Emmeram of Regensburg

High altarpiece depicting St. Emmeram, painted in 1774 by Franz Xaver König Saint Emmeram of Regensburg (also Emeram(m)us, Emmeran, Emmerano, Emeran, Heimrammi, Haimeran, or Heimeran) was a Christian bishop and a martyr born in Poitiers, Aquitaine. Having heard of idolatry in Bavaria, Emmeram travelled to Ratisbon (Regensburg) some time after the year 649 to the court of Theodo I, Duke of Bavaria. He supposedly travelled up the Loire, crossed through the Black Forest and then followed the Danube to Regensburg. Theodo welcomed Emmeram to his court, where he laboured for three years carrying out missionary work. During this time, he gained a reputation as a pious man. He died circa 652 and is buried in St. Emmeram's in Regensburg, Germany. His feast day in the Catholic Calendar of saints is September 22.

Life

Arbeo of Freising wrote a biography of Emmeram in 750, the Vita Sancti Emmerami, about 100 years after the saint's death. The literature tells the story of Emmeram, born to a noble family in Aquitaine. According to Alban Butler and others, he became Bishop of Poitiers, although this cannot be verified. There is speculation that he held the office briefly between the death of Dido and the accession of Ansoaldus.

Having heard of idolatry in Bavaria, he decided to travel to Ratisbon (Regensburg) some time after the year 649 to the court of Agilofing, Theodo I, Duke of Bavaria. He supposedly travelled up the Loire, crossed through the Black Forest and then followed the Danube to Regensburg. Theodo welcomed Emmeram to his court, where he laboured for three years carrying out missionary work. During this time, he gained a reputation as a pious man. He founded the monastery that later bore his name.

He then went on a pilgrimage to Rome, but after a five days' journey, at a place now called Kleinhelfendorf, south of Munich, he was set upon by the Duke's son Lantpert of Bavaria, who tortured him cruelly. He died shortly afterwards at Aschheim, about fifteen miles distant. The cause of this attack and the circumstances attending his death are not known. Lantpert and his followers tied Emmeram to a ladder and proceeded to torture him; he was then beheaded.

His companions, Vitalis and Wolflete, found him still alive, lying in his own blood, and tried to bring him quickly back to Aschheim,

His remains were later moved to a church dedicated to the martyr. This church burned down in 1642. Emmeram's bones were found under the altar in 1645 and moved to St. Emmeram's Abbey. The church, now a basilica minor, houses his leg bones in a silver reliquary in the eastern portion under the altar.

At the spot Saint Emmeram died in the year 652, a small chapel was erected in the year 1842. The church of St. Lorenz in Oberföhring has a side altar dedicated to St. Emmeram. In the church of Saints Peter and Paul in Aschheim, a plaque memorializes the first grave of Emmeram with an inscription.

The day of his martyrdom is also his feast day, 22 September.

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