Evermode was born in the Belgian province of Henegouwen around 1100. After
hearing a sermon preached by St. Norbert, he was so struck by the personality
and words of this apostolic man that he left everything to join him in 1120.
He became one of the most loyal disciples of Norbert. He probably accompanied
him to Antwerp, and later to Magdeburg. He was probably ordained a priest by
Norbert himself and was certainly present when Norbert transformed the collegiate
chapter of Our Lady in Magdeburg into a community of the Order. Evermode remained
Norbert’s companion until the latter’s death on June 6, 1134. Evermode
stood by his master on his deathbed and later took care to see that Norbert
was buried in the church of the Norbertine monastery of Our Lady in Magdeburg.
When Emelric, the provost of Gottesgnaden, undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy
Land, Evermode was named vice-provost and provisor of the community. Evermode
was provost at Gottesgnaden from 1134 until 1138. He adhered to what Norbert
considered the stricter rule of St. Augustine, the “ordo monasterii”
and followed in Norbert’s footsteps in the areas of clerical reform and
the conversion of the pagan Wends. After its first provost, Wigger, became bishop
of Brandenburg, Evermode was elected provost of Our Lady at Magdeburg, a post
he held from 1138 to 1154. In this function he founded the Norbertine monasteries
of Havelberg, Jericho, Quedlinburg and Pöhlde. When the diocese of Ratzeburg
was reestablished in 1154 (it had been totally destroyed by the Wends in 1066),
Evermode became its first bishop and converted the newly installed cathedral
chapter into a Norbertine chapter. It was not easy for Evermode to be caught
between the mighty Welf Prince Henry the Lion, prince of Bavaria and Saxony
at the time, upon whom he was dependent both politically and financially, and
Henry’s adversary, Archbishop Hartwig of Hamburg-Bremen, who claimed the
rights of Metropolitan over Ratzeburg and was opposed in principle to bishops
who were members of religious orders. Consequently Evermode had himself consecrated
bishop by Archbishop Arnolf of Mainz (probably on July 13, 1153). Prince Henry
gave Evermode an island and castle for building the cathedral and monastery.
Driven by the apostolic ideal, Evermode traveled throughout his diocese preaching
the Word and became for his people a light of truth. The conversion of the pagan
Wends, who were a majority in his diocese, was his first concern and he preached
missions to them himself in Noorwegen and Holstein. Future generations, even
among the Protestants, gave Evermode the titles “Light of the Saxons”
and “Apostle of the Wends.” His diocese was well organized and the
members of the cathedral chapter were confreres of the Order with the bishop
as their provost.
Old and weakened by his many labors, Evermode died as bishop of Ratzeburg on
February 17, 1178 after an episcopate of 24 years. He was buried in the presbytery
of the Romanesque cathedral of Ratzeburg. Pope Benedict XIII confirmed his cult
on March 20/April 12, 1728.
Because Ratzeburg is in the diocese of Hamburg, founded in 1995, the three holy
bishops, Evermode, Isfrid and Ludolph, were transfered from the calendar of
the diocese of Osnabrück to that of the archdiocese of Hamburg.