BL. UTTO, ABBOT - 3 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER 

Saints celebrated on the 3rd of October

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.

BL. UTTO, ABBOT 

Initially, Blessed Abbot Utto (Ukko, Utho) of Metten succeeded Saint Gamelbert as pastor of Michaelsbuch [in Bavaria, South Germany] and the surrounding area. 

Around the same time, the Bavarian Duke Thassilo II had allied himself with the savage Avars against Carl the Great (Charlemagne) and was warred by him. The crude and bloodthirsty Avars devastated everything. 

Thereupon Utto went to the left bank of the Danube into the wooded area where the Metten Monastery now stands, with the intention of leading a hidden and contemplative life. In the manner of a hermit he built a tiny chapel in honour of St Michael. 

After spending an indefinite time in this solitude and holy monotony, one day something unusual happened:  While he was hunting in this area, no less than Carl the Great came across our hermit and offered to do him a favour. (Some say that, at the time, Carl was about to embark on yet another military campaign and therefore was particularly keen to perform charitable deeds in the run-up to this important event.)

The pious hermit asked for a piece of land on which to build a monastery, and Carl granted the request. 

In a relatively short time, at the foothills of the Bavarian forest, the new St Michael monastery was erected and consecrated on the said land.

When Carl received the imperial crown in Rome in 800, he obtained from Pope Leo III the confirmation that Utto would be the first Abbot of the newly founded monastery. 

The fact that at the Synod of Reisbach in 799 no Abbot of Metten was yet present agrees with this. 

The Pope - through Bishop Aldoloinus of Ratisbon, who ordained Utto - sent him an abbot's staff with an ivory handle, in which the were carved the following words: 

Quod Dominus Petro, Petrus tibi contulit Utto. (What the Lord gave to Peter, Peter gives you, Utto.) 

This staff is still extant and is kept in a glass case along with some other relics of Blessed Utto.

Utto led the new monastery community for about 24 years with great wisdom and strength. 

He died on October 3, 829, at the age of 82. His festival is also celebrated in Metten on this day. 

The spiritual sons of the deceased venerated the spiritual father after his death, just as they had already shown him respect in life. The historical documents report nothing of a solemn elevation of his relics or of a canonisation up to 1646. 

Therefore he carries, rather than the title "Saint", the prefix "Blessed". Notwithstanding, from the earliest centuries and later, graces and wonderful healings have been known to have granted through St Utto's intercession. His grave was covered in ex-votos. In times bygone, bread was also blessed under his invocation and it was distributed to the people who valued it under the name of "Uttobrot" (Utto's bread).

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints)