Holy Blood of Wilsnack

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The Holy Blood Wilsnack were allegedly miraculous hosts which became the site of medieval pilgrimages to Bad Wilsnack, Germany.

In 1383 a quarrel broke out between one of the knights of the Prignitz, Heinrich von Bülow, known as "Big Head", and the Bishop of Havelberg, Dietrich Man. Von Bülow raided one of the bishopric's villages, Wilsnack, and burned it to the ground. Entering the ruins of his church, the parish priest found that in the Sacrarium on the altar were three consecrated hosts, which had not only been untouched by the fire, but were now stained with blood. Bishop Dietrich came to consecrate the hosts so as to avoid accidental idolatry, but the central one overflowed with blood before he could pronounce the words of consecration.

They became objects of veneration and miracles began to be attributed to them. So many pilgrims came that in numbers they rivaled even those to Santiago de Compostela, and the revenue they generated enabled the magnificent church of St. Nicholas to be built for them. Pilgrims would offer tokens made in the shape of three hosts, examples of which are still being found by archaeologists in the area. They were also objects of criticism from contemporaries who objected either that they were fraudulent, or theologically unsound as undermining the concept of Christ's glorification in heaven, which arguably required that no blood of his could appear on earth, and also undermining the ordinary doctrine of transubstantiation. In the 15th century the Bishop of Havelberg and the Archbishop of Magdeburg mutually excommunicated each other over the issue. The "holy blood" of Wilsnack was attacked by Jan Hus and the University of Erfurt. Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa tried to forbid pilgrimages there. Pope Eugene IV compromised by requiring that a freshly-consecrated host be displayed alongside the relics. Nonetheless, the hosts continued to be important objects of devotion until destroyed by Protestant Reformers in 1558. Among the pilgrims to the site was the English mystic Margery Kempe in 1433.

[edit] References

• Ludecus, Matthaeus, Historia von der erfindung, Wunderwercken und zerstörung des vermeinten heiligen Bluts zur Wilssnagk: sampt den hierüber und dawider ergangenen schreiben, Wittenberg [Germany] : Clemens Schleich, 1586 [with a woodcut of the shrine].
• Walker Bynum, Caroline: Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0-8122-3985-0
• Walker Bynum, Caroline: Bleeding Hosts and their Contact Relics in Late Medieval Northern Germany. The Medieval History Journal 2004, 7, 227 (http://mhj.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/7/2/227)

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