Othmar

Othmar, (also Audomar, 689 – 759) was a Medieval monk and priest. He served as the first abbot of the Abbey of St. Gall, a Benedictine monastery near where the city of St. Gallen, now in Switzerland, developed.

Life Othmar was of Alemannic descent, received his education at the cathedral school in Chur in Rhaetia. He was ordained priest, and for a time presided over a church of St. Florinus in Rhaetia. This church was probably identical with the one of St. Peter at Remus, where Florinus had laboured as a priest and was buried.

In 720 Waltram of Thurgau appointed Othmar superior over the cell of St. Gall and custodian of Gall's relics. Othmar united into a monastery the monks that lived about the cell of St. Gall, according to the Rule of St. Columban, and became their first abbot. He added a hospital and a school, which became the foundation upon which the famous Stiftsbibliothek (Monastery library) was built.

In 747, as a part of the reform movement of Church institutions in Alamannia, he introduced the Benedictine Rule,

When Carloman renounced his throne in 747, he visited Othmar at St. Gall and gave him a letter to his brother Pepin, recommending Othmar and his monastery to the king's liberality. Othmar personally brought the letter to Pepin, and was kindly received.

Veneration

Othmar's cult began to spread soon after his death, and next to Maurice and Gall, he is one of the most popular saint in Switzerland. In 769 his body was transferred to the monastery of St. Gall.

The Swiss team handball club TSV St. Otmar St. Gallen is named after him.