Wolfgang of Regensburg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Depiction of Wolfgang with saints attributes , 15th century

Wolfgang von Regensburg (* around 924 in Swabia near Reutlingen , probably Pfullingen ; † October 31, 994 in Pupping , Upper Austria ) was a spiritual teacher, missionary and from 972 bishop of Regensburg . He was canonized in 1052 .

Live and act

Wolfgang attended the Reichenau monastery school as a ten-year-old and later came to the newly founded cathedral school in Würzburg . Here he was trained by the Italian scholaster Stephan von Novara and developed himself into a scholar and teacher.

Around 956, on the recommendation of his friend Heinrich , the Archbishop of Trier , who he met in Reichenau, who was already visiting the Würzburg Cathedral School with him, Wolfgang took over the management of the Cathedral School in Trier and became the lay dean and head of the cathedral chapter . In the spirit of St. Benedict, he strove for reforms for a stricter way of life for the cathedral capitals, such as the abolition of private property .

After Heinrich von Babenberg's death, Wolfgang was brought to Cologne by Emperor Otto I. He refused to to consecrate bishop to leave and entered 965 in the Benedictine Abbey of Einsiedeln in Switzerland , where he 968 at the age of 43 years by Ulrich of Augsburg , the ordination received. In 971 Wolfgang went to Hungary as a missionary , but was recalled in 972 and ordained bishop of Regensburg towards the end of the year . In 975 Wolfgang founded a cathedral school with a choir there, from which today's Regensburger Domspatzen emerged .

Wolfgang, who continued to strive for reforms, agreed to the separation of Bohemian territories to establish the diocese of Prague . The friendly relationship with Boleslav II , whose son Oldřich was brought up in Regensburg, just as his sister Mlada stayed in Regensburg, certainly contributed to this peaceful gesture .

As the first bishop, he gave up the personal union between the office of bishop and the office of chief ( Abbatiat ) of the associated St. Emmeram monastery . The first abbot appointed was Ramwod . This helped the monastery to develop spiritual and cultural activities. The independence that was gained conjured up tensions with future Regensburg bishops who sought to reverse the economic loss for the diocese of Regensburg due to the loss of the monastery. Wolfgang's work remained a model for a number of monasteries.

From around 985, Wolfgang took over the education of the Bavarian duke's son Heinrich, who later became Emperor Heinrich II.

As Reich Bishop Wolfgang followed the call of the Emperor to military conflicts, so against King Lothar and the Italian campaign of Otto II. , Where the Augsburg Bishop Henry I fell. After Otto's death and disputes over the throne broke out, Wolfgang and other bishops sided with Heinrich of Bavaria.

On a trip to the diocese of Pöchlarn , Wolfgang died on October 31, 994 in the chapel of St. Othmar in Pupping ( Upper Austria ) - today the location of the Pupping monastery - and was transferred to Regensburg. He was buried in the south aisle of St. Emmeram, where a high grave from the 14th century can still be seen today. On the occasion of the canonization in 1052, his body was transferred to the crypt named after him under the west building of St. Emmeram, which was still under construction at the time.

  • Tomb tumba in the south aisle of St. Emmeram

  • St. Emmeram around 1052 with the transept and the Wolfgang crypt in the west

  • Wolfgang crypt consecrated in 1052

  • Wolfgang altar

  • Wolfgang Shrine

Wolfgang had planned his student Tagino as his successor, but Otto Gebhard I.

Wolfgang was on October 7, 1052 by Pope Leo IX. canonized.

In the 11th century the dean and head of the monastery school of St. Emmeram, Otloh von St. Emmeram , wrote the Vita Sancti Wolfgangi.

Adoration

Stamp issue for the 1000th anniversary of the death of St. Wolfgang

Remembrance day

The Catholic day of remembrance ( St. Wolfgang's Day ) of the saint is October 31st . It is a non-mandatory day of remembrance in the general Roman calendar . His solemn festival is celebrated in Regensburg , where the transfer of the bones is also celebrated on October 7th .

Places of worship

Wall painting on an apartment building on Rosenheimer Strasse in Munich .

Various places are associated with Wolfgang's veneration of saints.

  • The main place of worship of the saint is St. Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut on Wolfgangsee - both named after him: When he sought refuge in his own monastery Mondsee Monastery in 976 , he is said to have built the - first small - church by his own hand and to have worked miraculously ( Beilwurf and spring wonder on Falkenstein ). There is also the Falkenstein pilgrimage church (parish of St. Gilgen), where he is said to have lived as a hermit for five years. St. Wolfgang with the Einsiedlerhöhle was one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, and in the 15th and 16th centuries it was the fourth largest pilgrimage site after Rome, Aachen and Einsiedeln
  • On the occasion of the canonization, the bishop's bones were transferred to the then newly built Wolfgang crypt under the St. Emmeram basilica . They have been resting there since 1877 in the gilded Wolfgang shrine, which is transferred to the basilica or another important church in the diocese every year on the occasion of the Wolfgang Week of the diocese of Regensburg
  • The place of worship is also his place of death, the Pupping Monastery . The St. Wolfgang Chapel was built at the point where Wolfgang is said to have come ashore by ship from Passau before he was brought to Pupping
  • Wolfgang is said to have preached under the approximately 1250-year-old Saint Wolfgang's oak near Schloss Haus in Neueglofsheim, south of Regensburg
  • He is also venerated in the Upper Bavarian town of St. Wolfgang , where legend has it that Wolfgang woke up a spring.

See also: Wolfgangskirche , to the numerous churches of the saint

Patron saints and invocation

The saint is the patron saint of Bavaria , diocesan patron of the diocese of Regensburg and the city of Regensburg, as well as the professions of sculptor, woodworker, charcoal burner, carpenters, boatmen and shepherds. Since the 15th century he has been a general emergency helper and patron saint for eye diseases, gout, paralysis, foot ailments, back pain, stroke ("stroke"), blood flow, dysentery ("stomach flow"), abdominal pain and skin ulcers ("wolf") as well as for infertility , Fire and bad weather called. In addition, it should help sick cattle to recover.

iconography

On images and statues, St. Wolfgang is always shown with the attributes of the saints bishop's staff (for Regensburg) and church (for St. Wolfgang aW), sometimes also with a hatchet ( hatchet miracle on the Falkenstein). There are also three ceramic sculptures that were made by the sculptor Wolfgang Wallner from Sankt Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut in the 1950s and are now being reissued in an authorized original form.

Farmer rules

The peasant rules for the feast day of the saint are:

  • Rain on Saint Wolfgang's Day, which may be good for the next year.
  • Sankt Wolfgang Regen promises a year full of blessings.

literature

Web links

Commons : Heiliger Wolfgang  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stefan Weinfurter: Heinrich II. (1002-1024). Rulers at the end of time. 3rd edition Regensburg 2002, p. 26.
  2. ↑ Max Höfler : The calendar saints as disease cartridges among the Bavarian people. In: Journal of the Association for Folklore. Volume 1, 1891, pp. 292–306, here: p. 302 (crawling through holes in the ground and stone in St. Wolfgang's chapels for relief from lower back pain ).
  3. ↑ AM Pachinger : About disease cartridges on images of saints. In: Sudhoff's archive. Volume 2, 1909, pp. 351-374, here: p. 372.
  4. ↑ AM Pachinger: About disease cartridge on medals. In: Sudhoff's archive. Volume 3, 1910, pp. 227-268, here: p. 233.
predecessor Office successor
Michael Bishop of Regensburg
972–994 		Gebhard I.
personal data
SURNAME Wolfgang of Regensburg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Missionary and Bishop of Regensburg
DATE OF BIRTH around 924
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Pfullingen , Swabia
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 994
Place of death Pupping , today Upper Austria