CONRAD OF MARIENBERG, ABBOT - 4 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 4th of May

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

CONRAD OF MARIENBERG, ABBOT 

Conrad [Konrad] was the 9th abbot of the Benedictine monastery Marienberg (Mariae mons) in Tyrol, founded by the Counts of Matsch. 

The first four abbots came from the Ottobeuren monastery in the Diocese Augsburg, while the fifth, named Volger, was almost "prised away from Ottobeuren to become abbot of Marienberg."

Conrad was a native of Tyrol, who was elected abbot in 1218 at the age of 24. He had incredible zeal and energy. He governed the monastery with great wisdom, "giving to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's" during those troubled times of discord between pope and emperor.

All his actions were so just and grounded in Christian love that that even in this life he was called a saint. When he died on May 4, 1254 during the night (according to Zedler on June 8) the bell of the Benedictine monastery of San Nicolo near Riva rang of its own accord.

During the following night Conrad himself appeared to the Benedictines there and gave them various admonitions regarding certain circumstances at their monastery.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858 - 📷 Marienberg Abbey, Tyrol)