HERMANN JOSEPH OF STEINFELD, Blessed. - Premonstratensian mystic, born in Cologne after 1150, died in the monastery of the Cistercian nuns at Hoven on April 4, probably in 1241. At the age of twelve he entered the abbey of the Premonstratensian Canons Regular at Steinfeld in the Eifel, but completed his studies at the canonry of Mariengaarden in Frisia. Having returned to Steinfeld, he was sacristan there and exercised his ministry in various women's monasteries. He also distinguished himself as a clockmaker. The translation of his body from Hoven to Steinfeld, a few weeks after his death, was the beginning of an ever-growing veneration. His tomb is placed in the central nave of the church of Steinfeld; the cult paid to the Blessed has not yet received a solemn recognition on the part of the Holy See.

His life was written by a contemporary of his, which, reliable as regards biographical data, is far less so as regards the mystical facts set forth therein. E. nonetheless lived a remarkable mystical life and is the representative of a tender Marian devotion, whose culminating point would be the mystical marriage with Mary Most Holy, whence his second name of Joseph. Affable and cheerful, he was an austere penitent. Eminent for humility, chastity and charity. Besides prayers and a set to music office of St. Ursula, he wrote a commentary on the Canticum canticorum (lost); his literary authorship of the oldest hymn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Summi regii cor aurea) is disputed. E. is especially venerated in the Rhineland and in Premonstratensian circles; patron of youth, he is invoked by pregnant women. The oldest depictions of E. present him with a chalice in his hand, from which three roses emerge, a symbol of his devotion to Mary Most Holy. From the 17th century he is represented with the Child Jesus in his arms: his mystical marriage with Mary is found in a canvas by Anthony Van Dyck (1630, State Museum, Vienna); with Joseph von Führich (1810-76) and Edward von Steinle (1810-86) E. is presented under the appearance of a schoolboy offering an apple to the Madonna. Feast on April 7.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: Vita, ed. Chr. Van der Sterre, Lilium inter spinae, Vita B. Joseph Prokoveri et canonici Steinfeldensis O. Fraton... Antwerp 1627; Acta SS. Aprilis, I. Antwerp 1675, p. 686 ff.; J. Brosch. Der Heiligsprechungsprozess per viam cultus, Rome 1633 (history of the cult); M. Fuschum. Die Christologie der Premostratenar im 12. Jahrhundert. Plan near Marienbad 1639, p. 87 ff.; F. Pout. La spiritualità dei Premostrati una 1/2 of 1/2 sievies, Paris 1947, p. 102 ff.

Agostino Huber

@incollection{ec5_ermanno_giuseppe_di_steinfeld, author = {Huber, Agostino}, title = {Ermanno Giuseppe di Steinfeld, beato}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {505--506}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ermanno-giuseppe-di-steinfeld-beato} }

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Hermann Joseph of Steinfeld, Blessed

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