Norbert of Xanten

Norbert of Xanten was born in the late eleventh century at Xanten, on the left bank of the Rhine in the northwestern Holy Roman Empire (in present-day Germany). Traditional accounts identify his father as Heribert, Count of Gennep, and present Norbert as a member of the higher nobility whose family connections later placed him at princely and imperial courts. He was educated for an ecclesiastical career and became a canon of the collegiate church of St. Victor at Xanten, receiving ordination to the subdiaconate. For a number of years he lived as a court cleric, first in the household of the Archbishop of Cologne and then at the court of Emperor Henry V, enjoying the comforts and privileges of a well-connected secular canon rather than a life of pastoral or ascetic rigor.

A sudden conversion is placed by the sources around 1115. While riding toward Vreden, Norbert was caught in a violent storm; a thunderbolt struck nearby, his horse threw him, and he lay unconscious. Upon recovering he resolved to change his manner of life. He withdrew for a time, possibly to the Benedictine abbey of Siegburg, and was ordained to the priesthood. Returning to Xanten he sought to impose a stricter observance on the canons, who rejected his efforts. He then took up the life of an itinerant preacher of repentance, traveling through the Rhineland, Westphalia, and into France and the Low Countries. His preaching at first drew accusations of irregularity as well as followers. In 1118 Pope Gelasius II granted him authorization to preach. At the Council of Reims in 1119 he came to the notice of Pope Calixtus II. In 1120 he settled with a small group of disciples in the forest of Prémontré, in the diocese of Laon in northern France. There the community made its profession, adopting a severe interpretation of the Rule of St. Augustine. Thus was founded the Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, known as Premonstratensians or Norbertines. The order combined the choral office and common life of canons with active pastoral work, preaching, and care of souls; members wore a white habit. Daughter houses spread rapidly in France, the Low Countries, and Germany.

In 1126, with papal and imperial support, Norbert was appointed Archbishop of Magdeburg. The appointment took him from Prémontré to a large, poorly organized diocese on the Slavic frontier, where church lands had been alienated, clerical discipline was lax, and missionary work among neighboring Wendish peoples remained incomplete. He set about recovering property, reforming the cathedral chapter and parish clergy, and introducing Premonstratensian canons to staff churches and undertake pastoral and missionary tasks. These measures met fierce resistance from lay magnates who had appropriated church revenues and from clergy unwilling to accept a stricter life. On at least one occasion he was driven from Magdeburg and had to be restored with imperial and papal backing. He also confronted popular heretical movements, notably the followers of Tanchelm in the region of Antwerp, whom traditional accounts credit him with reconciling to the Church.

In the papal schism that began in 1130 Norbert was a determined supporter of Pope Innocent II against the antipope Anacletus II. He used his influence with Emperor Lothair III to obtain imperial recognition of Innocent and accompanied the emperor to Italy in 1132–1133, helping to secure Innocent’s position in Rome. Worn by austerities, constant travel, and the burdens of his see, Norbert died at Magdeburg on 6 June 1134. He was buried in the Church of Our Lady there, which he had given to his order. Local veneration began after his death. Pope Gregory XIII canonized him in 1582. In 1627, during the Thirty Years’ War, his relics were transferred from Magdeburg to the Premonstratensian monastery of Strahov in Prague, where they remain enshrined. His feast is kept on 6 June. He is honored as founder of the Premonstratensians and as a patron of Magdeburg, of Bohemia, and of peace.