Saint Wendelin of Trier ( la, Vendelinus; 554 - 617 AD) was a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

and

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...

. Although not listed in the Roman Martyrology, his cultus is wide-spread in German-speaking areas. He is a patron of country folk and herdsmen. He is honored on October 22.

Life

Because no information about him was available, a biography was written in the Middle Ages, which is based purely on legendary data and tells not so much the life of Saint Wendelinus, but rather how the medieval man of that time imagined the life of a holy hermit from earlier times.Akker, A. van der, " Wendelin van Trier", Heiligen,net, October 14, 2007
/ref> There is very little definite information about this saint; his earliest biographies (two in

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 ...

and two in German), did not appear until after 1417. The name "Wendelin" means "wanderer" or "pilgrim" in

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

. The biographies state that Wendelin was the son of a Scottish king who led a pious life as a youth before leaving his home in secret to make a pilgrimage to Rome. On his way back he settled as a hermit at Westrich in the

Diocese of Trier The Diocese of Trier, in English historically also known as ''Treves'' (IPA "tɾivz") from French ''Trèves'', is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic church in Germany.Weninger,SJ., Francis Xavier. "Saint Wendelin, Hermit and Abbot". ''Lives of the Saints''
1876. CatholicSaints.Info. 10 May 2018 One day when he went to Treves to perform his devotions, and begged his bread from house to house, a nobleman who saw him, and reproved him with great vehemence, saying that begging was the result of laziness and a disorderly life. Wendelin entered his service as a herdsman, but a miracle led the landowner to allow him to return to his solitude.
Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 13 December 2021 Wendelin then established a company of hermits from which sprang the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

Abbey of Tholey in

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

. It is not clear whether

Tholey Tholey () is a municipality in the district of Sankt Wendel, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated approximately west of Sankt Wendel, and north of Saarbrücken. History Local history The first traces of settlement in the area of today's Thol ...

arose from his hermitage, or whether he left his hermitage to become abbot in Tholey. He was consecrated abbot in approximately 597, according to the later legends, while Tholey was apparently founded as a collegiate body about 630. It is difficult to say how far the later biographers are trustworthy.

Legend

The story is told that when Wendelin was working as a herdsman he often took his flock to a mountain to pray there in silence. The sheep thrived under his care, and jealous servants reported that he drove the sheep to a field so far distant that they were exhausted when they returned to the fold. The master coming upon him there, was angry because he could not imagine that Wendelin had time to get the flock home before sunset. However, when the master arrived home on horseback he discovered the shepherd and his flock already there. Realizing that this was a miracle from God he granted Wendelin his greatest desire and built him his own hermit cell in the vicinity of the farm.

Death and veneration

Wendelin was buried in his cell, and a chapel was built over the grave and the small town of Sankt Wendel grew up nearby. The saint's intercession was considered powerful in times of pestilence and contagious diseases among cattle. When in 1320 a pestilence was checked through the intercession of the saint, Baldwin, Archbishop of Trier had the chapel rebuilt. Baldwin's successor, Bohemond II, built the present beautiful Gothic church, dedicated in 1360, to which the saint's relics were transferred. Since 1506 they have rested in a stone sarcophagus. People make a pilgrimage to Wendalinusbasilica on St. Wendelin's day in October. Wendelin is the patron saint of country people and herdsmen and is still venerated in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. Saint Wendelin is not mentioned in the

Roman Martyrology The ''Roman Martyrology'' ( la, Martyrologium Romanum) is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approved ...

, but his feast is observed in the Diocese of Trier on 22 October. Sacred Heart Church in Perkinsville, New York holds a relic of Wendelin. In 2017, a German film crew visited the hamlet while making a documentary about the saint.Latona, Mike. "German filmmakers seek out rare relic at Steuben County church", ''Catholic Courier'', July 19, 2017
/ref>

Iconography

He is represented in art as either a youth or a bearded man, with a shepherd's bag and a book in one hand and a shepherd's crook in the other. He is often pictured with feeding lambs, cattle, and swine, while a crown and a shield appear at his feet. Image:Chapelle saint Wendelin.jpg, Chapelle saint Wendelin, Niederbrück. Haut-Rhin Image:Todtnau-Brandenberg - St. Wendelin1.jpg, St. Wendelin, Brandenberg Image:Kirche Keispelt 02.jpg, Église Saint-Wendelin, Keispelt Image:St. Wendelin's Minnesota 5.JPG, St. Wendelin's, Luxemburg, Minnesota

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wendelin of Trier 7th-century Christian saints 554 births 617 deaths Medieval German saints Medieval Scottish saints Colombanian saints People from Sankt Wendel (district)