Gangolf (saint)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bust of Saint Gangolf with lance and falcon in the Gangolf chapel on the Milseburg

Gangolf (also Gengulphus , Gongolf , Gangulf , Gengoux , Gangloff and many other spellings) was a Burgundian knight of the 8th century who was murdered at the time of King Pippin (around 760?). He is considered a saint and martyr in the Catholic Church , his feast day is May 11th.

Lore

He is not mentioned in contemporary sources and documents. His legend is told in two vitae from the 10th century: an anonymous vita in prose and a version in elegiac distiches by Roswitha von Gandersheim .

Legend

Gangolf is on the road as a military leader and hunter on behalf of King Pippin. One day he drinks water from a spring in a beautiful, blooming garden. Passionate about this romantic place, Gangolf decides to buy the land. However, since he paid far too high a price for the property, his friends mock him for it. But Gangolf is not bothered by the ridicule, since he only wanted to help the poor owner. Rather, he invites his blasphemous friends to a splendid feast. Before that, however, he sticks a stick into the ground in the garden. Then he first goes to the poor to bring them food before he goes to dinner with his friends.

The next morning he wants water to wash up with, but the well has dried up. Gangolf orders his servant to go into the garden and pull the stick out of the earth. This follows the command and experiences how a cloud rises and falls and suddenly the spring bubbles again. Through Gangolf's prayer, the water is said to have become medicinal.

Shortly after his wedding, he was told that his wife had committed adultery with a priest. When asked about the offense, Gangolf's wife protests her innocence. Since Gangolf does not believe her, however, he demands that a divine judgment be carried out : She has to dip her hand in the water of the spring. When she pulls her hand out again, it is completely burned. Gangolf lets mercy go ahead and grants her z. T. Excuse me, even give her half of his property - but she is no longer allowed to enter his rooms. He banishes the priest from the country. Soon, however, the faithless wife calls her lover to her again. The priest rushes over, murders Gangolf that night and flees with his wife.

Shortly thereafter, numerous miracles are said to have occurred at the grave of the murdered man. When his wife finds out, she scoffs: "Gangolf also spends wonder how my butt sings songs" . There she owes a shameful punishment, because no sooner has she said it than indecent noises come out of her bottom. And so it is from now on every Friday, the anniversary of the martyr's death. As soon as she says a word, she has to fart loudly and clearly .

The priest too has to die of a bad disease - inside he is torn as it were.

Gangolf is also said to have defeated the giant Mils.

Adoration

Saint Gangolf in the city arms of Geisa

He is considered a horse patron, but also as a helper for eye, skin and joint diseases. Mostly he is depicted as a knight with a sword and lance, sometimes with a saber, flag and hand cross. Its churches or chapels are often near springs or wells.

The saint is venerated in many parts of Europe, especially in Germany and France. His relics are kept in Bamberg , where there is also a Gangolf Church, which emerged from the collegiate monastery which was dissolved in 1803. The Gangolf Church in Hollfeld ( Bayreuth district ) was built as a subsidiary of the Bamberg Church.

There is a Gangolf chapel on the Milseburg in the Rhön . At this point, the saint is the one with the devil standing in league giant Mils have slain that which forecast the Giant Mils, the Milseburg and the Gangolf St., told.

In the Bavarian Rhön, the Gangolfsberg (736 m) rises above the village of Oberelsbach (Rhön-Grabfeld district ) with its well-known “stone wall” made of hexagonal basalt columns. The Gangolf Chapel next to the parish church of St. Gangolf in Wolpertswende ( Upper Swabia ) as well as the Gangolf Chapel (Neudenau) were the destination of pilgrimages until well into the 19th century . There is a Gangolf spring in Schelingen am Kaiserstuhl , as well as in Meudt / Westerwald. The diocese of Constance , which became extinct in the 19th century , had a bishop by the name of Gangolf, who could be roughly assigned to the time of St. Gangolf.

He is the namesake of the places Saint-Gingolph (Haute-Savoie) , Saint-Gingolph VS , Saint-Gengoulph ( Département Aisne ) and the Thuringian towns of Sankt Gangloff and Gangloffsömmern . The municipalities of Geisa (Thuringia) and Oerel (Lower Saxony) show it in their coat of arms.

More Gangolfkirchen
(see also: Gangolfskirche )
Germany
France
  • Saint Gangolf (Romanesque) in Lautenbach in Alsace / France
  • former collegiate church Saint-Gengoult in Toul (Lorraine)
Switzerland
  • Chapel Sankt Gangulf in Einsiedeln / Switzerland

literature

  • Paul Dräger (ed.): Vita Gangolfi. Gangolf's life . Latin / German, Trier 2011. ISBN 978-3-89890-166-6
  • Passio sancti Gongolfi martiris in: Paul von Winterfeld (ed.): Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separately in editi 34: Hrotsvithae Opera. Hanover 1902, pp. 35–52 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
  • Wolfram Siegel: The holy Gangolf in Münchenlohra at the Hainleite ; Lukas-Verlag Berlin, 2005
  • Steffen Patzold: Laughing at a saint? Miracle and irony in the Vita Gangulfi great . In: Early medieval Europe , Vol. 21 (2013) pp. 197–220

Web links

Commons : St. Gangolf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.st-gangolf-besseringen.de/
personal data
SURNAME Gangolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gengulphus; Gongolf; Gengoux; Gangloff
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Saint
DATE OF BIRTH 8th century
DATE OF DEATH around 760