Norbert was born in Xanten, on the left bank of the Rhine, near Wesel in 1080. Born into a noble family related to the emperor, he was ordained a sub-deacon but led a worldly life at the imperial court. After an accident in which he was thrown from his horse when lightning struck the ground before it, Norbert converted and was ordained deacon and priest. He laid aside all soft and showy raiment, clad himself in a coat of skins and made the preaching of the word of God the sole object of his life. Having renounced the ecclesiastical revenues which he possessed and were very considerable, he distributed his patrimony among the poor. He ate only once a day and that in the evening, and then his meal was of Lenten fare. His life was of singular austerity, and even in the depth of winter he went out with bare feet and ragged garments. Hence came that power of his words and deeds by which by which he was enabled to turn countless heretics to the faith, sinners to repentance, and enemies to peace and concord.
Being at Laon, the bishop besought him not to leave his diocese, so he chose a wilderness at a place called Premontre, to which he withdrew with thirteen disciples, founding the Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (the Premonstratensians), whose Rule he received in a vision from Saint Augustine. The fame of his holy life spread abroad quickly. Many sought to become his disciples, and when the Order had been approved by Pope Honorius II, many more monasteries were built. Norbert was remarkable for the spirit of prophecy and the gift of miracles. He was appointed Archbishop of Magdeburg against his will, and as Archbishop he upheld the discipline of the Church, especially as regards the celibacy of priests and religious. At a Council held at Rheims he was a great help to Pope Innocent II, and went with other bishops to Rome where he repressed the schism of Peter de Leon. Norbert promoted the doctrine of the Real Presence and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. He died in 1134 and was canonised in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII.
Dom Prosper Gueranger:
The helpful influence of the Holy Ghost is more and more multiplied along the Church’s path. It seems as though He would show us today how the divine power of His action is not crippled by lapse of years, for here we have, twelve centuries after His first coming among us, miracles of grace and conversion quite as brilliant as those that marked His glorious descent on Earth. Norbert, in whose veins flowed the best blood of emperors and kings, was from the very breast of his mother Hedwige supernaturally invited to a nobility loftier still: yet did he devote, to the unreserved enjoyment of pleasure, three and thirty years of a life that was to number but fifty in all. The Holy Ghost at length hastened to the conquest. There bursts a sudden storm, a thunderbolt falls right in front of the prodigal, throwing him to the ground and making a frightful chasm between him and the point where, a moment ago, he was hastening in pursuit of new vanities that needs must fail, as all others had done, to fill the hopeless void in his heart. Then, in the very depths of his soul resounds a voice, such as Saul once heard on his way to Damascus: “Norbert, where are you going?” Like another Paul he replies: “Lord, what will you have me to do?” He is answered: “Depart from evil and do good. Seek after peace and pursue it.” Twenty years later, and Norbert is in Heaven, seated amid pontiffs on a glorious throne, and all radiant with that special brilliancy that distinguishes the founders of the great Religious Orders when they have reached the eternal Home.
Deep are the traces left by him on Earth of his few years of penitential life. Germany and France receive his preaching. Antwerp is delivered from a shameful heresy. Magdeburg is rescued by this her Archbishop from the irregularities that were sullying the House of God. Such are his works, and though these alone would have sufficed to a long life of holiness, yet they are not the only titles, nor the most brilliant, which Norbert has to the Church’s gratitude. Before being called against his will to the honours of the episcopate, this once happy courtier made choice of an uninhabitable solitude amid the forests of the diocese of Laon in which to devote himself to prayer and the maceration of his flesh. The renown of this holy penitent gained rapidly, and Prémontre soon beheld her swampy marshes invaded by a vast multitude formed of the fairest names of picked nobility, pressing there to learn the science of salvation from the lips of the saintly anchorite. There too, did Our Lady show to him in vision the white habit with which his disciples were to be clothed, and Saint Augustine, in like manner, delivered to him his own Rule. Thus was founded the most illustrious branch of the Order of Canons Regular. They added to the obligation of solemnising the Divine Office the austerities of an uninterrupted penance, and devoted themselves moreover to the service of souls by preaching and the administration of parishes.
In the foregoing century the episcopacy and Papacy had been raised by the monks from out the reach of feudal servitude, and Norbert was now raised up to give the needed completion to their work. Although on principle the monastic life excludes no sort of labour useful to the Church, the monks could not, however numerous they might be, quit their cloisters in order to undertake charge of souls. Yet, great were the wants of the lambs of the flock at that time, for many unworthy pastors of secondary order, slaves to simony and immorality, still continued to lead astray the simple laity. The religious life was alone capable of raising the priesthood from such degradation, whether on the pinnacles of the hierarchy or among the lowest degrees of sacred Orders. Norbert was the man chosen by God to effect, in part at least, this immense work: and the importance of his mission explains the sublime prodigality with which the Holy Ghost multiplied vocations to his standard. The number and rapidity of foundations permitted succour to be promptly and everywhere afforded: even into the far East did the light of Prémontre reach, almost at its first dawn. In the eighteenth century, notwithstanding the devastations of the Turks and the ravages of the pretended Reform, the Order, divided into 28 provinces, still contained in nearly each one of its houses as many as from 50 to 120 Canons, and the parishes that continued under their care might be counted by thousands.
Nuns, whose holy life and prayers are the ornament and aid of the Church Militant, occupied from the very beginning the place deservedly their due in this numerous family. In the time of the founder, or soon after his death, there were more than a thousand of them at Prémontre alone. Such an incredible sum gives us an idea of the prodigious propagation of the Order from its very origin. Norbert moreover extended his charity to persons who, like Thihault Count of Champagne, would gladly have followed him into the desert, but who were retained by God’s will in the world. He thus made a prelude to those pious associations which we will see Saint Francis and Saint Dominic organising in the thirteenth century under the name of “Third Orders.”
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YOU indeed knew how to redeem the time (Ephesians v. 16) as was fitting in those evil days in which you yourself, Norbert, led away by the example of the senseless crowd, had for so long frustrated the designs of God’s love. Those years, at first refused by you to the true Master of the world, you at length returned to Him multiplied a hundredfold through those countless sons and daughters you trained up in sanctity. Even your personal works, in but twenty years’ space, filled the whole Earth. Schism crushed, heresy confounded to the glory of the Most Holy Sacrament which it had already dared to attack, the rights of the Church intrepidly defended against worldly princes and unjust retentions, the priesthood restored to its primitive purity, the Christian Life strengthened on its true basis of prayer and penance: such and so many victories achieved in so few years are due to the generosity which prevented you from looking back, for one moment, from the day on which the Holy Ghost touched your heart. Make all understand that it is never too late to begin to serve God. Were it even, as in your case, the evening-fall of life, what yet remains of time would quite suffice to make us saints, if we would but generously give that little fully to Heaven (1 Peter iv. 2). Faith and Patience were your cherished virtues: make them flourish once more in this sad world of ours which vaunts itself on doubting of everything, and with gibe and jeer hurries onwards to the abyss of Hell. Forget not, dear Apostle, now that you are in Heaven, the countries you erstwhile evangelised. We implore this of you despite their forgetfulness, despite their criminal return to the deceits of the devil.
Holy Pontiff, Magdeburg has lost her ancient faith, and with it the precious relics of your body which she no longer deserved to possess: Prague is now the favoured spot of your repose. But, while blessing this hospitable city, pray still for the ungrateful one that has cast aside her double treasure. Founder of Prémontre, smile once more on France which derives from you one of her fairest glories. Obtain of God that for the salvation of these calamitous times your Order may recover something of its former splendour. Bless, few as they are, those sons and daughters of your who, despite the ridiculous hostility of the powers that be, seek to shed once more their beneficent influence on France. May England benefit also of their return to her midst, and may their fruits be multiplied in every direction. Maintain your own spirit among them. May they find in interior peace, the secret of triumph over Satan and his crew. May the full magnificence of the divine worship solemnly carried out be ever to their souls as the dearly loved mount where, Moses like, they may declare the will of the Lord to the new Israel, the Christian people.Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
At Caesarea in Palestine, the birthday of blessed Philip, one of the first seven deacons. Being renowned for miracles and prodigies, he converted Samaria to the faith of Christ, baptised the eunuch of Candaces, queen of Ethiopia, and finally rested in peace at Caesarea. Near him are buried three of his daughters, virgins and prophetesses. His fourth daughter died at Ephesus, filled with the Holy Spirit.
At Rome, St. Artemius, with his wife Candida and his daughter Paulina. Artemius became a believer through the preaching and miracles of St. Peter the Exorcist who was baptised with all his house by the priest St. Marcellinus. By order of the judge Serenus he was scourged with whips strung with leaden balls, and struck with the sword. His wife and daughter were forced into a pit and overwhelmed with stones and earth.
At Tarsus in Cilicia, in the time of Diocletian and Maximian, and the governor Simplicius, twenty holy martyrs who, by various torments, glorified God in their bodies.
At Noyon in France, the holy martyrs Amatius, Alexander, and their companions.
At Fiesoli in Tuscany, St. Alexander, bishop and martyr.
At Milan, the demise of St. Eustorgius II, bishop and confessor.
At Verona, St. John, bishop.
At Besançon in France, St. Claude, bishop.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
