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Saint Nicholas of Flüe
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Saint Nicholas of Flüe

Farmer, judge and father who became a hermit and helped keep Switzerland at peace

Rank
Saint
Kind
Layperson
Life
1417 – 1487
Era
15th century
Feast
21 March
Countries
Switzerland
Switzerland

Life story

Nicholas was born in 1417 at Flüeli in the canton of Obwalden, into a reasonably prosperous farming family. He worked the land, served as a soldier in the Confederation's wars when young, and later held public offices including those of judge and member of the cantonal council. He married Dorothea Wyss, and they had ten children.

At nearly fifty, feeling called to a life of prayer, he left his family in 1467 with his wife's consent and lived as a hermit in the Ranft gorge, not far from home. People called him Brother Klaus. According to contemporaries he lived for years almost entirely on the Eucharist without eating normally, a claim that local authorities and bishops looked into at the time. Visitors came from across the region to seek his advice.

In 1481 the Swiss Confederation stood on the brink of civil war after the cities and the mountain cantons disagreed over the division of spoils and the admission of new members. At the Diet of Stans the delegates could not reach agreement. According to tradition, the parish priest of Stans, Heini am Grund, went to consult Nicholas, and soon afterwards the delegates reached the Stanser Verkommnis, which preserved the peace.

Nicholas died at Ranft on 21 March 1487, his birthday. Pope Pius XII canonised him in 1947. The Swiss honour him as a native saint, and his hermitage at Ranft remains a place of pilgrimage.

Works and witness

  • Farmer, soldier, judge and member of the Obwalden council
  • Married Dorothea Wyss and raised ten children
  • Left home in 1467 to live as a hermit in the Ranft gorge
  • His advice helped preserve peace after the Diet of Stans, 1481
  • Canonised in 1947

Patron of

Switzerland

Saints from the same country

Saint Gall, Saint Francis de Sales, Saint Peter Canisius, Saint Columbanus

References

  • Martyrologium Romanum
  • Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
  • Heinrich Wölflin, Life of Brother Klaus (Bruder Klaus, 1501)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.