Alto (saint)

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The holy Alto discovers the Alto spring. Ceiling fresco section by Joseph Mages around 1770 in the Church of St. Alto and St. Birgitta in Altomünster

Saint Alto († around 760) was a hermit who worked in the area of ​​today's Altomünster in Bavaria; he is depicted on the local coat of arms . According to tradition, Alto is said to have founded the Altomünster monastery . His feast day is February 9th. The name Alto means “the tall one” in Latin.

An undated deed of donation on which the signature “Signum Altoni reclausi” ( Latin roughly for “signature of the Reklusen Alto”) can be found is proof of its existence . His festival is mentioned for the first time in a Freising Missal from the 10th century.

Saints vita

A vita of the saint has come down to us from the 11th century , the Vita Sancti Altonis of the St. Emmeram monk Otloh , which he wrote on behalf of the newly founded Benedictine Abbey of Altomünster. Otloh emphasizes that he had no written documents.

According to this Vita, Alto was an Irishman who was commissioned in a vision to leave his homeland and go on a missionary journey in a peregrinatio propter Christum (Latin for 'pilgrimage for Christ's sake'). In this way Alto came to Bavaria, where King Pippin the Younger gave him a forest (still called Altowald today) and Alto founded a monastery, the monasterium altonis , which was consecrated by St. Boniface .

Here Alto led a sacred life, which Otloh explains through three miracle stories. Legends tell how Alto marked the trees that needed to be cleared with his knife and then they fell over by themselves. Birds would have carried away the branches and twigs and helped build the church. When there was a lack of water in the construction of the monastery, Alto let a spring spring up with his staff, which was soon visited as a healing spring.

There is no evidence of the tradition that Alto founded the monastery. It seems to come from a later time. A monastery can only be found in Altomünster in the 10th century.

However, recent research allows the conclusion that Alto was a Bajuware and belonged to the noble family of the Huosi , who lived in western Upper Bavaria .

presentation

The holy Alto is represented as an abbot or a bishop, usually with a staff. Often he also holds a knife in his hand or a goblet from which the baby Jesus is peeking out - both alludes to miracles handed down by Otloh.

Adoration

On the Altos Memorial Day in Altomünster, at a high mass, the saint's skull is presented to the faithful with a request for intercession for their families or as an “individual blessing against all head ailments and diseases”.

Alto song

To St. Alto was dedicated a song by Ignaz Huber (1823-1893), teacher in Altomünster:

We praise you, Saint Alto.

Holy founder, support of faith;

Childlike we beg to you:

Graciously protect the church;

Mild father help us

That God be merciful to us.

You moved arm from home,

Over land and over seas,

Hurried to our Bavaria,

Preaching the holy doctrine,

Sewmest here in the quiet forest

Your pious stay.

Princely grace has given

Here your devout striving,

Wonderfully sinks down

Every tree that was given

To the holy building of God,

Little birds clean the meadow.

And a clear spring sprouts

Where your staff hinted

Rich consolation and blessings flow

Pious belief spreads

Where you walk. Saint,

Wonderfully pardoned.

Umbrellas, high patron saint,

All who trust in you.

Help that we may reward virtue,

Once like you look in Jesus

Lead faithful hero of faith, blessed us into that world.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

List of churches with the patronage of the saint

literature

  • Walter Pötzl: The worship of the holy Alto in the Middle Ages . In: Markus Würmseher, René Brugger (Hrsg.): Crossing borders between Old Bavaria and Swabia. History, politics and art on both sides of the Lech . Festschrift for Wilhelm Liebhart. 1st edition. Verlag Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-7954-3118-1 , p. 333-344 .

Web links

Commons : Alto von Altomünster  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holy Alto. Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, accessed on July 27, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Joachim Schäfer: Alto. In: https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienA/Alto.htm . Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints, December 5, 2018, accessed on April 3, 2019 (German).
  3. ↑ Aichacher newspaper: Altotag, 2013.
  4. ↑ Joachim Schäfer: Alto. In: https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienA/Alto.htm . Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints, December 5, 2018, accessed on April 3, 2019 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Alto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alto from Altomünster
BRIEF DESCRIPTION hermit
DATE OF BIRTH 7th century or 8th century
DATE OF DEATH around 760