Thiemo of Salzburg

Thiemo von Salzburg , also Diemo , Ditmar , Tyemo or Theodemar , (* around 1040 in Bavaria ; † 1101 or 1102 ) was first abbot of the monastery of St. Peter and then a Catholic archbishop of the archdiocese of Salzburg , who is venerated as a saint or blessed .

Church window designed by Martin Häusle in the Liesing parish church

Life

As the son of Count Thiemo II, Thiemo came from the family of Counts of Formbach ( Passau district ). He became a Benedictine monk in Niederaltaich and was a talented painter and sculptor. In 1077 he became Abbot of St. Peter in Salzburg , where he sided with the Pope in the investiture dispute . The counter-archbishop Berthold , loyal to the emperor, drove him out of Salzburg in 1081. Thiemo then lived in the Hirsau and Schaffhausen monasteries near Mönchsdeggingen . In 1084 he was able to return to Salzburg for a short time, but soon retired to Admont Abbey . In 1086 Thiemo was able to return to Salzburg with Archbishop Gebhard , who was loyal to the Pope . After Gebhard's death, he was elected Archbishop of Salzburg on March 25, 1090 and ordained bishop on April 7 . He received the pallium from Pope Urban II , who confirmed him as archbishop. Thiemo reformed Admont Abbey and took part in the Synod of Piacenza in 1095 . In 1097 he was defeated by Berthold in a battle near Saaldorf and was held prisoner for several years until a monk helped him escape. Then he took in the army contingent of Duke Wilhelm IX. of Aquitaine 1100/1101 participated in the crusade of 1101 . He is said to have been captured in Rum-Seljuk during the battle of Eregli . According to tradition, he was martyred at Khorasan in 1101 when his bowels were pulled out of his body. According to another tradition, he is said to have suffered the same martyrdom only in 1102 in Fatimid captivity in Askalon (Riant). The reason for the martyr's death is stated in one version that he was commissioned in captivity because of his skills in metalworking to restore an idol, but instead destroyed it, whereupon he was tortured to death as a punishment. Since the ban on images in Islam was already known to some European scholars, Bishop Otto von Freising expressed serious doubts about this version of the story barely half a century after the martyrdom; Even if he did not question martyrdom himself, Otto wrote verbatim that the story of the destruction of the idol was “difficult to believe, since it is certain that the whole of the Saracens are worshipers of the only God and the books of the [divine] law accepted (...) ”.

He was never officially canonized , but was venerated as a saint in Salzburg and the Benedictine monasteries Niederaltaich and Admont soon after his death. His feast day is September 28th. He is shown with an intestinal spindle.

literature

Heinrich von Zeißberg : Thiemo . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 760 f.
Heinz Dopsch : Thiemo of Salzburg. In Lexicon of Saints and Adoration of Saints . (RZ) Volume 3. Herder, Freiburg i. B. 2003, ISBN 3-451-28193-7
Matthias Rumpler: Life of the holy Thiemo and Eberhard. A Christian teaching gift for children, and an edifying legend for adults too. Mayr, Salzburg 1803
Johannes Hofmann : Thiemo. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 11, Bautz, Herzberg 1996, ISBN 3-88309-064-6 , Sp. 1132-1134. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
Paul Riant Le Martyre de Thiémon de Salzburg (September 28, 1102). A. Palmé, Paris 1886

Web links

Commons : Thiemo von Salzburg - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Entry on Thiemo von Salzburg in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )

Individual evidence

↑ "(...) quod autem ydola comminuerit, ex hoc credere difficile est, quia constat universitatem Sarracenorum unius Dei cultricem esse librosque legis (...) recipere " Otto von Freising, Chronica sive Historia de duabus civitatibus , Book VII chap. 7, here ed. Adolf Hofmeister , MGH Scriptores rerum Germanicarum vol. 45, Hanover & Leipzig 1912 ( digitized by the digital MGH ).

predecessor	Office	successor
Gebhard	Archbishop of Salzburg 1090-1098	Konrad von Abensberg

personal data
SURNAME	Thiemo of Salzburg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Diemo; Ditmar; Tyemo; Theodemar; Timo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Salzburg, saint
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1040
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bavaria
DATE OF DEATH	at 1101-1102

[1] "(...) quod autem ydola comminuerit, ex hoc credere difficile est, quia constat universitatem Sarracenorum unius Dei cultricem esse librosque legis (...) recipere " Otto von Freising, Chronica sive Historia de duabus civitatibus , Book VII chap. 7, here ed. Adolf Hofmeister , MGH Scriptores rerum Germanicarum vol. 45, Hanover & Leipzig 1912 ( digitized by the digital MGH ).