WOLFHELM, BL.

Abbot and theologian; d. April 22, 1091. A benedictine monk, he was abbot of the monastery at brauweiler from 1065 until his death. His biography, composed by Konrad of Brauweiler between 1110 and 1123 (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores 12:180–195), relates that he had two sisters, one of whom, Bertha, was abbess of Vilich c. 1030. According to the same source, he attended the cathedral school in Cologne, where his industry soon earned him the position of assistant teacher. Having become a monk in the monastery of Sankt Maximin in Trier, he returned for a brief time to Cologne and was then assigned successively to monasteries in Gladbach, Siegburg, and finally, Brauweiler. His involvement in the doctrinal disputes of the period is attested by his letter, written between 1076 and 1079 and included as chapter 11 in Conrad's biography; it is addressed to Abbot Meginhard of Gladbach, and expresses Wolfhelm's opposition to the views on the Eucharist held by berengarius of tours. manegold of lautenbach, in a tract written after 1085, attacked Wolfhelm's view that the teachings of pagan philosophers could be reconciled with Christian dogma. A brief verse by Wolfhelm urging the reading of the Bible also has been preserved (at end of Konrad's vita as reprinted in Patrologia Latina 154:403–434).

Feast: April 22.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum Apr. 3:77–89. Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis 2:8987–89. w. wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter bis zur Mitte des 13. Jh. 2:139–140. m. manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters 2:119; 3:27–28, 584–586. a. manser, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 10:963. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige 2:91–94. konrad von brauweiler, Vita Wolfhelmi, tr. h. e. stiene.

[c. j. ermatinger]