page_title: Werner of Oberwesel
section_title: Veneration
hierarchical_section_title: Werner of Oberwesel / Veneration
caption_attribution_description: English: Steel engraving from "Views of the Rhine" by William Tombleson (around 1840): Village of Bacharach and ruin of the Werner Chapel
context_page_description: Werner of Oberwesel was a 16-year-old boy whose unexplained death was blamed on Jews, leading to revenge killings of Jews across Europe. He was venerated as a Christian saint, and his memorial day was 19 April.
  Saint Werner's Chapel in Oberwesel on the Rhine was established in 1289 and became a popular pilgrimage site. His veneration prompted other allegations against Jews, such as Host desecration and ritual murder.
context_section_description: The royal instructions to burn Werner's body, to prevent any further veneration, were not followed. Werner was buried on 30 April 1287 and alleged miracles began to be reported as the veneration spread as a martyr cult. The Cunibert Chapel in Bacharach was expanded beginning in 1289 to become the present Saint Werner's Chapel. The planned expansion of the chapel into a large church remained unfinished after 1338. A further construction also failed owing to the decline of the veneration of martyrs and shrinking revenue to the church from pilgrims.
  The 1338 Latin legend alleges the Jews hung Werner by his feet. Then they had him thrown into the Rhine. At the point in Bacharach where the body was supposedly washed ashore, Saint Werner's Chapel was built. A second sanctuary was built in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit Hospital of Oberwesel, 7 kilometers downstream.
  Count Palatine Ludwig III aspired to a revival of the cult. Attempts towards Canonisation were made 1426-1429 , the chapel was finally completed. After 1548 some of the relics were transferred to Besançon, spreading the Werner mythology.
  Although the chapel was destroyed in the 17th century, Werner was venerated in the Diocese of Trier until 1963.
  In iconography, Werner is depicted with a sickle as well as a shovel and pan. He has been acknowledged as a patron saint of winemakers.
caption: "Views of the Rhine" by William Tombleson (1840), ruins of Saint Werner's Chapel, Bacharach (Rhine romanticism).
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