[MR] Wikipedia: Saint Erentrude and Nonnberg Abbey

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Today Wikipedia's "Did You Know" section has a tantalizing line: " . . . that
according to a chaplain at Nonnberg Abbey
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonnberg_Abbey>, an abbot was immediately
struck blind after stealing one of *Saint Erentrude
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erentrude>*'s relics 300 years after her
death?"

The story of Saint Erentrude is found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erentrude (or hot-linked from her name in the
"Did You Know" teaser). She was the first abbess of Nonnberg Abbey at
Salzburg Austria, when the community was founded circa 700. Her relics are
still enshrined in the Nonnberg Abbey Church, and are noted for their
healing powers.

According to Wikipedia, the naughty abbot was Mazzelin of nearby St.
Peter's Abbey in Salzburg. When Saint Erentrude's remains were translated
from their original grave to the Nonnberg Abbey Church in 1024, Mazzelin
wanted a relic of Erentrude, so he nicked one of her bones. He was
immediately struck blind. After he returned the bone and promised to resign
his abbacy and spend his life as a hermit, the blindness was cured. When
Mazzelin died, he was to have been buried in St. Peter's, but the animals
transporting his body took him to Nonnberg instead (a similar story is told
about the Saxon Saint Cuthbert). A burial at the entrance to St.
Erentrude's crypt is thought to have Mazzelin's mortal remains.

Nonnberg Abbey is one of Salzburg's great architectural treasures. There
have been a succession of church buildings on the site. The current church
dates to the late 15th century, but was "baroqued" in the 19th century:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonnberg_Abbey .

Nonnberg Abbey was the convent where Maria Augusta Kutschera (aka Maria von
Trapp), the problem postulant from the SOUND OF MUSIC, tried to enter
religious life. Yes, she was a real person. Some location scenes from the
film were actually shot in the real Nonnberg Abbey.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆