Werner of Oberwesel (also known as Werner of Bacharach or Werner of Womrath; 1271 – 1287) was a 16-year-old boy whose unexplained death was blamed on

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, leading to revenge killings of Jews across Europe. He was venerated as a Christian

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Or ...

, and his memorial day was 19 April. Saint Werner's Chapel in

Oberwesel Oberwesel () is a town on the Middle Rhine in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Hunsrück-Mittelrhein, whose seat is in Emmelshausen. Geography Location Oberwesel li ...

on the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

was established in 1289 and became a popular pilgrimage site. His veneration prompted other allegations against Jews, such as Host desecration and

ritual murder Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherei ...

Background

Born in 1271 in Womrath,

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...

, Werner came from a poor background. On

Maundy Thursday Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday (also known as Great and Holy Thursday, Holy and Great Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, among other names) is the day during Holy Week that commemorates the Washing of th ...

1287, his body was found near

Bacharach Bacharach (, also known as ''Bacharach am Rhein'') is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rhein-Nahe, whose seat is in Bingen am Rhein, although that town is not wi ...

. Certain Christians blamed his murder on the Jews, claiming that they had used his blood for the Jewish ritual of Passover (the

blood libel Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mur ...

against Jews). Similar anti-Jewish legends were widely circulated in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. The alleged murder was followed by a wave of pogroms against the Jewish community. Violence spread from the

Middle Rhine Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river a ...

to the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A ...

and the

Lower Rhine The Lower Rhine (german: Niederrhein; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the river Rhine) flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea at Hook of Holland, Netherlands (including the Nederrijn or "Nether Rhine" within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta); ...

region. The Jewish community turned to King Rudolf I, who was convinced the accusations were groundless. He fined the murderers of Jews and ordered the burning of the corpse of Werner to prevent any further veneration.

Veneration

The royal instructions to burn Werner's body, to prevent any further veneration, were not followed. Werner was buried on 30 April 1287 and alleged

miracles A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

began to be reported as the veneration spread as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. Thi ...

. The Cunibert Chapel in Bacharach was expanded beginning in 1289 to become the present Saint Werner's Chapel. The planned expansion of the chapel into a large church remained unfinished after 1338. A further construction also failed owing to the decline of the veneration of martyrs and shrinking revenue to the church from pilgrims. The 1338 Latin legend alleges the Jews hung Werner by his feet. Then they had him thrown into the Rhine. At the point in Bacharach where the body was supposedly washed ashore, Saint Werner's Chapel was built. A second sanctuary was built in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit Hospital of Oberwesel, 7 kilometers downstream. Count Palatine Ludwig III aspired to a revival of the cult. Attempts towards

Canonisation Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

were made 1426-1429 , the chapel was finally completed. After 1548 some of the relics were transferred to

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

, spreading the Werner mythology. Although the chapel was destroyed in the 17th century, Werner was venerated in the Diocese of Trier until 1963. In iconography, Werner is depicted with a sickle as well as a shovel and pan. He has been acknowledged as a patron saint of winemakers.

Contemporary attitudes

In 1963, Werner was removed from the calendar of 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.Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 28 Oc ...

, recognizing the brotherhood of Christians and Jews, and asking for forgiveness for "the curse that we unrightfully affixed to the Jews’ name."

References

* * Jeffrey L. Sammons: ''Heinrich Heine: A Modern Biography:: (Princeton University Press, 1979), pages 89 to 96 —

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

: ''Der Rabbi von Bacherach'' (= "The Rabbi of Bacharach", unfinished historical novel, 1840). * Rheinfriede Gleisner: ''Nach Juden-Pogromen kam Heiligen-Legende''; in: Hunsrücker Zeitung, 18. April 1987, S. 27. * * Gerd Hergen Lübben: ''Der Textfund zu Bacherach''; in: Die Brücke – Forum für antirassistische Politik und Kultur, Heft 140, 2/2006 (Saarbrücken), S. 126–128; and in: Gerd Hergen Lübben, ''VERSIONEN III'' (»Fund zu Bacherach«), E-Book 2014, . * Gerd Mentgen: ''Die Ritualmordaffäre um den „Guten Werner“ von Oberwesel und ihre Folgen''; in: Jahrbuch für Westdeutsche Landesgeschichte 21 (1995), S. 159–198. * Werner Wendling: ''Der „gute Werner“ hat ausgedient''; in: Rhein-Hunsrück-Zeitung, 4. Juli 2006, S. 17. * Thomas Wetzstein: ''Vom „Volksheiligen“ zum „Fürstenheiligen“. Die Wiederbelebung des Wernerkults im 15. Jahrhundert''; in: Archiv für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte 51 (1999), S. 11–68. * Daniela Wolf: ''Ritualmordaffäre und Kultgenese. Der „gute Werner von Oberwesel“''; Bacharach: Bauverein Wernerkapelle Bacharach, 2002; .
Eintrag im Ökumenischen Heiligenlexikon

External links

*http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90238 *https://religionnews.com/2018/11/09/kristallnacht-pittsburgh/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Werner Of Oberwesel 1271 births 1287 deaths 13th-century German people Roman Catholic child saints German Roman Catholic saints Folk saints Incidents of violence against boys Murdered German children Antisemitism in Germany Medieval anti-Jewish pogroms Blood libel Christian anti-Judaism in the Middle Ages People from Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis People from Oberwesel

Background

Veneration

Contemporary attitudes

See also

References

Further reading

External links