Norbert of Xanten
c. 1080 AD — June 6, 1134 AD
Thrown from his horse during a lightning storm and left stunned in the mud, Norbert of Xanten rose from that road a changed man — renouncing his wealth, walking barefoot across western Europe, and on Christmas Day 1120 founding the white-robed Premonstratensian Order in a remote French valley. As Archbishop of Magdeburg he pressed reform despite assassination attempts, leaving an order that planted abbeys across medieval Europe.