BL. PATERNUS, RECLUSE AT PADERBORN - 10 APRIL

 

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BLESSED PATERNUS, RECLUSE AT PADERBORN

Paderborn Cathedral, 1892

Paternus is called "blessed" by Papebrochius*, and "saint" by Trithemius*, Arnold Wion, Menardus*, Bucelin*, Ferrarius*, and several other hagiographers. In Paderborn he was always numbered among the saints of the city. 

This holy man was a recluse at the Addinghofen monastery, which had been built by Meinwerk (Meinwercus) from 1015 onwards along with a magnificent church for the Benedictine Order in Paderborn. 

Paternus, a Scot by birth, was among the first residents of this monastery. Separated from the convent, he wanted to be locked in a neighbouring cell for love of solitude. In this seclusion he lived for several years. 

On the inspiration of God, he once announced to the bishop and all the inhabitants of Paderborn that the city would be destroyed by a terrible fire within 30 days unless everyone did sincere penance and immediately converted to God with all their heart. But the pious monk was mocked, called a madman, and the majority of the people carried on living their sinful and scandalous lives. But the day of punishment arrived: on April 10, Friday before Palm Sunday in 1058, fire broke out in seven different places in the city at the same time, destroying all houses and buildings; it also took hold of the cathedral church and monastery, of which only the roof burned, while the masonry built by Meinwerk remained. The timbers and the whole interior of the house fell prey to the roaring flames - only the furniture, which had been taken to a safe place prior to the raging inferno on the advice of blessed Paternus, was preserved. The other monks, his confreres, pleaded with Paternus that he would let himself be evacuated from his abode, but he did not leave the cell in which he had been locked up for life, and preferred to be burned rather than break his vow. That this holiness pleased God is seen from the fact that the sleeping mat on which the Blessed lay surrounded by the fire remained intact, as stated by his contemporary, the writer Marianus Scotus, who related that he had come from Cologne and arrived sixteen days after the conflagration. He affirmed that he himself knelt on that sleeping mat under the ruins of the cell to say his prayers (I. 897).

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 4, Augsburg, 1875, pp. 691-92)

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of the blessed Paternus may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org