Trees of the Saints


Tree of the Saints of Pernegg


Arbor candidissimae Norbertinae familiae –
“The Tree of the Brilliant White Norbertine Family.” Such is the title given to a representation which shows a tree growing out of the left side (from the heart) of St. Norbert with the saints (beati) of our Order. They are arranged like fruits and flowers on branches which shoot forth from the huge trunk rooted in S. Norbertus and passing for the most part through B. Hugo at the center of the branches. “Like a growing olive tree extends its branches in a fertile garden, so may your family extend, St. Norbert, throughout all the earth.”
This engraving on leather is the work of Tobias Bidenherter from the Lower Austrian abbey of Pernegg. It is found on the interior plate of a bookcover from which it was recently removed and restored. It is the most ancient of the family trees of the saints. The abbey of Geras gifted Abbot General Thomas Handgrätinger with an enlarged copy of this tree with the dedication: