Feast day: March 27
St. Rupert of Salzburg
A Frankish bishop who evangelized Bavaria and Austria, founded the city of Salzburg around its monastery and church, and developed its famous salt mines.
Rupert was a Frankish bishop of the late seventh century, by tradition of the Merovingian royal line, who as bishop of Worms had won wide fame for his learning and holiness. Invited by Theodo, the duke of Bavaria, to help evangelize his still largely pagan land, Rupert set out on the missionary work that would define him.
Welcomed by the duke at Regensburg about 696, he preached and baptized along the Danube and beyond, founding churches as he went. Reaching the ruins of the old Roman town of Juvavum, he saw its possibilities, rebuilt it, and made it the centre of his mission — the city that became Salzburg, the 'salt fortress,' named for the salt mines that would make it rich.
There he founded the monastery of St. Peter and, for his sister St. Erentrudis, the convent of Nonnberg — both among the oldest religious houses in the German-speaking world, and both still in existence. As the first abbot-bishop of Salzburg he combined in himself, in the Irish manner, the rule of monastery and diocese.
Rupert died about 718. Honoured as an apostle of Bavaria and Austria and the founder of Salzburg, he remains the patron of the city and region that grew from his mission.
He gave Salzburg ('Salt-castle') its name and its church; the city's wealth and his mission both grew from the salt mines he reopened.
Image: Unknown authorUnknown author (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: newadvent.org/cathen/13229a.htm
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