OTTO, Bishop of BAMBERG, Saint. — Born in 1062-63 into a family from Mistelbach (Franconia), died on 30 June 1139 in Bamberg. He first served at the court of Wladislaw, Duke of Poland, then, before 1090, entered the service of Henry IV; in 1101 he became chancellor; in 1102 he was named and invested by Henry IV as Bishop of Bamberg, but in 1105 he switched allegiance to Henry V and on 13 May 1106 received episcopal consecration in Rome.
His labors were more devoted to the good of his diocese than to political affairs. The city of Bamberg owes to him the completion of the imperial cathedral and the adjoining church of St. James, the towers of St. Galdolphus, the church and Benedictine monastery of St. Michael. Throughout his diocese he had churches built at Castelli and founded or renewed various monastic houses. By promoting monks, Cistercians, and Premonstratensians, he contributed to 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 Bolesław, Duke of Poland, in 1124 he traveled with some twenty clerics and a large retinue, founding churches and baptizing many neophytes. He returned there in 1128 after a pagan reaction, achieving further successes.
Canonized in 1189 by Clement III, his feast is celebrated in the archdiocese of Bamberg on 30 September, elsewhere on 11 July, and in Pomerania on 1 October. His relics are venerated in the church of St. Michael.