Burchard of Würzburg, Saint

BURCHARD OF WÜRZBURG, Saint. - Anglo-Saxon Benedictine, disciple and collaborator of St. Boniface (v.), in 741 he was ordained bishop of Würzburg by him, thus founding that episcopate. He was charged by Pepin of Heristal, together with the abbot Fulrad of St-Denis, with the mission of obtaining from the pontiff Zachary the assent to the deposition of the last Merovingian king, the unwarlike Childeric; a mission that he brought happily to port. He died at Homburg on 2 Feb. 754. According to the author of the Vita posterior, he would have been buried in the cathedral of Würzburg, from which the bishop Hugh, in 983, took the relics and transported them to the monastery of St. Andrew, founded by B. and which therefore also took the name of St. B.; the day consecrated to the celebration of the feast of B. was later fixed at 14 October. Another tradition would have him die at Berceto, near Parma, during the third journey to Italy, and the church of St. Moderanno would preserve his remains; but this is unlikely, because the feast of B. is everywhere celebrated on 14 Oct., that is, the day of the translation of the relics to the monastery of Würzburg.

Under the name of B. are known: the Evangelary of Würzburg (7th-8th century), preserved in the library of the University; the Codex Burchardi, that is, a homiliary of the Merovingian era, likewise preserved in the library of the University of Würzburg, very useful for the criticism of the Sermons of St. Caesarius of Arles.

Pier Fausto Palumbo