Saint Meinhard (1134 or 1136 – August 14 or October 11, 1196) was a German Augustinian

canon regular The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religiou ...

and the first bishop of Livonia. His life was described in the ''

Livonian Chronicle of Henry The ''Livonian Chronicle of Henry'' () is a Latin narrative of events in Livonia (roughly corresponding to today's Estonia and Latvia) and surrounding areas from 1180 to 1227. It was written by a priest named Henry. Apart from some references ...

''. His body rests in the now-Lutheran

Riga Cathedral Riga Cathedral (; ) formally The Cathedral Church of Saint Mary, is the Evangelical Lutheran cathedral in Riga, Latvia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Riga. The cathedral is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Latvia, and is featur ...

, as his remains were moved to

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

in 1226. He is venerated as the apostle of the Church in

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

(Livonia in the Middle Ages).

Life

As a canon at the Segeberg Abbey in

Holstein Holstein (; ; ; ; ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider (river), Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost States of Germany, state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 8 ...

, Meinhard was possibly inspired by Vicelinus missionary work among the

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

. Meinhard traveled with

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

merchants, probably trading costly furs, to

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

on a Catholic mission in the 1170s or early 1180s to convert pagan

Semigallians Semigallians (; ; also ''Zemgalians'', ''Semigalls'' or ''Semigalians'') were the Balts, Baltic tribe that lived in the south central part of contemporary Latvia and northern Lithuania. They are noted for their long resistance (1219–1290) agai ...

, Latgalians, and

Livonians The Livonians, or Livs, are a Balto-Finnic people indigenous to the Livonian Coast, in northwestern Latvia. Livonians historically spoke Livonian language, Livonian, a Uralic language closely related to Estonian language, Estonian and Finnish lan ...

into Christianity. He settled on the

Daugava River The Daugava ( ), also known as the Western Dvina or the Väina River, is a large river rising in the Valdai Hills of Russia that flows through Belarus and Latvia into the Gulf of Riga of the Baltic Sea. The Daugava rises close to the source of ...

Ikšķile Ikšķile (, ; , or ; ; ) is a town in Ogre Municipality, in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It was the first capital of the Roman Catholic Bishopric of Livonia, known by the List of German exonyms for places in Latvia, German name of Uexküll, ...

(German: ''Üxküll'') southeast of where today is

. In 1184, he built a stone church, dedicated to Our Lady. Following an attack by the

Lithuanians Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United Sta ...

, Meinhard brought stonemasons from

Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...

to build a fortress to defend against future attacks from raiders from Lithuania looking to carry off slaves. These were the first known stone buildings among the Baltic tribes. Remains of the church survive to this day. With the construction of the Riga Hydroelectric Power Plant in the 1970s, an artificial island was erected to prevent water from flooding the ruins."Rare opportunity to visit St. Meinhard's island by foot", LSM.lv news, August 24, 2017
/ref> For conservation the ruins were covered with metal in 2002."Ikskile church ruins on the St Meinard island", Latvian tourism board
/ref> Another stone castle was built in Salaspils (German: ''Holm'') as a gift to newly converted pagans. But the inhabitants rebelled and attacked Meinhard attempting to drive him out of Livonia. 2023 Riga Baptismal font in the Dome

When he briefly returned to Germany in 1186, Meinhard was consecrated as Bishop of Üxküll (present-day

) by Hartwig of Uthlede,

Archbishop of Bremen This list records the bishops of the Archdiocese of Bremen, Roman Catholic diocese of Bremen (), supposedly a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Cologne, Archbishopric of Cologne, then of the bishops of Bremen, who were in personal union archbishops ...

. The new bishopric was confirmed by Pope Clement III in September 1188. In 1190, Clement III allowed any monk to join Meinhard's mission. New Pope Celestine III showed more enthusiastic support for the mission in his letter in April 1193, authorizing active missionary recruitment, making exceptions to rules governing monks' food and clothing, and granting

indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission bef ...

s to those who joined the mission. Among the recruits was Theodorich from Loccum Abbey, who started a mission in Turaida (German: ''Treyden''). Meinhard initially converted the pagans by peaceful means, but faced with resistance and

apostasy Apostasy (; ) is the formal religious disaffiliation, disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is contrary to one's previous re ...

, he turned to the idea of a

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

. Meinhard was succeeded by Berthold of Hanover and

Albert of Riga Albert of Riga or Albert of Livonia ( – 17 January 1229) was the third Catholic Bishop of Riga in Livonia. As the Bishop of Livonia, in 1201, he founded Riga, the modern capital city of Latvia, and the city was later made a bishopric. The bu ...

, who began the

Livonian Crusade The Livonian crusade consists of the various military Crusade, Christianisation campaigns in medieval Livonia – modern Latvia and Estonia – during the Pope, Papal-sanctioned Northern Crusades in the 12th–13th century. Overview Historic ...

and established the

Livonian Brothers of the Sword The Livonian Brothers of the Sword (; ) was a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (monastic society), military order established in 1202 during the Livonian Crusade by Albert of Riga, Albert, the third bishop of Riga (or possibly by Theode ...

, a crusading military order, in Riga. On 8 September 1993, then

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

during a visit to the Baltic states solemnly proclaimed that he would formally restore the veneration of Saint Meinhard on 14 August each year, in a papal act considered equivalent to canonization.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meinhard 12th-century births 1196 deaths People from Segeberg German Roman Catholic missionaries Canonical Augustinian bishops 12th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Livonia 12th-century Christian saints Canonical Augustinian saints German Roman Catholic saints Canonizations by Pope John Paul II Roman Catholic missionaries in Estonia Roman Catholic missionaries in Latvia