BURCHARD of WÜRZBURG, Saint. — An Anglo-Saxon Benedictine, disciple and collaborator of St Boniface (q.v.), in 741 he was ordained bishop of Würzburg by him, thus founding that see. He was entrusted by Pippin of Herstal, together with Abbot Fulrad of St-Denis, with the mission of obtaining from Pope Zachary assent to the deposition of the last Merovingian king, the feeble Childeric; a mission which he successfully accomplished. He died at Homburg on 2 Feb. 754. According to the author of the Vita posterior, he was buried in the cathedral of Würzburg, from which Bishop Hugo, in 983, removed the relics and transferred them to the monastery of St Andrew, founded by B., which accordingly also took the name of St B.; the day appointed for the celebration of his feast was then fixed on 14 October. Another tradition holds that he died at Berceto, near Parma, during his third journey to Italy, and that the church of St Moderannus preserves his remains; but this is unlikely, since B.’s feast is everywhere celebrated on 14 Oct., i.e. the day of the translation of his relics to the monastery of Würzburg.
Works associated with B. include the Evangelia of Würzburg (7th–13th c.), preserved in the university library; the Codex Burchardi, an early Merovingian homiliary likewise kept in the university library of Würzburg, of great value for the criticism of the Sermons of St Caesarius of Arles.