Arnold of Arnoldsweiler (german: Arnold von Arnoldsweiler, link=no) (died in Ginnizweiler, today Düren-

Arnoldsweiler Arnoldsweiler is a village in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. It is part of the town Düren, situated between Cologne and Aachen. Its population was 3,185 in 2017. History The village is named after the late 8th century AD Saint Arnold of Arnoldsw ...

) is a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church * Oriental Orthodox Churches * Orthodox Presbyterian Church * Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand * State church of the Roman Empire * True Orthodox church See also * Orthodox (di ...

and

True Orthodox Church True Orthodox church, True Orthodox Christians, True Orthodoxy or Genuine Orthodoxy, often pejoratively "Zealotry", designates groups of traditionalist Eastern Orthodox churches which have severed communion since the 1920s with the mainstream Eas ...

and was a musician (harpist and singer) at the court of Emperor Charles the Great, known as

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

. His feast day is 18 July. partial view of the sarcophagus with the saint's oldest image

Biography

Neither his exact year of birth nor his birthplace are known. Some sources maintain he came from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

(

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''Graecia''); others suggest that in the oldest extant copy of the Latin ''Vita Sancti Arnoldi Confessoris'' a spelling mistake occurred: rather than Greece, the Latin name for the Austrian town of

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

(''Graetia'') was implied. Jacob Schmid, who had published an extensive collection of saint legends in the 18th century, including the ''Legend of Arnoldus'', also questioned Arnold's Greek origins and suggested instead that he came from

Raetia Raetia ( ; ; also spelled Rhaetia) was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the south-west with T ...

, an ancient

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

province reaching from the north of present-day Italy to the south of present-day

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Arnold died probably around 800 in Ginizuuilere (=Ginizwilere=Ginnizweiler, later renamed

), where he was buried. His grave is still revered there today in St. Arnold's Chapel. In an imprint of the

Acta Sanctorum ''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. The project w ...

of the

Bollandists The Bollandist Society ( la, Societas Bollandistarum french: Société des Bollandistes) are an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century h ...

from 1725, the death of Arnold was assumed to have occurred at the beginning of the 9th century; in Stadler's ''Complete Lexikon of Saints'' of 1840 it is restated that he died around 800. Arnold Steffens in 1886 sets the death date to 843, similar to the Bollandists. Rudolf Wyrsch in 1994 again places it around 800. The 21st century scholar Wilhelm Arnolds professes the year of St. Arnold's death to be 793.

Recognition

Between 922 and 1168, his death and burial place was renamed after his name into Arnoldsweiler (''wilre sancti Arnoldi''), which today forms a district of

Düren Düren (; ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne on the river Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the territory of the Eburones, a people ...

. Arnold has been revered as a people's saint at least since that time and is considered the patron saint of musicians, organists, and makers of musical instruments, and to pray for a good and gentle death. In addition to a document from 1339, there only is an express earliest mention of his person in the transcript of his ''Vita'', so only about 500 years after his death. Because of this, at times even the legitimacy of his veneration as a saint was doubted. In 1886,

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

recognized the cult for the

Archdiocese of Cologne The Archdiocese of Cologne ( la, Archidioecesis Coloniensis; german: Erzbistum Köln) is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. History The Electorate of Cologn ...

and confirmed the then about 1000 years old tradition. In 1914, the festival on Saint Arnold's Day, 18 July, was classified as a memorial day. Since 1987 it has been recognized as

optional memorial A memorial in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church is a lower-ranked feast day in honour of a saint, the dedication of a church, or a mystery of the religion. All feast days are ranked according to their importance and named either as “ solem ...

for the Roman Catholic

Diocese of Aachen The Diocese of Aachen is one of 27 dioceses in Germany and one of the six dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Cologne. The incumbent bishop is Helmut Dieser, who was appointed by Pope Francis on 23 September 2016. The bishop's seat is Aach ...

.He is recognised by the Orthodox Church and the True Orthodox Church as a pre-Great East-West Schism of 1054 saint.

Life and legends

The ''Vita Sancti Arnoldi Confessoris'' was not only copied, but also translated and retold. As little documentary evidence exists in writing, it cannot be determined with certainty how far Saint Arnold's biography is based on real facts, or if with the passage of time it was interlaced with

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

The ride around the Bürgewald

Arnold accompanied Emperor Charlemagne and his entourage on hunts in the Bürgewald (a forest area north of

between

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, bordered by the rivers

Rur The Rur or Roer (german: Rur ; Dutch and li, Roer, , ; french: Rour) is a major river that flows through portions of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. It is a right (eastern) tributary to the Meuse ( nl, links=no, Maas). About 90 perce ...

and

Erft The Erft () is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows through the foothills of the Eifel, and joins the Lower Rhine (left tributary). Its origin is near Nettersheim, and its mouth in Neuss-Grimlinghausen south of the Josef Cardinal ...

). One day the king decided to hold a banquet in the forest. Arnold saw the poverty of the villagers when they approached to ask for firewood, stating that the forest was royal property and they did not dare to take anything from the forest floor. Arnold challenged the emperor in a bet to give him as much forest land as he could circle on horseback while the banquet lasted. The wish was granted to him. The crafty Arnold arranged for fresh horses in the surrounding villages and managed to circumnavigate the entire forest before the meal was over. Charlemagne was fond of Arnold and forgave him the ruse, which exploited his by nature generous disposition. He gave Arnold a ring to testify that the forest henceforth belonged to him. Arnold distributed the Bürgewald territory amongst the surrounding villages. This good deed of his led to his being worshiped as a saint. For centuries, the forest was used by the adjacent villages. In one extension of the legend one of the horses was exhausted and a maid refused to give it water. The horse then scraped the ground with its hoof and a spring of water arose that still bears the name ''Arnolduspötzsche'' (''Arnoldusquelle''/Saint Arnold Fountain) today. The woman refusing to share water is said to have been from the village of

Huchem-Stammeln Stommeln is a village (''Stadtteil''), part of the town of Pulheim, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It has a population of 8,462 (2021). Geography Stommeln is situated to the north-west of Cologne. Its most recognisable feature is the old m ...

(today in the municipality of Niederzier). This village was excluded from the right to use the forest and its name is missing from the stone tablet in Saint Arnold's Chapel, where 15 of the villages grateful to Saint Arnold are listed.

The pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

Arnold's documented pilgrimage to the tomb of the apostle

James the Great James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob (Aramaic ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ, Arabic يعقوب, Hebrew בן זבדי , '' Yaʿăqōḇ'', Latin '' ...

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of St ...

, Spain is embellished by another tale: In southern France the aged Arnold came to an area where it had not rained for weeks and the residents were starving. Arnold decided to stop and help alleviate the misery of the people. His own strength began to subside, and, feeling close to death, he wished to die in his homeland. He prayed to God for a sign he received in a dream. Arnold then threw the ring Charlemagne had given him into the

Garonne The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – a ...

. The reappearance of the ring would alert him to his imminent death. On his journey home north to the Rhineland, he rested for a time at a pious widow's house. One day he gave alms to the poor in the village and they brought their benefactor a fish from the market that had swallowed a ring. Arnold recognized his ring, thanked God for the miracle and resumed his journey home. He reached the village Ginnizweiler and died soon afterwards.

Patron saint to Arnold Janssen

Saint Arnold of Arnoldsweiler is the patron saint of Father

Arnold Janssen Arnold Janssen, S.V.D. (5 November 1837 – 15 January 1909), was a German-Dutch Catholic priest and missionary who is venerated as a saint. He founded the Society of the Divine Word, a Catholic missionary religious congregation, also known as th ...

, the founder of the Steyl missionaries (''Societas Verbi Divini''). Arnold Janssen was canonized on 5 October 2003. The Mission House St. Arnold was founded by the Steyl missionaries in 1928 in Neuenkirchen ( Steinfurt district). The nearby train station of Neuenkirchen was renamed in 1931 to St. Arnold station and the surrounding quarter became officially known as St. Arnold.