Description

St Sebaldus (Patron against cold and cold weather)

St Sebaldus of Nuremberg (Sinibald, Sebald) is venerated as the patron saint of Nuremberg. Traditional administrative centre of Franconia. The guarantor of its independence. According to legend Sebaldus a hermit and a missionary.

Almost all details of the life of Sebaldus are uncertain. Beyond his presence in the woodland of Poppenreuth. West of Nuremberg which explained by his being a hermit.

One of the earliest legends claims Sebaldus a contemporary of Henry III (died 1056) and of Franconian origin. After a pilgrimage in Italy, he became a preacher at Nuremberg. Another text claims that he a Frankish nobleman who met Willibald and Winibald in Italy. Later became a missionary in the Sebalder Reichswald that is associated with his name.

Other legends claim he either the son of the king of Denmark or a student in Paris who married a French princess. But then abandoned her on their wedding night to go on a pilgrimage to Rome. In these versions of the legend the Pope gave Sebaldus the mission of evangelising in the forests of Nuremberg. Which gives his ancient presence there a papal authority.

The feast day of St Sebaldus as August 19 appeared in a calendar of Olmütz of 1131-1137. Many children born in that city bore the saint’s name. The relics of the saint translated in 1397 to the new choir of the church of Saint Sebaldus. Every year his relics carried in procession.

On March 26, 1425 he formally canonized by Pope Martin V. Following a request by the Council of Nuremberg. In 1429, florins from Nuremberg began to bear his image.A Latin Vita Sancti Sebaldi written about 1480 by Sigmund Meisterlin. A peripatetic Benedictine monk who spent some time at Augsburg.