Saints and
Blesseds
Blessed Waltmann
April 11
Towards the close of the first
quarter of the twelfth century, a layman called Tanchelm originated a new sect in Antwerp,
which gained a considerable following. Its adherents held that bishops and priests
were unnecessary and denied the efficacy of the sacraments, while permitting themselves
great relaxation of morals. The archbishop of Cambrai, in whose diocese Antwerp then
lay, greatly perturbed at the progress of the heresy, persuaded the canons of St.
Michael's in the city to enlist the help of St. Norbert to combat the evil. In
response to the invitation, the great Premonstratensian founder duly arrived with two of
his disciples, Evermode and a learned and pious canon of the name Waltman. Thanks to
the zeal and preaching of these three, the people were soon won back to the faith, the
sect lost its hold, and Tanchelm had to beat an ignominious retreat. As a token of
their gratitude the secular canons presented St. Michael's to St. Norbert, they themselves
retiring to Notre-Dame, now the cathedral. Waltman became abbot of the newly-formed
Premonstratensian establishment.
Footnotes:
No independent account of the
activities of Blessed Waltman seems to have come down to us from early times, but we hear
of him in the Life of St. Norbert (see the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i) and
in the notices which chroniclers have devoted to the heresy of Tanchelm, cf. I. van
Spillbeeck, Vie de saint Norbert: tableaux historiques du XIIe siecle (1898) and
C.J. Kirkfleet, History of St. Norbert (1916).
| Blessed Waltmann. |
|
| Here is St. Michael's
college (formerly St. Michael's Abbey) in Antwerp. |
|
Source: Butler's Lives of the Saints,
unabridged, volume II, page 73, April 11th.
