Altfrid

Saint Altfrid (or Altfrid of Hildesheim) (died 15 August 874) was a leading figure in Germany in the ninth century. A

There is no contemporary biography of Altfrid. He is first mentioned by name on 3 October 852, when he took part in a council in Mainz as Bishop of Hildesheim.

According to the Hildesheim Chronicle Altfrid died "rich in days" in 874, from which a year of birth of around 800 is assumed. He owned land in the

In 864, Altfrid moved the relics of Saint Marsus from Auxerre to an unknown place in Saxony, most likely to Corvey Abbey. His sermon on the arrival of the relics survives. In addition, Altfrid laid the cornerstone of a new cathedral in Hildesheim in 852,^[1] a three-aisled cruciform church with a crossing and transept. It was completed in 872 and was consecrated on 1 November 872 in the presence of four bishops and the Abbot of Corvey.

Even before his consecration as bishop, Altfrid had been active in the foundation of several female religious communities. Between 845 and 847 he acquired the relics of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Rome.^[a] Altfrid also supported the Saxon Count Ricdag in the foundation of the nunnery at Lamspringe by procuring for it the relics of Saint Hadrian from Rome.

According to the Hildesheim Chronicle Altfrid also founded a Benedictine monastery on his own land in the Harzvorland, of which no further details of either location or duration are known. More important is Altfrid's other foundation,

Altfrid founded Liesborn Abbey and a monastery for men at Osterwieck near Seligenstadt.^[2]

Diplomat

Altfrid, was a close confidant of

The place of Altfrid's death is not known, although the date is recorded by Abbot Altbert of Lobbes as the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, i.e., 15 August 874.[3] He was buried, according to his wishes, in the church of Essen Abbey.

After his death Altfrid was particularly venerated at his tomb in Essen. Around the year 1000 miracles were reported at his grave, which greatly increased the veneration, and the effects of a supposedly healing spring close to the church were also ascribed to his intercession. After a serious fire in the church in the 13th century a Gothic stone sarcophagus was obtained for his bones. Altfrid's feast day - which in Essen was celebrated on 16 August, rather than on 15 August - was the most festive in the abbey's yearly calendar.

Nevertheless, Altfrid was not a canonised saint, and when the abbey was secularised in 1803 his veneration fell off, only to revive during the

in 1958 the first bishop asked Rome to confirm the celebration of Altfrid's feast day as an official church festival, a request which was granted in 1965.

Notes

1. ^ He may have been accompanying Liudolf and his wife Oda, who in 846 during a visit to Rome asked for papal protection for the foundation of Gandersheim Abbey, a house of secular canonesses, for the appointment of her daughter Hathumod to be abbess, and for relics.
2. ^ Coincidentally the second abbess of Essen was also named Gerswith but seems not to have been a relative of Altfrid.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Bishop Altfrid", Mariendom Hildesheim
2. ^ ^{a b c} Schäfer, Joachim. "Altfrid von Hildesheim", Ökumenischen Heiligenlexikon
3. ISBN 3-88309-080-8
   .

Sources

• Pothmann, Alfred, 2002: Bischof Altfrid (um 800–874). Der Hildesheimer Bischof und die Essener Frauengemeinschaft, in: Alfred Pothmann u. Reimund Haas (eds.): Christen an der Ruhr, vol. 2. Bottrop Essen: Verlag Peter Pomp.
  ISBN 3-89355-231-6
• Schilp, Thomas, 2000: Altfrid oder Gerswid? Zur Gründung und den Anfängen des Frauenstifts Essen, in: Herrschaft, Bildung und Gebet. Essen: Klartext Verlag.
  ISBN 3-88474-907-2

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint Altfrid.

• Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon:Altfrid von Hildesheim (in German)

• http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1286

Altfried Born: ~800 Died: 15 August 874
Christian titles
Preceded by Ebbo	Bishop of Hildesheim 847–874	Succeeded by Ludolf