Ludolph was a Norbertine canon at the cathedral of Ratzeburg where for a time
he held the office of provisor. He was elected bishop of Ratzeburg in 1236.
He led such a strict religious life with his confreres in the shadow of the
cathedral that his community was nicknamed the “prison of the order.”
Like a good shepherd he focused all his energies on the care of souls. He preached
and made pastoral visitations. The pope entrusted him with several political
missions. His most difficult trial as Bishop involved standing up to the civil
authorities: Ludolph was forced to fight for the rights and freedom of the Church.
Prince Albert of Sachsen-Lauenburg, the “Bear of Saxony,” took possession
of properties belonging to the cathedral, an act which Ludolph resisted. Insults
and threats would not intimidate him. Albert consequently ordered Ludolph thrown
into the dungeon, where he had to suffer severe tortures. Realizing that his
treatment of the bishop was unpopular, the prince decided to set Ludolph free.
After his release from prison he was brought half dead to Prince John of Mecklenburg
and taken to the Franciscans at Wismar where he died a few days later on March
29, 1250.
After his death numerous favors recieved were reported by those who visited
his grave in the Cathedral of Ratzeburg. Ludolph is venerated as a “martyr
for the freedom of the Church.” At the request of the confreres of Lorraine
and Hohenburg, and the Procurator General Norbert Mattens, the centuries-old
veneration of St. Ludolph was confirmed and extended to the whole Order by Pope
Benedict XIII on March 20/April 12, 1728. The head of St. Ludolph was kept in
the possession of the Norbertine nuns of Meer beginning in the seventeenth century.
After the secularization of this convent it came into the possession of Karl
Albert von Beyer, the last abbot of Hamborn. Abbot von Beyer in turn bequeathed
the relic to the abbey of Averbode before 1842. On August 30, 1970 St. Ludolph’s
head was returned to Hamborn. 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.