SAINT GODARD, BISHOP OF HILDESHEIM, CONFESSOR - 4 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 4th of May

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SAINT GODARD, BISHOP OF HILDESHEIM, CONFESSOR  

Saint Godard [Godehard, Gotthard] was a native of Bavaria [South Germany], and abbot of Niederaltaich, in that country, and reformed likewise the abbeys of Hersfeld, in Hesse, of Tegernsee, in the diocese of Freising, and of Kremsmünster, in that of Passau. 

THE FIRST OBJECT OF HIS ATTENTION

In 1021, the episcopal chair of Hildesheim falling vacant by the death of St Bernward, St Godard was compelled by St Henry to take upon him that pastoral charge. The relief of the poor, both spiritual and temporal, was every where the first object of his attention. 

SEVERAL PLACES BEAR HIS NAME

He died on May 4, 1038, and was canonised by Innocent II in 1131. Many places in Germany acknowledge him patron, and several bear his name. See his life by Wolfhert, his disciple in Henschenius, and in Mabillon: and more at large, with long histories of miracles, among the writers of the history of the most illustrious house of Brunswick-Hanover. Several very devout epistles of St. Godard, or Godehard, are given us by Dom. Pez, in his Codex Diplomatico-Historico-Epistolaris.

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Godard, your blessed bishop, 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.