Wichmann of Arnstein, Bl.

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WICHMANN OF ARNSTEIN, BL.

Premonstratenisan, later Dominican; d. Neuruppin, Germany, Nov. 2, 1270. He was born of a noble family, entered the Order of Prémontré, and became provost of the church of Our Lady in Magdeburg in 1210. He was elected bishop of Brandenburg in 1221, but the election was never confirmed. Instrumental in having the Dominicans established in Magdeburg in 1224, he later entered the order there. He was prior in Erfurt, in Eisenach, and finally in Neuruppin, where a house had been founded in 1246 by his brother, Count Gebhard of Arnstein. It was there that the legend concerning Wichmann developed. It is filled with accounts of miracles and visions related to the building of the convent, but it contains also some bits of historical information. His letters of spiritual direction, written between 1252 and 1270 testify to his own profound interior life.

Bibliography: w. wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter bis zur Mitte des 13. Jh., (7th ed. Stuttgart-Berlin 1904), v. 2 (6th ed. Berlin 1894) 2:350351. g. lÖhr, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. m. buchberber, 10 v. (Freiburg 193038) 10: 859.

[p. m. starrs]