Bishop and patron of the Divine Officeand the Litany of the Saints. Anacharius was born near Orleans, France, and was educated at the court of King Guntram of Burgundy. Taking vows, he was made bishop of Auxerre, France, in 561, and promoted litanies and prayers.
my sister Iraya [Herais] with other martyrs, Abadir with his sister, Iraja (Herais). We are children martyrs of St. Basilides' sister. Basilides' is called the Father of Kings. |
We were brought under arrest to Antinoe, Kemet, beheaded with Cluthus, a physician and priest, 3685 companions, and other martyrs. |
Abadir and Iraja are saints in the Coptic Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
They are reported to have been children of the sister of Basilides, the father of kings. According to their legendstory, Abadir and Iraja fled from Antioch to Alexandria, were arrested there, brought to Antinoe, Kemet (the Ancient African name of Egypt) and beheaded there with Cluthus, a physician and priest, and other 3,685 companions.[1] These included the following priests:
Abadir and Iraja had a church dedicated to them in Asyut in Egypt. Their feast dayis on September 25 (Gregorian Calendar) and October 8 (Julian Calendar). The text of their Passion exists in both Sahidic and Bohairic Coptic and fragments can be found at the National Library, Vienna, Wiener Papyrussammlung, K2563 a-l, ed. Orlandi, 1974, the National Library, Paris, Copte 129.16.104 and the Vatican Library, Rome, Copti 63, fols. 1-65, ed. Hyvernat, 1886-1887.[2]
A summary of their lives, commemorated on Tout 28 (October 8), can be found in the Copto-Arabic Synaxarion.[3]
Possibly descended from the Merovingians and claimed by the Irish as one of their own, St. Rupert of Salzburg was bishop of Worms when Childeric III asked that he evangelize Bavaria. Rupert travelled from Ratisbon to the Danube, where he converted Duke Theodo II. The duke gave him land at Iuvavum, on which Rupert established the abbey of St. Peter and the Nonnberg convent. Its abbess was his niece, Erendruda. Rupert also converted pagan temples into Christianchurches and established the salt-mining industry from which the city takes its present name, Salzburg. When Rupert died c. 710/717, he was buried in St. Peter's abbey. Vergil of Salzberg later translated his relics to the cathedral in Salzberg.
Rupert of Salzburg (German: Ruprecht,[a]Latin: Robertus, Rupertus; c. 660[b] – 710 AD) was Bishop of Worms as well as the first Bishop of Salzburg and abbot of St. Peter's in Salzburg. He was a contemporary of the Frankish king Childebert III[2]. As bishop at Worms, Rupert was at first accepted as a wise and devout dignitary, however, the mostly pagan community eventually came to reject him and forced him out of the city. By the end of the 7th century, the Agilolfing duke Theodo of Bavariarequested that he come to his residence at Regensburg (Ratisbon) to help spread the Christian faith among the Bavariantribes. Rupert is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.[3] Rupert is also patron saint of the Austrian state of Salzburg.
Holy tradition states that Rupert was a scion of the Frankish royal Merovingian dynasty;[3] he was possibly related to the Robertians, most likely a descendant of Count palatine Chrodbert II.
As Worms bishop, Rupert was at first accepted as a wise and devout dignitary, however, the mostly pagan community eventually came to reject him and forced him out of the city. By the end of the 7th century, the Agilolfing duke Theodo of Bavaria requested that he come to his residence at Regensburg (Ratisbon) to help spread the Christian faith among the Bavarian tribes.
Rupert then moved to Altötting, where he converted the locals. He sailed down the Danube river, visiting many towns, villages and forts. Soon he had converted a large area along the Danube southeastward to the Bavarian border with the Pannonian lands that then were under the rule of the Avar Khaganate. Here he stayed at Lorch, the former Roman city of Lauriacum (today part of Enns), where an Early Christian church—the present Basilica of St. Lawrence—already existed.
Warlike conditions in the borderlands made him abandon plans of missionary work in the territories of the Pannonian Avars. Instead he proceeded along the Roman road via Seekirchen to the ruined city of Juvavum, where he made his base and renamed the city "Salzburg" (Latin: Salisburgum).[4] Like in Lorch, Rupert was able to build on ancient Early Christian traditions that were already in place. He re-established the convent at St. Peter's Abbey and laid the foundations of Salzburg Cathedral that was finished by his successor Vergilius. He also founded the Benedictine nunnery of Nonnbergbeneath the Festungsberg fortifications (later Hohensalzburg Fortress), where his niece Erentrude became the first abbess.
Rupert also introduced education and other reforms. From the hands of Duke Theodo of Bavaria, his bishopric received estates around Piding and Reichenhall, where he promoted the development of the local saltworks. Rupert's mission work also spread into the Alps, where a first monastic cell (Cella Maximiliana) was founded at present-day Bischofshofen about 711.
Rupert reportedly died on Easter Sundayaround 710.[5] According to other sources, he returned to his hometown of Worms, where he died in 717. His mortal remains were transferred to Salzburg Cathedral by Bishop Vergilius on 24 September 774.
Rupert's life and mission work is documented in medieval chronicles like the Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum. In accordance with Christian tradition, St. Rupert's feast day is celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Church on the anniversary of his repose, March 27[3] (March 28 according to the Lutheran Calendar of Saints). In Austria, it is September 24,[6] commemorating the translation of his relics to Salzburg Cathedral. Rupertitag is also a public holiday in the State of Salzburg, associated with popular Volksfestevents.
Rupert is the patron saint of the State of Salzburg, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg (together with his successor Vergilius), and of the adjacent Bavarian Rupertiwinkel region. He is also known as the "Apostle of the Bavarians" and patron of several settlements like Sankt Ruprecht in Styriaor Šentrupert in Slovenia and of numerous church buildings.
