March 27 is the feast of an important saint from the Germanic world, Rupert of Salzburg. He is one of the saints referenced below in a paper from 1900 on ‘Erin’s Saints and Monks in Germany’. I reprint this with the caveat that one has to be careful in claiming Irish antecedents for continental European saints.  Although there are many Irish saints whose careers in Europe are well-documented, Columbanus, Gall and Virgil, to use some examples from this text, there was also a fashion among European monasteries in the middle ages to claim Irish founders. Seventeenth-century martyrologists working in exile on the continent were only too keen to talk up Ireland’s European links and nineteenth-century Irish writers only too happy to accept such claims at face value. The ever-sceptical Father John Lanigan (d.1825), however dismissed claims that Saint Rupert and his relatives should be numbered among the Irish saints, a verdict which modern historians would uphold. That said, this paper is still an enjoyable read, particularly the address made to Daniel O’Connell in 1844 from the heads of the German Universities, acknowledging their country’s debt to Ireland:

ERIN’S SAINTS AND MONKS IN GERMANY.

By M.R. Taylor.

“Let us now praise men of renown and our fathers in their generation.”— Eccl xliv: i.

“From the Queen Island of the West,
As from a source of light,
Went forth the Gospel messengers
That chased the old world’s night.

Nay, God’s good Providence decreed
That o’er the world’s wide face.
Her exiles still should sow Faith’s seed,
An apostolic race.”

IN
April, 1844, the immortal Daniel O’Connell received from the
distinguished heads of German Universities an address of sympathy, in
which Germany’s debt to ancient Ireland is acknowledged in the following
graceful language: “We entertain towards the ill-treated people of your
beloved isle the deepest and sincerest sympathy. A land sighing under
the yoke of bondage, a land red with the blood of martyred patriots,
necessarily enlists the pity of men not yet dead to human instincts.
Indifference to misfortune of this sort would argue total loss of
nature’s finer feelings. Want of sympathy in the present crisis would
besides render us guilty of another and a deeper crime — that of the
blackest ingratitude. We can never forget that your fond country is our
mother in the Faith. From the remotest period of the Christian era she
commiserated our people. To rescue our pagan ancestors from idolatry and
secure to them the blessings of the true Faith she generously sent
forth her heroic sons, sacrificing her own wealth and her children’s
blood. Along with a rich store of merit for the people of Ireland,
Catholicity in Germany is the result of their labors, and we can never,
but by the basest kind of indifference, lose memory of the fact. When we
behold the native land of these faithful apostles delivered over to
undeserved misfortune, the fact rises all the more vividly to our mind.”

This affectionate expression of gratitude to Erin, voiced by
the learned men of Germany, must make every true Irish heart throb with
new emotions of pleasure. Faith and civilization are of a  truth God’s
highest gifts to man. Hence the propriety of forever holding sacred the
memory of such holy missionaries as heralded the advent of these
heavenly blessings among a people. The Church has already raised the
greater number of them to her altars, to receive, as saints, the homage
and veneration due their heroic lives of virtue, self-sacrifice and
Godlike love.

When St. Patrick preached to her roving
inhabitants the truths of salvation, imparting to them belief in the
Triune God, Erin saw the dawn of her golden age, and for centuries after
she was great and glorious among the nations of the world. Schools and
monasteries arose, towns and cities were built. Universities attracted
the flower of Europe’s youth, who, like St Fulgentius,

“Exemplo patrum, commotus amore legendi
Ivit ad Hibernos, sophia mirabile claros”

“What way in search of lore his fathers went,
To Erin, wisdom’s shrine, his steps he bent.”

That
was a period of peace and prosperity, when liberty stamped the golden
harp upon the emerald banner, an age of fervent simplicity, alive in the
one true Faith upon which the happiness of  heart and mind centred.

In
this golden age Ireland stretched a merciful hand across the wide
waters, sent her sons to distant lands to lavish upon others the
abundant blessings she enjoyed, to bring to tribes submerged in
barbarism the light of salvation, true religion allied with
civilization.

Strange, too, that in those portions of Germany
where Irish saints planted the tree of Christianity it has neither
withered nor died, while in other parts it has bent, broken and fallen,
and only scattered fragments suggest its early existence. There are
indeed few lands as thoroughly Catholic as little Bavaria, once St.
Rupert’s spiritual field; as Tyrol, in whose towering mountains a St.
Virgil (Feargal) scattered the seed of religion; as Southern Baden, or
beyond the lake in northern Switzerland, where a St. Fintan, a St. Gall,
a St. Fridolin, brought heaven’s grace to the Teutonic tribe inhabiting
the region.

St Columban is rightly termed “The Father of
Ireland’s Foreign Missions.” Born in 539, he was reared a monk, and
learning the science of true asceticism became the lawgiver of a host of
spiritual disciples.

He set out in 589 for the continent,
selecting for himself twelve companions. The fact that Irish apostles
invariably chose that number of disciples is another proof, that in
every particular they followed the example of the God-Man, who with
twelve followers began the world’s christianization.

Northern
Europe was then sitting in the “shadow of death;” in Italy and France,
from the Alps to the Baltic, paganism reigned supreme.

Landing
in France, they founded the monasteries at Aurgray and Luxeuil, piously
aided by Sigebert, King of Austrasia and Burgundy. But their stay here
was of short duration. Theodoric, Sigebert’ s successor, ordered their
expulsion from his dominions. They travelled to Germany and settled in a
place called Tucconia, near Lake Turicin, now known as Zurich, in
Switzerland.

The great apostle was not alone in his misfortune.
Devoted followers shared his exile, and foremost among them was the
zealous St. Gall. He was the son of parents possessing a goodly store of
blessings spiritual and temporal, and as conspicuous for piety and
charity as for riches. To God, the giver of all good things, who had
manifested so many unmistakable signs of favor towards them, they
offered Gall in the days of his infancy and sent him at an early age to
the monastery of Bangor to be educated under the tutelage of the holy
Abbots Comgal and Columban. Within this hallowed abode sacred learning
flourished, and Gall made rapid progress in the study of Holy Scripture,
the liberal arts and in the observance of regular discipline.

Abandoning his native land, he shared St. Columban’s apostolic labors and trials.

Together
they reached Tucconia, where St. Gall set fire to a pagan temple and
caused the offerings to be thrown into a neighboring lake. The
idolaters, exasperated at this conduct, resolved to  put the missionary
to death, but he had the good fortune to escape from their hands with
St. Columban. Reaching the castle of Arbona, situated on a river of that
name which flows into Lake Constance, both were hospitably detained
seven days by a holy priest, Willimar. During this time plans were
discussed for a place of retreat in the interior.

They learned
from their host of an old building called Bregantium in Rhaetia, later
known as Bregent in the country of the Grisons, and thither they
journeyed.

St. Gall preached the Gospel to the inhabitants of
the canton, converting many. Those who remained obdurate persecuted the
monks and slew two of their number. Gunzo, governor of the country,
declared himself their enemy and Theodoric, by the death of Theodebert,
becoming master of Austrasia, St. Columban was forced to abandon his
undertakings in this territory and seek refuge in Italy.

Gall
determined to go with him, but a serious fever prevented his departure
and forced a separation. St. Columban left for Italy and Gall returned
to Willimar, with whom he remained until his complete recovery. The
desire of leading a solitary life induced him to return to the desert.
Here he built cells which were the foundation of the famous abbey
bearing his name. Becoming acquainted with the language of the natives,
St. Gall made so many converts among the idolaters that he may he justly
regarded the “Apostle of the Alemanni”. A beautiful daughter of Gunzo,
the governor, possessed by a devil, was delivered by the saint and
acting on his advice, consecrated her virginity to God, in the monastery
of St. Peter at Metz.

At the time of this miracle the Bishopric
of Constance was vacant. Constance bears the distinction of being one
of the most ancient cities of Germany, and its splendid cathedral is a
model of medieval architecture. In 1417 a council assembled in this
venerable town to settle a dispute as to the lawful successor of St.
Peter.

Gunzo wrote to our hermit begging his assistance at a
synod, held for the purpose of electing a prelate for the aforesaid
Bishopric. The duke, bishops, clergy and people, earnestly desired to
put the saint in this exalted position. He repaired thither at their
urgent request, attended by a deacon named John, who for three years had
been his disciple. St. Gall refused the honor and desired the clergy
and people to make John, his companion and a descendant of a royal
family of Ireland, their bishop, and his election followed. At the
consecration St. Gall delivered the sermon, considered a model of
ancient Irish oratory. On October 16, 646, St. Gall departed this life
at the age of ninety-five.

The abbey known by his name changed
the rule of St. Columban for that of St. Benedict in the eighth century.
It was enriched by the liberality of Charles Martel, Louis Debonnaire
and Louis the Large. The estates and civil jurisdiction possessed by the
monastery became so considerable that Henry I. raised it to a
principality of the empire. Its domain was curtailed during the civil
wars, waged by the Calvinists. The town of St. Gall, by embracing the
religion of the insurgents, deprived the abbot of what rights he before
enjoyed. These were the rank of prince, the right of suffrage in the
general Diet, an extensive jurisdiction and an annual income of one
hundred thousand ducats. He had, besides, a mint, and when the Helvetic
Diet required auxiliaries, could raise an army of twelve thousand men.

St.
Gall’s Abbey, one of the most striking of the primitive foundations, is
famous for the galaxy of learned men it produced, and for its library,
which abounded in valuable manuscripts and printed books. A great number
of these, however, were stolen and lost in the civil wars.

Of
the writings of St. Gall extant we have the sermon before mentioned; a
discourse upon Church Government, and a Psalter, of which Joachim
Vadiamus speaks in his treatise on colleges and  monasteries. To-day
this abbey is almost a ruin. Like Ireland, the holy house had its age of
blessings and prosperity when its influence was felt from sea to sea.

The
monasteries founded by the monks of St. Gall’s were numerous and
distinguished, notably Richeman, on a little island in Lake Constance,
which like the first institution, was one of the most influential abbeys
of the Empire. It, too, has fallen into decay. A portion of the abbey
is reserved for the residence of the Bishop, who administers the affairs
of the still flourishing see of St. Gall’s.

As the apostle of
Bavaria and German Austria, the Church venerates St. Rupert, also called
Rudbert or Robert. Irish historians declare him their countryman,
though the French deny this  claim. However, the deepest research rather
favors the former.

Son of the Hy-king of Hibernia, he was born
in the year 537 and baptized by a nephew of St. Patrick. Early in life
he dedicated himself to the service of religion, making a compact with
his  brother Trudbertus and sister Erentrude to forsake home and labor
for souls in a pagan land. They reached Rome by way of the Alps. While
in the Eternal City, Rupert was enlightened by the Holy Spirit to make
that portion of Europe later known as Germany the scene of his labors.
Trudbertus separated from his companions, proceeding to the territory of
the Rauraci. Rupert with Erentrude finally arrived at Worms, celebrated
in the civil and ecclesiastical vicissitudes of central Europe.

Childebert,
son of Sigebert, was king of Austrasia, one of the three divisions of
“Greater Gaul.” He bade Rupert welcome, and he straightway set to work.
Numbers, hearing of his miracles and teachings, came to receive
instruction and baptism at his hands.

So filled with admiration
for the saint were princes and people that Rupert was, shortly after his
arrival, elevated to the dignity of Bishop of Worms. The rebukes of the
prelate provoking the hatred of a tyrant, named Borcharius, a deputy
governor of the province, he was assailed by the vilest calumnies and
ultimately driven from his Bishopric in 580.

Worms, in the
Middle Ages, was glorious as a residence of Charlemagne, who called
Irish monks to construct its venerable cathedral, as well as that of Aix
la-Chapelle. The famous round towers awaken pleasant recollections of
similar architectural adornment in Ireland. ” Salvete Turres ” we may
say today; but alas! Catholic voices and prayers have ceased within.
Worms expelled the Irish saint, her faith fell a victim to the
Reformation and the city is now Protestant.

For many months the
meek and holy Rupert lingered near the confines of Austrasia, hoping his
persecutors would relent, but in vain. Then the prelate returned to
Rome. Again he was admonished to select Germany as the field of his
endeavors, and obedient to the Heaven-sent command, departed in 582 for
Bavaria.

At this time Theodore the Elder was duke of that
district. Although a pagan, through the influence of his wife
Regintrude, a fervent Christian, his heart was favorably disposed to
receive the counsels of the zealous Rupert, and he summoned him to
Ratisbon. The saint was welcomed with all possible marks of honor, and
invited to preach the truths of the Gospel to the people. The old Roman
city of Reginium, now called Ratisbon, was then the capital, and thither
the Bishop journeyed to appear before the ducal court. Theodore and his
courtiers acted as escort and the saint’s entry was a signal triumph.

The
inhabitants of Bavaria had previously received the tenets of
Christianity from St. Severin ; but had entirely fallen away from his
teachings. The work of evangelizing had therefore to be begun anew.
Rupert turned his first attention to the ruling classes. Within a brief
period his eloquence, learning and versatile genius so captivated the
hearts of the nobles, that they straightway determined to embrace the
religion taught by the wonderful Irish missionary.

The baptism
of Duke Theodore and his court was attended with the greatest
impressiveness and splendor. He became the prelate’s most enthusiastic
co- operator, accompanying him on his visits  to the villages, town and
castles of the nobles, and, at the solicitation of the prince, Rupert
traversed the whole extent of his dominions, paganism fleeing at his
approach.

Ratisbon claims St. Rupert as its first bishop. There
he commenced his apostolic labors in Southern Germany, and for nearly
forty years his work was an uninterrupted success. This city, retaining
much of its medieval character, is pleasantly situated on the right bank
of the Danube, while the first hill of the Bohemian forest almost
touches its gate. German Emperors, in the Middle Ages, made it their
residence and it became a centre of learning and religion, as well as of
political and commercial influence. The magnificent cathedral, a
counterpart of Cologne’s famous cathedral, was begun in the thirteenth
century, the present illustrious Bishop accomplishing the work of its
completion. It is dedicated to the Prince of the Apostles, but a
beautiful Gothic altar is consecrated to St. Rupert, and his statue
surmounts the smaller tower. No city of the continent is richer than
Ratisbon in monuments of the Irish saints and monks. One of the parish
churches contains the tomb and relics of St. Mercherdach, who came from
Erin in 1040, with twelve companions. Blessed Marianus founded a
renowned monastery, under the Rule of St. Benedict, exclusively tor
Irish monks. To-day its life is extinguished, though the buildings and
handsome church remain. This abbey is usually known among the natives as
the Scots’ church. That it was an Irish institution, as were other
grand establishments at Vienna, Wurzburg, etc. , no historian doubts.
The ancient Irish were called Scots. Witness the following couplet:

“Phoenio Phoenius adbhearta brighgan dochta.
Gavidhel o Gavidhal-glas ganta, Scuit o Scota”   

‘Beyond question we are called Phaenians from Phaenius, 

Gadelians from Gadelglas, and Scots from Scota. ‘

In
the British Museum there is an ancient German manuscript, dating
probably from the eleventh century, which describes in a quaint way, the
ecclesiastical foundation in Ratisbon, by pious men from Hibernia:

“Darnach ze Kurtzer zeit geschach,
Daz man trolich chomen sach,
Manich schar guter manne vil,
Als ich evch beshaiden wil.
Sie furen von yberina
In pilgreins weise dort und da,
Ze Rome wollten sie gahen
Und gutlichen da empfahen
Von gots genad pabstlichen segen.”

“Soon
afterwards it happened that many a band of good men came, joyful and
glad, as I wish to relate. They came from Hibernia in pilgrims’ garb on
their way to Rome. They desired then to receive God’s grace and the
Pope’s blessing.” These were heartily welcomed in St. Rupert’s city, and
in 1120 the monastery and church of St. James were built. At this time
Prince Connor, of Ireland, spared neither money nor labor to render the
abbey worthy of his countrymen. Old chronicles say, “The erection of so
spacious a cloister, of such remarkable workmanship, abounding in
stately turrets, walls, pillars and vaults, so expeditiously
constructed, must be wholly attributed to the immense sums of money
appropriated for that pious purpose by the King of Ireland and by other
nobles of the realm.”

St. James’ is still a stately monument of
medieval Irish architecture. The massive interior columns are surmounted
with capitals, carved to represent angels, birds, oak leaves, vines,
and figures innumerable. The windows bear images of the principal Irish
saints, Patrick, Columban, Bridget and Gertrude. The grand entrance has a
cornice ornamented with the shamrock, or, as a German sculptor
expresses it, “St. Patrick’s leaf”. Letters of the Irish alphabet are
chiseled in many stones of the edifice, on some also the cross. The same
workmanship is displayed on the Irish church at Gocking, Bavaria; and
the portal of St. Emerari’s Abbey, in Ratisbon, dating from this period,
reminds one of Cormac’s Chapel, in Ireland.

Let us now return to St. Rupert and his labors.

A
splendidly equipped vessel was placed at his disposal by Duke Theodore,
and he with his missionary companions sailed down the Danube, preaching
at every port. On this auspicious voyage
lower Pannonia was reached, and a wonderful harvest of souls reaped.

Later
he founded a mission at Lauricum, now called Lorch, and the Alpine
region of Carinthia was also blessed with the presence of the saint It
was on this journey St. Rupert established the famous shrine of Our
Blessed Lady at Alt Ottingen. It is to Southern Bavaria what Loretto is
to Italy and Lourdes to France. Venerable with age, the chapel, once a
pagan temple, contains the image which tradition says he brought with
him. Perhaps it was the sacred Palladium conveyed from Ireland.
Ireland’s love for Mary is part of history, and many of her most
beautiful titles, such as Gate of Heaven, Morning Star, Queen of Angels,
had their origin in the loyal hearts of Erin. Even to the present Alt
Ottingen has preserved its ancient glory. Thousands of pilgrims visit
annually St. Rupert’s Madonna, black yet beautiful,” “Nigra sed
formosa”.

The Duke desiring the Bishop to found a monastery in
his kingdom, he again set out and passing the lake shore of the
Waller-zee, entered Juvavia. A rude cross was planted on one of the
slopes called Monchsberg, and a church was erected. The church in due
time was consecrated under the invocation of St. Peter. On its
completion the prelate sailed for the country of his birth. He visited
Ireland’s great centres of learning and from them chose twelve able
scholars who returned with him to Germany. The monastery was built for
them with all possible haste, and received its name from the rushing
torrent of the Salz. Before many months a city began to grow about those
hallowed walls, and Salzburg, under the administration of its first
Bishop, St. Rupert, became populous and renowned. It is the present
capital of Upper Austria, and is said to have the most beautiful
situation in Europe. In grandeur or environment it stands unrivaled, and
abounds in interesting recollections.

The holy Bishop built his
sister Erentrude a convent at Nunberg, of which she became abbess. She
died in the odor of sanctity and is venerated throughout Bavaria as a
saint. Duke Theodore enriched the monastic church of Salzburg with
donations of royal munificence, and it was through his intervention with
the Holy See that Rupert was named its Bishop.

Our saint was
miraculously warned of his approaching end and with prophetic lips
foretold the day of his death. Clergy, religious and people heard the
announcement with unfeigned sorrow. He appointed Vitalis his successor,
and on the morning of Easter day asked for the Holy Viaticum.
Recommending his monks to be faithful to their vows, bequeathing the
welfare of his flock to God’s Providence, his pure soul took its flight
to the realm of eternity, March 27, 623, in his eighty-sixth year. He
lived to see the entire Bavarian nation converted to the Faith, and
ruled the Sees of Salzburg and Ratisbon for forty years.

The
remains of St. Rupert were interred in the Abbey Church of St. Peter,
where his tomb may still be seen. In the adjoining cemetery his
rock-hewn cell is shown, enclosed within a little chapel. Monks of the
Benedictine Order now occupy the abbey founded by St. Rupert. It is rich
in manuscripts and literary treasures, its library comprising one
hundred thousand volumes.

St. Rupert was more than a spiritual
benefactor to Southern Germany. On the mountain sides, near Ratisbon, he
planted vines, brought from the province of the Rhine, reopened the
salt springs at Reichenhall, organized commerce on the Danube, commenced
the working of gold and silver mines in the south, encouraged
agriculture in the lowlands and on the Alps, and laid out the public
highway at Noreja and the famous Kaernter road.

One of the most
celebrated successors of St. Rupert was Virgil, a native of Ireland and a
man distinguished for learning and virtue. His true name is Feargall.
Adamnanus of the race of Conall Gulban, and house of O’ Donnell, elected
in 679 abbot of Hay, was his kinsman.

Animated with a desire of
visiting the Holy Land and seeing the places described by his august
relative, Virgil travelled in company with seven bishops to France. The
need of reform and the abject state of Christianity in the kingdom
induced him to remain among the Gauls, for a brief period at least.
Childeric III. was titular king, with Pepin, the Short, major domo for
the entire kingdom, at the advent of St. Virgil in Gaul. All writers are
loud in their praise of Pepin’s princely virtues. His zeal for religion
and love of the Church were equalled only by his consummate wisdom and
valor. This prince accorded to Virgil a most courteous reception, making
him the recipient of his confidence and bestowing upon him the post of
confessor. At the expiration of two years Virgil was sent by Pepin on a
mission to Bavaria, bearing letters of recommendation to Duke Odilo, a
friend and brother-in-law. Here he labored with unremitting zeal for the
conversion of souls.

In this short sketch, I shall pass over
the controversy between St. Boniface and St. Virgil. Able historians
have freed the apostle of Germany from wicked imputations cast upon his
character by Protestants and other enemies of the Church. Virgil
certainly possessed a more thorough acquaintance with science. We
ascribe to him the theory that “the earth is spherical, instead of flat,
and we have our antipodes,” a marvelous doctrine in that early age. It
was nevertheless taught by this distinguished scholar, the fearless
exponent of secular and religious  tenets, and a living proof that Irish
universities of the Middle Ages deserved their widespread reputation
for learning.

On Pepin’s recommendation, Virgil was named for the
vacant See of Salzburg. Reluctant to accept the appointment, he for two
years commissioned Dobba, a bishop whom he had brought from Ireland, to
perform the episcopal functions, reserving for himself the office of
preaching and instructing, until compelled by his colleagues to receive
the episcopal consecration in 766.

Childeric the Third, surnamed
the Stupid, after enjoying an empty title for nine years was deposed and
consigned to St. Bertin’s Abbey, where he became a monk in 752. Dying
in 755, he ended the Merovingian line of kings. Pepin in 751 was
unanimously chosen sovereign and crowned at Soissons by St. Boniface.
This is the first instance of the use of royal anointing in France, and
the practice was suggested by St. Virgil.

The Metropolitan
rebuilt on a scale of magnificence the monastery of St. Peter, at
Salzburg, and translated thither the body of St. Rupert. On his return
from an apostolic journey to Carinthia he was seized with a slow fever,
and, after a fervent preparation, cheerfully departed this life on
November 27, 784. Many and great saints have governed the diocese of
Salzburg, but none to whom the Church is so deeply indebted as to St.
Virgil.

The city of Wurzburg, on the Main, one of the most
distinctively ecclesiastical towns of medieval Europe, was for more than
a thousand years the capital of an ecclesiastical principality, ruled
over by eighty-two bishops who were princes of the empire, and exercised
great influence in the affairs of Germany.

Its cathedral in the
Domstrasse was erected on the spot where St. Kilian suffered martyrdom.
He was the city’s first bishop and an Irish missionary, apostle and
patron of Franconia.

The annalists tell us little of the early
life of Kilian. He was of noble descent, and, after years of study in a
famous school, received Holy Orders. Entering the monastery of Iona, he
subsequently sailed for France.

We next find him in the Irish
monastery of Florentius, on the banks of the Moselle and later in Rome.
Kilian made known to the Holy Father his desire to preach the Gospel in
Germany.

The Sovereign Pontiff, joyfully acceding to his request,
invested him with the episcopal dignity. He at the same time conferred
full power for the prosecution of his work and commissioned him to
proceed to Wurzburg in Franconia. From the outset his efforts were
successful.

Gosbert, a learned prince, ducal throne of Wurzburg.
Inviting Kilian to visit him, he became a docile candidate for baptism
and the saint’s devoted friend. Prior to his conversion he married
Geliana, the wife of a deceased brother, and learning that the union was
llicit, he determined to break down the barrier to eternal happiness.

From
the moment Geliana learned of Gosbert’s resolution, she sought a way to
be revenged upon his holy preceptor. The Duke was suddenly summoned to
war. Geliana decided to rid herself in her lord’s absence of the
interfering Bishop and his two companions. For this purpose she bribed
two wretches to  carry out the heinous project. But the vile conspiracy
was made known to Kilian. It is related that in his sleep a venerable
form appeared to him saying :

“Beloved Kilian, a little longer shalt thou labor, to then be victor with me.”

Immediately the saint arose and calling his brethren addressed them:

“Let us watch and pray. In a little while the Lord will knock at the gate, Let us take heed lest we be found sleeping.”

Before
many hours, the assassins broke into the place, where the Bishop and
his companions were kneeling, wrapt in prayer’s ecstatic joys,
 
“Friends,”
he said, turning, to the miscreants, “what do you want? And yet you are
only obeying commands, and must accomplish your work.” These were his
last words. With drawn swords the murderers rushed on their victims and
soon had them weltering in their blood. A grave was hastily dug and the
corpses, together with books and sacred vestments, cast in. The
perpetrators of the horrible deed vainly imagined that the crime would
remain forever hidden. They deceived themselves. The unholy deed was
revealed to a pious virgin, inhabiting a cell near by, and she was often
seen near the martyrs’ graves. Geliana, fearing detection, had the
remains of her victims removed and buried in a stable.

Gosbert
returned, and seeking the Bishop made inquiries of her as to his
whereabouts. She professed innocent ignorance. Soon, however, one of the
assassins was seized with madness and made away with himself. The woman
also became a raving maniac, dying in horrible agony.

Fifty
years after the death of St. Kilian, in 689, Burchard, Bishop of
Wurzburg, removed the relics of the murdered prelate and his two
companions to the beautiful church he erected for their reception, and
here their tombs may now be seen. The monastery of Wurzburg long
continued to preserve its connection with Ireland.

Few shrines
on the Continent have undergone so little change as that of St. Kilian.
Save for the deepening shadows time has thrown around the old church, it
remains as it was when the martyr was
laid in the Neue Minster, twelve hundred years ago.

* * *

St.
Arbogast was a native of Ireland, according to the chronicles of that
country, and was the son of a noble family. Traveling into Alsace, in
630, he led an anchorite’s life in the Sacred Forest, the interpretation
of the Teutonic name Heiligesforst. Charity sometimes induced him to
leave his retreat, to instruct the. people in knowledge and fear of God.
His conduct attracted the attention of King Dagobert II., who
frequently invited the pious hermit to his court and secured his
succession to St. Amand in the See of Strasburg, 646.

After
Arbogast’ s elevation to the episcopacy, he raised to life Dagobert’ s
son, killed by falling from a horse. Assisted by the liberality of his
royal friend, the Bishop enriched the church of Strasburg with several
large estates and Dagobert, filled with affection for the humble
Metropolitan, bestowed upon his See the manor and town of Rufach, with
an extensive domain situated on the River Alse or Elle, in conjunction
with the royal palace of Isenburg.

St. Arbogast endowed several
monasteries, the principal being Surburg and Shutterau. Having occupied
the episcopal See for twelve years he died, according to Bosch, the
Bollandist, in 678. In his will he ordered his body to be interred in
the place of public execution, called Mount Michael, in imitation of his
great model, Jesus Christ, who suffered outside the walls of Jerusalem.
His wishes were respected and subsequently a monastery was founded over
the spot and dedicated to his memory. The magnificent church of
Strasburg was erected at no great distance. To St. Arbogast are ascribed
a book of homilies and learned commentaries on the epistles of St.
Paul.

Of St. Findan, another of those noble missionaries, we
know only a few facts from his life, published in 795 by Melchior
Goldastus. He was son to a Prince of Leinster, and when the Danes
invaded Ireland, was made prisoner. Escaping in a miraculous manner, he
went to Rome. From Rome he traveled to Germany, remaining in that
country twenty-seven years. For years he lived as a hermit. Later on he
became abbot of the monastery of Richnaw, erected by himself on a
peninsula in the Rhine, where he died 827.

In the calendar of
saints, a fact, remarkable in these latter days, may have been noted,
viz. : the prominent part the sons of kings and scions of noble families
played in the Christianization of Europe.

That Ireland
furnished her quota to the service of Heaven’s Sovereign is obvious.
Another prince of blood royal, who labored in Germany, was St. Fridolin,
sometimes known as “The Traveler.” His father was one of the rulers of
Ireland, but the glamor of the court failed to attract the youth and he
dedicated his life to Christ in the solitude of the cloister.

Advancing
years brought him the preferment of abbot. He resigned the honor and
abandoned his native land to found monasteries in various portions of
Burgundy, Austrasia and Helvetia. The Abbey of Sekingen, located on
an isle in the Rhine, afterwards one of the four forest towns belonging
to the house of Austria, was the culmination of his heroic achievements.
Here he died venerable in God’s service.

Fridolin flourished at
the close of the seventh and commencement of the eighth century, and
his memory has been preserved with veneration in many parts of the
Continent. He was the titular patronof the Swiss canton of Glavis, whose
inhabitants carried his picture on their coat of arms. He is clad in
the Benedictine habit, though he was not of that order.

Albuin,
an Irish monk, filled with zeal for the propagation of the faith, left
his country in 742 and went to Thuringia, a portion of Upper Saxony,
where the mildness of his preaching and persuasive eloquence, converted
numbers of Gentiles to Catholicity. The Pope nominated him Bishop of
Fritzlar, or rather Buraburgh. He is appropriately named the Apostle of
the Thuringians.

When considering the lives of the founders of
German monasteries, we observe that houses following the Rule of St.
Columba gradually adopted that of the Father of Western Monasticism, St.
Benedict. This supplantation may be accounted for by the fact, that the
Rule of the Irish saint was rigid, allowing no concessions, no
mitigations, while St. Benedict’s was milder.

For centuries, and
in many ways, Ireland has been glorious, but more resplendently does
she shine by the reflected light of sanctity, which emblazons the names
of numbers of her sons, upon the pages where are perpetuated the lives
of Erin’s saints. These, then, are some of the renowned men whom the
Church and the world may well praise.

“Their bodies are buried in peace and their names liveth unto generation and generation.” — Eccl. xliv: 14.

Messenger of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Volume 35, (1900), 604-618. 

 

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