Gallus Jakob Alt (born 10 September 1610 in

Oberriet Oberriet is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Rheintal in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Oberriet is first mentioned in 891 as ''Cobolo''. About 1290 it was mentioned as ''Chobilwalt'' and in 1417 it was ...

; died 4 March 1687 in

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website = ...

) was

prince-abbot A prince-abbot (german: Fürstabt) is a title for a cleric who is a Prince of the Church (like a Prince-bishop), in the sense of an ''ex officio'' temporal lord of a feudal entity, usually a State of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory ruled ...

Saint Gall Gall ( la, Gallus; 550 646) according to hagiographic tradition was a disciple and one of the traditional twelve companions of Columbanus on his mission from Ireland to the continent. Deicolus was the elder brother of Gall. Biography The ...

from 1654 until 1687.

Life

Born and raised in Oberriet in the St. Gallen

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

valley, he received his education in a Latin school in Appenzell. On 8 September 1628, Jakob Alt took his vows in the benedictine Abbey of Saint Gall and was given the monastic name Gallus. He was ordained

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

on 16 February 1636. He studied law with Placidus Bridler in

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Ba ...

(1639/40) and Rome (1640/42) and graduated with the title of ''Doctor iuris canonici'' (doctor of Canonical Law). In Saint Gall, he started to climb the Abbey's administrative hierarchy. In 1645 he was made governor of monastic properties in Ebingen, he became subprior of Saint Gall in 1647, and prior and governor of Neu St. Johann in 1650. In 1652 Gallus was made deacon and thus proxy to his Abbot Pius Reher. After Pius' death on 9 September 1654, Gallus was elected next abbot on 17 December of the same year. He was the second bearer of that name after

, the founder of the monastery. He was confirmed in 1655 by Pope Alexander VII, the benediction followed on 7 May 1656. He was very intent on keeping a strict discipline within the abbey and even succeeded in increasing the number of conventuals from 45 to 70 on average. This increase in members of the monastery prompted him to have additional buildings raised.

References

External links

* Vogler, Werner
Gallus Alt
in: ''

Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz The ''Historical Dictionary of Switzerland'' is an encyclopedia on the history of Switzerland that aims to take into account the results of modern historical research in a manner accessible to a broader audience. The encyclopedia is publish ...

''
Kanton St. Gallen: Gallus Alt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alt, Gallus 1610 births 1687 deaths 17th-century Swiss people Abbots of Saint Gall