Post #5997

Having renounced the very conspicuous ecclesiastical prebends, and distributed the patrimony to the poor, he embarked on a very austere kind of life, feeding only once a day, in the evening, and with Lenten foods, walking barefoot and in a tattered robe, despite the winter rigour. So powerful in his deeds and words, he led countless numbers of heretics to faith, sinners to penance, enemies to peace and harmony. Being in Laon, asked by the bishop not to leave his diocese, a deserted place called Prémontré, not far from Soissons, was chosen; and there, gathering thirteen companions, he instituted the Premostratensian Order, under a rule given to him by Saint Augustine in a miraculous vision. But as the fame of his holiness grew more and more, and many disciples went to him every day, his order was confirmed by Pope Honorius II and other Supreme Pontiffs, and after he had built many monasteries, it spread wonderfully. Called to Antwerp, he destroyed the detestable heresy of Tanchellinus. He was famous for the spirit of prophecy and miracles. Finally created, albeit reluctant, Archbishop of Magdeburg in 1126, he constantly defended ecclesiastical discipline and especially celibacy. In the council of Reims, he very well supported Pope Innocent II, and, having gone to Rome with other bishops, he repressed the schism of Pietro Pierleoni (antipope Anacletus II). Finally, this man of God, full of merits and of the Holy Spirit, fell asleep in the Lord in Magdeburg, on the 6th of June of the year of grace 1134. He was buried in the local Norbertine abbey; later, in 1627, his remains were transferred to the Norbertine abbey of the Strahov Monastery in Prague where they still rest today. He was canonized by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.