Baden's Blessed Bernhard

Beautiful statue of Bernhard,
the Christian warrior.

Today in the Sunday Newspaper, I read an article about the blessed Bernhard of Baden and how all attempts to make him a saint have failed so far. Having studied regional history for nearly a decade, I was shocked that I had not read about him earlier.

Margrave Bernhard lived from 1428 until 1458, when he died from the plague in Moncalieri, Italy. Little is known about Bernhard, and is this scanty information worthy of a saint? Like all rulers of earlier and later times, he tried to find glory in war activities. So, in 1453, Bernhard led a group of mercenaries to Italy to conquer Naples for his uncle René of Anjou.

But mind you, there are just and unjust wars depending on which side you are looking at. What makes Bernhard worthy in the eyes of the Church is his call for a crusade against the Turks, who had taken Constantinople in 1453. They called the city Istanbul, which, according to a song from the 70s, is nobody's business other than the Turks. 

What helps in Bernhard's canonization process is that this crusade, with all its war atrocities, never took place such that the Battle of Varna in 1444 is considered the last crusade.

Now, Freiburg's archbishop Robert Zollitsch is making another attempt to convince the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of Bernhard's holiness. 

I regard this with envy. Who is looking into Blessed Manfred's cause?

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