CatholicSaints.Info

Saint Adalbert of Magdeburg

Saint Adalbert of Magdeburg Also known as

Apostle of the Slavs

20 June

Profile

Benedictine monk at the monastery of Saint Maximin at Trier, Germany. Missionary bishop. Leader of the band of missionaries sent into Russia in 961 by Emperor Otto I the Great on the request of Saint Olga, princess of Kiev. The band was violently opposed by an army of pagans led by Saint Olga‘s son Svyatoslav. Many of the missionaries were killed, and the remainder, still under the leadership of Adalbert, returned to Germany, spending four years in Mainz.

Abbot of a monastery at Weissenburg, Alsace. Noted for his support of education in general, and of his monks in particular. First archbishop of Magdeburg, Saxony in 968, which see he held for his remaining thirteen years. Worked with and sent missionaries to the pagan Wends, making many converts. Founded the dioceses of Naumberg, Neissen, Merseberg, Brandenburg, Havelberg, and Posen. Metropolitan of the Slavs.

Educated Saint Bruno of Querfurt. Healed, educated and converted Adalbert of Prague, who took the name Adalbert in memory of him.