Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 16.djvu/86

 RANTOMA

70

BIBE

R

Rantoma Kai, Ancient See of. See Finland, Grand Duchy of.

Ratzeburg (Racebdrgum), Ancient See of (Raceburgensis), in Germany, suffragan to Ham- burg. The diocese embraced the Duchy of Lauen- burg (Holstein) in the Prussian Province of Schleswig- Holstein, the Principality of Ratzeburg in the Grand Duchy of Meclvlenburg-Strehtz, and the western part of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in- cluding Wismar but not Schwerin. The whole of it IS now included in the Diocese of Osnabriick. Ratze- burg was one of the dioceses formed about 1050 by Adalbert I, Archbishop of Hamburg, who appointed St. Aristo, who had just returned from Jerusalem, to the new see. Aristo seems to have been but a wandering missionary bishop. In 1066 the Wends rose against their German masters, and on 15 July, 1066, St. Ansuerus, Abbot of St. George's, Ratzeburg (not the later monastery bearing that name), and several of his monks are said to have been stoned to death. It was not however till 1154 that Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, and Hartwich, Archbishop of Hamburg, refounded the See of Ratzeburg, and Evermodus became its first bishop. A disciple of St. Norbert and provost of the Monastery of Our Lady at Magdeburg, Evermodus was, like many of his successors, a Premonstratensian monk and a model of all virtues. In 1157 a chapter was attached to Ratzeburg cathedral by Pope Adrian IV. In 1236 Bishop Peter was invested by Emperor Frede- rick II with temporal jurisdiction over the land of Butin and a number of villages outside it (the Princi- paUty of Ratzeburg). The succeeding bishops re- tained this jurisdiction in spite of the frequent at- tempts which the dukes of Sachsen-Lauenburg made to deprive them of it. In 1504, during the episcopate of Bishop John V von Parkentin, the Premonstra- tensian canons of Ratzeburg cathedral were, with Papal consent, made secular canons. Bishop George von Blumenthal (1524—50) was the last Cathohc bishop. In 1552 the cathedral was plundered by Count Volrad von Mansfeld. In 1566 the dean and chapter went over to Lutheranism.

The cathedral of Ratzeburg dates ifrom the begin- ning of the twelfth century. It was restored, and additions were made to it in the fifteenth century. The diocese also contained a number of other beauti- ful churches at MoUn, Wismar, Biichen, and else- where. Besides the cathedral chapter of Ratzeburg with its provost or dean and twelve canons, there were in the diocese the Benedictine Abbeys of St, George, Ratzeburg (refounded in 1093), and of Wismar, where Benedictines expelled from Lubeck founded a monastery in 1239; also convents of the same order at Eldona founded in 1229, by Bishop Gottschalk of Ratzeburg, and burnt in 1290, at Rehna founded in 1237 by Bishop Ludolfus, and at Zarrentin founded in 1243. There were also Fran- ciscans (1251) and Dominicans (1293) at Wismar.

Mecklenburgisches Urkundenbuch (23 vols., Schwerin, 1863); Codex diplomaticiis lubecensia (11 vols., Lubeck, 1S43-1902); Di-plurruUarium raceburgense in De Wesphalen. montimenta. itiedita rerum germanicarum (Leipzig, 1740), coll. 1997-233.5; SchrSder, PapisHsches Mecklenburg (2 voU., Wismar, 1739- 41): Vaterldndiaches Archiv des Vereins far das Herzogthum Lauenburg, I (Ratzeburg, 1857) : Archiv des Vereins fur die Geschichte Lauenburgs, new series, I-V, VII (Molln, 1884 — ), pt. 2; Masch, Geschichte des Bisthuma Ratzeburg Rostock, 1832); Neuendobff, Die Stiftsl&nder des ehemaligen Bisthums Ratzeburg (Rostock, 1832), with a map of the diocese in 1231. A. W. Taylor.

Ribe, Ancient See of (Rip.e, Ripen.sis), in Den- mark (Jutland). The diocese (29 ileaneries, 278 parishes) consisted of the modern Danish Provinces of Ribe, Vejle, and Ringkjobing, and of part of

Xorth Schleswig. The first church built at Ribe was founded by St. Ansgar in 860, served by his biographer and successor, St. Rembert, and destroyed during the heathen reaction after the latter's death in 888. It was rebuilt towards 948, in which year St. Leofdag, first Bishop of Ribe, was consecrated by Archbishop Adaldag of Hamburg, probably at the Council of Ingelheim (Germany), which the Jutish bishops attended. Leofdag is said to have been martyred by the heathen at Ribe. LTntil the death of his third known successor Vale (1044-59) the bishops of Ribe, Schleswig, and Aarhus wandered about Jutland on missionary tours. In 1060, how- ever, Jutland was divided into the four Dioceses of Ribe, Aarhus, Viborg, and Vestervig (Borglum). Bishop Thure (1125-34) began to build the fine Cathedral of Our Lady at Ribe, which was finished under Bishop Elias (1142-66), who founded the chapter in 1145. His successor Radulf (1170-71), an Englishman and chancellor to King Valdemar 1, translated to the cathedral the relics of St. Leofdag, who, however, was never formally canonized. He began the foundation of the Cistercian Abbey of Logum (Locus Dei) in North Schleswig, which was completed by his successor Stephen (1173-77), formerly Abbot of Herrisvad (Scania). Bishop Onier (1178-1204) reduced the number of the canons of Ribe to twelve. Bishop Christian II (1288-1313) in 1298 greatly enriched the cathedral school, which had been founded in 1145. Bishops Eskil (1388- 1409) and Henry Stangberg (1455-65) published synodal statutes with a view to reforming both clergy and laity. Ivar Munk was elected bishop in 1499 but not consecrated till 1513. Although he was unable to prevent Duke Christian from protes- tantizing North Schleswig, he kept the new doctrine out of the rest of his diocese. Ivar Munk opposed Christian's election as King Christian III of Denmark in 1533, being however compelled as a privy coun- cillor for Jutland to join that monarch's party, Ivar Munk resigned his bishopric in 1534 in favour of his nephew, Olaf Munk. The bishop's palace at Ribe was bestowed upon Ivar Munk and there he died in 1539. Like the other Danish bishops Olaf Munk was imprisoned on 12 August, 1536. When released he had to promise to marry as well as to comply with the conditions imposed upon all the Danish bishops. On the fulfillment of his promise the Abbey of Tvis was bestowed upon him, he was later readmitted to the privy council, and he live<l the life of a rich nobleman until his death in 1569.

The cathedral of Ribe (restored in 1904), a Ro- manesque building with Gothic additions and a tower dating from 144tT, contained besides the shrine of St. Leofdag a chapel dedicated to St. Lambert, which was a great centre for pilgrimages. St. Lambert was the patron of Ribe as well as of Liege in Belgium, and his cultus at Ribe is doulitless due to the trading con- nexion between that city and the Low Countries. The abbey church of Logimi, the Romanesque churches near Ribe, like the cathedral built of volcanic stone brought from Andernach on the Rhine, and the earliest Christian monument in Denmark, the great carved stone set up by King Harold Blue- tooth near the funeral mounds of his parents, King Gorm the Old (d. 940) and tjueen Tliyra IJaneb.Hl (d. 945) at Jellinge near Veile, are all mi'inorials of the Catholic past of the Diocese of Ribe. The cathedral chapter consisted of four prelates and twenty-one prebendaries (twelve resident). There were eight minor canons and nearly fifty chaplains. In the city there were also the Benedictine Convent of St. Nicholas (founded before 1215), a Franci.scan and a Dominican priory, each dating from 1259, and

I