Norbert of Xanten
A worldly nobleman thrown from his horse by lightning, who founded an order.
The record
- Born
- c. 1080, Xanten, Rhineland
- Converted
- c. 1115, thrown from his horse in a thunderstorm
- Became
- founder of the Premonstratensians (1120); Archbishop of Magdeburg (1126)
- Died
- June 6, 1134, Magdeburg
- Canonized
- 1582
Norbert of Xanten was born in the Rhineland about 1080, a nobleman and a canon at the imperial court. He had taken the tonsure and been ordained subdeacon, but declined higher orders, and lived for pleasure:
Being at first blinded by the flattery of the world, he suffered himself to be carried away by its pleasures and pastimes, and had no higher thoughts than how he might live in honour and at his ease.Alban Butler, The Lives of the Saints (1866 edition)
About the year 1115, riding toward a village in pursuit of his pleasures, he was overtaken by a sudden thunderstorm:
a ball of fire or lightning, with a loud clap of thunder, fell just before his horse’s feet, burned the grass, and cleft the earth. The poor beast, thus affrighted, threw his rider, who lay like one dead for near an hour.Butler, The Lives of the Saints (1866)
When he came to himself, Butler writes, it was like Paul on the road to Damascus:
like another Saul, he cried out to God, in the bitter compunction of his heart: ‘Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?’ To which the divine grace interiorly suggested this reply: ‘Turn away from evil, and do good: seek after peace, and pursue it.’Alban Butler, The Lives of the Saints (1866)
Norbert gave away his wealth, was ordained a priest, and became a wandering preacher. In 1120 he founded the Premonstratensian Order — the Norbertines — at Prémontré in France. He was made Archbishop of Magdeburg in 1126, died there on 6 June 1134, and was canonized in 1582.