Odilia of Cologne

Odilia of Cologne ( Ottilie; † around 451 possibly in Cologne) was a Christian martyr and is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church as a saint. In the Evangelical Church in Germany it is considered as memorable faith witness.

Tradition

Little is known about Odilias life. It should have been the daughter of a British king, and is considered Companion of the Holy. Ursula with her, together with a group of young women ( the legendary eleven thousand virgins ), said to have come on a pilgrimage to Rome to Cologne. She was one of the eleven major virgins, so the King daughters, who were according to legend, each accompanied by a thousand virgins. Barbarians ( Huns after Ursula Legend ) began the Rhine along the moving vessels from near Cologne, killing the young women when she resisted attempts by the Huns, to dissuade them from Christianity or to rape her.

Relics

In the spring of 1287 hl should. Have Odilia John of Eppa, a lay brother of the Order of the Holy Cross, have appeared in the convent in Paris, and told him that God had instructed her to his future patron of the Cross. Also, they should have told him that their relics in the orchard Arnulf were to be found at St. Gereon in Cologne near a pear tree, and begged him that he should ask for permission to retrieve them. First, the Upper refused. Then Odilia appeared to be even twice, so that the Prior finally gave permission, and John for a priest, Father Louis, turned to the side. So you found at the predicted point three urns containing the relics Odilias and her companions Ida and Emma. The remains were brought in Huy after the confirmation of the discovery by the Archbishop to the mother house of the Cross. Also, this transfer should Odilia have arranged. A portion of the relics remained in Cologne, namely a phalanx, a rib and its head. In Cologne and on the road to Huy it should be some miraculous healings, including paralysis and blindness, come near the relics. Therefore Odilia is called in the Roman Catholic Church for good eyesight and physical suffering. Due to the events described, the Crusaders were known in Germany.

In the relics of St. Huy were. Odilia 1292 placed in a painted with scenes from the life of Odilia wooden shrine. The saint was worshiped in eight churches in Cologne, in the Crusaders' monasteries in Aachen ( monastery Brandenburg ( Sief ) ) and Black Broich and in the Benedictine Abbey Brauweiler. 1645 is reported by the veneration of their relics there and in the Cistercian monastery of St. Apern. 1797 the monastery to Huy in the French Revolution was destroyed. The relics were indeed rescued by a priest, the Order went but lost.

After the dissolution of the Cross bones alone, with the shrine in 1930 in the former Abbey Mariënlof in Kerniel were spent today Borgloon in Flanders. In 1949 the relics were returned to the Order. They were first converted into a solemn procession in the Kreuzherrenkloster in Diest, Belgium. 1952 a large part of their relics was brought to Onamia, Minnesota, where they rest in a shrine in the seminar chapel. As part of the return of the Crusaders in 1964 to Wuppertal - Beyenburg parts of the relics Odilias from Belgium were also transferred to the Chapel of the Cross of Beyenburger Monastery Church of Saint Mary Magdalene. The adjacent monastery stone house had been abandoned in the early 19th century secularization.

For centuries it was with the Crusaders custom water to bless in Odilias names by their relics were plunged to confer with a request to God, the hydroelectric power against all sickness and disease. There should be numerous healings, especially for eye diseases come. Still reach the shrine in Onamia claims to thousands of requests to be included in the novenas that are held there every 5th and 17th of the month as well as national novena from July 10 to 18, and also numerous letters of thanks.

Remembrance

• Roman Catholic: July 18 ( not optional memorial )
• Evangelical: July 18 Protestant names Calendar

Attributes

As a patron of the Knights Odilia is shown with the standard of the Order and the motto of the Order, "I have chosen the cross." Because of their ascribed healing blind man is one of her iconographic attributes, as well as the Alsatian Odilia, a book with two eyes. As a martyr she is further illustrated with martyr's palm.

Swell

• Odilia of Cologne in World Encyclopedia of Saints
• Odilia of Cologne on the site of the shrine in Onamia
• Odilia of Cologne on Catholic Online
• Wolfgang Schmid: Charles IV and St. Odilia in Klaus Herbers, Peter Rückert (Editor): pilgrim saints and their Memoria