Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/747

 WOLFRAM

683

WOLFRAM

After the death (964) of ,\rohbishop Henry of Trier, Wolfgang entered the Order of St. Benedict in the Abbey of Maria Kinsiedein, Switzerland, and was ordained priest by Si. Ulrich in OfiS.

After their defeat in the battle of the Lechfeld (955), a victory gained with the aid of St. Ulrich, the heathen ^lagj'ars settled in ancient Pannonia. Aa long as they were not converted to Christianity they remained a constant menace to the empire. At the request of St. I'lrich, who clearly saw the danger, and at the desire of the Emperor Otto the Great, St. Wolfgang, according to the abbey annals, was "sent to the Magj'ars'' as the most suitable man to evangelize them. He was followed by other mis- sionaries sent by Bishop Piligrini of Nassau, under whose jurisdiction the new missionary region came. After the death of Bishop Michael of Ratisbon (23 September, 972) Bishop Pihgrim obtained from the emperor the appointment of Wolfgang as Bishop of Ratisbon (Christmas, 972). \\'olfgang's services in this new position were of the highest importance, not only for the diocese, but also for the cause of civiliza- tion. As Bishop of Ratisbon, Wolfgang became the tutor of Emperor St. Henry II, who learned from him the principles which governed his saintlj- and energetic hfe. Poppe, son of ^Iarg^ave Luitpold, Archbishop of Trier (1016), and Tagino, Archbishop of Magdeburg (1004-1012), also had him as their teacher.

St. Wolfgang deserves credit for his disciplinary' labours in his diocese. His main work in this respect was connected with the ancient and celebrated Abbey of St. Emmeram which he reformed by granting it once more abbots of its own, thus withdrawing it from the control of the bishops of Ratisbon, who for many years had been abbots in commendam, a condition of affairs that had been far from beneficial to the abbey and monastic life. In the Benedictine monk Ram- wold, whom St. Wolfgang called from St. Maximin at Trier, St. Emmeram received a capable abbot (975). The saint also reformed the convents of Obermiinster and Niedermiinster at Ratisbon, chiefly by giving them as an example the convent of St. Paul, Mittelmiinster, at Ratisbon, which he had founded in 983. He also co-operated in the reform of the ancient and celebrated Benedictine Abbey of .\ltach (Xieder- altach), which had been founded by the Agilolf dynasty, and which from that time took on new hfe. He showed genuine episcopal generosity in the liberal manner with which he met the views of the Emperor Otto II regarding the intended reduction in size of his diocese for the benefit of the new Diocese of Prague (975), to which St. Adalbert was appointed as first bishop. .\s prince of the empire he performed his duties towards the emperor and the empire with the utmost scrupulousness and, like St. Flrich, was one of the mainstays of the Ottonian policies. He took part in the various imperial Diets, and, in the autumn of 978, accompanied the Emperor Otto II on his campaign to Paris, and took part in the great Diet of Verona in June, 983.

St. Wolfgang withdrew as a hermit to a solitary spot, now the Lake of St. Wolfgang, apparently on account of a pohtical dispute, but probably in the course of a journey of in.spection to the monastery of Mendsee which was under the directi(m of the bishops of Ratisbon. He was discovered by a hunter and brought back to Ratisbon. ^\'hile travelling on the Danube to Pochlarn in Lower Austria, he fell ill at the village of Pupping, which is between Efferding and the market town of Aschach near Linz, and at his request was carried into the chapel of St. Othmar at Pupping, where he died. His body was taken up the Danube by his friends Count .\ribo of Andechs and Archbishop Hartwich of .Salzburg to Ratisbon, and was solemnly buried in the crypt of .St . Emmeram. Many miracles were performed at his grave: in 1052 he was canonized. Soon after his death many

churches chose him as their patron saint, and various towns were named after him. In Christian art he has been especially honoured by the great medieval Tyrolc-e iiainter, Michael Pachcr (lloO-1498), who created an imperishable memorial of him, the high altar of St. Wolfgang. In llie panel pictures which are now exhibited in the Old Pinakothek at Munich are depicted in an artistic manner the chief events in the saint's life. The oldest portrait of St. Wolf- gang is a miniature, painted about the year 1100 in the celebrated EvangeUary of St. Emmeram, now in the library of the castle cathedral at Cracow. A fine modern picture by Schwind is in the Schak Gallery at Munich. This painting represents the legend of Wolfgang forcing the devil to help him to build a church. In other paintings he is generally depicted in episcopal dress, an axe in the right hand and the cro- zier in the left, or as a hermit in the wilderness being discovered by a hunter. The axe refers to an event in the life of the saint. After having selected a soli- tary spot in the wilderness, he prayed and then threw his axe into the thicket; the spot on which the axe fell he regarded as the place where God intended he should build his cell. This axe is still shown in the little market town of St. Wolfgang which sprang up on the spot of the old cell. At the reque-st of the Abbey of St. Emmeram, the life of St. Wolfgang was WTitten by Othlo, a Benedictine monk of St. Emme- ram about 1050. This life is especially important for the early medieval history both of the Church and of civihzation in Bavaria and Austria, and it forms the basis of all later accounts of the saint. The oldest and best manuscript of this "Life" is in the library of the Abbey of Maria Einsiedeln in Switzerland (MS. No. 322), and has been printed with critical notes in "Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script.", IV, 524-542. It has also been printed in, "Acta SS.", II November, (Brussels, 1894), 529-537; "Acta SS. O. S. Ben. ", V, 812-833; and in P. L., CXLVI, 395-422.

Der hi. Wolfgang, Bischof von RegennhuTg, hist. Festschrift z. jahr. Gedachtnissc seines Todes, etl.. in connexion with numerous historical scholars, by Merler (Ratisbon, 1894), among the chief collaborators on this work being Braunmui-ler, Ringholz (of Ein.siedeln), and Dannerbacer; Kolbe, Die Verdienste des Bischofs Wolfgang v. R. um. das Bildungsiresen Suddeutschlanda. Bcilrag z. Ge.^rh. der Piidagogik des X und XI Jahrhunderts (Breslau. 1894) ; Wattenbach. Deulschlands Ceschiehlsquelten im Millelaller, I (Berlin, 1904), 449-452; Detzel, Chrisll. Tknagraphie, II (Freiburg, 1896), 683; Potthast, Bi7j/. medii mi. 11 (Berlin, 1896), 1641.

Ulrich Schmid.

Wolfram von Eschenbach, generally regarded as the greatest of Middle-High-tierman epic poets, date of birth unknown; d. soon after 1215. Our scanty information about his life is derived mainly from his works. He was a Bavarian by birth. The town of Eschenbach, whence he gets his name, is a little .south- ea.st of .\n.sbach in Franconian territorj'. Though of noble birth, he was poor, possibly because he was a younger .son. All that he owned was the small estate of Wildenherg (now Wehlenberg) near Ansliach. In his "Parzival" he speaks of the Count of AVertheim as Min Herre, whence it has been surmised that he was a vassal of that count. But the words in question may simply be an honorarj' title. Wolfram led a wander- ing life, and after 120.5 stayed repeatedly at Eisenach at the Court of the landgrave Hermann of Thuringia. Parts of his "Parzival "were composed there. Afterthe landgrave's death ( 1217)thepoet returned to his home. The date of his death is uncertain; he certainly sur- vived the landgrave, whose death he alludes to in his poem "Willehalm". He seems to have died soon after his patron, for his last works were left unfinished. He was buried in the Frauenkirche of Eschenbach, where his tomb was still to be seen in the seventeenth century.

Wolfram in his "Parzival" tells us explicitly that he could neither read nor write. His poems were written down from dictation. His knowledge was extensive