Konrad of Constance
Konrad von Konstanz , also Konrad I von Altdorf (* around 900; † November 26, 975 ) was bishop in the diocese of Konstanz from 934 to 975 and has been venerated as a saint since 1123 .
Life
The Welf Konrad was born around the year 900. He received his spiritual training in the Constance cathedral chapter , entered the community of canons and was elected Bishop of Constance in 934 by his fellow canons and under the influence of Augsburg Bishop Ulrich von Augsburg (923–973) .
As a bishop and thus as part of the Ottonian imperial church, we find Konrad at least sporadically in relationships with the kingship of Otto I the Great (936–973). Konrad took part in the pilgrimage to Rome and imperial coronation of the ruler in winter 961/962, and from him next to the Constance Minster Built Mauritius rotunda refers to the kingdom of saints of the 10th century Mauritius .
Conrad made further trips to Rome and Jerusalem , where he made three pilgrimages. Among other things, they were used to bring in relics . The Rome and Jerusalem ideas then determined the building program that the bishop carried out in his city, the establishment of which he rightly assumed for the Roman period. The patriarchal basilicas of Rome served him as a model for the founding of churches : In front of the city, Konrad had a Paulskirche built analogous to San Paolo fuori le mura ; In the immediate vicinity of the Episcopal Church, the Church of St. John was built according to San Giovanni in Laterano . He had the Laurentiuskirche (later Ratskapelle St. Lorenz; no longer existent today) located in front of the city renewed. Under the impression of his pilgrimages to Jerusalem, he had the aforementioned Mauritius rotunda built as a replica of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher , which could now serve as a regional pilgrimage destination. He set up a community of twelve canons for this chapel , which is located right next to the choir of the cathedral church , which is the third community of canons next to the Konstanz Minster and that of his predecessor Solomon III. established pen at St. Stephen's Church only existed for a short time.
The saints Mauritius and Laurentius - the latter was the day saint of the famous battle on the Lechfeld in 955 - also point to the East Franconian-German Empire . Emperor Otto I thanked Konrad in a document dated February 21, 962, a few days after his coronation as emperor, with a donation to the bishop and the episcopal church for the salvation of the ruler and the bishop. The associated common commemoration of prayer revealed the close ties between bishop and emperor, which culminated with Otto's stay in the episcopal city of Konrad in August 972 and at the Pelagius festival on the 28th of this month.
Canonization
Behind the canonization of Konrad von Konstanz stood first and foremost the Constance Bishop Ulrich I (1111–1127), who wanted to establish a “local” saint for the episcopal city and diocese alongside the “Roman” Pelagius . Konrad offered himself because after his death there was at least local veneration. In 1089 Ulrich's predecessor, Bishop Gebhard III. (1084–1110), the bones of Konrad were brought from the Mauritius rotunda to the newly built cathedral church, but this translation had no further effects. Ulrich was the first to systematically canonize Konrad and had the monk Udalschalk , who had to leave Augsburg as a result of the turmoil of the investiture dispute , which was almost over , write down a Vita Konradi .
This vitae of the saints , which in the second book also contains reports on miraculous healings and salvations proceeding from the saint, was presented to Pope Kalixt II (1119–1124) in Rome together with a letter from the Bishop of Constance, the Petitio for Canonization . Udalschalk's trip to Rome can be dated to spring 1123. The third book of Vita Konradi , written down by Udalschalk only afterwards, reports how at the Second Lateran Council (March 1123) the decision was made in favor of the canonization of Konrad, and cites the papal letter to Bishop Ulrich of March 28, 1123, which has also been preserved in the original was thus free to raise the bones of Konrad of Constance.
The “real” canonization took place at the magnus conventus , the “great gathering” in Constance at the end of November 1123, when three dukes, many counts, clergy, abbots and monks and many believers attended on November 26th, the day of death of the saint, the bones of the saint were reburied in a new shrine in an elaborate liturgical celebration and exposed to veneration. However, the Constance relics were destroyed during the Reformation . The high grave of Konrad with a life-size full-body relief can be found in the Konradi Chapel in the Konstanz Minster .
Remembrance day
The day of remembrance for Konrad von Konstanz in the Protestant name calendar , in the Roman Catholic regional calendar for the German-speaking area and in the Orthodox calendar of saints is November 26th.
Attributes
Konrad is often represented with a goblet on which a spider sits. According to a legend that originated in the Middle Ages, when a spider fell into the altar wine during a mass, Konrad drank it with him because he did not want to throw away the already converted wine. Later, the spider came out of his mouth undamaged and was released.
literature
- Vita sancti Chuonradi Constantiensis episcopi , in: Georg Heinrich Pertz u. a. (Ed.): Scriptores (in Folio) 4: Annales, chronica et historiae aevi Carolini et Saxonici. Hanover 1841, pp. 429–445 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
- Adriaan Breukelaar: Konrad von Konstanz. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 4, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-038-7 , Sp. 416-417.
- Paul Ladewig, Theodor Müller (arr.): Regesta episcoporum Constantiensium. Regesta on the history of the bishops of Constance (from Bubulcus to Thomas Berlower, 517–1496). Volume 1: 517-1293 . Edited by the Baden Historical Commission. Innsbruck 1895
- Simon Maier: Semantics of the "social fact". Reflections on the canonization of St. Konrad of Constance . In: Writings of the association for the history of Lake Constance and its surroundings . 132nd issue. Jan Thorbecke Verlag der Schwabenverlag AG, Ostfildern 2014, ISBN 978-3-7995-1720-1 , p. 17-40 .
- Helmut Maurer: Constance as an Ottonian bishopric. The self-image of the clergy in the 10th century . (= Publications of the Max Planck Institute for History; 39; = studies on Germania sacra; 12). Göttingen 1973, ISBN 3-525-35348-0
- Helmut Maurer (ed.): The holy Konrad - Bishop of Constance. Studies on the occasion of the thousandth anniversary of the year of his death. In: Freiburg Diocesan Archive 95, Freiburg i.Br. 1975 ISBN 3-451-17449-9 ( full text )
- Helmut Maurer: The Duke of Swabia. Foundations, effects and nature of his rule in the Ottonian, Salian and Staufer times , Sigmaringen 1978 ISBN 3-7995-7007-1
- Helmut Maurer: Konrad, hl .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 507 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Helmut Maurer: Constance in the Middle Ages: I. From the beginnings to the council (= history of the city of Constance, vol. 1) , Constance 2nd edition 1996, ISBN 3-7977-0182-9
- Helmut Maurer: Bishops of Constance. 6th century to 1206 (= Germania Sacra ; NF 42.1; The dioceses of the ecclesiastical province of Mainz. The diocese of Konstanz; 5) De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2003, ISBN 3-11-017664-5 ( full text )
- Georg von Wyß: Konrad I, Bishop of Constanz . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 576 f.
Web links
- Konrad in the "Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints"
- Helmut Maurer: Konrad. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Noting from Constance |
Bishop of Constance 934–975 |
Gaminolf |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Konrad of Constance |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Saint of the diocese and the episcopal city of Constance |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 900 |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 26, 975 |