Benno

The lives of the saints · 6 · S. BENNO, B. OF MEISSEN.

S. BENNO, B. OF MEISSEN. (a.d. 1106.)

[Roman and Benedictine Martyro'.ogies. Venerated at Munich as patron. Authority : — A life by Jerome Emser, based on contemporary historians,]

S. Bbnno was born at Hikiesheim, and was the son of Frederick, Count of Bultenburg, near Goslar. The eldest son, Christopher, succeeded to the family title and estates, the second, Benno, was destined for the Church, and was given to Bernward, bishop of Hildesheim, to be educated, The old bishop brought up the little boy with the greatest care, and a beautiful love grew up between them. When Bernward, worn out with years, lay on his death bed, he called the boy to him, took his little hands in his own, kissed them, and said, " You see, my son, that my days are at an end, and now I desire to give thee my last advice. Cleave to Wiger your teacher, and listen to his instruction, set your heart on God, and flee from the contagion of sin." Benno did not leave the old bishop till he died, minister- ing to him like a tender nurse, and when Bernward breathed his last, the boy was inconsolable. In after years he became a monk at Hildesheim, and on the death of the abbot, he was elected to fill his room by a party of the monks, the others choosing one named Sigebert. Benno held the abbacy for three months, and then sur- rendered it into the hands of Sigebert He was brought to Goslar by the Emperor Henry III., who founded there a chapter of canons, and made master of the canons. There he remained seventeen years, and made the ac- quaintance of Anno, one of the canons, who was given the archiepiscopal see of Cologne. Anno conceived a warm attachment for Benno, and when he had constituted him- self regent, by the violent abduction of the young prince

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Henry IV., from his mother, he gave Benno the bishopric of Meissen, and Benno was consecrated to it at Magdeburg.

The see was one which needed an apostle to fill it It was on the borders of the Sclavonic and Wendish peoples, who were constantly bursting into Saxony and ravaging it with fire and sword. They were for the most part heathens, adoring Swantovit and Zernebok. S. Benno laboured amongst them with zeal, and his preaching and holy example were the means of bringing great numbers into the fold of the true Church. Nor did he neglect his own dio- cese and cathedral. He found that through the laxity of his predecessors the public recitation of the offices in the church had been abandoned. He at once introduced musical intonation and chants from Hildesheim, so that the musical use of the church of Meissen was the same in after years as that of Hildeshiem. He found that a shameless trafic in spiritualities had corroded the life of his church. He used all his authority to prevent the sale of the benefices, and in his efforts was supported by the Pope Gregory VII., who had fulminated his bull against simony (May 25th.)

In the miserable wars between the Saxons and the Emperor Henry IV., Benno, as might naturally be ex- pected of a Saxon Count and a Saxon Bishop, sided with the Saxon nobles against the emperor. Henry held his imperial court at Goslar. The Saxons he treated with the utmost scorn, /he country people in the vicinity were oppressed with taxes and enforced labour, and the dislike wherewith the Saxons were viewed by the monarch, ere long became as unbearable to them as his licentious habits.

The Saxon chiefs broke into the territories of Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen, the favourite adviser of the king, and the Sclaves burst into Saxony, at the first signal of

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dissension in the empire. Finally the Saxon chiefs revolted, and the Saxon bishops threw in their lot with them, and a civil war ensued. The Saxons were defeated at Langen- salza, and Henry expelled Benno from his see, though the BShbp of Meissen does not seem to have taken an active part against him. His exile was not for long, and was spent in preaching to the Sclaves and Wends. He was re-instated in his see, and not long after was summoned to Worms to a council convened by Henry IV., in opposition to Pope Gregory VII. The council had the temerity to depose the pope. Benno escaped from Worms and hastened to Rome, where he was warmly received by the pope. The story goes that, perceiving the crisis of affairs, before he left Meissen, he bade two of the canons throw the keys of the minster into the Elbe directly they heard that the king was excommunicated. The sentence was proclaimed at Rome, as has been related elsewhere (May 25, p. 369) whereupon the keys were flung into the Elbe. When Henry's power crumbled away under the sentence of the pope, Benno returned to Germany, and on reaching Miessen, a fish was caught in the Elbe and brought to him, and the keys hung to its gills.

Another pretty and popular story of S. Benno is that he was one evening walking in the fields near Meissen medi- tating and praying, but was disturbed by the frogs. Then he bade them be silent, and they obeyed. But he had not gone far before his conscience smote him. He repeated to himself the verse, “ Benedicite cete et omnia quis mo- ventur in aquis Domino. O ye whales and all that move in the waters, bless ye the Lord.” Then, full of shame, thinking that, may be, the praises of the poor frogs might be as acceptable to the Creator as his own, he returned to the marsh, and said, “ O frogs, sing on to the Lord your song of thanksgiving !”

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Martyrologium Romanum · Latin witness

Misnae, in Germania, sancti Bennonis Episcopi.

The lives of the saints · 6 · S. BENNO, B. OF MEISSEN.

[Roman and Benedictine Martyro'.ogies. Venerated at Munich as patron. Authority : — A life by Jerome Emser, based on contemporary historians,]

S. Bbnno was born at Hikiesheim, and was the son of Frederick, Count of Bultenburg, near Goslar. The eldest son, Christopher, succeeded to the family title and estates, the second, Benno, was destined for the Church, and was given to Bernward, bishop of Hildesheim, to be educated, The old bishop brought up the little boy with the greatest care, and a beautiful love grew up between them. When Bernward, worn out with years, lay on his death bed, he called the boy to him, took his little hands in his own, kissed them, and said, " You see, my son, that my days are at an end, and now I desire to give thee my last advice. Cleave to Wiger your teacher, and listen to his instruction, set your heart on God, and flee from the contagion of sin." Benno did not leave the old bishop till he died, minister- ing to him like a tender nurse, and when Bernward breathed his last, the boy was inconsolable. In after years he became a monk at Hildesheim, and on the death of the abbot, he was elected to fill his room by a party of the monks, the others choosing one named Sigebert. Benno held the abbacy for three months, and then sur- rendered it into the hands of Sigebert He was brought to Goslar by the Emperor Henry III., who founded there a chapter of canons, and made master of the canons. There he remained seventeen years, and made the ac- quaintance of Anno, one of the canons, who was given the archiepiscopal see of Cologne. Anno conceived a warm attachment for Benno, and when he had constituted him- self regent, by the violent abduction of the young prince

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