Berno, Apostle of the Obotrites
Berno, Bishop of Schwerin, also known as the Apostle of the Obotrites or Berno of Amelungsborn (died 14 January 1191) was a pre-eminent missionary to the Obotrites in the territory of Mecklenburg, Germany, and the first Bishop of Schwerin. Life Berno was a Cistercian monk in Amelungsborn Abbey near Stadtoldendorf in the Weserbergland. In 1155 he began his mission to the territory of the Obotrites around Mecklenburg. Henry the Lion appointed him Bishop of Mecklenburg, after the failure of a previously planned mission by Bishop Emmehard (d. 1155), reporting to Hartwig von Stade, Archbishop of Bremen. At the beginning of his evangelisation of the Obotrites they still adhered to the Wendish rites, and progress was slow and difficult. The inhabitants resisted conversion to the Christian faith, sometimes violently. In 1160, because of the constant danger from hostile groups, Berno moved the bishop's seat from Mecklenburg Castle to Schwerin. In the same year, with the consent of Henry the Lion, Archbishop Hartwig von Stade of Bremen subordinated the Bishopric of Schwerin to the authority of the Archbishop of Hamburg. From Schwerin Berno preached "...more powerfully the light of faith to the people who sat in darkness" Henry the Lion had founded