Alto, O.S.B., (died c. 760) was a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

active in the

Duchy of Bavaria The Duchy of Bavaria (German: ''Herzogtum Bayern'') was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarian tribes and ruled by dukes (''duces'') under Fr ...

during the mid-8th century. Tradition holds him to be the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous founder of Altomünster Abbey, around which a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

grew up, also called

Altomünster Altomünster is a municipality in the district of Dachau in Bavaria in Germany. Geography Geographical location The market is located northwest of Dachau and almost in the middle of the triangle formed by the cities of Munich, Augsburg and Ingo ...

. He is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church.

Life

Little is known about Alto; he is believed to have arrived in the region as a wandering Irish or Scottish monk, and to have previously lived as a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

near both

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

. There is a ''

Vita Vita or VITA (plural vitae) is Latin for "life", and may refer to: * ''Vita'', the usual start to the title of a biography in Latin, by which (in a known context) the work is often referred to; frequently of a saint, then called hagiography * Vit ...

'' of his life written by

Otloh of St. Emmeram Otloh of St Emmeram (also Othlo) (c. 1010 – c. 1072) was a Benedictine monk, composer, writer and music theorist of St Emmeram's in Regensburg. Life Otloh was born around 1010 in the bishopric of Freising. After studying at Tegernsee and Hersfe ...

about 1062. The

Diocese of Freising The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising (german: Erzbistum München und Freising, la, Archidioecesis Monacensis et Frisingensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Bavaria, Germany.

has a document dating perhaps to 763 with the signature ''Alto reclausus'' (Alto the hermit) which is considered to be his. A donation by King

Pepin the Short the Short (french: Pépin le Bref; – 24 September 768), also called the Younger (german: Pippin der Jüngere), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian to become king. The younger was the son of ...

gave Alto some wooded land on which to build his monastery.

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...

is said to have come to dedicate the church about the year 750.Thurston, Herbert. "St. Alto." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 30 May 2016 A

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

lectionary A lectionary ( la, lectionarium) is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity, Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evang ...

made for Altomünster Abbey has a metal cover which was added to the manuscript in 1489, depicting one of Saint Alto's miracles. Alto's

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is celebrated on 9 February.

Legacy

St-Alto-way is a trail in the forest Alto.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alto Of Altomunster 8th-century births 760s deaths German hermits German Benedictines Benedictine abbots Colombanian saints Medieval German saints 8th-century Christian saints