Maternus of Cologne

Maternus (Holy, hard: September 14, † about 328) was Bishop of Trier according to lists of third Bishop of Trier, is the first historically attested bishop of Cologne ( Civitas Agrippinensium ) in the years 313 and 314 mentioned as a participant in the councils of Rome and Arles. He is considered the patron saint against fever, infectious diseases and for the growth of vines. Maternus means, according to the World Holy lexicon "of the Maternal ." From the holy Maternus, the surname Mattern is derived.

Maternus is represented in the so-called Maternus portal at the north transept of the Cologne Cathedral.

Life

The origin and year of birth are not known. According to traditions from the Middle Ages is to be assumed as a death year 328. His resting place was probably in Trier, the claimed in the High Middle Ages Maternus for its own list of bishops. This tradition is equally treated with caution as that of Maternus as a founding bishop of Tongeren.

Cologne has probably never had bones of Maternus, while in Trier relics of St. Maternus have survived historically by about 760. The so-called crozier of St. Maternus is preserved in the Cologne Cathedral Treasury and used in important occasions in church today.

Maternus participated as a confidant of the Roman Emperor Constantine I at the Lateran Synod of 313 in Rome and 314 at the Synod of Arles in part, can therefore be assumed that a large significance outside of the Germanic provinces.

At the time of the bishop Maternus stood before Pope Sylvester I of the Church. After the Donation of Constantine, later identified as a forgery, the church in Rome to have been compensated by the Emperor Constantine for tracking, among others, the Lateran Palace in Rome. In addition, the emperor left the Church of the Redeemer (now San Giovanni in Laterano ) build. The Pope consecrated the first 326 Peter Church. Where in Cologne was the first Christian church, is not known.

Maternus was always ready with the medieval rank disputes between the archdioceses of Trier and Cologne: Apparently he was in possession of the original Peter rod, the possession of which was instrumental for the rank as the oldest church in Germany.

Various medieval institutions of the church were named after him, the Materni in Dresden.