Gregor von Burtscheid (c. 940 - 4 November 999), also known as Gregor von Calabria or Gregory of Cassano, was the first abbot of the

Burtscheid Abbey Burtscheid Abbey (german: Abtei Burtscheid) was a Benedictine monastery, after 1220 a Cistercian nunnery, located at Burtscheid, near Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany. History The abbey was founded in 997 under Emperor Otto III. The fi ...

, founded on the order of

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of ...

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

Life

Gregor von Burtscheid was known in Germany as Gregor von Calabria. He was born in

Cerchiara di Calabria Cerchiara di Calabria is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza, part of the Calabria region of southern Italy. Located in the Pollino National Park, Cercharia occupies the ancient site of ''Arponium'' in Magna Graecia, later known ...

(Cosenza province) in

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

at a time when that region was still under the influence of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. Emperor Otto III founded the Burtscheid Abbey in 997 in the independent city of

Burtscheid Burtscheid ( la, Porcetum) is a district of the city of Aachen, part of the Aachen-Mitte Stadtbezirk. It is a health resort. History It was inhabited since ancient times by Celts and Romans, who were attracted by the presence of hot springs. ...

, and installed Gregor, who until this time was abbot of the

Basilian monastery Basilian monks are Roman Catholic monks who follow the rule of Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea (330–379). The term 'Basilian' is typically used only in the Catholic Church to distinguish Greek Catholic monks from other forms of monastic li ...

of St. Andreas in Calabria, as first Abbot. Gregor died 4 November 999 with a reputation as a holy man, and thus after his death, his bones were held in the nearby Nicholas Chapel (''Nikolaus-kapelle''). Around 1190, an Abbot by the name of Arnold transferred the bones to the Abbey church. By the end of the 12th century, Gregor was bestowed ''the honor of the altars'' (''zur Ehre der Altäre''), and the date of his death was celebrated as a

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 ...

at the abbey, until it was dissolved in 1802. Due to the heavy bombing of Burtscheid on 11 April 1944, Gregor von Burtscheid's grave was destroyed. The remnants of his bones that could be salvaged were kept in a silver casket. These small reliquaries were transferred in 1996 to the Berdolet altar, which stands in St. Johann Church in Aachen-Burtscheid, where the previous abbey church once stood. Since 2010, Abbot Gregor has been the patron saint of the dissolved rectories of St Gregorius, Sacred Heart, St. John, and St Michael, as well as the patron of the newly founded parish of St. Gregor von Burtscheid.St. Gregor von Burtscheid
Willkommen
, 2. Januar 2010

Literature

Vera von Falkenhausen Vera may refer to: Names *Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) **Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarra ...

: ''Gregor von Burtscheid und das griechische Mönchtum in Kalabrien''. In: ''Römische Quartalschrift''. Band 93, 1998, S. 215-250. * Paolo Damiano Franzese: ''San Gregorio da Cerchiara. Vitae con testo latino a fronte, premessa di Filippo Burgarella'', ed. Il Coscile, Castrovillari 2010 * Paolo Damiano Franzese: ''San Gregorio da Cerchiara, vita e cultura di un monaco italogreco nel cuore dell'Europa ottoniana''. In ''Rivista Storica Calabrese''. Band XXIV, 2003, S. 71-123.

References

Notes

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregor von Burtscheid German abbots Eastern Orthodox monks Eastern Catholic monks 940 births 999 deaths Year of birth uncertain