Evermod

ON BLESSED EVERMOD, BISHOP OF RATZEBURG IN WENDLAND, OF THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ORDER.

The year 1178.

Historical summary.

Evermod, Bishop of Ratzeburg in Germany, of the Premonstratensian Order (B.)

By I. B.

Section I. The public veneration of Blessed Evermod; his deeds before the Episcopate.

[1] Among the various Slavic nations that inhabited the northern tract of Greater Germany and the shore of the Baltic Sea, the Polabians are named by Helmold and other writers: the name of Bishop Evermod of Ratzeburg in Martyrologies, with the title Blessed whose city Ratzeburg, also called Racisburgum, Raseburgum, Racesburgum, Razeburgum, or Ratzeburgum, was adorned with an episcopal throne for more than five centuries. The first Bishop there was Aristo; after an interval of eighty-four years, Blessed Evermod succeeded, a disciple of St. Norbert. He is called Blessed by Johann Chrysostomus van der Sterre, Abbot of the monastery of St. Michael of the Premonstratensian Order at Antwerp, in the Natales of the Saints of the Premonstratensian Order, published in the year 1622 while he was still Prior; by Aubert Le Mire, Dean of Antwerp, in his Belgian Fasti; and by Arnold Raisse, Canon of Douai, in his supplement to the Natales of Molanus's Saints. Nor should the repeated decrees of Urban VIII seem to have detracted from their authority, which forbid anyone to attribute such a title without the approbation of the Apostolic See, or a practice retained for at least one hundred years, with the Church not intervening. For afterward other most learned men confirmed it, men by no means ignorant of these decrees and eminently versed in sacred antiquity: Giles Gelenius, Suffragan of Osnabruck, in his Fasti of Cologne; and Jean Le Page, a Theologian of Paris, in his Premonstratensian Library, who call him Blessed without qualification; and Saint Andreas Saussaye in his Gallic Martyrology calls him a Saint.

[2] Even greater weight is found in the testimony of Albert Krantz, who was Dean of the Church of Hamburg and professor of Theology a hundred and fifty years ago. He writes in Book 6 of his Metropolis, chapter 40: "The Church of Ratzeburg also, after Evermod, had the equally excellent Isfrid as Bishop, who shone with such holiness that he performed some miracles unwillingly." the relics were formerly translated And shortly after: "The relics of these two Pontiffs, Evermod and Isfrid, are preserved in the choir, in a certain chest on the south side, which is arranged for this purpose." Therefore the RELICS of both were translated from their original tombs — a word commonly used by ecclesiastical writers of the bones of Saints or other objects associated with them preserved for veneration. And the fact that the relics of both are combined in one chest is evidence that there was an equal estimation of the holiness of both; for the remains of a Saint and those of any ordinary Christian are not usually joined in one tomb or case. The sanctity of Evermod, therefore, was held to be by no means doubtful, as Saints: since he was joined with Isfrid, whom the same writer expressly calls a Saint. "This Saint too," he says, "had perpetual labor in the vineyard of the Lord." He also says that these verses were inscribed on that chest:

"Isfrid, distinguished in praises, is to be numbered perpetually in the catalogue of the heavenly Saints."

Evermod, too, is to be numbered there, not only in the judgment of Krantz, but of those who placed the relics of both together, whether this was done with the assent of the Supreme Pontiff or by the sole authority of the Bishops of that province.

[3] The Translation or Elevation of the relics and the sanctity of Evermod are amplified by Saussaye in these words: "His sanctity was confirmed by many miracles divinely performed at the invocation of his name. The most sacred remains, raised from the tomb on account of the manifest signs of blessedness, were placed in a chest and deposited in the sacristy of the Church of Ratzeburg, on the south side of the choir, veneration was paid to him, together with the precious remains of his successor Blessed Isfrid, and enjoy fitting veneration." Jean Le Page in Book 2 of his Premonstratensian Library reports exactly the same, but in different words, and states more clearly that the relics placed in the choir are religiously venerated.

[4] The veneration given to him, however, should not be understood as if it were the custom to celebrate Mass or recite the Office in his honor. We have the Breviary of the Church of Ratzeburg, printed in the year 1506 by the authority of Johann Parkentyn, of what kind? the 26th Bishop of that Church. In it there is no mention of Evermod or Isfrid. Their veneration, therefore, seems to have consisted in this (for heresy afterward destroyed everything): that their relics were deposited in a more honorable place, in an elegant chest, with an added inscription, perhaps also with hung votive offerings and other public tokens of sanctity.

[5] We shall collect the notable deeds of Blessed Evermod chiefly from ancient writers, his acts, namely the author of the Life of St. Norbert; Helmold in his Chronicle of the Slavs, written in the time of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in the diocese of Lubeck; Arnold, Abbot of Lubeck, who lived around the year 1200 and added a supplement to Helmold's Chronicle; and finally Albert Krantz in his Metropolis and Vandalia.

[6] That Blessed Evermod was a Belgian by nationality is gathered from the Life of St. Norbert, homeland, in which, chapter 20, he is said to have placed himself under the discipline of the holy man at Cambrai at the beginning of the year 1120. "After the winter had passed," says the writer of his Life, "and the cold of snows and ice had been somewhat alleviated by the warmth of spring, the man of God, as was his custom, girded with the strength of divine consolation, went forth to preach: conversion, and coming alone to Cambrai and delivering a sermon to the people, the seed fell on good ground, namely on a young man named Evermod, who was so infused with the dew of the Holy Spirit in receiving the word of God fervor therein, that, out of the grace of love for him, he stood praying to the Lord his God in the same place and in the same footsteps where he had carefully observed the man of God to stand while delivering his sermon. What then did the boy, taught by the Holy Spirit in the word, believe except that the same Word which was made flesh was He? — for He worshipped where His feet had stood. He made no delay, but immediately, leaving all things behind, followed him. He was bound to him by so strong a bond of inward love that throughout the whole time of his life, the spirit of the man of God found rest in him, and after his departure favor with St. Norbert, he commended to him the place of his burial, giving him the command that he should never depart from him except to return." Hence it is clear that Krantz is mistaken when in Book 6, chapter 28, he writes that Evermod received the Premonstratensian Order at Magdeburg under Norbert as Father.

[7] Jean Le Page thus amplifies his ardor of spirit among the first beginnings of a holier life: "With such piety and fervor of soul, mortification, having received the canonical habit at Premontre, he wore down his limbs with a most harsh and perpetual hair shirt, and content with scanty and contemptible clothing, day and night he devoted himself to prayer, reading, meditation, and the divine praises. Having been made a Priest, in the very sacrifice of the saving Mass the priesthood, he offered himself entirely to God as a holocaust, wholly heavenly, wholly sighing for heavenly things, and heaped up with the highest graces of virtues."

[8] Most of St. Norbert's pilgrimages, labors, and persecutions, Le Page believes, Blessed Evermod shared as a companion, and he elaborates at length; and what we have already cited from the Life of St. Norbert the office of Provost of the church of the Blessed Virgin at Magdeburg, provides no empty grounds for conjecture. What is certain is that he went with him to Magdeburg and was appointed Provost of the Church of St. Mary, which had been acquired for the Premonstratensian Order with great labor. How this came about is recounted in chapter 45 of the Life as follows: "Not far from the episcopal palace there was a certain church situated in honor of the holy Mother of God, Mary, in which twenty secular Canons had been established from ancient times under a Provost. This church, therefore, since the Priest of God foresaw that it would be necessary for him — so that, with his Brothers installed there, he might occasionally refresh his spirit a little from the tumult required by his imposed office — he repeatedly requested both from the King and from the Canons of the greater Church despite the resistance of many, and from the Canons of the same Church, that they, having accepted equal or better revenues elsewhere from him, would yield that church freely to him. But all with one voice opposed this, asserting that a Church of so great a name ought not to be altered, nor should the dignity of the royal power to which it was subject be diminished; nor should a people of another order and custom be imposed who would not know the royal rights and the due subjection and obedience according to their custom. He suffered this rebuff from all for some years. But he prevailed at last, persevering humbly in his petition: he prevailed indeed by the reason with which he pressed them; he prevailed also by the constancy of which they knew he never wished to desist from good beginnings until the end. And having removed those Clerics and relocated each one, obtained for the Order through St. Norbert: according to his will, he installed Brothers of his own Order in the same Church, as he had long desired: where, both during his lifetime, according to the established Order, and after his departure, he arranged for the service of God to be held in perpetuity."

[9] Le Page notes that these events occurred around the year 1129. That Evermod was Provost here will be established below. Moreover, by his zeal and especially by Norbert's care, the Order was expanded through both of them: the number of Brothers grew (as is said in chapter 46), "and multiplied in Saxony, where religion had grown bald, and in Slavia, where it did not exist, they were rooted and blossomed with fruitful growth, and multiplied like the Hebrews. The Saxons raged, the people of Magdeburg raged; and as hatred and envy against the man of God grew stronger, he, placing his hope and trust in God, did not cease to enlarge that and the congregations of other customs."

[10] As often as the Canons of the Cathedral Church conspired against St. Norbert, as often as a sedition of the multitude arose, as often as his death was sought through the tumult of villainous men; dangers to both from the impious, so often did the same storm also descend upon the heads of Evermod and his companions. When certain criminals had gone so far as to strike the very shoulders of the holy Bishop with a sword still bloodied from a lethal wound inflicted on his Chamberlain; then indeed certain persons who secretly fed this flame, also thirsting for his blood, though they feigned a false humanity, as is said in chapter 49, "also compelled him, placed in this predicament, to remove his Brothers from the church of Blessed Mary,

who had been installed there, as was said above. But he refused, affirming that this deed, as long as he should live, who repeatedly demanded the church of the Blessed Virgin, would never be undone by them, which they knew had been confirmed by royal power and Roman authority." And again in chapter 50: "The appointed day arrived, and at the given signal, the city began to resound with immense clamors. And when the man of God asked what was happening, he was told that a great crowd had gathered, wanting to eject the Brothers from the church of Blessed Mary. But he said with a smile: 'It is not so; because a planting which the heavenly Father has planted cannot be uprooted.'" In which peril Evermod and the Brothers then found themselves can be gathered from the fact that Norbert himself was forced to leave the city and yield for a while to the fury of the multitude.

[11] Nor was the struggle with the Canons of the major Church over the burial of St. Norbert a minor conflict for Evermod, the body of St. Norbert, the care of which had been entrusted to him, as was said above. The Canons, as chapter 53 states, "wished and said it was right and just that, since he had been the head of the Churches of that city, they should carry his bones to the chief Church as an honor: despite the opposition of the Canons of the principal church, and there he should await the coming of the Supreme Judge, where his immovable and unending title was, if it had been granted to him to live in the flesh without end. But the other party also — the Brothers of St. Mary (whose Provost was Evermod) — asserted that he was theirs by right, because through him they had been reconciled to their Creator, they had chosen him as Father, and through him they had returned themselves and their devotion to the Lord their God, from whom they had been turned away: especially since while still alive the man had commanded, and the devotion of his will to the very end had shown its desire, that he should be buried and rest among his Brothers and sons, whom he had begotten for God by the word of God in the time of his poverty. Such was the dispute, and from both sides a manifestly just and certain argument of reason was put forward. A marvelous thing! They contended to retain the lifeless body of this man, buried by him in the Church of Our Lady, thinking the presence of the dead man would benefit them, though when he was alive and could have been of benefit, they sought his absence in every way. At length those who were mediators, who bore this dispute equally from both sides, seeing that the parties were invincible and that each side claimed its own justice as the better, gave counsel that a message should be sent as quickly as possible to King Lothar, and whatever he should command or indicate, that should be held as settled. And so it was done... On the eighth day those who had been sent returned; and then, by the Emperor's command, the body of the holy man was buried in the church of Blessed Mary among the Brothers."

[12] A Translation soon followed, carried out (as is credible) by the same Evermod, about which the following is found there: "Having been buried before the altar of the Holy Cross, in the middle of the monastery, he lay for some years. But his good sons, who, by the precept of Truth, as it is written, 'Honor your father, that you may be long-lived upon the earth,' and from the recollection of the kindness he had shown them, then translated into the Choir, held him in such tender love that, so that he might be commended to their memory without forgetfulness, they translated him before their eyes into the Choir: where, in a tomb diligently adorned as the location allowed, he awaits the last day in the hope of a certain resurrection and glory." Exodus 20:11

Section II. The Episcopate of Blessed Evermod; his investiture received from the Duke.

[13] For about twenty years Evermod held the office of Provost, with such a reputation for piety and Christian prudence Premonstratensians were Bishops and Canons of Ratzeburg for 350 years, that from there he was elevated to the See of Ratzeburg: which from that time onward for 350 years, even to the age of Krantz and beyond, was always held by Canons of the Premonstratensian Order, who were also the only Canons in that Church. For thus he writes in Book 6 of the Metropolis, chapter 28, speaking of Evermod: "He had formerly been Provost of Magdeburg; thence translated to this Episcopate, he brought with him the Premonstratensian Order (which he had there received under Norbert as Father), and that Order continued in the Episcopate and Chapter until the present day." We have already noted that he did not enter the Order at Magdeburg, but at Cambrai.

[14] The occasion for first establishing and then restoring the See of Ratzeburg is narrated by Helmold in Book 1, chapter 70, of his Chronicle of the Slavs, in this manner: the Episcopates of the Slavs at Oldenburg, "The Lord Hartwig, Archbishop of Hamburg, seeing that there was peace in Slavia, proposed to rebuild the episcopal Sees which barbarian fury had destroyed in Slavia: namely those of Oldenburg, Ratzeburg, and Mecklenburg. Of these, Otto the Great had first established that of Oldenburg, subjecting to it the Polabians and Obotrites, from the borders of the Holsatians to the river Peene and the city of Demmin. And he placed in Oldenburg as the first Bishop Marco. After him the second was Ecward, the 3rd Wago, the 4th Ezike, the 5th Folchard, the 6th Reinbert, the 7th Benno, the 8th Meiner, the 9th Abelinus, the 10th Ezo. In the time of this last there arose in the Church of Hamburg the great Adelbert, who from the wandering Bishops afterward divided into three: whom he maintained at his table, established John as Bishop in Mecklenburg and Aristo in Ratzeburg; and in this manner the See of Oldenburg was divided into three Episcopates."

[15] "After therefore, by God's permission on account of the sins of men, Christianity had been annulled in Slavia, which were destroyed, these Sees were vacant for eighty-four years, down to the times of Archbishop Hartwig. Who, renowned for a twofold principate on account of the nobility of his birth, strove with great zeal to recover the Suffragan Bishops of all Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, which, as tradition recalls, once belonged to the Church of Hamburg. But when his attentions and various embassies had accomplished nothing with the Pope and Emperor, lest he should be entirely without Suffragans, he undertook to revive the bishoprics of Slavia which had long since been abolished. Having therefore summoned the venerable priest Vicelin, he consecrated him Bishop of the See of Oldenburg, since he was already advanced in age and had remained in the land of the Holsatians for thirty years. Furthermore, he ordained the Lord Emmehard for Mecklenburg, and both were consecrated at Rossfeld and sent into a land of destitution and hunger, where was the seat of Satan and the habitation of every unclean spirit. And these things were done without consulting the Duke and our Count."

[16] The man whom this writer calls "the great Adelbert" was the Archbishop of Hamburg or Bremen, in the times of Kings Henry III and IV, wielding the greatest influence with them and the Roman Pontiffs, and appointed by them as Legate of the Apostolic See with supreme power over the entire North — about whom Baronius writes at length in volume 11 of his Annals. He died on the 17th day before the Kalends of April, 1072. Helmold then narrates the troubles which Henry, Blessed Vicelin, Bishop of Oldenburg, long resisting, surnamed "the Lion," Duke of Saxony and Wendland (or Slavia), caused for Blessed Vicelin, because he had accepted the Episcopate in his province without consulting him. For the Duke arrogated to himself the authority to confer the regalia, as they called them, on Bishops who were legitimately and without simony or any violence elected, by handing over the staff. Archbishop Hartwig considered that what had been conceded to the Emperor by Pope Calixtus II should by no means be deferred to a Duke. The extent to which this was granted by Calixtus, to put an end to the prolonged conflicts over lay investitures, is explained by Baronius in volume 12 at the year 1122, number 7. At length Blessed Vicelin yielded to the Duke's importunity, at last he accepts Investiture from the Duke of Saxony, using these words, as the same Helmold writes in chapter 71: "I am prepared, for the sake of Him who humbled Himself for us, to give myself as property to one of your retainers, much more to you, upon whom the Lord has bestowed a greater magnificence than on any other among the Princes, in birth as well as in power." And having said this, he did what necessity demanded, and received the Episcopate by the staff from the hand of the Duke.

[17] By what right or wrong Henry the Lion assumed this for himself, let others debate. Perhaps he considered it due to him because he had, as it were, re-founded those Churches from scratch and constantly protected them against the savagery of the barbarian people. That was certainly the reason why Blessed Vicelin at last yielded, however reluctantly, after long resistance. So Krantz in Book 6 of the Metropolis, chapter 28: "Henry the Lion easily obtained from the Bishops he established compelled by necessity that

they would allow themselves to be invested by him, since they had absolutely nothing except from his hands. Nevertheless Vicelin resisted for a long time, not being ignorant of the arrangements constituted and agreed upon between the Kingdom and the Priesthood in the time of Pope Calixtus and the Emperor Henry the Fifth of that name, to help souls, with Archbishop Hartwig also admonishing him not to do it. But having long resisted, when he was excluded from his Church, and there was no other way to arrive at where he was aiming (namely to teach and strengthen the people in the faith), he yielded to the necessity of the times, and did unwillingly what he knew was not lawful."

[18] Someone may ask: if one who is legitimately elected can receive investiture from a layman, what difference does it make whether he receives it from a most powerful Duke or from the Emperor? Archbishop Hartwig shows the distinction with the Archbishop of Bremen dissuading, in his address to Blessed Vicelin, as recorded by Helmold in chapter 70: "First in this matter it must be considered how the investitures of Pontiffs have been permitted only to the Imperial dignity, which alone, being preeminent and after God supreme among the sons of men, acquired this honor not without manifold interest. for these reasons: Nor have the most worthy Emperors used levity in wishing to be called Lords of Bishops; but they have compensated for this injury with the most ample riches of the kingdom, by which the Church, more copiously enriched and more fittingly honored, no longer considers it base to have yielded for a little while to subjection, nor does it blush to bow to the one through whom it can exercise dominion over many. But where is a Duke or Marquis, where in the kingdom is any Principality, however great, that does not extend hands to Pontiffs, and being refused, does not press itself upon them insistently and inopportunely? They run eagerly to become vassals of the Church and to share in its benefices. Will you, then, trample upon this honor and break the rights established by great authorities? Will you give your hands to this Duke, so that by this precedent those who were Lords of Princes may begin to be servants of Princes?" So he spoke. More about Blessed Vicelin will be given on the 12th of December.

[19] Krantz believes that Blessed Evermod also received investiture from the same Duke at the same time. For he writes at the cited passage: "Hartwig the Archbishop also at the same time appointed Evermod to the Church of Ratzeburg, did Blessed Evermod also? who before the aforementioned period of eighty-four years had had only Aristo as his predecessor. But there were no remnants of either properties, or estates, or sacred objects, since for all that time the entire people had remained in paganism." He then excuses him thus: "But Evermod, the good Bishop, already ordained at Ratzeburg, had nothing to refuse, because he would not find from any other source the means to live." I, however, hold it as certain that he was fully versed in all ecclesiastical law and exceedingly observant of it, as one shaped by the discipline of the most holy and wisest Bishop Norbert, he was quite knowledgeable about what was lawful, and exercised by so many controversies at Magdeburg; so that he therefore did nothing here that was not entirely lawful. If, then, immediately upon entering upon his Episcopate, he saw that he had to be compelled to the same submission, he either consulted the Pope — who was Eugene III — as to what he should do in such a situation and time, or he himself judged that it was better to mollify the most powerful Prince, whom neither the authority of the Emperor nor of the Pope could easily bend, with such a gesture of submission, rather than have the care of so great a people, so much in need of instruction, be neglected.

[29] Krantz narrates the same events in the place cited, but somewhat more briefly. He also writes in Book 6, chapter 28, of his Metropolis concerning the same Evermod: "Many notable things are reported of this Pontiff, of which we have recorded some in our Vandalia: let anyone who wishes to know them consult that work. One thing in particular: when, in pontifical vestments, he was about to perform some task with bare hands, he laid aside his pontifical gloves, he suspends his gloves in the air: as it seemed to him, in a convenient place; but hastening to what was to be done, he did not notice where he had placed them. They were afterward found hanging in the air without any support, which struck those who saw it with astonishment. he performs other miracles: There are many signs of this kind, which were performed in the sight of a people to be confirmed in the faith, after the example of the Apostles and afterward of apostolic men throughout the Church: because at that time they spoke in new tongues and shone with miracles until the faith of Christ was established. The same thing also happened in these times among this people."

[30] At what time Blessed Evermod died can be gathered from Krantz as follows. In Book 5 of his Vandalia, chapter 41, he writes of Henry the Brabantine, Bishop of Lubeck: "This Pontiff erected in the city of Lubeck a monastery of men of the Order of his own St. Benedict, died on February 17, 1178 in the very year in which peace was restored between the Priesthood and the Kingdom, the Pope and the Emperor — that is, after one thousand one hundred and seventy-seven — and endowed the same monastery as best he could from the slender resources of his means, where also, being buried, he awaits the last trumpet." Immediately after which, in chapter 42, he adds: "Evermod, Bishop of Ratzeburg, also ended his life at that same time." That peace between Pope Alexander III and Emperor Frederick I was made in the year 1177, on Sunday, the 24th of July, as Baronius reports at that year, number 67, from a writer of that time. From this it seems to follow that Blessed Evermod died in the following year, 1178, on the 17th of February. This is confirmed from Arnold, who writes in chapter 27: "Around the same time that Evermod died, Baldwin, Archbishop of Bremen, also died." And indeed Baldwin died in the year 1178, as Krantz expressly affirms in Book 7 of his Metropolis, chapter 4.

[31] That the relics of Blessed Evermod were afterward elevated, together with those of his successor Blessed Isfrid, and placed together in a single casket in the choir, we related in Section 1,

number 2, from Krantz. Gabriel Bucelinus, in Part 1 of his Germania Sacra, calls Evermod's successor St. Isfrid, but calls Evermod himself, his and Blessed Isfrid's relics translated: without any more sacred title, simply Evermod or Everuold. They were held equal both in the merits of a life innocently led and in the honors with which a grateful posterity distinguished their remains, as we have shown.

[32] The name of Evermod was inscribed, as we also indicated above, in the Martyrologies of more recent authors. Johann Chrysostomus van der Sterre, in the Natales of the Saints of the Premonstratensian Order published in 1622, has the following at the 17th of February: his name inscribed in Martyrologies: "In Saxony, the feast of Blessed Evermod, second Bishop of Ratzeburg and Confessor, of the Premonstratensian Order, Apostle of the Wends. Who, joining himself to the most blessed Father Norbert as his companion second only to himself, was thenceforth his inseparable comrade; and from Provost of St. Mary's at Magdeburg, having been given as Bishop to the fierce Wends, at length, glorious with many virtues and miracles, he departed to heaven." Aubert Le Mire, in his Belgian Fasti published in the same year 1622, at the 13th of November enumerates several men of the Premonstratensian Order distinguished for their reputation of sanctity, and among them Blessed Evermod, one of the intimate companions of St. Norbert, etc. He had treated of him before in his Premonstratensian Chronicle and had also called him Blessed, recounting miracles from Krantz. Giles Gelenius, in Book 4 on the Greatness of Cologne, or in his Sacred Fasti, has the following at the 17th of February: "On the same day, Blessed Evermod, Bishop, whom St. Norbert had as his colleague and placed in the See of Ratzeburg." Indeed, fifteen years had already elapsed since the death of St. Norbert when Evermod was raised to that See. I do not see, however, why he should be numbered among the Saints of Cologne. That he once came to that city with St. Norbert, and also to Antwerp, Johannes Pagius writes, but by a conjecture not entirely certain — just as are other claims about the abstinence and other mortification with which this holy man and the Canons of Ratzeburg, who were all of the Premonstratensian Order, afflicted themselves. But in this especially he stumbles not lightly, when he affirms that Blessed Evermod set out from Ratzeburg to the Polabians and Wends certain things corrected in these accounts, living in the northern provinces, where in the space of a few years an innumerable multitude of them came to the orthodox faith; and that at last, when he felt that the dissolution of his body was not far off, he returned to Ratzeburg. As though Ratzeburg itself were not a city of the Polabians in Wendland. Pagius composed a briefer Life of Blessed Evermod than Arnold Raisse in his Supplement to Molanus's Natales, from the records of the monastery of Parc near Louvain. Saussay inscribed him in his Gallic Martyrology, calling him St. Evermod and celebrating him with a distinguished eulogy; but he too errs in this, that he affirms that after he had imparted to the Wends the institutions of Christian piety, he at length returned to Ratzeburg — as though Ratzeburg were not in Wendland.

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