St.Norbert of Xanten

CURRICULUM VITAE

He came from the Middle Rhine. Awakened from a frivolous life, he began to live in strict austerity, prayer, and study. Devoted to the apostolate, he brought people to Christ, reconciled hostile cities, and excelled in reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. In France, in the Premontré Valley, he founded a Premonstratensian monastery. He became the Archbishop of Magdeburg, a reformer of spiritual life. His poverty, humility, zeal, and fearlessness made him enemies. He called for the spread of faith among the Slavs. When his remains were placed in Prague, he was included among the Czech patrons.

CV FOR MEDITATION

THE SAINT OF THE EUCHARIST

He was born in the German city of Xanten, near the Dutch border. He belonged to the noble family of the Lords of Gennep. His parents, Herbert and Hedwig, intended him for a spiritual career, as the family inheritance was destined for his older brother.

His father is mentioned as the administrator of Xanten Castle, the region and the property of the Cologne Archbishopric. There is talk of his activities in the archbishop’s service. At a very young age, Norbert received a canon position in the chapter of Saint Victor in Xanten, associated with a larger pension, then called a benefice in church law. He also soon ranked among the educated of his time. He had talent, excelled in public speaking, and is said to have applied it particularly in diplomacy. The path of the priesthood did not appeal to him. As a canon, he accepted subdeacon ordination but lived the secular life of the rich. He left the archbishop’s curia for the court of Emperor Henry V, who appreciated his skillful conduct and appointed him his secretary and, probably, also his chaplain. For 9 years, he traveled everywhere with the emperor. In 1111, they went to Rome. The emperor decided to force the Pope to confirm the investiture of bishops. Pope Paschal II. was captured, released, and crowned Henry according to his wishes. Norbert was displeased with the emperor’s actions and immediately begged the pope for forgiveness. The following year, the pope himself condemned his actions as an act of weakness. Norbert remained with the emperor until he was about 30 years old, although their relationship cooled because his conscience troubled him. Therefore, in 1113, he also refused the emperor’s offer of the bishopric of Cambrai. After leaving the emperor, who had been excommunicated for his actions, Norbert began to change.

In 1115, he was traveling on horseback to Wreden in Westphalia and was caught in a storm. Stunned by lightning, he fell from his horse. When he woke up, he perceived it as God’s call to complete conversion. He accepted the call, renounced comfort and worldly interests, and went to the Benedictine monastery of St. Michael in Siegburg. There, he decided to live a life of penance and priestly service. After the necessary preparation, he received priestly ordination in December and returned to the monastery for further preparation. On Holmdun 1116, he celebrated his primogeniture in Cologne. At it, he said: “What blindness to desire fame that will pass, to seek wealth that impoverishes the soul, and to love a world in which there is no joy without thorns and in which the soul finds no peace.” He also called on secular clergy to convert and was called a hypocrite. He spoke to his fellow canons, calling them to the apostolate. However, they despised him so much that they hired a cleric who spat in his face.

Norbert lived in seclusion for three more years, with deep reverence for the Eucharist, and received formation for his future apostolate. He renounced his canonry and distributed his property. Pope Gelasius II, who was in exile in France, sought approval and blessing for his work as an apostolic missionary. His annual mission was in France, Belgium, and the Rhineland. He tried to lead his listeners to reconciliation with God and with all people. He taught about the need for the sacraments, about Christian love, and about the hope of eternal salvation. Some disciples joined him, and the need for a residence became ever greater.

After the death of Gelasius II, Calixtus II ascended the throne, and during his visit to Reims, Norbert asked him to reconfirm his activities. The Pope, at the instigation of the Bishop of Laon, recommended that he work in his diocese in the north of France. Norbert therefore wanted to reform Laon Abbey, but he was unsuccessful. In the spring of 1120, he settled with his followers in the Premontré Valley and founded a new community there. He thus gave rise to a new order of religious canons, who began to be called Premonstratensians after the place of their origin. They took over the religious statutes from St. Augustine, who, according to legend, appeared to Norbert. The main focus of the order was on the most perfect pastoral service in parishes, with an emphasis on the dignified celebration of divine services and the liturgical education of the faithful. The Premonstratensian garment became a white tunic with a scapular and a cingulum.

Christmas Eve 1121, when Norbert took his famous religious vows, is often cited as the date of the order’s founding. Perhaps that is why the oldest depiction of St. Norbert shows him with the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus. The paintings in which the Virgin Mary hands over the vows to the Child Jesus do not deviate from this theme either. We find the Marian journey to Jesus and the extraordinary reverence for the Eucharist in the lives of important saints to be a clear foundation for the holiness we should follow them.

For the new church that they built in Premontré, Norbert went to Cologne to obtain the relics of the holy martyrs. There, after a night prayer, he announced where one of the companions of St. Ursula and St. Gereon, a fellow soldier of St. Maurice, was buried. The unexpectedly found relics were solemnly transferred to Premontré.

According to the oldest biography, a woman came to Norbert for advice because of infertility with her husband, from whom she would rather separate than be childless. Norbert freed her from wrong desires, encouraged her with the word of God, and predicted to her the imminent birth of a son and then other children, which came true. This story is connected to the effective invocation of St. Norbert, requesting his intercession for mothers expecting a child. The Premonstratensian sisters of Doksan also include expectant mothers in their contemporary intercessory prayers.

In 1124, the Bishop of Cambrai summoned Norbert to Antwerp, Belgium, to help combat the heretical teachings of Tanchelm, who presented himself as a zealous reformer. While criticizing the disorderly life of the clergy, he denied the church hierarchy and the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. This led to painful disputes. Norbert was able to convince them of the church’s true teachings and establish peace.

Caring for the community that Norbert founded was not the goal of his life, even when he returned to Premontré from his apostolic journeys. In 1126, during a visit to Rome, he achieved confirmation of the Premonstratensian order. In the same year, he was appointed Archbishop of Magdeburg in what is now Germany. At the insistence of his superiors, he accepted the service in July, after his episcopal ordination. He entered his new cathedral, where he was solemnly welcomed, barefoot and in monastic garb. He retained his humility and ascetic lifestyle; therefore, he did not lead a court, as was customary for episcopal dignitaries. He began the renewal of spiritual life with the priests and by renovating the monasteries. To fully utilize his new position, he handed over leadership of the monastery at Premontré to Hugo de Fosses.

Norbert also reclaimed church property seized by the nobility. The unauthorized holders joined forces with rebellious priests. They incited the people against Norbert, who believed that he wanted to steal the relics of saints from the church altars for his order. He was attacked right in the cathedral, and the servant who tried to protect him was seriously wounded. The imperial administrator of the city intervened to protect Norbert, while the orthodox priests displayed the supposedly stolen relics to the rebels. The curse supposedly cooled the rebels’ heads, and they then begged for forgiveness.

Norbert also invited his spiritual sons to promote the reforms. As a zealous archbishop, he supported the spread of the Gospel in the eastern regions, where Christianity was not yet rooted. The movement he spread and his lifelong apostolic work are described as Eucharistic in nature.

In 1130-32, he advocated recognizing Pope Innocent II against the illegitimate Anacletus, especially at the court of Emperor Lothair II, whom he accompanied to Rome, where he was instrumental in resolving some delicate matters.

The hard life and excessive effort exhausted the 50-year-old archbishop, and on Maundy Thursday in 1134, he celebrated his last Holy Mass with great fervor. He then fell seriously ill, and he succumbed on June 6.

The cathedral chapter and the Premonstratensians were interested in his body, and the emperor decided in their favor. They buried him in the Church of the Virgin Mary. He was canonized by Gregory XIII in 1582. At that time, Protestantism was spreading throughout northern Europe, and Protestants occupied the Premonstratensian church. Catholic monasteries, therefore, sought the saint’s remains. After difficult negotiations, at the beginning of 1627, Abbot Questenberg managed to obtain precious relics for the Strahov Monastery in Prague.