ON BL. GERRIC, FOUNDER OF THE CONVENT AT GERRESHEIM,
IN THE NINTH CENTURY
CommentaryGerric, founder of the convent at Gerresheim. (Bl.)
BY A. P.
[1] Of Gerric, a noble man, That in Gerresheim [The place was formerly called Gerricheshaim, Gerichesheim, Iherichesheim, Gerishem, Gerixhem, etc.], which is a village near Düsseldorf in the Rhine region (Rheinland), there existed at the end of the ninth century a convent of nuns dedicated to St. Hippolytus the martyr is certainly established from charters of exemption written in the years 882 and 907 [Th. J. Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch für die Geschichte des Niederrheins, vol. I (1840), pp. 38 and 46.]. But from the letter of Herimann, archbishop of Cologne, given in the year 922 [It has often been published, e.g. Act. SS., Oct. vol. IX, pp. 215–16, nos. 24–27; L. Ennen und G. Eckertz, Quellen zur Geschichte der Stadt Köln, vol. I (1860), pp. 458–60; Johann Hubert Kessel, Der selige Gerrich, Stifter der Abtei Gerresheim (Düsseldorf, 1877), pp. 184–87; H. Cardauns alone brought it forward entire, in Annalen des historischen Vereins für den Niederrhein, XXXVI–XXXVII (1874), pp. 334–41.], we also learn that a little before, the monastery built in the place called Gerichesheim in honor of the Holy Savior and of St. Mary and of St. Hippolytus the martyr had been burned down by the Hungarian tyranny; that the nuns had fled from there to Cologne with the relics of the aforesaid martyr himself, which they possessed; that they had handed over to the altar of St. Peter within Cologne "whatever of estate or inheritance had been handed over either from the bequest of Gerric, a man of good memory, or whatever after his death by other religious men or women;" from which you may not unfittingly gather that the monastery in Gerresheim — which word signifies the estate or dwelling of Gerric — was instituted by that Gerric. Now these things are explained more fully and more clearly in the letter in which Regenberga, abbess of the same monastery and also daughter of Gerric, confirms the monastery founded by her father and enriches it with new bounties [It has been published both elsewhere and in Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch, vol. cit., p. 34, and in Kessel, vol. cit., pp. 182–83.]. Thus she: I, Regenbierg, unworthy handmaid of Christ and daughter of the knight Gerric, for the hope and rest of the future life, have handed over the things which came to me by hereditary right, the rights over serfs, estates and certain churches, to the convent built by my father's will and at his expense in Gerichesheim for the remedy of the heavenly fatherland and dedicated by the venerable aforesaid archbishop that is, Williberth… And we desire to make known … that by the command and at the request of our father Gerric we confirm by perpetual law our estates to the nuns serving God there… Since this letter is said to have been written in the year 873 at the council of Cologne before Bishop Williberth and subscribed by many clerics and laymen, it follows that Gerric died at least in this year or even a little before, since his daughter had already received by hereditary right the things which she hands over as a gift to the nuns. But although these things would be welcome to us, as shedding some light on the obscure beginnings of the monastery of Gerresheim, we must confess that that letter of Regenberga is not authentic, who founded the convent in Gerresheim, so that it has not only been rejected as spurious by all the wiser men [E. Dümmler, Geschichte des Ostfränkischen Reiches, 2te Aufl., vol. II (1887), p. 369, note 1; A. Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, vol. II2 (1900), p. 804.], but even he who tried to defend it in whatever way Kessel, op. cit., p. 70 ff. could not deny at least this, that it is corrupted by several, and those manifest, interpolations and errors ["Nun aber zeigt dieselbe mehre offenbare Interpolationen und Unrichtigkeiten." But now the same shows several manifest interpolations and inaccuracies.]. We therefore scruple to use this charter in narrating the life of St. Gerric, and, leaving aside those things which have been proved either by no reason or not with sufficient certainty, we shall be content with these few things, but those firm and trustworthy, that a certain Gerric, a noble man, founded a convent dedicated to St. Hippolytus for nuns in a place which already in the ninth century was designated by his name, and perhaps died when the ninth century was already advanced.
[2] the history of his life is unknown, If you call him a knight, I will not contradict. But that he was not a duke, by which name we see him first honored in a letter given at Avignon in the year 1319 Cf. below, no. 5., even Kessel himself perceived. This learned man, although he deserved well of Blessed Gerric, in that he inquired with skilful care into the history of the blessed man and his ecclesiastical cult, and collected and diligently explained many documents, especially concerning the cult, must nevertheless be said not to have applied a happy and praiseworthy labor everywhere in the book which he composed first, indeed so far alone, on Blessed Gerric. It certainly arouses a certain wonder that out of the few records which survive he put together a volume of no small bulk. How this could be done, he will more easily understand
whoever notices that almost twenty pages were filled by the writer in explaining the translation of the relics of St. Hippolytus into the monastery of Gerresheim, although only this is established from the documents, that in the ninth century relics of St. Hippolytus were kept in the convent; besides, from the seal of the convent Kessel presented a specimen of the seal, vol. cit., p. 112., which Kessel teaches was already in use in the tenth century, we learn that the Hippolytus was thought by the nuns, whether deservedly or otherwise, to be the one whose deeds Prudentius sang. The rest, which Kessel pursued in many words, hardly goes beyond conjecture. Nor was the same learned man more sparing of conjectures in the other chapters which he wrote on Blessed Gerric; in which, besides the fact that he relied on that spurious charter of the abbess Regenberga as on his chief foundation, the things which the cited writer further brings forward about the time when Gerric was born [That ours is the Gerric who is named among the Werden charters of donations of the years 809–827 (cf. W. Crecelius, Traditiones Werdinenses, in Zeitschrift des Bergischen Geschichtsvereins, vol. VI, 1869, p. 21, no. 33 b: "das Land von Gerrig" the land of Gerrig) is confidently affirmed by Kessel (p. 43), but is by no means certain. P. Clemen follows Kessel in this matter, Die Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz, vol. III, 1 (1894), p. 94.]; about the name of his grandfather, who he will have it was also called Gerric and from whom the name Gerichesheim arose; about the number and situation of the places whose lordship he held; finally about other things of the kind, are indeed often ingeniously devised, yet I would not believe them to be true or even likely.
[3] The time and manner of his death are uncertain. Kessel determined that Gerric died before the year 873, and necessarily so determined, since he thought authentic the charter of the abbess Regenberga, which seemed to have been issued in this year and to have been written when Gerric was already dead. Hence it came about that he refused to assent to the conjecture of certain others Op. cit., p. 144, note 1. who had supposed that our Gerric was the same as Count Gerrich, who fell on the 2nd of February of the year 880 in that great defeat of the Germans Cf. Annales Fuldenses, at the year 880 (ed. Kurze, p. 94). and is for that reason reckoned among the martyrs whom they are wont to name the Ebbekestorp martyrs [Cf. Act. SS., Feb. vol. I, p. 309 ff. See also Gelenius, De admiranda… magnitudine Coloniae (1645), p. 736.]. But neither do we dare to embrace that conjecture, even with the chronological difficulty that was drawn from the charter of Regenberga removed; for the likeness of time and name does not seem to be enough, especially since the name Gerric or Werric was not so rare formerly [Cf. P. Piper, Libri confraternitatum S. Galli … (1884), in the index of names pp. 448, 449, 526, s.v. Gerich, Gerihc, Gerrich, Gerricus, Gerrih, Vuerih.]; and other reasons favoring this opinion are entirely lacking.
[4] The popular cult of the pious man Although the cult of Gerric is not wrapped in the darkness in which his history is, and not a few records survive which shed a certain light, it is nevertheless far from being possible to call everything in this matter clear and certain. No indication indeed survives, before the twelfth century, of a cult either ecclesiastical or popular; for the highest praise paid to Gerric before that was contained in this, that he was called a man of good memory In the letter of Archbishop Herimann, of which above, no. 1.. But from the year 1106, in which Frederick, archbishop of Cologne, mentions the right of the church of St. Gerric Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch, vol. I, p. 172, no. 267; Kessel, op. cit., pp. 187–88., I rather think Gerric is named in no document without being adorned with the title of saint or blessed. Thus in the letter of the abbess Guda (1214–1231) mention is made of the anniversary of St. Gerric Archiv für die Geschichte des Niederrheins, vol. VI (1867), p. 118., of the day of St. Gerric Ibid., of the church of Blessed Gerric Kessel, op. cit., p. 190.; and from the letter of the abbess Gertrude of Neukirchen (1254–1287), as it is briefly described in the registers of the revenues of the monastery written in the middle of the fourteenth century Archiv, vol. cit., p. 134; Kessel, op. cit., p. 191., we are taught that provision was made for the tomb of Blessed Gerric to be lit day and night, and that there was in the monastery a certain bell-ringer of St. Gerric; but in the same letter, as it is preserved entire in the genuine exemplar Zeitschrift des Bergischen Geschichtsvereins, vol. VII (1871), pp. 209–11., the same bell-ringer of the chapel of Blessed Gerric does indeed appear, but about lighting the lamps the language is otherwise; for it is provided thus: Furthermore… in the church of Blessed Gerric she (the deaness) will supply lamps for the rest of his soul by night and by day. And also in a certain "Ordo" for reciting the liturgical office Kessel, op. cit., pp. 194–210., which is preserved in a codex of the fourteenth century [It is not improbable that this codex is a transcript of an older exemplar, although I cannot agree with the truly slight reasons by which Kessel (op. cit., pp. 195–97) strives to show that that ordo was composed as early as the eleventh or twelfth century.], there are named both the church of St. Gerric Kessel, p. 209., and the chapel of St. Gerric Ibid., pp. 199, 208., and also the altar of St. Gerric Ibid., p. 209.. Besides, the founder of the convent has long been accustomed to be called St. Gerric by the faithful people Cf. ibid., p. 137., and in the territory of the town of Gerresheim there exists today too a certain spring called St. Gerric's Gelenius, op. cit., p. 736; Kessel, op. cit., pp. 30, 144, 179.. All of which, while they manifestly show that Gerric was honored by popular cult as a saint, do not so prove that ecclesiastical honors were paid to him. For that it was called the church of St. Gerric happened, as Kessel himself agrees Op. cit., p. 151., because Gerric was reckoned the founder of the church of Gerresheim, not because he was its patron or because the church was dedicated to him, since we know that of the two churches which were built in the town, the one, I mean that of the convent, was dedicated to St. Hippolytus, and the other, which was the parish church, to St. Margaret Ibid., p. 141.. Nor can we affirm with certainty that by these words, chapel of St. Gerric, altar of St. Gerric, a record of ecclesiastical cult is had, since perhaps they were so named because in that chapel and before that altar stood the tomb or sarcophagus of Gerric, which, built in the thirteenth century, still survives in the church of Gerresheim.
[5] and ecclesiastical. But now the indications of ecclesiastical cult begin to become less obscure. For the same nuns who after the middle of the thirteenth century lit lamps in the church for the rest of the soul of Blessed Gerric began not long after to light his tomb, not without a certain greater reverence towards him. Indeed, in the necrological calendar of the monastery, which was written in the fourteenth century, not only is entered on the 5th of November The anniversary of Gerric the knight [Archiv, vol. cit., p. 100. It must be pointed out that the feasts of the saints are entered in this calendar in such a way that the word saint or blessed is omitted, e.g. Octave of Stephen, of Hilary the confessor, of Perpetua and Feliciatis, etc.], but also on the 23rd of September The translation of Gerric Archiv, vol. cit., p. 98.. That his feast was in fact customarily celebrated is shown by a letter given at Avignon in the year 1319 by sixteen bishops, by which indulgences were granted to those coming to the church of the canonesses in Gherisheym on certain festivals, among which appears also the feast of Duke Ieric Kessel, op. cit., pp. 192–193.. Yet that cult was not so firmly established that it did not run the risk of decreasing and gradually falling into disuse Cf. ibid., pp. 136, 156–58.. Most recently, however, when the altar of the church was being renewed at notable expense, although in the design of the work to be done [See its image in Zeitschrift für christliche Kunst, vol. XVI (1903), opposite col. 321–22.] the artist had sketched among the other ornaments four statues of saints, beneath which he had written the names: St. Margaret, St. Suitbert, St. Gerric, St. Catherine, I would believe that this plan was departed from at least in some part, since I read that of the four statues which were made, three are indeed of SS. Margaret, Catherine and Suitbert, but the fourth of St. Hippolytus Ibid., col. 322., not of Blessed Gerric. From this one may conjecture that the public cult of Blessed Gerric has not yet flourished again. One may conjecture, I say, since I am not able, although I desired it, to bring forward anything more certain. For when, in order to inform readers on this matter as our office requires, I approached the reverend parish priest of Gerresheim by letter in the year 1904, he did not deign to answer even a word.
[6] On the other hand, concerning what our predecessors once hoped Act. SS., March vol. I, p. 630 D. about the cult of Blessed Regenberna, whom they report to have been the daughter of St. Gerric the duke, of Regenberna, who is said to be the daughter we can now bring forward something more certain, namely that in not a few of those documents which have been found about either Gerric or the monastery of Gerresheim, of Gerric, no cult. there is found not even a faint trace at all of a cult paid to Regenberna.