Bernone, Bishop of Schwerin

BERNONE, Bishop of Schwerin. - A Cistercian of the monastery of Amelungsborn on the Weser. We know almost nothing of him before his election as bishop of Mecklenburg (1155) by the Saxon prince Henry the Lion. The latter, having subdued the Obotrites (one of the Slavic tribes known under the name of Wends), wished to restore the pre-existing bishoprics, entrusting that of Mecklenburg to B., who received consecration in Rome from Adrian IV. The attempt to convert the Obotrites was at first meager in results and dangerous, since they confused the Christians with the Saxon conquerors, so much so that B. had to transfer the episcopal see to Schwerin, where Saxon colonists were already settled. From there, with the favor of the prince Pribislav, a pagan but married to a Christian woman, Woislava, he was able to radiate his zeal in the city and over a wide area around it. He baptized the prince (1163), consecrated the Cathedral (Sept. 9, 1171), where he held the first Synod (1177); he pushed into the Circipanian region, into Pomerania, and as far as the island of Rügen, converting its inhabitants. He was in Rome twice, in 1178 and 1187, where he obtained confirmation of his bishopric, and in 1179 he took part in the Third Lateran Council. He died at Schwerin on Jan. 27, 1190 or 1191.

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