Wolfgang, born around 930, was of the family of the Swabian counts of Pfullingen.
As
a young man he was sent to the renowned Benedictine Abbey on the
monastic island of Reichenau located on Lake Constance. Here he became a
friend of Henry, the brother of the Bishop of Wurzburg. They studied
together at the cathedral school there.
Henry became acquainted
with Wolfgang’s intelligence and capacity, and when he was consecrated
Archbishop of Trier in 956, Wolfgang helped him with the improvements of
religion in his diocese.
After the Archbishop’s death in 964,
Wolfgang became a Benedictine in the monastery of Einsiedeln. There, he
was appointed director of the school of the monastery. St. Ulric,
Bishop of Augsburg, ordained Wolfgang a priest, and for a while was sent
to preach to the Magyars of Pannonia.
After this mission, the
results of which did not correspond to his zeal, he was recommended to
Otto II for the ecclesiastical seat of Ratisbon (present-day Regensburg
in Bavaria), and though he begged to return to his monastery, was
consecrated in 972.
Never quitting the monastic habit, and
practicing all the austerities of monastic life, Wofgang ruled his
diocese with fortitude and wisdom. One of the first things he set out to
do was to reform the clergy, as well as monasteries, specially two
disorderly nunneries.
He generously worked with Emperor Otto II
in the reduction of his large diocese and the resultant formation of the
diocese of Prague whose first bishop was St. Aldabert. He also took
part in several imperial diets, and in 978 accompanied Otto in his
campaign to Paris.
While traveling on the Danube to the south of
Austria, he fell ill at the village of Pupping. At his request he was
carried into the chapel of St. Othmar, where he breathed his last. His
body, taken back to Bishop of Ratisbon by friends, was solemnly interred
in the chapel of St. Emmeran where many miracles occurred. He was
canonized in 1042.
Photo by: Florian Voggeneder
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