Fridolin of Säckingen

Saint Fridolin, otherwise Fridolin of Säckingen, traditionally believed to have been born in Ireland, was a missionary, and the founder of Säckingen Abbey, Baden, in the 6th or 7th century. He is honoured as the apostle of the Alamanns.

Life

There is very little definite information on Fridolin. He is traditionally venerated as an Irish missionary and the first to work among the Alamanns on the Upper Rhine, in the time of the Merovingians. The only portion of the late Life that can be regarded as historically sound is that he founded a monastery on the island of Säckingen in the Rhine. There is no exact information on the date of the foundation. The monastery, however, was of great importance by the 9th century: the earliest extant document concerning it records the gift, on 10 February 878, of the monastery by Charles the Fat to his wife Richardis.

Legend

The biography written by Balther, a monk of Säckingen, at the beginning of the 11th century, is the earliest documentary reference to Fridolin (or Fridold), According to this, he belonged to a noble family in Ireland, and at first was a missionary there. Afterwards crossing to France, he came to Poitiers, where in answer to a vision, he sought out the relics of Saint Hilarius, and built a church for them. Saint Hilarius subsequently appeared to him in a dream, and commanded him to proceed to an island in the Rhine, in the territories of the Alamanns. In obedience to this summons, Fridolin approached the "Emperor" Clovis, who granted him possession of the still unknown island, and thence proceeded through "Helion",Strasbourg and Coire, founding churches in every district in honour of Saint Hilarius.

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See also