ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 6th of September
SAINT MAGNUS OF FÜSSEN, APOSTLE OF THE ALLGÄU
St Magnus (popularly known as St Mang) was an apostle of the Allgäu, South Germany. He died about 750 (655?).
VITA S. MAGNI
The history of St Magnus is shrouded in obscurity. The only source is an old "Vita S. Magni". It relates that the two Irish missionaries, Columbanus and Gall, spent some time with Willimar, a priest at Arbon. Here Gall fell sick and was put in charge of Magnus and Theodore (Maginald and Theodo), two clerics living with Willimar, while Columbanus proceeded to Italy and founded the monastery of Bobbio.
When Gall had been miraculously informed of the death of Columbanus he sent Magnus to pray at his grave in Bobbio. Magnus returned from Bobbio with the staff of Columbanus and thereafter they followed his rule. After the death of Gall, Magnus succeeded him as superior of the cell.
About this time a priest of the Diocese of Augsburg, named Tozzo, came as a pilgrim to the grave of St Gall and invited Magnus to accompany him to the eastern part of Allgäu.
HE PENETRATED INTO THE WILDERNESS
Magnus proceeded to Eptaticus (Epfach), where Bishop Wichbert of Augsburg received him and entrusted him with the Christianisation of Eastern Algäu. He penetrated into the wilderness, then crossed the River Lech at a place which is still known as St Mangstritt (footstep of St Magnus) and built a cell, where afterwards the monastery of Füssen was erected, and where he died.
THE "LIFE" WAS DISCOVERED
The "Life" is said to have been written by Theodore, the companion of Magnus, and placed in the grave under the head of St Magnus.
When in 851 Bishop Lanto transferred the relics to the newly erected church of Füssen, this "Life" is said to have been found in a scarcely legible condition, and to have been emendated and rewritten by Ermenrich, a monk of Ellwangen.
It was re-edited with worthless additions in 1070 by Othloh of St Emmeram. A manuscript is preserved at the Monastery of St Gall.
SOME QUESTIONS
The chief inconsistencies in the "Life" are the following: St Magnus is made a disciple of St Gall (died 627) and at the same time he is treated as a contemporary of Wichbert, the first historically established bishop of Augsburg (died about 749).
Steichele, Baumann, and many others conclude that the first part of the life, where Magnus is made a companion of St Gall, is a later addition, and that the second part was written in 851 when the relics of the saint were transferred.
They maintain that a monk of Ellwangen (probably not Ermenrich) wrote the "Life" in 851, when the body of Magnus was transferred, because the saint's Vita was found with his body but in a scarcely legible condition; that therefore a monk of Ellwangen was ordered to rewrite it. (This was a common custom of the early Middle Ages.)
A CHURCH IN HONOUR OF ST MAGNUS
When Bishop Abbot Solomon III of Constance dedicated a church in honour of St Magnus at the monastery of St Gall, he received a relic and the "Life" from the monks of Füssen. His feast is celebrated on September 6.
Excerpts from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Magnus may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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