Altmann von Passau Coat of arms of Passau ">Passau.html" ;"title="Coat of arms of Passau">Coat of arms of Passau Altmann ( – 8 August 1091) was the Bishop of Passau from 1065 until his death. He was an important representative of the Gregorian reforms, monastic founder and reformer. He is venerated as a saint, but not officially canonised.

Life

He was born between 1013 and 1020 in

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

to a family of the greater nobility of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. He was educated at the cathedral school at

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

, of which he later became director.Campbell, Thomas. "Blessed Altmann." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 24 December 2018 He was also a

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Catholic Church, Catholic or Anglicanism , Anglican clergy, a form of canon (priest) , canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in part ...

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

between 1056 and 1065, court chaplain to

Emperor Henry III Henry III (, 28 October 1016 – 5 October 1056), called the Black () or the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia. Henry was rais ...

and a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the Goslar (district), district of Goslar and is located on the northwestern wikt:slope, slopes of the Harz ...

. In 1065 he succeeded Egilbert as Bishop of Passau and began reforms of the clergy. As bishop he was famous for his care of the poor, his vigor in the reformation of relaxed monasteries, and the building of new ones. He founded St. Nicholas' Abbey in Passau in 1070 as a monastery of the

Canons Regular The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into Religious order (Catholic), religious orders, differing from both Secular clergy, ...

, and Göttweig Abbey in

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

in 1083, later converted into a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

in 1094. In 1074 he announced the reforms of

Pope Gregory VII Pope Gregory VII (; 1015 – 25 May 1085), born Hildebrand of Sovana (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. One of the great ...

, whom he supported in the subsequent

Investiture Controversy The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest (, , ) was a conflict between church and state in medieval Europe, the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture), abbots of monasteri ...

. Altmann was the most zealous promoter of the Church reform in the German lands.Floridus Röhrig: Leopold III. der Heilige Markgraf von Österreich. Verlag Herold, Wien-München 1985. , p21 In 1076, along with the Archbishop of Salzburg, Gebhard von Helfenstein (who had consecrated Altmann as a bishop), he did not take part in the Reichstag of

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, and supported the counter-king

Rudolf of Swabia Rudolf of Rheinfelden ( – 15 October 1080) was Duke of Swabia from 1057 to 1079. Initially a follower of his brother-in-law, the Salian dynasty, Salian emperor Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV, his election as German anti-king in 1077 mar ...

. He was expelled from Passau by Emperor Henry IV, who laid the city to waste in 1077/1078. The princely rights over the town of Passau were lost, the king lent them to the Burggrave Ulrich, whom he had employed. These were to be returned to the bishops only after the death of the Burggrave in 1099. Altmann took part in the Lenten synods 1079 and 1080 in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. He was appointed

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the Pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title '' legatus'') is a personal representative of the Pope to foreign nations, to some other part of the Catho ...

for Germany, and was able to win the Margrave Leopold II of Austria over to the papal party. In 1085 the Emperor deposed him as Bishop of Passau, after which he spent most of his time in the territory of the Austrian margrave, where he reformed the existing monasteries of St. Florian,

Kremsmünster Abbey Kremsmünster Abbey () is a Benedictine monastery located in Kremsmünster, Upper Austria. History Founded in 777 AD by Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria, Kremsmünster Abbey is steeped in legend. It is said that Tassilo established the abbey on t ...

Melk Melk (; older spelling: ) is a city in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,257 (as of 2012). It is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery named ...

and St. Pölten Abbey, improved the parish church organisation, and had stone churches built at all of them. His influence on the government of the margraviate was at times so strong that he was called the "leader" of Margrave Leopold II. He died in Zeiselmauer in

and was buried in the monastery of Göttweig Abbey. He is venerated as a saint, although no official canonization has ever taken place. His feast day is 8 August. The ''Vita'' of Altmann of Passau was written by an anonymous monk of Göttweig some fifty years after the bishop's death.Smalley, Beryl. "A Pseudo-Sibylline Prochecy of the Early Twelfth Century in the ''Life'' of Altmann of Passau", ''Studies in Medieval Thought and Learning From Abelard to Wyclif'', Bloomsbury Publishing, 1981, p. 9

References

Sources

*Tomek, Ernst, 1935-39: ''Kirchengeschichte Österreichs''. Innsbruck - Wien - München: Tyrolia. *Tropper, C., 1983: ''Der heilige Altmann''. In: ''900 Jahre Stift Göttweig 1083-1983. Ein Donaustift als Repräsentant benediktinischer Kultur''. (Exhibition catalogue) Göttweig. *Wodka, Josef, 1959: ''Kirche in Österreich. Wegweiser durch ihre Geschichte''. Vienna: Herder. *Fuchs, Adalbert, 1929: ''Der heilige Altmann. Kleine historische Monographien; 18''. *Anon., 1965: ''Der heilige Altmann Bischof von Passau''. *Wiedemann, Theodor (1851)
''Altmann, Bischof zu Passau, nach seinem Leben und Wirken.''
. Augsburg: Kollmann, 1851. *"Vita Beati Altmanni Episcopi Pataviensis," in: Pez, Hieronymus (1721)
''Scriptores rerum Austriacarum,'' Tomus 1.
. Leipzig: Sumptibus Joh. Frid. Gleditschii b. filii, 1721, pp. 109-163. *Hansiz, Marcus. ''Germaniae sacræ: Metropolis Lauriacensis cum Episcopatu Pataviensi.''
Tomus I
(1727). Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg): Happach & Schlüter, pp. 255-284.

External links

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{{Authority control Year of birth unknown 1091 deaths 11th-century bishops in Bavaria Folk saints Roman Catholic bishops of Passau Lower Saxon nobility Westphalian nobility