St. Ludolph of Ratzeburg

St. Ludolph of Ratzeburg was a German churchman of the thirteenth century who became a canon of the Premonstratensian order, the reformed community of canons founded by St. Norbert, and rose to be bishop of Ratzeburg in northern Germany about 1236. A man of zeal and integrity, he governed his diocese faithfully and worked to uphold the discipline and the rights of the Church.

His episcopate brought him into sharp conflict with the local temporal ruler, the Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg, who sought to encroach upon the possessions and liberties of the Church. In defending those rights Ludolph endured harassment, imprisonment, and ill-treatment at the duke's hands, and the hardships he suffered broke his health. He died in 1250 of the effects of this persecution, honored as a confessor who gave his life in defense of the freedom of the Church. He is venerated as a saint, his memory kept on 29 March.