The Holy Blood Wilsnack were allegedly miraculous hosts which became the site of medieval pilgrimages to Bad Wilsnack, Germany. Sacramental bread, sometimes called Lamb or Host is the bread which is used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist. In Religion and Spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or Search of great Moral significance Bad Wilsnack is a town in the Prignitz district in Brandenburg, Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe.
In 1383 a quarrel broke out between one of the knights of the Prignitz, Heinrich von Bülow, known as "Big Head", and the Bishop of Havelberg, Dietrich Man. Prignitz (ˈpʁiːgnɪts is a Kreis (district in the northwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. The Bishopric of Havelberg (Bistum Havelberg was a Roman Catholic Diocese founded by King Otto I, King of the Germans in 946 Dietrich Man, known as Dietrich II, was Bishop of Havelberg from 1370 to 1385 Von Bülow raided one of the bishopric's villages, Wilsnack, and burned it to the ground. Bad Wilsnack is a town in the Prignitz district in Brandenburg, Germany. Entering the ruins of his church, the parish priest found that in the Sacrarium on the altar were three consecrated hosts, which had not only been untouched by the fire, but were now stained with blood. Bishop Dietrich came to consecrate the hosts so as to avoid accidental idolatry, but the central one overflowed with blood before he could pronounce the words of consecration.
They became objects of veneration and miracles began to be attributed to them. So many pilgrims came that in numbers they rivaled even those to Santiago de Compostela, and the revenue they generated enabled the magnificent church of St. Santiago de Compostela (also Saint James of Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia and a UNESCO World Nicholas to be built for them. Pilgrims would offer tokens made in the shape of three hosts, examples of which are still being found by archaeologists in the area. They were also objects of criticism from contemporaries who objected either that they were fraudulent, or theologically unsound as undermining the concept of Christ's glorification in heaven, which arguably required that no blood of his could appear on earth, and also undermining the ordinary doctrine of transubstantiation. In the 15th century the Bishop of Havelberg and the Archbishop of Magdeburg mutually excommunicated each other over the issue. The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic Archdiocese within the Holy Roman Empire. The "holy blood" of Wilsnack was attacked by Jan Hus and the University of Erfurt. Jan Hus ( (ˈjan ˈɦus alternative spellings John Hus, Jan Huss, John Huss) (c The University of Erfurt is a German University History The University of Erfurt was founded in 1392 as the third university in the territory Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa tried to forbid pilgrimages there. Pope Eugene IV compromised by requiring that a freshly-consecrated host be displayed alongside the relics. Pope Eugene IV (1383 &ndash February 23, 1447) born Gabriele Condulmer, was Pope from March 3, 1431, to his death Nonetheless, the hosts continued to be important objects of devotion until destroyed by Protestant Reformers in 1558. The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time Among the pilgrims to the site was the English mystic Margery Kempe in 1433. Margery Kempe (c 1373 &ndash after 1438 is known for writing The Book of Margery Kempe, a work considered by some to be the first Autobiography in the English
References
- Ludecus, Matthaeus, Historia von der erfindung, Wunderwercken und zerstörung des vermeinten heiligen Bluts zur Wilssnagk: sampt den hierüber und dawider ergangenen schreiben, Wittenberg [Germany] : Clemens Schleich, 1586 [with a woodcut of the shrine].
- Walker Bynum, Caroline: Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond. Caroline Walker Bynum is an American Medieval scholar She is a University Professor Emerita at Columbia University, where she still teaches University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0-8122-3985-0
- Walker Bynum, Caroline: Bleeding Hosts and their Contact Relics in Late Medieval Northern Germany. The Medieval History Journal 2004, 7, 227 (http://mhj.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/7/2/227)