with the Emperor's remains and the imperial insignia, he was held captive for some time by the future Henry II, whose candidacy he at first opposed, but whom he served faithfully subsequently.

Shrine

In 1003, Heribert founded the Abbey of Deutz on the Rhine, at a strongpoint that controlled the western entry to the city of Cologne; when he died in Cologne on 16 March 1021, he was buried in his abbey church.

Veneration

Heribert was already honoured as a saint during his lifetime, and was canonized by Pope Gregory VII in about 1074. His reported miracles included ending a drought; he is thus invoked for beneficial rains.

His relics were kept in the abbey church at Deutz in a golden reliquary, which is now preserved in the parish church of Neu-St.Heribert in Köln-Deutz.[1]

His feast day is celebrated on 16 March.

References

  1. Ilana Abend-David, "Architectural representations on the medallions of the Heribert shrine", in Sarah Blick and Rita Tekippe, eds. Art and architecture of late medieval pilgrimage in Northern Europe.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "article name needed". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton. 

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Preceded by
Ebergar
Archbishop of Cologne
999–1021
Succeeded by
Pilgrim
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