Meet Saint Rupert, Medieval Missionary, Founder, and First Bishop of Salzburg.
Newsdesk (26/04/2023 11:10, Gaudium Press) Saint Rupert was born of the lineage of the Frankish kings and became Bishop of Worms in the second year of Childebert III, in the year 696. His reputation reached as far as Theodo, Duke of Bavaria who sent an emissary to him begging him earnestly to come and teach in the Province of Noricum. At first, the holy bishop sent some missionaries, then he went there in person.
The Duke, full of joy, came to meet him and received him in Regensburg with great honours. Saint Rupert taught both morals and the Catholic Faith and baptized many of Theodo’s subjects, both nobles and commoners.
It is certain that, from the time of King Theodoric I, the Bavarians had received the Christian religion, as stated in their laws; but we see at the same time, especially from the capitulary of Pope Gregory, that there was no organization of Bishoprics under a metropolis, nor, consequently, any assured succession to the bishops. It is conceivable that in such a state of affairs, especially amid the political resolutions of the kingdom of Austrasia, the younger generations of Bavaria, without being precisely idolaters, were not always Christian. It was this that Pope Gregory sought to remedy by his legates.
Duke Theodo, being converted, promised St. Rupert that he could choose a place to establish an Episcopal See, and to build churches and lodgings for the ecclesiastics. The Holy Bishop embarked on the Danube River and went as far as the borders of lower Pannonia, preaching the Faith.
On his return, he passed through Lauriacum, now Lorch, a former metropolis of Noricum where he healed several sick by his prayers and converted numerous people. Then, knowing that in a place called Juvavum there had existed an appreciable number of wonderful buildings, by then almost in ruins and covered with trees, he went there and asked the Duke Theodo for this place. The latter willingly granted it to him, together with the surrounding lands, to the extent of two leagues. Saint Rupert, established his Episcopal See, built a very beautiful church in honour of Saint Peter, with a cloister and lodgings for the clerics to celebrate the Divine Office every day. Thus it was that, at the voice of the Pontiff, ancient Juvavum came out of the ruins to revive centuries later under the name of Salzburg.
This holy bishop had need of labourers who would preach the Gospel. Therefore he returned to his country and brought with him twelve helpers, including his niece Erentrude, who had consecrated herself to God. He founded for her a monastery in honour of the Holy Virgin on a neighbouring mountain, of which she was the first abbess. He continued to visit assiduously all over the country, to build churches and to ordain clerics. Finally, after having ordained his successor, he died in 718, on Easter Day, March 27, the day on which the Church honours his memory.
(Life of the Saints, Father Rohrbacher, Volume V, pp. 317 to 319)
