Wolfleoz von Konstanz, or ''Wolleozzus'' (first mentioned in 811; died on 15 March 838 or 839 in

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

) was

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the Bishopric of Konstanz from 811 to 838/39 and

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 ...

of the

Abbey of Saint Gall The Abbey of Saint Gall (german: Abtei St. Gallen) is a dissolved abbey (747–1805) in a Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Carolingian-era monastery existed from 719, founded by Saint Othmar on the spot w ...

from 812 to 816.

Works

Bishop of Konstanz

Wolfleoz became Bishop of Konstanz after Egino's death in 811. In 816, he participated in the

translation of relics In Christianity, the translation of relics is the removal of holy objects from one locality to another (usually a higher-status location); usually only the movement of the remains of the saint's body would be treated so formally, with secondary ...

Trudpert Saint Trudpert (d. 607 or 644) was a missionary in Germany in the seventh century. He is generally called a Celtic monk from Ireland, but some consider him a German. Life According to legend, he went first to Rome in order to receive from the po ...

who was worshipped as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. Probably on this occasion, Wolfleoz also sanctified the newly built minster in St. Trudpert. That same year, he moreover contributed to the inauguration of the abbey church of the Abbey of Reichenau, newly constructed under Abbot

Haito Haito (or Hatto or Heito) {c.762-March 17, 836) was the abbot of Reichenau Abbey and Bishop of Basel. Biography Haito was born in 763, of a noble family of Swabia. At the age of five, along with his brother Wadilcoz, he entered the Abbey of Reiche ...

. In 829, Wolfleoz attended the synod in Mainz that was convened by

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqui ...

. In 835, he was

co-consecrator A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

of the monastery basilica in Saint Gall built under Abbot Gozbert.

Abbot of Saint Gall

After Abbot Werdo's death on 30 March 812, Wolfleoz, against the will of the members of the Convention in Saint Gall, additionally resumed the office of Abbot of Saint Gall. He tried to further strengthen his powerful position by allocating monastery offices to laity who were loyal to him. For this reason, the monks of Saint Gall decided to turn to Emperor

with a complaint that initiated the gradual detachment of the Abbey of Saint Gall from the Bishopric of Konstanz. Wolfleoz tried by means of a forged document to enforce his rights, but he failed. In 816, the convent freely elected Gozbert Abbot of Saint Gall. In 818, Louis the Pious granted the Abbey of Saint Gall immunity and therewith the status of an

imperial abbey Princely abbeys (german: Fürstabtei, ''Fürststift'') and Imperial abbeys (german: Reichsabtei, ''Reichskloster'', ''Reichsstift'', ''Reichsgotthaus'') were religious establishments within the Holy Roman Empire which enjoyed the status of impe ...

as well as the independence from Konstanz.

Notes and references

External links

Wolfleoz
in the Stadtlexikon Wil. Quoted after Duft, Johannes: ''Die Abtei St. Gallen.'' * Maurer, Helmut. 2013: "Wolfleoz von Konstanz.
Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz.

on the website of the Stiftsarchiv St. Gallen. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfleoz People from Konstanz Abbots of Saint Gall Roman Catholic bishops of Constance 830s deaths Year of death uncertain Year of birth unknown