Anderl (Andreas) Oxner von Rinn, also known as Andreas Oxner, ( 1459 – 12 July 1462) is a

folk saint Folk saints are dead people or other spiritually powerful entities (such as indigenous spirits) venerated as saints, but not officially canonization, canonized. Since they are saints of the "folk", or the ''populus'', they are also called popular s ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. A later writer alleged that the three-year-old boy had been ritually murdered by the

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

in the village of Rinn (Northern

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

, currently part of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

). The story is an example of a

Blood libel Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mu ...

common in medieval Europe.

Initial accusations

Andrew, if he existed at all, was supposedly the child of day laborers Simon and Maria Oxner. After his father's death, the mother allegedly entrusted the child to his uncle Johann Meyer, an innkeeper. On 12 July 1462, Andrew disappeared, and his mother found his body hanging from a tree in a nearby forest. The uncle claimed that he had sold the child to some traveling merchants.Smith, Helmut Walser. ''The Butcher's Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town'', W. W. Norton & Company, 2003, p. 107
/ref> The child's body was buried in a cemetery of Ampass without any investigation. In 1619, Hyppolyte Guarinoni allegedly heard a story about a little boy buried in Rinn who had been murdered by Jews, and dreamt that his year of death was 1462. Research suggests that a child named Andreas Oxner perhaps never existed. Nonetheless, celebrations of the cult began in 1621 and, by the late 17th century, they occurred in all the Tyrol region. Around 1677–85, the inhabitants of Rinn solemnly transferred Andrew's body to Rinn, imitating the cult of

Simon of Trent Simon of Trent (; , also known as ; 1472–1475), also known as Saint Simon (or Simeon) of Trent, was a young boy from the city of Trento, Trent, in the Prince-Bishopric of Trent (now Trentino, Italy), whose disappearance and death were blamed on ...

. The alleged scene of the crime, known as the "

Judenstein Judenstein ("Jew stone") is a district of the village of Rinn, Austria, in the state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol. In 1671, the blood libel cult of Anderl von Rinn emerged, and a church (building), church was built around a rock where a child (Anderl, ...

" (or Jews' Stone),Medieval Sourcebook: A Blood Libel Cult: Anderl von Rinn, d. 1462
www.fordham.edu. became a place of pilgrimage and locus of antisemitism in area.

Tale

The tale of the Anderl's

ritual murder Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease deity, gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/prie ...

, known as ''Der Judenstein'' (The Jews' Stone), is largely part of a Tyrolian oral tradition and only a few written versions exist. It was recorded by the Grimm Brothers in '' Deutsche Sagen'' (1816/1818).

Veneration

In 1752, Pope

Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV (; ; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Benedict X (1058–1059) is now con ...

beatified Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the ...

Anderl, but in 1755 refused to canonize him and stated that the Roman Church did not formally venerate him. Popular theatrical performances based on the writings of Guarinoni were performed until 1954 and facilitated the spread of the

blood libel Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mu ...

legend. The

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...

revived the tale in 1816 when they published the first volume of their German legends. In 1893, a book appeared, ''Four Tyrolian Child Victims of Hassidic Fanaticism'' by Viennese priest Josef Deckert. The cult of Anderl von Rinn persisted in Austria until the 1990s. In 1985, Bishop of Innsbruck Reinhold Stecher ordered the body transferred from the church to the churchyard of Judenstein, and forbade his cult in 1994. Some ultra-conservative Christians still make a procession to his grave every year.

References

External links

Fordham University: The Jesuit University of New York; Medieval Sourcebook: A Blood Libel Cult: Anderln von Rinn d. 1462
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxner, Andreas 1450s births 1462 deaths 15th-century Austrian people 15th-century Christian saints Child murder in Austria Blood libel Antisemitism in Austria Austrian Roman Catholic saints German Roman Catholic saints Roman Catholic child saints Christian antisemitism in the Middle Ages Folk saints People from Innsbruck-Land District Year of birth uncertain Medieval Austrian saints Religious controversies in Austria

Initial accusations

Tale

Veneration

See also

References

Further reading

External links