Saint Erhard of Regensburg | |
|---|---|
 Saint Erhard reads Mass | |
| Born | Ireland |
| Died | 7th century? Ratisbon, Germany |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church Orthodox Church |
| Canonized | 8 October 1052 by Pope Leo IX |
| Feast | 8 January |
Saint Erhard of Regensburg was bishop of Regensburg in the 7th century. He is identified with an Abbot Erhard of Ebersheimmunster mentioned in a Merovingian diploma of 684. Ancient documents call him also Erard and Herhard.
Peter Nugent, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia says, "the legendary account of his life offers little that is historically certain". [1] Erhard was born sometime in the 6th century. Modern scholars believe that he was of Frankish origin, perhaps from Narbonne in southern Gaul. His 11th century biography says he was 'Scoticus', i.e. from Ireland or Scotland. He is identified with an Erhard of Ebersheimmunster mentioned in a Merovingian diploma of 684.
Some believe that Erhard was bishop of Ardagh before crossing to the mainland with Albert of Cashel, said to be his friend or his brother and who is also celebrated on the same date. Eventually they came to Rome. While Albert then went to Jerusalem, Erhard went to Bavaria. (The difficulty with this part of the story is that there is over 100 years separating Erhard and Albert.) [2] There he met St. Hildulf, said to have been Archbishop of Trier,(although there is no Hidulf on the list of bishops of Trier.) For some time he shared the solitude of Hidulphus who lived as a hermit in the Vosges from 666 to 671.
Erhard was a traveling bishop, one of the early chorepiscopus, that is, a corb bishop or a walking bishop, who without a permanent diocese went from place to place to help the missionaries in their work. Said to have been appointed by Boniface, Erhard was probably a mission bishop at the court of the Agilofinger dukes in Regensburg. After the martyrdom of Emmeram, Erhard became bishop of Regensburg. Many monastic foundations go back to him, above all the famous monastery Niedermünster near Regensburg, which he himself led for a time as abbot. In all, he is said to have founded fourteen monasteries in Bavaria alone, and in the Vosges (Les Vosges) mountain range in the diocese of Strasbourg around seven monasteries. He was possibly the abbot of the monastery of Ebersheim. [2]
In the biography of Odile of Alsace, it is said that she was blind from birth, but that she miraculously regained her sight when she was baptized by Bishop Erhard. Another version states that Odilia was baptized by Hidulf, while Erhard was her godfather at the baptism. [1] He sent a messenger to her father, Adalrich, Duke of Alsace, and reconciled him with his disowned daughter. [3]
Ratisbon was the chief centre of his Apostolic labours, and it was there that he died, [4] but the date is uncertain.
Erhard was interred in the still-extant Erhard-crypt at Niedermünster, and miracles were wrought at his grave, that was guarded in the Middle Ages by Erhardinonnen, a religious community of women who observed there a perpetual round of prayer. [1]
Otto II, in 974, made donations of properties in the Danube valley to the convent "where the holy confessor Erhard rests". On 7 Oct 1052 the remains of the holy bishops Erhard and Saint Wolfgang were raised by Pope Leo IX in presence of Emperor Henry III and many bishops, a ceremony which was at that time equivalent to canonization. Regensburg documents, however, mention only the raising of Wolfgang, not that of Erhard. Nonetheless, he is considered to have been canonized in 1052. His relics can be found in a 19th-century silver shrine on the north side of the church. [5] According to an old martyrology from Prague, some of Erhard's relics were transferred there in the time of Emperor Charles IV (1347–78).
At the close of the eleventh century, Paul von Bernried, a monk of Fulda, at the suggestion of Abbess Heilika of Niedermünster, wrote a life of Erhard and added a second book containing a number of miracles. The learned canon of Regensburg, Conrad of Megenberg (d. 1374), furnished a new edition. The church in Niedermünster, now a parish church, still preserves his alleged crosier of the saint, made of black buffalo-horn. A bone of his skull was enclosed in a precious receptacle in 1866. In the high altar in the parish church in the village of Attaching near Freising, there is a beautiful reliquary with an arm relic of Erhard. It was given as a gift in 1720 by Archbishop Johann Franz Eckher. [6]
The most important place of pilgrimage for Erhard has been St. Erhard in Styria in Austria since the 14th century. In the city of Salzburg, the parish church of St. Erhard stands at the foot of Nonnberg. [6]
Three ancient Latin lives of the saint are found in the Acta Sanctorum (8 Jan).
Saint Erhard is a co-patron saint of the Diocese of Regensburg (with Wolfgang and Emmeram); for cattle; for shoemakers, blacksmiths and bakers; against eye diseases, plague and cattle diseases. Many hospitals are under his protection. [2] particularly in Alsace. [6]
Erhard is depicted as a bishop (tabberd, mitre, staff) with a book on which lie two eyes (allusion to the healing of Saint Odilia); Odilia baptizing; with ax (either because he chopped down a sacred tree or because he belongs to the so-called mining saints). [3]
Regensburg is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the fourth-largest city in the State of Bavaria after Munich, Nuremberg and Augsburg. From its foundation as an imperial Roman river fort, the city has been the political, economic and cultural centre of the surrounding region; it is still known in the Romance languages as a cognate of its Latin name of "Ratisbona". Later, under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, it housed the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg.
Odile of Alsace, also known as Odilia and Ottilia, born c. 662 - c. 720 at Mont Sainte-Odile), is a saint venerated in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. She is a patroness saint of good eyesight and of the region of Alsace.
Saint Wolfgang of Regensburg was bishop of Regensburg in Bavaria from Christmas 972 until his death. He is a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. He is regarded as one of the three great German saints of the 10th century, the other two being Saint Ulrich of Augsburg and Saint Conrad of Constance. Towards the end of his life Wolfgang withdrew as a hermit to a solitary spot, in the Salzkammergut region of Upper Austria. Soon after Wolfgang's death many churches chose him as their patron saint, and various towns were named after him.
Lay abbot is a name used to designate a layman on whom a king or someone in authority bestowed an abbey as a reward for services rendered; he had charge of the estate belonging to it, and was entitled to part of the income. The custom existed principally in the Frankish Empire from the eighth century until the ecclesiastical reforms of the eleventh.
Audoin, venerated as Saint Audoin, was a Frankish bishop, courtier, hagiographer and saint. He authored Vita Sancti Eligii which outlines the life and deeds of Eligius, his close friend and companion in the royal court and the Church.
Otloh of St Emmeram was a Benedictine monk, composer, writer and music theorist of St Emmeram's in Regensburg.
Ulrich of Zell, also known as Wulderic, sometimes of Cluny or of Regensburg, was a Cluniac reformer of Germany, abbot, founder and saint.
The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a series of expeditions in the 6th and 7th centuries by Gaelic missionaries originating from Ireland that spread Celtic Christianity in Scotland, Wales, England and Merovingian France. Celtic Christianity spread first within the Kingdom of Dál Riata, within Ireland and the western coast of Scotland. Since the 8th and 9th centuries, these early missions were called 'Celtic Christianity'.
Prüfening Abbey was a Benedictine monastery on the outskirts of Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany. Since the beginning of the 19th century it has also been known as Prüfening Castle. Notably, its extant dedicatory inscription, commemorating the founding of the abbey in 1119, was created by printing and is a unique document of medieval typography.
Saint Emmeram of Regensburg was a Christian bishop and a martyr born in Poitiers, Aquitaine. Having heard of idolatry in Bavaria, Emmeram travelled to Ratisbon (Regensburg) some time after the year 649 to the court of Theodo I, Duke of Bavaria. He supposedly travelled up the Loire, crossed through the Black Forest and then followed the Danube to Regensburg. Theodo welcomed Emmeram to his court, where he laboured for three years carrying out missionary work. During this time, he gained a reputation as a pious man. He died circa 652 and is buried in St. Emmeram's in Regensburg, Germany. His feast day in the Catholic Calendar of saints is September 22.
Theodo, also known as Theodo V and Theodo II, was the Duke of Bavaria from 670 or, more probably, 680 to his death. It is with Theodo that the well-sourced history of Bavaria begins. He strengthened his duchy internally and externally and, according to the medieval chronicler Arbeo of Freising, he was a prince of great power whose fame extended beyond his borders.
Adalrich, also known as Eticho, was the Duke of Alsace, the founder of the family of the Etichonids and of the Habsburg, and an important and influential figure in the power politic of late-seventh-century Austrasia.
The Diocese of Saint-Dié (Latin: Dioecesis Sancti Deodatiis; French: Diocèse de Saint-Dié is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese has the same boundaries as the département of the Vosges. The bishop's cathedra is Saint-Dié Cathedral in the town now named Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, but since 1944 has lived in Épinal, capital of the département. The Diocese of Saint–Dié is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Besançon. The current bishop is Jean-Paul Marie Mathieu, who was appointed in December 2005.
The Obermünster, or Obermünster Abbey, Regensburg, was a collegiate house of canonesses (Frauenstift) in Regensburg, Bavaria, second only to Niedermünster in wealth and power.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nantes is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in Nantes, France. The diocese consists of the department of Loire-Atlantique. It has existed since the 4th century. It is now suffragan of the Archdiocese of Rennes, Dol, and Saint-Malo, having previously been suffragan to the Archdiocese of Tours. Its see is Nantes Cathedral in the city of Nantes.
Hidulf was an abbot, founder of Moyenmoutier Abbey, and reputed bishop of Trier. He may have been born in Regensburg.
Albert of Cashel was an eighth century saint and Patron of Cashel, Ireland.
Regensburg also called Ratisbon in English and Ratisbonne in French, a German city in Bavaria, south-east Germany
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1909). "St. Erhard of Ratisbon". Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
