CORRADO OF MARBURG. — Famous inquisitor, born in Marburg (Hesse), and a member of the secular clergy of the diocese of Mainz. Called magister by his contemporaries, he distinguished himself for his learning, disinterestedness, and strict conduct toward himself as toward others. In 1215 he fervently preached the Crusade in northern Germany and, on his own initiative, launched an attack against heretics. On 12 June 1227 he received from Gregory IX the faculty to gather companions and search out heretics, and then, in 1231, also the faculty to judge them, a power hitherto reserved to bishops.
Unfortunately, C. and his companions, among whom was the Dominican friar Dorso, in their excessive zeal overstepped their authority, sending numerous victims to the stake. Attacked by some knights, C. and his companion Gerard of Lützelkolb, O.F.M., were killed on 30 July 1232 near Marburg. Gregory IX, informed by C.’s party, defended his memory and demanded punishment of the assassins.
Esteemed for his piety by the Landgrave of Thuringia, C. had been entrusted by him with the distribution of certain ecclesiastical benefices, an office confirmed by Gregory IX on 12 June 1227. C. heard the confessions and guided St. Elizabeth of Hungary during the last five years of her life, and after her death promoted her canonization.
Owing to erroneous chronicle notices, C. was mistakenly listed now among the Dominicans, now among the Franciscans; for example, in the Dominican Martyrology (1604, p. 89) and in the Franciscan Martyrology of Arturo da Münster (ed. I. Beschin-G. Palazzolo, Rome 1939, p. 426) he is recorded under 3 November 1257. Today his membership in any religious order is not admitted.