During the pontificate of St Gregory VII (1073-1085), there was a very wealthy man of the highest Italian nobility who fought heroically against the enemies of the Church and shed his blood for her: St Erlembald, Duke of Milan.
Newsdesk (04/01/2023 7:39 AM, Gaudium Press) From a very early age Erlembald entered the military path and, though not very robust, he was as brave as a lion. The palace he owned in Milan – Northern Italy – was equal in magnificence to that of a king.
He always appeared in public richly dressed, as befitted his dignity, accompanied by a splendid retinue. When he walked through the streets of Milan, the people accompanied him to pay him homage. But, if he saw in the crowd any ill or sick person, he ordered that he be led discreetly to his palace, where the Duke himself kindly cared for him.
Combating depraved ecclesiastics
After making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he wished to enter the monastic life. However, Saint Deacon Arialdo recommended that he fight for the Church by remaining in his high office, since simony [the buying and selling of church offices] and moral corruption of the clergy were favoured by many holders of civil power.
Saint Erlembald then went to Rome where Pope Alexander II ordered him to return to Milan to help Saint Arialdo in the fight against the enemies of the Church, and gave him a banner which he called ‘Saint Peter’. He carried this papal symbol with pride for 18 years.
Alexander II had been trained at Cluny, together with the monk Hildebrand, the future Saint Gregory VII. When he was the Bishop of Lucques [central Italy], Alexander II founded the Pataria [the Patarines], a movement that fought against ecclesiastics who were simoniacs, married or engaged in concubinage. Most of its members were laymen of the people, who went about the cities and countryside speaking against debauched clerics and in favour of priestly celibacy.
Saint Arialdo became one of the main religious leaders of the Pataria, and Saint Erlembald was its military commander.
He died holding the banner of St Peter
When St. Peter Damian, as papal legate, arrived in Milan in order to correct the grave errors that were rife in the clergy, he gave full support to the Patarines and demanded that the clerics take an oath against simony.
All agreed, but the archbishop of that city, as soon as some seats became vacant, continued his nefarious trafficking in ecclesiastical offices.
The most faithful Duke Erlembald went to Rome to confer with the Pope, and returned to Milan with a bull excommunicating the wicked archbishop. The latter gathered a huge crowd in front of the cathedral and, holding the papal document in his hand, said that the Milanese would never submit to the Roman Church and incited them against Arialdo and Erlembald, who were inside.
The clerics attacked Arialdo who was seriously wounded while the laymen launched themselves against Erlembald who defended himself so well with his sword that no one could touch him.
Murder of the Deacon Arialdo, leader of the Pataria
Having recovered from his injuries, Deacon Arialdo undertook a journey to Rome. On the way, supporters of the simoniac archbishop arrested him and dragged him to a deserted place, where he was killed by two clerics who horribly mutilated him. It was the year 1066.
Against the opponents of the Church, St. Erlembald maintained various other struggles, and Pope St. Gregory VII, who assumed the pontificate in 1073, encouraged him in this most noble ideal.
Unable to defeat him in battle, his enemies resorted to murder. One day while St. Erlembald was speaking to the people, a mob of thugs rushed at him and killed him. The Man of God was holding the banner of St. Peter in his hands when he breathed his last.
The death of the intrepid knight of Christ, as St. Gregory VII called him, was mourned by all true Catholics, even as far away as England.
Shortly afterwards, Blessed Urban II elevated Erlembald to the ranks of the Saints. His memory is celebrated on July 27th.
The Archbishop of Milan acted like a “little Luther”
We summarize below some comments of Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira about Saint Erlembald.
“Italy at that time was divided into two currents: one obeyed the Roman Church, infallible Seat of St. Peter; the other had tinges of heresy, but was characterized, besides the doctrinal defect, also by the fact that its members had very bad morals and practiced simony, an act by which a person sells an ecclesiastical office. […]
“There was, however, a consolation for the Church which was the Order of Cluny, which flourished in a religious current that represented rigorism, having at its head the Holy See and whose greatest exponent was Saint Gregory VII, preceded by a series of Popes who were also saints, worthy, courageous and who fought heresies, simony, corruption with all their strength […]
“While the current of Cluny is attempting the reform of the Church, we see two Saints of exceptional stature appear in Milan. One of them is Blessed Arialdo, a cleric deeply opposed to simony, against which he fights with ecclesiastical religious weapons. And the extraordinary figure of this Duke, with a name that is also a little extraordinary, at least to [our] ears: Erlembald. […]
“Milan has always been one of the main cities of Italy, situated in the Po Valley, at the centre of a number of roads, one of the richest regions of Europe, a very intelligent, cultured, political and artistic people. Soon, to be Duke of Milan came to signify being one of the highest rulers in Italy.
“A Duke of Milan at that time had weight in international politics, because the kings of France, the emperors of the Holy Empire lived on quarrels, and the support they had from the Italian cities shifted, in favour of one or the other, the political scales, so that often these small principalities of Northern Italy were trustees of the international balance […]
The Archbishop who “takes the bull from Rome, in which the Pope excommunicates him, and takes it to destroy it, doing a real Protestant action, is like a “little Luther” crying out for independence for the Church of Milan.”[2]
Let us ask Saint Erlembald to obtain for us from God the highest degree of the virtue of combativeness — for the enemies of the Church are worse today than those of his time.
By Paul Francis Martos
[1] Cf. PROFILLET, Charles Les saints militaires: Martyrologe, vies et notices. Paris: Retaux-Bray, 1890. DARRAS, Joseph Epiphane. Histoire Génerale de l’Église. Paris: Louis Vivès. 1875, v. XXI, p. 358, 433, 435 passim.
[2] CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Intrépido cavaleiro de Cristo. In Dr. Plinio. São Paulo. Ano XXII, n.256 (julho 2019), p. 28-30.
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan