ST BURCKARD, BISHOP OF WÜRZBURG

ST BURCKARD, BISHOP OF WÜRZBURG - 14 OCTOBER

SAINT BURCKARD, FIRST BISHOP OF WÜRZBURG

(Würzburg, in Franconia [Germany], in Latin, Herbipolis)

Boniface standing in need of fellow-labourers powerful in words and works in the vast harvest which he had on his hands in Germany, about the year 732, invited over from England Saint Lullus and Saint Burckard (Saint Burchard), who seem by this circumstance to have come from the kingdom of Wessex: they were both persons of an apostolic spirit.

Saint Boniface consecrated Saint Burckard with his own hands the first bishop of Würzburg in Franconia, where Saint Kilian had preached the word of life, and suffered martyrdom about fifty years before. This whole country was by his ministry converted to Christ.

Excessive fatigues having, in ten years time, exhausted his strength, with the consent of King Pepin, and by the approbation of Saint Lullus, (Saint Boniface being gone to preach in Friesland,) he resigned his bishopric to Megingand, a monk of Fritzlar, and disciple of St Wigbert, in 752.

Retiring into a solitude in that part of his diocese called Hohenburg, he spent the remaining part of his life with six fervent monks or clergymen in watching, fasting, and incessant prayer.

He died on February 9, 752, and was buried near the relics of Saint Kilian at mount St Mary’s or Old Würzburg, where he had built a monastery under the invocation of Saint Andrew.

Hugh, bishop of Würzburg, chancellor to the emperor Otho IV. authorised by an order of Pope Benedict VII about the year 983, made a very solemn translation of his relics; October 14, the day on which this ceremony was performed, has been regarded as his principal festival.

Out of veneration for his sanctity, King Pepin, in 752, declared the bishops of Würzburg Dukes of Franconia, with all civil jurisdiction. The emperor Henry IV alienated several parts of Franconia, but the bishops of Würzburg retain the sovereignty of this extensive diocese, though it was much larger before Saint Henry II erected the bishopric of Bamberg.

Source: Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Burckard 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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