Gunther (saint)
Gunther (* uncertain: around 955; † October 9, 1045 on Gunthersberg near Gutwasser , Bohemian Forest) was a hermit . Alternative names are Gunther von Niederalteich and Gunther von Thuringia . The Benedictine monk was the founder of the Rinchnach monastery .
Life
Gunther was a Thuringian Gaugraf, about whose origin there is no reliable information. He was possibly born in Schwarzburg around 955 . Gunther could have come from the Schwarzburg house and was a cousin of Heinrich II. According to some sources, he is said to have been a brother-in-law of Stephen , but this is unlikely, since Stephen's wife Gisela von Bayern comes from the Liudolfinger house .
When Heinrich II appointed Godehard as the new abbot of Hersfeld in 1005 , life changed for Gunther. He renounced worldly life on Christmas Day 1005 and joined the Benedictine order . He transferred his property to the Hersfeld Abbey and the Göllingen Monastery .
After a pilgrimage to Rome, Gunther was accepted as a novice in Niederaltaich Monastery in 1006 . In 1008 he went to the Bavarian Forest as a hermit and lived near Lalling on the Ranzingerberg.
In 1011 he moved with a group of Benedictines deeper into the forests of the mountains to build a monastery there. After eight years of work, the clearing work and the construction were so far completed that the Rinchnach monastery was consecrated on August 29, 1019 by the Passau bishop Berengar von Passau . At that time the monastery was the first settlement in the middle Bavarian Forest and became a starting point for the colonization of the Bavarian and Bohemian Forests .
In old age he gave up the management of the monastery in 1040, which Heinrich III. handed over to the Niederaltaich monastery. Gunther hiked in the Bohemian Forest and settled as a hermit in an unpopulated area on the Bayerischer Steig . He died on October 9, 1045 in his hermitage below the Gunther rock ( Vintířova skála ) on the 1006 m high Gunthersberg ( Březník ) near Gutwasser ( Hartmanice municipality ).
Duke Břetislav I had his remains transferred to the Břevnov monastery . Gunther's bones were scattered during the Hussite Wars .
Gunther is not officially canonized to this day. However, his veneration as a saint was endorsed and recommended by various papal bulls and decrees. His feast day is October 9th.
Representation: In Gutwasser and Břevnov, Gunther is represented in a habit with a book and staff or cross staff. In Niederaltaich and Rinchnach there are depictions of a monk with a Reuthaue (as in the coat of arms of Rinchnach).
Others
In Rinchnach - also known as "Guntherort" - theater festivals have been held regularly since the 1950s, in which the life of Gunther is themed.
The Guntherstein in the Bavarian Forest is named after the saint.
literature
- Wilhelm Fink: Gunther, Count of Käfernburg. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 324 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Gotthard Lang: Gunther the Hermit in history, legend and cult , in: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches . St. Ottilien. 59 (1941), 1, pp. 1-88
- Jan Royt: St. Günther, hermit . 1st edition. Munich 1993 (series hagiography, iconography, folklore; 108)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gunther |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Hermit, saint |
| DATE OF BIRTH | uncertain: around 955 |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 9, 1045 |
| Place of death | on Gunthersberg near Hartmanice, Bohemian Forest |