Ulric (Uodalric), Bishop of Augsburg, Saint

ULRICO (UDALRICO), VESCOVO DI AUGUSTA, SANTO

Feast day: 4 July

ULRIC (Uodalric), Bishop of Augsburg, Saint. - Of the family of the counts of Dillingen, son of Ubald and Ditberga, b. at Augsburg (Bavaria) in 890, d. there on 4 July 973.

He studied at St. Gall, and on the death of Bishop Hiltin in 923 he succeeded him in the see of Augsburg through the favorable intervention of Burchard, duke of Swabia. He was zealous for the discipline of his clergy in the annual synods, watched over the religious life of his people with pastoral visits, devoted himself to preaching, and took care of the poor and of the monasteries, restoring that of St. Afra and building that of St. Stephen (968).

The name of U. is also closely bound up with the history of the Empire. He gave effective support to Otto I the Great against the autonomist tendencies of the dukes, upheld him in the rebellion of his son Ludolf (Liutolf), duke of Swabia, and succeeded in arranging the peace of Illertissen (954). During the siege by the Hungarian army in 955, present at the battle, he encouraged the defenders, and after the final victory on the Lechfeld (10 Aug.) he surrounded the city with walls. Returning from a third journey to Rome in 972, U. met with Otto I at Ravenna, and there tendered his resignation in favor of his nephew Adalbero, moved by the desire, according to his biographer, to retire to a monastery and to preserve the see of Augsburg for his family. This constituted a violation of the law, and U., notwithstanding the veneration with which he was surrounded, together with his nephew, stole of continence of clerics against ecclesiastical celibacy (Anal. Bolland., 27 [1908], pp. 474-75). His correspondence is today lost.

ULRICH, bishop of AUGSBURG, saint, St. U. with the iconographic motif of the fish into which the piece of meat with which it was intended to accuse him was transformed. South Tyrolean art of the 15th century. Bolzano, Museum.(by courtesy of Dr. B. Degcuhart)

Bibliography8 works

BIBL.: BHL, II, nos. 8339-68; suppl. no. 8365; and A. Pothast, Bibl. Hist. M. Aevi, II, Berlin 1898, pp. 1612-13; Acta SS. Iulii, II, Venice 1747, pp. 73-135; Manitius, II, pp. 203-10; A. Hauck, Kirchengesch. Deutschlands, II, Leipzig 1920, pp. 47-52; Martyr. Romanum, p. 270. On the latest biographical studies of U. Schmid (Augsburg 1901) and A. Stonner (Freiburg im Br. 1934) cf. Anal. Bolland., 20 (1901), 346-47; 53 (1935), 449.

Clemente Schmitt

@incollection{ec12_ulrico_udalrico_vescovo_di_aug, author = {Schmitt, Clemente}, title = {Ulrico (Udalrico), vescovo di augusta, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {722--723}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ulrico-udalrico-vescovo-di-augusta-santo} }

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