Saint Ludolph

Feastday: April 26

“Zeal for your house will consume me.”

(John 2:17; Psalm 69:10)

As a Norbertine successor of Saints Evermode and Isfrid as Bishop of Ratzeburg, Germany, Ludolph was a no less holy shepherd, ready to lay down his life for his flock. Known for his strict penitential life, he was elected bishop in 1236, and his chapter of Norbertine canons at the cathedral shared his fervor. He zealously devoted himself to preaching and pastoral work, protecting the people from prevailing errors and leading them on to sanctity.

Unfortunately, next door to the cathedral lived an irreligious nobleman: Albert, duke of Saxony. The duke wished to raze the cathedral and annex the land to his own property as a vegetable garden. He used persuasion, threats and abuse against Ludolph to get his way, but Ludolph absolutely refused the demands. Albert angrily had the bishop thrown into a dungeon, where he was abused and starved, but not broken. Not only was Ludolph defending the rights and freedom of the Church, represented in a special way by the diocesan cathedral; he was also defending the church to which he and his Norbertine confreres had “offered and dedicated themselves” in stability at their profession, so that the praises of God might resound there night and day in the Sacred Liturgy. Eventually, public opinion convinced Albert to release his prisoner, but it was too late. A few days after his release in 1250, Ludolph died from the ill-treatment he had received. He is honored as a martyr for the freedom of the Church, and many favors were granted at his tomb in the Ratzeburg cathedral.

(Saint drawings courtesy of Saint Norbert Abbey, De Pere, Wisconsin.)