OTTO, Bishop of Bamberg, Saint. - Born in 1062-63 into a family of Mistelbach (Franconia), died on 30 June 1139 at Bamberg. He was at first at the court of Wladislaw, duke of Poland, then, before 1090, he entered the service of Henry IV; in 1101 he became chancellor; in 1102 he was nominated and invested by Henry IV as bishop of Bamberg, but in 1105 he went over to the side of Henry V and on 13 May 1106 he received episcopal consecration at Rome.

OTTO, bishop of BAMBERG, saint. Mitre of St. O. - Bamberg, Cathedral.(from E. Busseman-J. W. Schmidt, Der Bumberger Domschatz, Munich 1911, p. 28, pp. 31)

...works for which he was called father of the monks. Promoting the reform of Hirsau and the new orders of the Cistercians and Premonstratensians, he cooperated in the foundation of 21 monasteries in the dioceses of Bamberg, Würzburg, Regensburg, Passau, Eichstätt, Halberstadt and Aquileia (cf. A. Brackmann, Die Kurie und die Salzburger Kirchenprovinz, Berlin 1912, pp. 41-44). Important was his mission among the Pomeranians, where, sent by Boleslaw, duke of Poland, he set out in 1124 with about twenty clerics and a numerous retinue, founding churches and baptizing numerous neophytes. He returned there in 1128 after a reaction of the pagan element, obtaining new successes.

Canonized in 1189 by Clement III, his feast is celebrated in the archdiocese of Bamberg on 30 September, elsewhere on 11 July, in Pomerania on 1 October. His tomb is venerated in the church of St. Michael.

Bibliography9 works

BIBL.: sources: A. Ussermann, Episcopatus Bambergensis, St. Blasien 1802 (diplomas); Relatio de piis operibus Ottonis, in MGH, Script., XV, pp. 1151-66; XX, pp. 697-769; BHL, 6392-6407; Acta SS. Iulii, I, Antwerp 1710, pp. 349-465; A. Hofmeister, Die Präfinger vita des Bischofs Otto von Bamberg, Greifswald 1924; id., Das Leben des Bischofs Otto von Bamberg, Leipzig 1928; E. v. Guttenberg, Das Bistum Bamberg, Berlin 1937, pp. 115-38; Martyr. Romanum, p. 266.

Lucchesio Spätling

@incollection{ec9_ottone_vescovo_di_bamberga_san, author = {Spätling, Lucchesio}, title = {Ottone, vescovo di bamberga, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {466--467}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ottone-vescovo-di-bamberga-santo} }

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Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, Saint

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