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{{Short description|Christian missionaries in 690s Germany}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=[[Saint|Saints]]
|name=Ewald the Black <br> Ewald the Fair
|birth_date=
|death_date= c.692<ref name=staab/>
|feast_day=October 3
|venerated_in= [[Catholic Church]] <br> [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
|image=Ewalde scan.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption=Painting of the pair on the ''Ewaldi-Reliquienschrein'' at the Church of Saint Kunibert, Cologne, {{circa|1400}}
|birth_place=
|death_place=
|titles=Martyrs
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=
|patronage=[[Westphalia]]
|major_shrine=
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}

The '''Two Ewalds''' (or '''Two Hewalds''') were Saint '''Ewald the Black''' and Saint '''Ewald the White,''' [[martyr]]s in [[Old Saxony]] about 692. Both bore the same name, but were distinguished by the difference in the colour of their hair and complexions.<ref name=CE>{{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Sts. Ewald |volume=5 |first=Columba |last=Edmonds |inline=1}}</ref> They began [[Christianisation of the Germanic peoples|their mission labours]] about 690 at the ancient [[Saxons]] country, now part of [[Westphalia]], and covered by the dioceses of [[Bishopric of Münster|Münster]], [[Diocese of Osnabrück|Osnabrück]], and [[Bishopric of Paderborn|Paderborn]]. They are honored as saints in Westphalia.

==Background==
The two priests were companions, both natives of [[Northumbria]], [[England]]. According to the example of many at that time, they spent several years as students in the schools of [[Ireland]]. Ewald the Black was the more learned of the two, but both were equally renowned for holiness of life. They were apparently acquainted with St. [[Willibrord]], the Apostle of [[Friesland]], and were animated with his zeal for the conversion of the [[Germans]]. Some sources number them among the eleven companions of that saint.<ref name=CE/> More probably, however, they set out from England after St. Willibrord's departure, in an attempt to convert their own cousins in [[Old Saxony]].

They entered upon their mission about 690. The scene of [[Christianization of Saxony|their labours]] was the country of the ancient [[Saxons]], now part of [[Westphalia]], and covered by the dioceses of [[Bishopric of Münster|Münster]], [[Diocese of Osnabrück|Osnabrück]], and [[Bishopric of Paderborn|Paderborn]]. At first the Ewalds took up their abode in the house of the steward of a certain [[Saxon people|Saxon]] earl or [[ealdorman]] (satrapa). [[Bede]] remarks that "the old Saxons have no king, but they are governed by several ealdormen [satrapas] who during war cast lots for leadership, but who in time of peace are equal in power" (''[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum]]'', V, 10). The steward entertained his two guests for several days, and promised to conduct them to the chieftain. They intended to convert him and so affirmed they had a message of considerable importance to deliver to him.<ref name=CE />

The pagan Saxons, witnessing these activities of the [[Christians|Christian]] priests and missionaries, began to suspect that the Ewalds planned to convert their over-lord, destroy their temples and supplant their religion. Inflamed with jealousy and anger, they resolved that the Ewalds should die. An uprising followed and both priests were quickly seized. Ewald the Fair was killed quickly by sword; Ewald the Black was tortured and torn limb from limb, after which both their bodies were cast into the [[Rhine]]. This is understood to have happened on 3 October at a place called [[Aplerbeck]], today a district of [[Dortmund]], where a chapel still stands. When the ealdorman heard of what had been done, he became angry and fearful of reprisals, and punished the murderers by putting them to death and burning their villages.<ref name=CE/>
[[Image:Ewalde.jpg|thumb|Monument of the Ewalds standing in Dortmund-Aplerbeck, Germany]]
Christian sources describe various [[miracle]]s after the priests' deaths, including their martyred bodies being miraculously carried against the stream for the space of forty miles to the place in which the companions of the Ewalds were residing. As they floated along, says the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', "a heavenly light, like a column of fire, was seen to shine above them." Even the murderers are said to have witnessed the miraculous brightness. Moreover, one of the martyrs appeared in vision to the monk Tilmon (a companion of the Ewalds), and told him where the bodies would be found: "that the spot would be there where he should see a pillar of light reaching from earth to heaven". Tilmon arose and found the bodies, and interred them with the honours due to martyrs. From that time onwards, the memory of the Ewalds was annually celebrated in those parts. A spring of water is said to have gushed forth in the place of the martyrdom.<ref name=CE/>

[[Pippin of Herstal|Pepin]], Duke of [[Austrasia]], having heard of the wonders that had occurred, caused the bodies to be buried in [[Cologne]], where they were solemnly enshrined in the [[St. Kunibert (Cologne)|collegiate church of St. Kunibert]]. The heads of the martyrs were bestowed on Frederick, [[Bishop of Münster]], by Archbishop [[Anno of Cologne]], at the opening of the shrine in 1074. These [[relic]]s were probably destroyed by the [[Anabaptists]] in 1534. When Saint [[Norbert of Xanten|Norbert]] visited Cologne, in 1121, he obtained two small vessels containing the relics of several saints, and among them were bones of the sainted Ewalds. These were deposited either at [[Prémontré Abbey|Prémontré]] or at [[Floreffe Abbey|Floreffe]], a [[Premonstratensian]] monastery in the province of [[Namur (province)|Namur]]. The two Ewalds are honoured as [[Patron saint|patron]]s in Westphalia, and are mentioned in the ''[[Roman Martyrology]]'' on 3 October. Their feast is celebrated in the dioceses of Cologne and Münster.<ref name=CE/> The [[Saxons]] were eventually converted to [[Christianity]] by force in the 8th century by [[Charlemagne]].

Until the martyrdom of [[Saint Boniface]] in 754, the Ewalds were the last missionaries to be martyred in this area. Franz Staab, a medievalist, attributes their deaths to a lack of support from the secular government.<ref name=staab>{{cite journal
| last = Staab
| first = Franz
| title = Die Gründung der Bistümer Erfurt, Büraburg und Würzburg durch Bonifatius im Rahmen der Fränkischen und Päpstlichen Politik
| journal = [[Archiv für Mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte]]
| volume = 40
| pages = 13-41; pp. 36-37
| year = 1988
| quote = {{lang|de|Ohne den fränkischen Schutz lebte ein Missionär nicht lange genug, um seine Lehre genauer zu erläutern}}
}}</ref>

[[Druten]], in the east of the Netherlands, has a church dedicated to the Ewalds, with statues for the two made in the studio [[:nl:Atelier Cuypers-Stoltzenberg|Atelier Cuypers-Stoltzenberg]], owned by [[Pierre Cuypers]] and [[F. Stoltzenberg]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Geloof in Nederland: 2000 jaar Nederlanders en hun kerstening|language=nl|page=377|publisher=Waanders/[[Museum Catharijneconvent]]|location=Utrecht|volume=12}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/October 3|Ewald Saints, patron saint archive]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
* {{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Missions |volume=18 |page=584 |first=Eugene |display-authors=et al |last=Stock}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Two Ewalds}}
* {{PASE|10194|Hewald 1|nm=1}} and {{PASE|10193|Hewald 2}}
* [https://seaxeducation.substack.com/p/hewald-the-white-and-hewald-the-black The byname-nicknames of the two Hewalds]

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ewald}}
[[Category:Christian missionaries in Germany]]
[[Category:Groups of Christian martyrs of the Middle Ages]]
[[Category:Northumbrian saints]]
[[Category:Germanic paganism]]
[[Category:Westphalia culture]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian martyrs]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Old Saxony]]

Two Ewalds - Revision history

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