ST WERNER OF OBERWESEL

ST WERNER OF OBERWESEL - 19 APRIL

Saints celebrated on the 19th of April

ST WERNER OF OBERWESEL

(Many popes have either directly or indirectly condemned the blood accusation, and no pope has ever sanctioned it (Strack, op. cit., 177 and v).)

Werner of Oberwesel (or Bacharach) was a Rhenish saint of the 13th century, he belonged to the group of child martyrs who were alleged to have been sacrificed by Jews.

The son of a winemaker, Werner was allegedly killed in Oberwesel in 1287, being hung upside down from a column and passing out. The rumour of this ritual murder, true or false, unleashed bloody reprisals against the Jewish communities in the Rhine valley. Canonised in 1428, St Werner was first venerated in the diocese of Trier, particularly in Bacharach on the Rhine, where a chapel was consecrated to him. He was the protector of the winemakers of the Rhine, Burgundy and Auvergne. His feast was April 19. His French name is St Garnier. (Santi e Beati - http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90238)

THE POPES' STATEMENTS AT THE TIME

At the height of those accusations, Pope Innocent IV had acquitted the Jews of the accusation of infanticide at the time of Passover, and Pope Gregory X (1271-78) had decreed that no violence should be done to any Jews living in Christians' neighbourhoods. (Heinrich Graetz, History of the Jews, Third Period)

BROTHERHOOD OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS

In 1963, Werner was taken off the calendar of the Diocese of Trier, but "Saint Werner of Oberwesel" still appears in German directories. The chapel dedicated to him alongside the town wall facing the Rhine, which had been in ruins, was later renovated, and a plaque added, with a quotation from Pope John XXIII, recognising the brotherhood of Christians and Jews, and asking for forgiveness for "the curse that we unrightfully affixed to the Jews’ name." (Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_of_Oberwesel)

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