NICHOLAS OF FLE, SAINT,

born March 21?, 1417, Fleli, near Sachseln, Obwalden, Switz. died March 21, 1487, Ranft; canonized 1947; feast day in Switzerland September 25, elsewhere March 21 byname Brother Klaus, German Sankt Niklaus von Fle, or Bruder Klaus hermit, popular saint, and Swiss folk hero. His intervention in a conflict between cantonal factions over the admission of Fribourg and Solothurn to the Swiss Confederation led to the agreement of Stans (Dec. 22, 1481), which forestalled civil war and strengthened the federative bond of the member cantons. After serving with his cantonal contingent in the war against Zrich (143650), Fle was elected judge and councillor for upper Unterwalden (1448), but in 1467 he left his wife and family and his civil functions to become a hermit. The nature of his intervention at Stans is still disputed; but by his admonitions to moderation, he entered popular Swiss tradition as one of the earliest champions of arbitration as a method for resolving disputes.