St. Trudpert

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

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April 28 · Hermit, Martyr

St. Trudpert

St. Trudpert

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Traditional feast

April 28
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

April 26
Secondary source · Wikipedia

Represents

Hermit
Martyr

Their story

Adapted in modern English from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) · original text below

Trudpert was a missionary in Germany in the seventh century, usually said to be an Irish monk. According to legend he first went to Rome for the pope's authority, then travelled up the Rhine to the Alamanni in the Breisgau.

A nobleman named Otbert gave him land about fifteen miles south of Freiburg. Trudpert cleared the trees and built a cell and a small church, dedicated to Sts Peter and Paul, and lived there a hard and ascetic life. One day, as he slept, one of the serfs Otbert had given him killed him in revenge for heavy work. Otbert buried him with honour, and the Benedictine (monks following the Rule of St. Benedict) abbey of St Trudpert later rose over his grave.

The Catholic Encyclopedia warns that his Life is so full of legend that his era and work cannot be judged with certainty.

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

IfVenerated in the Black Forest and Breisgau, and in the diocese of Constance. The Martyrology of Usuardus amplified for the Church of Elsass, the Strasburg Breviary, Ac. Authority The Acts, not ancient as we have them, but written in 1379 • but this was only an amplification of an earlier life written before 903 by Erkcnbald the abbot of S. Trudpert.J In the Miinsterthal, one of the most beautiful valleys of the Black Forest, is the ancient monastery of S. Trudpert.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Build up the community you belong to. This life was lived with and for a community.

Learn from the kind of life it was. Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

1913 · 270 words

Missionary in Germany in the seventh century. He is generally called a Celtic monk from Ireland, but some consider him a German. According to legend, he went first to Rome in order to receive from the pope authority for his mission. Returning from Italy he travelled along the Rhine to the country of the Alamanni in the Breisgau. A person of rank named Otbert gave him land for his mission about fifteen miles south of Freiburg in Baden. Trudpert cleared off the trees and built a cell and a little church which Bishop Martinus of Constance dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. Here Trudpert led an ascetic and laborious life. One day when he was asleep he was murdered by one of the serfs whom Otbert had given him, in revenge for severe tasks imposed. Otbert gave Trudpert an honourable burial. The Benedictine [monks following the Rule of St. Benedict] Abbey of St. Trudpert was built in the next century on the spot where Trudpert was buried. The story of his life is so full of legendary details that no correct judgment can be formed of Trudpert's era, the kind of work he did, or of its success. The period when he lived in the Breisgau was formerly given as 640-643; Baur gives 607 as the year of his death. The day of his death is 26 April. In 815 his bones were translated and the first biography of him was written; this biography was revised in the tenth and thirteenth centuries.

Acta SS., April, III, 424-40; Bibliotheca hagiagr. lat. (Brussels, 1898-1900), 1205-6; BAUR, Der Todestag es hl. Trudpert in Freiburger Dioesanar chiv, XI (Freiburg, 1877), 247-52.

Read more

The full original · 308 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

IfVenerated in the Black Forest and Breisgau, and in the diocese of Constance. The Martyrology of Usuardus [a 9th-century monk of Paris who compiled a list of saints for each day] amplified for the Church of Elsass, the Strasburg Breviary, Ac. Authority The Acts, not ancient as we have them, but written in 1379 • but this was only an amplification of an earlier life written before 903 by Erkcnbald the abbot of S. Trudpert.J In the Miinsterthal, one of the most beautiful valleys of the Black Forest, is the ancient monastery of S. Trudpert. It lies besides the Neumazen-Bach, enclosed by wooded hills, not far from the ancient town of Staufen, and the ruined castle of Staufenburg, the seat of a powerful race, which became extinct in 1602.

In 640 a wanderer arrived at this castle, then belonging to count Othpert of Hapsburg, he was a pilgrim from Rome, but of northern race, seeking some green and secret retreat where he might pass the rest of his days alone with nature and nature's God The count, pleased with the pilgrim, whose name was Trudpert, recommended him to settle in the grassy glen of the upper Miinsterthal, where rocks and dense forest would wall him out from the world Trudpert sought the place, loved it, and settled beside the clear stream.

Othpert built him a little chapel, which was consecrated to SS. Peter and Paul, by the bishop of Constance, and sent some of his servants to assist him in cutting wood and gathering in his hay. Two of these fellows bearing a grudge against the hermit — why is not known — resolved to kill him; and one day, as Trudpert lay asleep on his bench before his cell, in the hot sun, one of them clave his skull with an axe, and ran away leaving the weapon in the wound A monastery afterwards rose on the site of the murder.

Feast days

Feast: April 26
Traditional: April 28

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Trudpert's story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on April 28
Sts. Felix, Fortunatus and Achilles

Sts. Felix

April 28 · Martyrs
G

St. George

April 28 · Martyr
I

St. Ibar of Begery

April 28 · Bishop
← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Story sources

Sources

Credits

Image: Trudpert.jpg · The original uploader was Wladyslaw Sojka at German Wikipedia. (Original text: --Wladyslaw Disk.) · CC BY-SA 2.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

Image: The original uploader was Wladyslaw Sojka at German Wikipedia. (Original text: --Wladyslaw Disk.), Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0 de)

From “Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Trudpert,” The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907–1914), via Wikisource. Public domain. Matched by name and feast date; text unedited except for our bracketed notes in grey.

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.