Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/178

 MEINRAD

148

MEISSEN

Sulpician college of Montreal, philosophy at Middle- Iniry. X. H., and medicine at Castletown. Vt. He was one of the founders of the flourishing college of L'As- somption, P. Q. In 1SS4 he edited " L'Kchodu pays" and was returned the same year to the Lower Cana- dian Parliament. He was the first superintendent of education for that province, an office which he held from 1842 to 1855. He assumed the arduous task of enforcing the educational law framed by the Act of Union of the two Canadas (1841). a law which, owing to prejudice and to undue political influence, was highly unpopular. Meilleur thoroughly organized the Department of Ed\ication, and witnessed, before retii- ing from office, the remarkable progress achieved by education, both primary and clas.sical, thanks, in a great measure, to the generous and devoted co-opera- tion of the clerg\'. Besides contributing to different periodicals, articles on education, agriculture, botany, and geologj', and on medicine to the "Journal de mMecine", he wrote textbooks on French and Eng- lish grammar and correspondence, and on chemistry. His chief work is " Memorial de I'Education " (1860), a history of education in Canada. He died the very day on which he was publicly to receive the insignia of Officer of Public Instruction of France.

MoHG.oi. BiUMheca canadensis (Ottawa, 1867); Chatjveau, L' Inslruction pubUque au Canada (Quebec, 1876); Le Cour- rifr du Canada (Quebec, 1878).

Lionel, Linds.4.t.

Meinrad, Saint. See Einsiedeln, Abbey of.

Meinwerk, Ble.ssed, tenth Bishop of Paderborn, d. 1036. Meinwerk (Meginwerk) was born of the noble family of the Immedinger and related to the royal house of Saxony. His father was Imad (Immeth), Count of Teisterbant and Radichen, and his mother's name was Adela (Adala, Athela). In early youth he was dedi- cated by his parents to serve God in the priesthood. He began his secular and ecclesiastical studies at the church of St. Stephen in Halberstadt and finished them at the cathedral school of Hildesheim, where he had as schoolmate St. Bernward of Hildesheim and probably the later Emperor Henry II. After his or- dination he became a canon at Halberstadt, then chap- lain at theCourt of Otto III. Henr.v II, who greatly esteemed him, named him Bishop of Paderborn, for the express purpose of raising the financial condition of the impoverished church. He was consecrated at Goslar, 13 March, 1009, by Archbishop Willigis of Mainz. For twenty-seven years he laljoured with restless energy and zeal, and deserves the title of second founder of the diocese. His cathedral and a large portion of Paderborn had been destroyed by a conflagration in 1000; he rebuilt the cathedral on a much grander scale and consecrated it on 15 Sept., 1015. He employed Greek workmen to build the chapel of St. Bartholomew, which was considered a work of art. In 1031 he founded the Abbey of Ab- dinghof, for which he obtained thirteen Benedictine monks from the Abbey of Cluny. Between the years 1033-36, he established the collegiate church for canons-regular at Bussdorf. He built an episcopal palace and new walls for the city. He divided nis tliocese into parishes, caused the erection of many chm-ches and chapels, held frequent visitations, in- sisted on a clerical life among his priests, observance of rules in the monasteries, and was much interested, not only in the spiritual welfare of his subjects, but also in their temporal well-being, for which he introduced im- proved methods in agriculture, etc. According to his l)iography his own education was not of a high grade, but he did much for the spread of knowledge; he called in noted teachers of mathematics, astronomy, and of other sciences and put his cathedral school into a flourishing condition, which it retained for many years after his death, many prominent men receiving their education in it, among others, Altmann of Pas- sau, Anno of Cologne, Frederic of MUnster, and others.

To defra.v the expenses of his Iniildings and charitable works, he made use of church festivals. sci;d gather- ings, and other occasions to call upon the generosity of kings and princes, of tlie rich and noble, of the clergy and of the laity, frequently import uiiod llie emperor himself, relying upon his friendsliip and often appeal- ing to his own labours for the state; but he also very liberally used his personal means for the benefit of the Church. Towards his subjects Meinwerk was fre- quently harsh, but kind at heart, and, if any serious offence had been given, he would conciliate the party by presents. Twice he made a journey to Rome, the first time in 1014, to assist at the coronation of Henry II, then, in 1026, as companion of Otto III. On this trip he received from Wolfgang, Patriarch of Aquileia, the body of St. Felix for Abdinghof. Similarly he ol> tained for his diocese, entirely or in part, the relics of Sts. Valerian, Minias, Philip, Juvenal, and of the great martyr-bishop Blasius. His body was buried, ac- cording to his wish, in the crypt of the church of Abdinghof. Abbot Conrad von Allenhause raised the relics and 25 April, 1376, placed them in a beautiful monument in the sanctuary. This has been con- sidered equal to a canonization, but his feast is not in the Proprium of Paderborn of 1884, nor does the schema of the diocese for 1909 show any church, chapel, or altar dedicated to his name. On the secular- ization of Abdinghof, 1803, the remains were brought to the church of Bussdorf. The " Vita" (Mon. Germ. SS., XI, 104), ^vritten anonymously by a monk of Ab- dinghof, soon after 1150, is a history, not a legend, though somewhat ornamented by legendary additions. (Giesebrecht, " Deutsche Kaiserzeit ', II, 578.)

Acta SS., June, I, 500; Stabler, Heitigenlex.; Wattenbach, Deutsche Geschichtsquellen, II, 27, 30; Ebeling, Die deulschen Bischufe. II (Leipzig, 1858), 346.

Francis Mershman.

Meissen, a former see of north-east Germany. The present city of Meissen, situated in the Kingdom of Saxony on both banks of the Elbe, owes its origin to a castle built by King Henry I about 928 to protect Ger- man colonists among the Wends. To insure the suc- cess of the Christian missions. Otto I suggested at the Roman Synod of 962 the creation of an archiepiscopal see at Magdeburg. To this proposal John XII con- sented, and, shortly before the execution of the plan in 968, it was decided at the Synod of Ravenna (967) to create three other sees — namely Meissen, Mersburg, and Zeitz — as suffragans of Magdeburg. The year in which the Diocese of Meissen was established is not known, the oldest extant records being forgeries ; how- ever, the record of endowment by Otto I in 971 is gen- uine. The first bishop, Burchard (d. 969), established a foundation (monasterhim) which in the course of the eleventh century developed a chapter of canons. In 1346 the diocese stretched from the Erzgebirge in the south to the mouth of the Neisse and to the Quels, on the east to the Oder, on the north to the middle course of the Spree. It embraced the five provostries of Meissen, Riesa, Wurzen, Grossenhain, and Bautzen, the four archdeaneries of Nisani (Meissen), Chemnitz, Zschillen (Wechselburg), and Niederlausitz, and the two deaneries of Meissen and Bautzen. Poorly en- dowed in the beginning, it appears to have acquired later large estates under Otto III and Henry II.

The chief task of the bishops of the new see was the conversion of the Wends, to which Bishops Volkold (d. 992) and Eido (d. 1015) devoted themselves with great zeal ; but the work of evangelization was slow, and was yet incomplete when the investiture conflict threatened to arrest it effectively. St. Benno (1066- 1106), bishop at the time when these troubles were most serious, was appointed by Henry IV and ap- pears to have been in complete accord with the em- Eeror until 1076 ; in that year, however, although he ad taken no part in the Saxon revolt, he was impris- oned by Henry for nine months. Escaping, he joined