Adalbert

Saint Adalbert

memorial
•20 June

Profile
Our Saint was a Benedictine monk who was sent by the Emperor Otto I, to Russia in 961 at the specific request of Saint Olga, who was at the time princess of Kiev. Olga was being persecuted by an army of pagans led by her son she wanted missionaries to help convert the place….I might have thought to bring an army too….apparently I must be missing something. Maybe not, because many of the missionaries were killed, and the remainder, still under the leadership of Adalbert, returned to Germany post haste.

You really can’t blame Olga, her motives were pious; Emperor Otto could care less. He was a real creepy politician who required prospective bishops and Church Leaders to swear an oath of fealty to him before being installed to their position by the Church. That and sending monks against an Army…Jerk.

Anyhoo….Adalbert was bishop and abbot of a monastery in the Alsace who became famous for his support of education in general at a time when education, including the education of clerics was not viewed as important. He was eventually made an archbishop.

Born
•c.910 at Lorraine region

Died
•20 June 981 in Germany of natural causes