ALTMANN, Saint. - A native of Westphalia, he studied in Paris and was a professor at Paderborn. He was appointed by Henry III provost of the chapter of Aachen and court chaplain, and in 1065 bishop of Passau. An intrepid champion of papal rights and a great reformer of monastic life and of the clergy, he was persecuted for this until his death.

He founded (1683) the Benedictine monastery of Göttweig. In 1074 he published the bull of Gregory VII against the concubinarian clergy, and in 1076, together with the archbishop of Salzburg, Gerardo, the excommunication against Henry IV. Forced to flee, he saw his see occupied by intruded bishops. He came to Rome (1079), and the Pope chose him as his perpetual legate for Germany; he then lived in retirement at Göttweig. He died in nearby Zeiselmauer on 8 Aug. 1091 and was de-

placed in the crypt of Göttweig, where he was venerated as a saint. He is absent from the Martyr. Romanum; the feast of A. was granted to the dioceses of Linz (1884) and Passau (1890).

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: The Vita, written by a monk of Göttweig (around 1130), was published by Wattenbach, in MGH, Script., XII, pp. 216-43; Acta SS. Augusti, II, ed. Venice 1735, pp. 356-89; BHL, 313-15; J. Stülz, Das Leben des Bischofs Altmann von Postau, Vienna 1853; A. Stonner, Heilige der deutschen Frühzeit, II, Freiburg im Breisgau 1935, pp. 82-106.

Giuseppe Löw

@incollection{ec1_altmanno_santo, author = {Lów, Giuseppe}, title = {Altmanno, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {936--937}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/altmanno-santo} }

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Altmann, Saint

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