Evermode of Ratzeburg


Evermode, O.Praem., or Evermod, was one of the first Premonstratensian canons regular, and became the lifelong companion of St. Norbert of Xanten, who founded the order in France in 1120. He accompanied the founder to Antwerp and then, in 1126, to the half-pagan town of Magdeburg, where Norbert had been named as bishop. He attended to the bishop on his deathbed and ensured his burial in the church of the Norbertine Priory of Our Lady there, which Norbert had formed from the members of the cathedral chapter. In 1134 he was made acting provost of the Priory of Gottesgnaden.
In 1138 Evermode was elected as the provost of the Priory of Our Lady in Magdeburg. In this post, he oversaw the foundations of new Premonstratensian communities in Havelberg, Jerichow, Quedlinburg and Pöhlde, serving in that post until 1154, when he was named the Bishop of Ratzeburg, the first since its destruction by the Wends in 1066. He formed the newly named cathedral chapter of the diocese into a Premonstratensian community. The evangelization of the Wendish population was a primary goal of his episcopacy, and he traveled around the diocese, preaching to the people in their native language.
Worn out by his labors, Evermode died in 1178, and was buried in the cathedral he had built. He was succeeded by his fellow Norbertine, Isfrid. He is honored as a saint in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hamburg, which now covers that region, and in the Norbertine Order.
Evermode's feast day is celebrated on 17 February.