he had recourse to material force or to the threats of its use, but he always preferred to rely upon gentler influences, and never hesitated to run any personal risk in order to win the confidence and the affection of the people whom he passionately desired to help. To his faith and courage and his constant reliance upon the power of prayer more than to any political influences the results which he achieved must be attributed. His failure His failure to arrange for the training of any Pomeranian clergy, and the recourse which he was accordingly Church obliged to have to German clergy, who in customs, to estab lish a national Forcible conversion of Rugen Island. dispositions, and language differed widely from those to whom they ministered, rendered it impossible for the Church which he helped to establish to become the Church of the people. Moreover, the German colonists who, in ever-increasing numbers, were brought into the country to repeople the districts which had been devastated by war, tended to make the earlier inhabitants less well disposed to the German clergy, whose nationality was that of their oppressors. The island of Rugen, which lay off the coast of Pomerania, was inhabited by Slavonic pagans who were fanatically addicted to idolatry and opposed to the introduction of Christianity. Whilst Otto was engaged in preaching in Pomerania about 1127 he announced his intention of visiting the island and was, as we have already seen, with difficulty dissuaded from doing so by his companions, who feared for his safety. Ulric, one of his clergy, actually set sail for Rugen but was driven back by a storm. In 1168 Waldemar, King of Denmark, assisted by the chiefs of Pomerania, after a series of battles succeeded in subjugating the island, and a militant bishop named Absalom of Roeskilde undertook the forcible conversion of its inhabitants to the Christian faith. tion of the He entered into an agreement with the inhabitants of the capital, Arcona, by which they bound themselves to accept Christianity and to hand over to Christian clergy the landed estates which belonged to the idol temples. Their chief idol Svantovit was re- Destrucgarded with the utmost awe by the inhabitants, and idol Svana vast crowd gathered round the men whom Absalom tovit. sent to effect its destruction, anticipating their sudden death. Even when it had fallen to the ground after its feet had been cut away with axes, the people of Rugen were afraid to touch it and the services of captives and of strangers who were staying in Arcona were requisitioned in order to drag the idol into the Danish camp. Its progress to the camp was accomplished amid the mingled lamentations and jeers of the onlookers. On reaching the camp it was chopped up to form firewood for cooking the food of the soldiers.2 A similar fate befell other idols in Arcona and else 1 Saxo Grammaticus, who undertook the writing of his history at the suggestion of Absalom, speaks of him as “militiæ et religionis sociato fulgore conspicuus." Again he writes concerning him, "neque enim minus sacrorum attinet cultui, publice religionis hostes repellere, quam cæremoniarum tutelæ vacare," lib. xiv. 2 For an account of the worship of Svantovit see Gesta Danorum, by Saxo Grammaticus, lib. i.; Chronica Thietmari, lib. vi.; Chronicon Slavorum, by Helmhold, lib. i. 52, 53; ii. 12; also La Mythologie Slave, par L. Leger, pp. 76-107, Both Helmhold and Saxo Grammaticus explain the Building of Chris where. Amongst the idols destroyed by Absalom were three which had respectively seven, five, and four heads. A number of Christian churches were forthwith tian built, which were served by clergy whom Absalom churches. sent over from Denmark, and for whose support he The Slavs in Prussia. Their chief gods. himself provided. Several miracles of healing were attributed to the effects produced by their prayers, but the Danish historian is careful to tell us that these cures were not to be attributed to the sanctity of the missionaries, but were granted by God in order to facilitate the conversion of the people.1 After the Danish conquest the profession of Christianity spread throughout the island and efforts were made by the clergy who came from Denmark to instruct the people in the faith which they had been induced to accept. PRUSSIA At the close of the tenth century, when the first attempts were made to introduce Christianity into Prussia, the population, which was for the most part of Slavonic origin, included only a small number of Germans. The country was at this time divided into eleven practically independent states, the inhabitants of which were fanatical idolaters, and in every town and village a temple was to be found. Their chief gods were Percunos, the god of thunder, Potrimpos, the god of corn and fruits, and Picullos, the god of the 1 See Saxo Grammaticus, id.: "quod potius lucrandæ gentis respectui quam sacerdotum sanctitati divinitus con cessum videri potest." 2 i.e. the Russian Perun. 1 lower regions. Peter de Duisburg, the author of the Chronicon Prussia, writes: "They worshipped as a god every creature, whether it were the sun, the moon, the stars, or thunder, as well as birds, quadrupeds, and toads. They had also groves, plains, and sacred waters, and in these none dared to cut wood, to cultivate fields, or to fish." Every man was allowed to have three wives, who were regarded as slaves, and were expected to commit suicide on the death of their husband. On the death of the chiefs, or nobles, their slaves, maidservants, horses, hunting dogs, hawks, and armour were burnt together with the body. It can easily be understood that the fierceness and cruelty of the Prussians made the task of the pioneer missionaries one of no ordinary hazard. of Prague, The first missionary who attempted to preach the Adalbert Gospel in Prussia was Adalbert, archbishop of Prague. 997. After working in Bohemia for several years he visited Boleslav I, the duke of Poland, in the hope of developing missionary work in his country, but he eventually determined to go as a pioneer missionary to Prussia. Having received from the duke a vessel and thirty soldiers to act as bodyguard, he sailed to Dantzic (Gedania), on the borders of Prussia and Poland, in 997. After baptizing a number of its inhabitants he set sail again, and, having landed on the opposite coast, he sent back the vessel and his bodyguard, and, accompanied only by two priests, named Benedict and Gaudentius, he disembarked on a small island at the mouth of the River Pregel. Driven away by its inhabitants, he and his companions landed on the 1 Chronicon, p. 79. 2 Chronicon, p. 80. tyrdom in coast of Samland on the other side of the Pregel. Having been refused a hearing by the inhabitants of this district, they began to retrace their steps, and after five or six days passed through woods, the dreariness of which they enlightened by singing spiritual His mar songs, till at length they came to open fields. Here, Samland. after they had celebrated the Holy Communion, they lay down on the grass and presently fell into a deep sleep, from which they were roused by a tumultuous band of heathen, who seized and bound them. “Be not troubled, my brethren," said Adalbert to his two companions, "we know for whose name we suffer. What is there more glorious than to give up life for our precious Jesus?" Thereupon a heathen priest named Siggo plunged a lance into his body, and with his eyes fixed on heaven Adalbert yielded up his life. The date of his death was April 23, 997. Bruno of 1008. The next missionary to preach to the Prussians was martyred, Bruno of Querfurt, who was surnamed Bonifacius. He had been a court chaplain to Otto III, and it was apparently a picture of the English Boniface that he saw in Rome which led him to resolve to withdraw from the court and devote himself to the work of a missionary. Having become a monk of the Order of St. Benedict, he obtained from Pope Sylvester II a commission to preach the Gospel to the heathen, and, with this end in view, the Pope consecrated him and bestowed upon him the pall of an archbishop. He started for Prussia in 1007 with eighteen companions, but all suffered martyrdom on February 14, 1008. Bishop For more than a century no further efforts were made of Olmutz, to evangelize Prussia, but in 1141 Bishop Heinrich of 1141. |