Norbert of Xanten
| Saint Norbert of Xanten | |
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Saint Norbert of Xanten, with the St. Michael's Abbey, Antwerp
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| Bishop and Confessor | |
| Born | c. 1080 Genneperhuis, diocese of Cologne, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 6 June 1134 Magdeburg, Archbishopric of Magdeburg (now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Canonized | 1582, Rome by Pope Gregory XIII |
| Feast | 6 June |
| Attributes | monstrance; cross with two beams |
| Patronage | invoked during childbirth for safe delivery; Magdeburg |
Norbert of Xanten (c. 1080 – 6 June 1134) (Xanten-Madgburg), also known as Norbert Gennep, was a bishop of the Catholic Church, founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular, and is venerated as a saint.
Saint Norbert was born in Xanten, near the Rhineland in Germany . He grew up and was also educated in Xanten, near Wesel, in the Electorate of Cologne. His father, Heribert, Count of Gennep, was a member of the high nobility of the Holy Roman Empire and related to the imperial house and also to the House of Lorraine. His mother was Hedwig of Guise. Through the influence of his family he obtained a financial subsidy from the parish church of St. Victor at Xanten when he accepted ordination to the subdeaconate. His only task was to chant the Divine Office at the Church, but he apparently paid someone a small fee to take his place in the choir, because he gained an appointment as a chaplain (religious counselor) to the emperor Henry V in Cologne. The salaries from the Xanten fund and the royal treasury were enough to equip him to live in the style of the nobility of the times.
He avoided ordination to the priesthood and even declined an appointment as bishop of Cambrai in 1113. One day in the spring of 1115, as he rode his horse to Vreden, in the western part of the Münsterland, a thunderbolt from a sudden storm struck at his horse’s feet. The animal threw him and he lay unconscious for nearly an hour. After this near-fatal accident, his faith deepened, he renounced his appointment at Court and returned to Xanten to lead a life of penance, placing himself under the direction of Cono, Abbot of St Sigeberg, near Cologne. In gratitude to Cono, in 1115, Norbert founded the Abbey of Fürstenberg, endowed it with a portion of his property, and made it over to Cono of Siegburg and his Benedictine successors. Norbert was then in his thirty-fifth year. He was ordained to the priesthood soon afterward. St Norbert was a great devotee of the Eucharist and Our Lady.
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