View source for Otto of Bamberg


{{short description|German Christian missionary}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=Saint 
|name=Otto of Bamberg
|birth_date={{circa|1060}}
|death_date=30 June 1139
|feast_day=2 July
|venerated_in=[[Catholic Church]]
|image=Prüfening Klosterkirche - Romanische Fresken 3b Otto von Bamberg.jpg
|caption= Otto of Bamberg depicted in a [[Romanesque art|Romanesque]] fresco, [[Prüfening Abbey]], {{circa|1130}}
|birth_place=[[Mistelbach, Bavaria|Mistelbach]], [[Duchy of Franconia|Franconia]](?)
|death_place=[[Bamberg]], Franconia
|titles=Bishop and Confessor; Apostle of Pomerania
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=1189
|canonized_place=[[Rome]]
|canonized_by=[[Pope Clement III]]
|attributes=
|patronage=
|major_shrine=[[Michaelsberg Abbey, Bamberg]],<br>[[Bavaria]], [[Germany]]
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}

'''Otto of Bamberg''' (1060 or 1061 – 30 June 1139) was a German [[missionary]] and [[papal legate]] who [[Christianization of Pomerania|converted much of medieval Pomerania to Christianity]]. He was the [[bishop of Bamberg]] from 1102 until his death. He was canonized in 1189.

==Early life==
Three biographies of Otto were written in the decades after his death. [[Wolfger of Prüfening]] wrote his between 1140 and 1146 at [[Prüfening Abbey]]; {{ill|Ebo of  Michelsberg|de|Ebo (Michelsberg)}} wrote between 1151 and 1159); and [[Herbord of Michelsberg]] wrote in 1159.<ref>C. S. Jaeger (1983), "The Courtier Bishop in Vitae from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century", ''Speculum'', 58(2), 291–325. {{doi|10.2307/2848256}}</ref>

According to contemporary sources, Otto was born into a noble (''[[edelfrei]]'') family which held estates in the [[Swabian Jura]]. He was related to the [[Hohenstaufen|Staufers]] through his mother.<ref name=Augsburg>[https://bistum-augsburg.de/Heilige-des-Tages/Heilige/OTTO-VON-BAMBERG "Otto von Bamberg", Diözese Augsburg]</ref> A possible descent from the [[Duchy of Franconia|Franconian]] noble house of [[Mistelbach, Bavaria|Mistelbach]] has not been conclusively established. As his elder brother inherited their father's property, Otto prepared for an ecclesiastical career and was sent to school,<ref name=jaeger>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4O28IDEfJNMC&pg=PA49 Jaeger, C. Stephen. ''The Origins of Courtliness: Civilizing Trends and the Formation of Courtly Ideals, 939-1210'', Chap.2, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985]</ref> probably in [[Hirsau Abbey]] or one of its filial monasteries.

When in 1082 the [[Salian dynasty|Salian]] princess [[Judith of Swabia]], sister of Emperor [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]], married the [[Piast dynasty|Piast]] duke [[Władysław I Herman]], he followed her as a [[chaplain]] to the Polish court. In 1091 he entered the service of emperor Henry IV; he was appointed the emperor's [[Archchancellor|chancellor]] in 1101<ref name=loffler>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11353a.htm  Löffler, Klemens. "St. Otto." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 28 Mar. 2013]</ref> and supervised the construction of [[Speyer Cathedral]].

==Bishop==
[[File:Szczecin Zamek Ksiazat Pomorskich sw Otton.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Statue of Otto in the Pomeranian [[Ducal Castle, Szczecin]]]]
In 1102, the emperor appointed and invested him as Bishop of Bamberg<ref name=bamburg>[https://erzbistum.erzbistum-bamberg.de/bistum-allgemein/bischoefe/bischofsportraits/otto-i "Otto I. - Der Heilige", Erzbistum Bamberg]</ref> in Franconia (now in the state of [[Bavaria]]), and Otto became one of the leading princes of medieval Germany. He consolidated his widely scattered territories and during his tenure as bishop, Bamberg rose to great prominence. Otto established more than 30 monasteries and hospitals between Carinthia and Saxony and had castles built. He helped the population out of his own pocket when they were in need.<ref name=Augsburg/>

In 1106 Otto received the [[pallium]] from [[Pope Paschal II]]. It was Bishop Otto, substituting for the imprisoned archbishop [[Adalbert I of Mainz|Adalbert of Mainz]], who clothed [[Hildegard of Bingen]] as a Benedictine nun at [[Disibodenberg]] Abbey about 1112.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100901_en.html Benedict XVI, General Audience, 1 September 2010, Vatican News Service]</ref> He remained loyal to the Imperial court and, as a consequence, was suspended by a papal party led by [[Cuno of Praeneste]] at the Synod of [[Fritzlar]] in 1118. He achieved fame as diplomat and politician, notably during the [[Investiture Controversy]] between the emperor and the [[papacy]]. At the Congress of [[Würzburg]] in 1121, Otto successfully negotiated the peace treaty, the [[Concordat of Worms]], which was signed in 1122.<ref name=loffler/> For his contribution, Otto I received gifts from [[Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Heinrich V]] for the benefit of the cathedral. In the 1130s, he continued to arbitrate between Emperor [[Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor|Lothair of Supplinburg]] and the rising Hohenstaufens.

As bishop, Otto led a simple and frugal life, but did much to improve his ecclesiastical and temporal realms. He restored and completed [[Bamberg Cathedral]] after it had been damaged by fire in 1081, improved the cathedral school, established numerous monasteries<ref name=loffler/> and built a number of churches throughout his territory. He greatly expanded the town of [[Bamberg]], rebuilding the Monastery of St. Michael, which had been destroyed by an earthquake around 1117.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bamberg.info/en/poi/st_michaels_monastery-4637/ |title=St. Michael's Monastery, Bamberg |access-date=2013-03-28 |archive-date=2013-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925201456/http://www.bamberg.info/en/poi/st_michaels_monastery-4637/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Missionary==
Among his great accomplishments was his peaceful and successful missionary work among the [[Pomeranians (Slavic tribe)|Pomeranians]], after several previous forcible attempts by the Polish rulers and the Spanish bishop Bernard to convert Pomerania to [[Christianity]] had failed. Otto was sent on his first mission by the Polish duke [[Bolesław III Wrymouth]] in 1124.<ref>Medley, D. J., ''The church and the empire'', Kessinger Publishing, 2004, p.152, {{ISBN|1-4191-5673-X}}</ref>

Otto's approach was decidedly different from Bernard's. Bernard traveled alone and as a poor and unknown priest, whereas Otto, a wealthy and famous man, was accompanied by 20 clergy of his own diocese, numerous servants, 60 warriors supplied to him by Boleslaw, and carried with him numerous supplies and gifts. The fact that he was already wealthy assured the Pomeranians that his aim was only to convert them to Christianity, not to become wealthy at their expense.<ref>Buchholz, Werner. ''Pommern'', Siedler, 1999, p.25, {{ISBN|3-88680-272-8}}</ref> As the official papal legate, he converted a large number of Pomeranians, notably in the towns of [[Pyrzyce]], [[Kamień Pomorski|Kamień]], [[Szczecin]], and [[Jomsborg]], and became known as the ''"Apostle of Pomerania."'' The Bamberg bishop is said to have baptized over 22,000 people in Pomerania and founded eleven churches.<ref name=bamburg/>

After he returned to Bamberg in 1125, some [[Paganism|pagan]] customs began to reassert themselves, and Otto journeyed once more to Pomerania in 1128. In this he had the support of [[Wartislaw I, Duke of Pomerania]].<ref name=bamburg/> He also sent priests from Bamberg to serve in Pomerania. His intent to consecrate a bishop for Pomerania was thwarted by the bishops of [[Archbishop of Magdeburg|Magdeburg]] and [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gniezno|Gniezno]] who claimed [[Metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]] rights over Pomerania. Only after his death in 1139 was his former companion, [[Adalbert of Pomerania]], consecrated as [[Bishop of Wolin]], in 1140.
[[File:Bamberg, Kloster Michelsberg, Interior, Tomb 001.JPG|thumb|Otto's tomb in the Michaelsberg Abbey Church]]

The area of eastern Pomerania around [[Gdańsk]] was Christianized via Pomerania as well, and the [[Oliwa Abbey|monastery]] of [[Oliwa]] was established at that time, while [[Prussia (region)|Prussia]] was Christianized later via [[Riga]] by the [[Teutonic Knights]].

==Veneration==
Otto died on 30 June 1139, and was buried in [[Michaelsberg Abbey, Bamberg]]. He was [[canonised]] in 1189 by [[Pope Clement III]]. Although he died on 30 June, his name is recorded in the [[Roman martyrology]] on 2 July. The high festival of the saint is still celebrated in the Archdiocese of Bamberg on September 30.

Otto is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Bamberg, co-patron of the Archdiocese of Berlin, of the Diocese of Stettin-Kammin, and invoked for help against fever and rabies.<ref name=Augsburg/>

==See also==
* [[Christianization of Pomerania]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[[Charles Henry Robinson]] (editor), [https://archive.org/details/lifeofottoapostl00ebborich "The Life of Otto, Apostle of Pomerania, 1060-1139"], New York: The Macmillan Company, 1920. Two contemporary biographies by Ebbo, d. 1163 and Herbordus, d. 1168 - from [[Internet Archive]].
{{Catholic|wstitle=St. Otto}}

{{portal bar|Biography|Catholicism|Saints|Germany}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otto Of Bamberg}}
[[Category:1060s births]]
[[Category:1139 deaths]]
[[Category:German Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Bamberg]]
[[Category:12th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Bavaria]]
[[Category:German Roman Catholic missionaries]]
[[Category:Diplomats for the Holy See]]
[[Category:12th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in Germany]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in Poland]]