Arbogast came from Ireland. Some writers have called him a Scot, but in the Middle Ages 'Scotia' meant Ireland. His Irish name, Arascach, became Arbogast on the Continent, as many Irish names were changed by foreigners.

He lived first as a hermit in a German forest and then went to Alsace. King Dagobert II of Austrasia, who had spent his exile in Ireland at Slane, became his friend. When Dagobert took the throne, he made Arbogast Bishop of Strasbourg.

Arbogast was known for holiness and miracles. A story says he raised the king's son to life after the boy was killed falling from his horse. At his own request he was buried on a hillside where only criminals were buried. A church was later built on the spot.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 111 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

…carried him after the beast, distancing the rest of the huntsmen. Then the boar turned, and the horse taking fright, plunged and threw the lad, and drew him clinging to the rein some way. He was taken up insensible from contusion of the brain, and was put to bed.

St. Arbogast has been claimed as a native of Scotland, but this is owing to a misunderstanding of the name "Scotia", which until late in the Middle Ages really meant Ireland. He flourished about the middle of the seventh century. Leaving Ireland, as so many other missionaries had done, he settled as a hermit in a German forest, and then proceeded to Alsace, where his real name, Arascach, was changed to Arbogast. This change of name was owing to the difficulty experienced by foreigners in pronouncing Irish Christian names; thus it is that Moengal, Maelmaedhog, Cellach, Gillaisu, Gilla in Coimded, Tuathal, and Arascach were respectively transformed into Marcellus, Malachy, Gall, Gelasius, Germanus, Tutilo, and Arbogast. St. Arbogast found a warm friend in King Dagobert II of Austrasia, who had been educated at Slane, in Meath, in Ireland, and was restored to his kingdom on the demise of King Childeric II. Monstrelet authenticates the story of King Dagobert in Ireland; and the royal exile naturally fled to Slane in order to be under the ægis of the Ard-Righ (High­-King) of Ireland, at Tara. On Dagobert's accession to the throne of Austrasia, Arbogast was appointed Bishop of Strasburg, and was famed for sanctity and miracles. It is related that the Irish saint raised to life Dagobert's son, who had been killed by a fall from his horse. St. Arbogast died in 678, and, at his own special request, was buried on the side of a mountain, where only malefactors were interred. The site of his burial was subsequently deemed suitable for a church. He is commemorated 21 July.

Grattan Flood, Irish Saints; Boschius in Acta SS. (1727), July, V, 168-177; Burgener, Helvetia Sancta (1860), I, 56-58; Hist. litt. de la France (1735), III, 621-622; Postina, in Römische Quartalschrift (1898), XII, 299-305; Analecta Bolland., XVIII, 195; Bibl. hagiogr. Lat. (1898), 106, 1317; O'Hanlon, Lives of Irish Saints, VII (21 July); Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, 6th ed.; Grandidier, Hist de l'église de Strasbourg (1770), I, 199.