Anderl (Andreas) Oxner von Rinn, also known as Andreas Oxner, (c. 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 canonized. Since they are saints of the "folk", or the ''populus'', they are also called popular saints. Like ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

in the village of Rinn (Northern

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

, currently part of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

). 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 was said to have been 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 (german: Simon von Trient, also known as Simon Unverdorben (meaning Simon Immaculate in German); it, Simonino di Trento), also known as Simeon (1472–1475), was a boy from the city of Trent (now Trento in northern Italy), in th ...

. The alleged scene of the crime, known as the " Judenstein" (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 gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

, 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 ''Deutsche Sagen'' ("German Legends") is a publication by the Brothers Grimm, appearing in two volumes in 1816 and 1818. The collection includes 579 short summaries of German folk tales and legends (where " German" refers not just to German-spea ...

'' (1816/1818).

Veneration

In 1752, Pope

Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto 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 Be ...

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to Intercession of saints, intercede on behalf of individua ...

Anderl, but in 1755 refused to

canonize Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...

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 (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

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 Josef Deckert (17 November 1843, in Drösing, Lower Austria – 23 March 1901), also known as Francis, was an Austrian Catholic priest and anti-Semitic agitator. Deckert was a propagandist of the blood libel against the Jews. From the 1870s Dec ...

. 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 Murdered Austrian children 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